Anyone ever Fire their home builder? Need advice!

[gatorgrizz27]

As others have said, it's probably going to be a pain to get rid of him. I'd have a discussion with him and make sure you're blunt rather than just making suggestions or talking to him like he's your wife and not wanting to hurt his feelings.

If he won't listen I'd stop the work until he corrects what you've found wrong. This may cause him to pull off the job but likely won't if it's a quick fix. It's possible he's just overwhelmed with work right now, the industry is busy and it's hard to find good help. I'm not making excuses for him, but if that's the case, it might be as simple as "tell me what I owe you for the work done so far, and I'll have someone else take over." Keep in mind this will be much more expensive in the long run.

Is his wife an active part of the business in terms of design or estimating work, or was she just hanging around at your meeting with him? If the latter, that should have been a red flag. From my experience, guys who show up with wives or girlfriends that sit around or "help" are normally very unprofessional.

[mikemorvan]

Who has the interim construction loan?

[Traildust]

Hold off signing the next draft until issues are resolved. Maybe take some smartazz classes and throw out a "SMF!" occasionally when talking to him.

[BertramBass]

What type of questions and concerns has he ignored?

[Sticks&Strings]

Where are you located? Its definitely easier to keep him then fire him, as long as he is making an effort to and has the ability to make it right. Im a builder and it can be frustrating to both parties if communication isnt excellent and the expectation isnt set from both parties up front. Many people have an expectation that isnt reasonable and if the builder doesnt let that be known upfront, it will be ugly. Im also very hesitant to walk into a job where a builder was fired, because odds are the builder made a mistake, but the owner has unrealistic expectations....which im not saying you do, becausr there are many bad builders. We operate soley on referrals so communication and quality of work are the most important as they dictate our reputation. Read your contract first, have a sit down come to Jesus meeting second, and see if yall can find common ground and what his issues are and let him know yours. If he cant fix it, bye!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[125Dad]

Why don't you hire a third party to deal with him and you deal with the third party. This is what I did when we built my wife's dream house. We just told third party concerns and wants and he took care of it.

I bet this would be a lot cheaper in the long run.

Keep us posted please

[chopsknives]

There are other steps you can take and I would first see a lawyer to go over your options. We used to build and we weren't too quick to take a job where we didn't know what all was done right. I know that you can work through a mediator. I had to do this once because the husband was drunk and high and threatened to have me killed for fooling around with his wife! I did find out a few years later he died of a heroin overdose and was found to have direct connections with the cartels

[Gclyde28]

As has been said above, I would try everything in your power to try and work things out with the current builder. The process may not be enjoyable for the remainder of the project and if part of the project isn't completed per the contract documents then that can be sorted out after the project is completed with a lawyer.

It will be a huge headache to get a new builder to take over someone else's project, the liability alone will have most immediately declining and from a monetary standpoint will be exponentially more expensive if you can convince one to take it over.

[EarleyBird]

We were in the exact same situation five years ago, too long a story to tell. We ultimately went through our banker (where we got the construction loan) and hired a lawyer. The crooked builder went away but it did cost us some money. Finished the house ourselves. It was a real pain in the butt but worth it.

[JES]

Why don't you hire a third party to deal with him and you deal with the third party. This is what I did when we built my wife's dream house. We just told third party concerns and wants and he took care of it.

I bet this would be a lot cheaper in the long run.

Keep us posted please

This is a great idea, if it's only a personality conflict then this is a good way to remove the conflict. I didn't read where he was performing poor work, just that you're tired of his ****...

We went through similar issues building our home, alcoholic home builders makes for some really unusual conversations when they're lit up!

[tigerscowboy]

Suggesting again that you refer to the terms of the contract agreement. They may be in your favor, or not.

I've been involved with GHBA contracts, annual seminars, and a few that had to be resolved in arbitration. If you like, scan the contract and send me a PM. I'll look it over and reduce it to the nuts and bolts (so to speak).

[Buck Shot]

So I'll try to address some of the questions y'all have raised. If I don't catch them all forgive me:

I secured a construction loan through the lender who holds my land note. We are about 2.5 months in to an expected 8 month project. Last week we released the third draw out of six on the project.

The main issue is that the builder will not answer our questions. He expects us to answer his, but in most cases he has not responded to ours - especially when it comes to items which have allowances (such as fixtures, etc). I sent him a letter summarizing all our concerns Tuesday and he addressed one out of about a dozen items. He spends most of his time intentionally talking in circles and trying to confuse the issues. Hence our frustration.

The house is actually a barndo. It's meant to be a "hunting lodge" on our ranch / hunting land / getaway. The barndo will be finished out on about 2/3 of the inside. Because of where he's at in the project, I'm not too concerned about cutting him loose because we can sub out everything that's left after the remaining 7 sheets of sheet metal are on.

I'll try to post updates as they develop. Wish me luck!

[Change Up]

We were in the exact same situation five years ago, too long a story to tell. We ultimately went through our banker (where we got the construction loan) and hired a lawyer. The crooked builder went away but it did cost us some money. Finished the house ourselves. It was a real pain in the butt but worth it.

Ditto we did the same hired a lawyer. The lender let us be the GC and it worked out great. Yes we had to pay more money to get him off the job but it most likely saved us in the long run. Also getting him off the job probably saved my marriage also. LOL

[Bullseye07]

So I'll try to address some of the questions y'all have raised. If I don't catch them all forgive me:

I secured a construction loan through the lender who holds my land note. We are about 2.5 months in to an expected 8 month project. Last week we released the third draw out of six on the project.

The main issue is that the builder will not answer our questions. He expects us to answer his, but in most cases he has not responded to ours - especially when it comes to items which have allowances (such as fixtures, etc). I sent him a letter summarizing all our concerns Tuesday and he addressed one out of about a dozen items. He spends most of his time intentionally talking in circles and trying to confuse the issues. Hence our frustration.

The house is actually a barndo. It's meant to be a "hunting lodge" on our ranch / hunting land / getaway. The barndo will be finished out on about 2/3 of the inside. Because of where he's at in the project, I'm not too concerned about cutting him loose because we can sub out everything that's left after the remaining 7 sheets of sheet metal are on.

I'll try to post updates as they develop. Wish me luck!

But what does the contract say? That's really all that matters.

[Stuck]

Nope. But I've **** sure wanted to fire some home buyers.