What happens if the builders built wrong elevation? (Houston, Dallas: low income, 2015)

[twolulu1]

Husband and I just started the building process a few weeks ago & went through a builder. They have different houses to pick from with each having different elevations. One of the houses we picked has the elevation with 3 peaks. Anyway, husband went by the site to see the progress because they said they got done framing. Well the insulation is up & they finished the roof. They completely started the wrong house we signed for on the contract. They built elevation one instead of elevation 3 like we picked. Which was in our oversized lot we paid for. What happens in these situations? Can they still fix it? It's pretty early in the building process & we're pretty pissed.. we don't know what to do.

[KenzHou]

They have to fix it or you have the right to a full refund and can walk away. Ten years ago I built a house with Beazer homes and they had bricked the entire front and side of the home with the wrong color mortar, we called the builder to tell them and they promptly knocked it all down and started the entire bricking process over. Was very easy. Builders have to eat the cost for their mistakes. If they don't, or try to pressure you to accept their mess up, then I would walk with with my money. Which builder are you working with?

[twolulu1]

You are right! & Altura Homes.

[pc50]

Could be a bigger problem if the elevation you want requires a different slab configuration since the slab is already down.

[Houston321]

Never heard of Altura Homes. But, at your initial contract did you sign an elevation page, showing which elevation you selected? Does your contract specify which elevation? Both of these items are standard practice. If you did sign in writing for the elevation that you chose, it is the builder's responsibility to do the right thing, which could mean either refunding you fully, moving you to a different lot, or possibly re-doing the plan on the current lot. However, if the foundation is poured already, that may not be possible.

[twolulu1]

yes we went over the entire selection twice maybe 3 times to make sure they didnt make a mistake. we initialed the actual page with the elevation circled and the other 2 marked out.

[Failed Engineer]

As far as I can tell from going to their website, they build in the Dallas area only. Probably will get better advice posting there.

[Sollaces]

They are contracted to fix anything wrong.

[haudi]

Or decide it's too costly to fix and either heavily discount it or cancel the contract and send the buyer on their way. Different elevations are usually framed very differently and like someone else said, the slab form could be different in which case the builder is going to tell you to go fly a kite before they knock an entire frame down.

Originally Posted by Sollaces

They are contracted to fix anything wrong.

[rigas]

Originally Posted by Failed Engineer

As far as I can tell from going to their website, they build in the Dallas area only. Probably will get better advice posting there.

I used to do work for altura here in Houston. They shut down here around the end of 2015.
As far as I know they're no longer building in the Houston area and the homes they did build here were in a program called THAP doing govt assistance low income homes hit by storm damage for home owners who had no insurance and couldn't afford repairs.



As to the OP, it's likely going to be difficult to change at this point. They're not likely going to reframe/deck/insulate etc. you can try, if they will not, you can bust out and get your money back, or push for a big discount on the home as is.

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