Building a Home

Once upon a time there was a lovely retired couple who found their dream
property on which they decided to build the home they had planned for many
years. Every nook and cranny of their retirement home had been
meticulously designed. This would be their dream come true. Her kitchen
and pantry was perfect, and his garage had built in shelves. Already, they
could envision their grandchildren playing in the back yard surrounded by
the red, blue, yellow, and purple flowers and luscious green grass and
shrubs. In their mind's eye, they had the garden planted and the furniture
arranged in every room in the house. Excitement was building for the couple
who had worked long and hard to save enough to build their dream. All their
labor and patience would now pay off, and they would live happily forever in
their little home, which they thought might some day be pictured in Home &
Garden magazine.

Upon arriving in their new community, they talked to the grocery store clerk
about getting a referral for a good builder. The clerk was unable to help
them so they sought a referral from a nice lady also doing her laundry at the
local Laundromat. She suggested the yellow pages, which proved to be full
of names of good builders. Not knowing which one to choose, they picked
one with the same last name as their best friends in California. The builder
turned out to be very nice and quite knowledgeable. He readily agreed to bid
lower than anyone else, and this only proved to the couple that he was in fact
also the best builder in the area.

The lovely couple signed a one page agreement with the builder and gave
him a large check as a down payment. They then went to the bank to
arrange a line of credit for the builder.

Many months after the home was to be completed and after many "extras"
and other cost overruns, the builder walked off the job even though the
house was only 93% complete. The lovely couple were quite frustrated and
distraught. Not knowing what else to do, they sought a referral for a good
attorney. After paying their new attorney a retainer and agreeing to pay
large sums of money each and every month so long as their retirement
pension should hold out, they went to live in their unfinished home, although
it did not yet have an occupancy permit.

This story is all too often repeated in Washington. Anyone can apply and get
a contractor's license if they pay a small fee and obtain a measly $12,000
bond. There are many excellent builders, but a few who tarnish the
industry's reputation and destroy some people's dream. The nightmare
stories are endless. A Woodinville woman, who wanted a better home for her
severely disabled son, said her house was $243,000 over budget. Another
couple were presented with an extra bill of $150,000, which they promptly
paid because they did not want any conflict. A Longview man said his wife
suffered a physical and emotional breakdown. The Washington attorney
general's office said it recorded 9,000 complaints about builders since 1990.
Last year alone accounted for 1,361 complaints, and there is no question
that many people do not go through the trouble of filing a complaint with the
attorney general's office.

The problem can grow into the greatest nightmare a couple ever has, and it
regularly does. Do not misunderstand the intent of this author. It is not to
discourage you from building your dream home. It is not to malign builders,
because out of the estimated 44,000 builders in Washington, there are many
many outstanding builders. My purpose is simply to help you practice a
preventive approach, and with a little effort avoid a terrible nightmare.

The nightmare involves a series of traps for the unwary with implications most
don't even consider. For example, the story at the beginning of this
newsletter really is a scenario I've seen many times. The home is usually 90
to 95% complete when the builder walks off the job. The builder is claiming
the owner won't release the last draw from the bank, and so he won't finish
the house until the owner agrees to pay the builder. The owner is claiming
the builder has made numerous mistakes in the construction of the house,
that the builder has been rude and offensive throughout the process, that he
has not paid suppliers and laborers and as a result there are now threats of
liens by these suppliers and subcontractors, and that the builder wants
$7,000 or $25,000 or $56,000 more because of "extras" which the owner
never authorized and the builder never discussed with the owner.

The homeowner next sees an attorney. Letters and phone calls to the
builder get nowhere, and a lawsuit is commenced against the builder. The
builder has an attorney who files counterclaims against the owner, and the
litigation that ensues is both expensive and time consuming, not to mention
stressful.

Having A Home Built? Beware!

Having a home built by a contractor can
be a good or a bad experience. When it
is bad, it is often very bad. The following
story is a synthesis of many true client
stories in Washington. I wrote this as
part of a newsletter in June of 2001, but I
could have written it yesterday.

How to find and hire a good builder/contractor

There are many good
Builders in Sequim
and Port Angeles.
Find a good one, and
you will have the
home of your dreams.

Sequim Real Estate Blog
& Port Angeles Real
Estate Blog