Nothing More, Nothing Less

When we first met with our PM at our pre-con meeting, we had a few special requests.  They were all denied.  Our PM told us, "I will build you the house that you contracted.  Nothing more, nothing less." Unfortunately, we received much more than we asked for.  We didn't ask for leaky windows, siding issues, shoddy carpet, crooked walls, crooked trim, doorknobs that fall off, $300+ electric bill because the HVAC installer put the wrong kind of battery in the outside sensor, squeaking and creaking floors, cracks in the drywall, numerous other issues and all the half-hearted repairs that come with them.  The most recent example of their ineptitude occurred a couple of weeks ago.  I am still dealing with the repairs and awaiting the outcome which is why I have hesitated to blog about it.  But, I need an outlet to vent, so here's the scoop:

I was on the first floor when I heard a sound like a firehose hitting the house on the second floor.  First, I ran outside.  Nothing seemed amiss, so I headed for the second floor.  The washing machine was running, so I checked on that first.  The sound wasn't coming from the laundry room, so I followed it to the secondary bath.  The sound was coming from behind the shower enclosure.  I flipped the shower faucet on and there was no water.  At this point, I ran down the steps to find water pouring out of my foyer light.  I headed to the basement and found water running down the pipes and door frame around the storage area.  I turned off the water to the house at the water meter.  About five minutes had elapsed from the time I heard the sound to when I turned off the water.  It was warm water, so I assumed a hot water line had burst.

I called Ryan's emergency line.  I explained the situation to the rep on the phone.  He gave me the plumber's phone number, said he would contact the plumber and the Service Manager and that I would be hearing from them shortly.  When an hour had passed and I didn't hear anything, I called the emergency line again. The rep that I spoke with that time asked me if I had explained that it was an emergency.  Really??? I can't see how anything that I explained did NOT constitute an emergency.  We couldn't use our water.  There was water dripping from several locations.  I could not believe she was implying that it was my fault for not expressly stating it was an emergency.  That's what the emergency line is for!

After she rewrote it as an emergency ticket, I got a call from the service manager.  He came over within 20 minutes to inspect the damage.  As we were walking through the house, the plumber arrived.  (Imagine my panic when I saw it was the same genius who, when reconnecting the master bath faucet during a previous repair, never bothered to turn the water back on and check to see that everything was connected correctly.  This resulted in water dripping through my eyeball lights above my fireplace because he did not re-install the faucet properly).  Anyway, the plumber came in and after telling my story, they tried to determine the location of the leak.  They first thought it might be the hot water connection to the the shower.  They cut a three feet by eight inch hole in my closet only to find that that connection was secure.  They headed to my daughter's bedroom under the assumption that it would be a connection at either the sinks or the toilets.  They ended up cutting five holes in the wall!

The final diagnosis was that the installer didn't cut the lines long enough to wrap around from the shower and pick up the lines from the sinks.  So, he added a coupling.  This would have been sufficient, except that he didn't bother crimping the metal band at the coupling.  There was nothing holding the coupling together.  The plumber was surprised that it didn't come apart the first time the shower was run.  The kids prefer our shower, so that shower does not get a lot of use.

Here are some pictures of the damage. Some pics may need to be clicked on to see the effects of the water.

Water dripping down the siding

Water dripping from light switch
at the bottom of the basement stairs

Bottom of basement stairs

Puddle in basement bath

Water dripping from pipes in basement storage area

Water had slowed by the time I took this picture.
At the time I turned off the water, there was a curtain
of water coming down through this doorway.

Streaks where water ran along the joists
in the family room ceiling

That is not a shadow.  That is wet drywall
near the foyer light at the bottom
of the stairs.

Basement stairwell taping

This is an example of the repair job in the main stairwell.
Needless to say, I'm not impressed.

I have sent an email to the service manager regarding the quality of the repairs.  I am awaiting his reply, but if this is not handled to my satisfaction, I am prepared to go over his head.  I have been nothing but patient with all of this, but I am at my wits end. There is also a flooring issue, but this has been way too long already!