Destination Homes

We placed an offer on a new construction spec home built by Destination Homes. As part of the offer we reguested that an irrigation system be installed as a part of the price. The builder agreed, but requested an additional $3500 on top of the traditional $1000 earnest money. We paid the $4500 earnest money. We order an home inspection on the house and received a number of items on the report that, while fixable, indicated that the builder was not monitoring the subcontractors for quality (faucets plumbed incorrect, concrete driveway poured under the stone facade, etc.) The larger item was that the radon levels were approaching 11...anything over 4 is considered unsafe by the EPA. The house was not built with mitigation system during the construction process, so a retrofit solution would have to be implemented to remove the cancer causing gas. The inspection company indicated that most likely a separate sump well would have to be cut into the basement floor, probably in an area we had reserved for a closet, then a pipe would be ran through the garage wall and run exposed on this wall up through the ceiling where the gas would be vented. This on a $500K house before it was ever lived in. These items combined with the fact that I was not allowed to communicate with the builder directly, but rather through our respective real estate agents, I rescinded the offer asking for only the $3500 of the earnest money to be returned since the irrigation system was never ordered or installed. The builder and his Iowa Realty agent refused to return any of the earnest money.