I see all these posts here like the most recent, pool shot crooked, among many others and wonder if anyone here has actually brought a lawsuit against a builder?
I've had my own issues with the most pressing being that our pool which was supposed to take 12 weeks at the end of this month will be 7 months. My particular contract in hindsight offers me almost no protection. No time line for completion, no release from liens by subs, no specific model numbers on equipment, etc.
At this point I am not expecting for things to get to a legal issue but with that possibility in mind, I spoke to my brother in law who is a retired prosecutor about it and he offered me some input from a legal and practical perspective. When he was younger, he actually worked for a large pool contractor in Atlanta and he says it is a frequent practice of pool builders to write the draws in such a way that they are always way ahead and make it difficult (or expensive) for their clients to remove them from the project.
His suggestion is to document everything with lots of photos, time frames, emails, phone calls and text. Here in Georgia he says that I can also record our conversations without his knowledge. In my case, I did record the builder during our initial consultations but it was done with his knowledge and so I didn't have to repeat a question to him later. So, I do have him on a recording saying the 12 week time frame, dependent on the weather.
He also thought polite but weekly emails, frequent text and phone calls may entice the builder to work toward completion so he doesn't have to deal with all the annoying communication. Plus, in the event that it did end up in court, I would have a lot of material to provide to a potential jury.
All I really want is to get through it and never have to deal with the builder again. I have lost trust and confidence in anything he says. Last thing that happened is that he said the concrete man was coming to look over what will need to be done in the way of retaining walls, pool house poured foundation, decking and coping. As has been multiple times since June 18, the concrete man still hasn't come.
So has anyone sued a builder? Or fired their builder? Or had their builder walk away? What was the outcome, with the construction, financially, etc?
I've had my own issues with the most pressing being that our pool which was supposed to take 12 weeks at the end of this month will be 7 months. My particular contract in hindsight offers me almost no protection. No time line for completion, no release from liens by subs, no specific model numbers on equipment, etc.
At this point I am not expecting for things to get to a legal issue but with that possibility in mind, I spoke to my brother in law who is a retired prosecutor about it and he offered me some input from a legal and practical perspective. When he was younger, he actually worked for a large pool contractor in Atlanta and he says it is a frequent practice of pool builders to write the draws in such a way that they are always way ahead and make it difficult (or expensive) for their clients to remove them from the project.
His suggestion is to document everything with lots of photos, time frames, emails, phone calls and text. Here in Georgia he says that I can also record our conversations without his knowledge. In my case, I did record the builder during our initial consultations but it was done with his knowledge and so I didn't have to repeat a question to him later. So, I do have him on a recording saying the 12 week time frame, dependent on the weather.
He also thought polite but weekly emails, frequent text and phone calls may entice the builder to work toward completion so he doesn't have to deal with all the annoying communication. Plus, in the event that it did end up in court, I would have a lot of material to provide to a potential jury.
All I really want is to get through it and never have to deal with the builder again. I have lost trust and confidence in anything he says. Last thing that happened is that he said the concrete man was coming to look over what will need to be done in the way of retaining walls, pool house poured foundation, decking and coping. As has been multiple times since June 18, the concrete man still hasn't come.
So has anyone sued a builder? Or fired their builder? Or had their builder walk away? What was the outcome, with the construction, financially, etc?