Austin Area Remodeling

We purchased a new spec home on Sept. 11, 2015 in Tahitian Village in Bastrop, Texas. We looked forward to the move. From the outset, however, we struggled with defects and negligence. The first issue was a sewage smell, which took two months for the builder, David McKenzie, to discover the solution. He finally knocked a hole in the sheetrock of the master bath and capped a pipe. As he exited our home, he huffed, ?No more issues.? He never apologized for our inconvenience. The concrete floor in the garage was uneven and rough. I asked the builder about it, and he said he wasn?t there when they poured it. My next-door neighbor, however, said he witnessed the builder pouring a thin coat of concrete over the old concrete flooring. The builder wasn?t honest. The metal roof made a loud rattling/flapping noise during windy days. The builder said noise wasn?t covered by the warranty. I hired a specialist in metal roofing. He simply unscrewed the ridge caps and removed the excess paper that was causing the rattling. This was an easy repair, but the builder refused to deal with it. Our crawl space had no vents, and I expressed my concern early to the builder, pointing to the vents in the home that he had built next door. He assured me that the moisture barrier he installed was a better solution. As it turns out, it wasn?t. An inspection shows that our home has mold. Further, one remediation specialist said the moisture barrier was not installed properly. More often than not, he was annoyed by problems. Defects were not repaired in a timely manner. For example, it took seven months to replace the sink stopper in the upstairs bathroom. When the kitchen faucet needed replacement, we waited three weeks and carried water from the bathroom to the sink to wash dishes. Because he showed little desire to make repairs, I filed a complaint with the warranty company, Bonded Builders. He was obligated to come to the home and examine issues, but he was obviously angry about it. One issue was the dark, scuffed metal roof over much of the garage. He initially told me that he would repair it as a gesture of ?good will.? But I had to send numerous letters and texts reminding him about his promise. Months later, he replied that he would repair it but with no warranty and with the probability of more scuffs. He wanted to place the new metal directly over the original metal, which the roofing supplier said would create rust between the two sheets. Next, I filed with Bonded Builders to seek conciliation, which involves a meeting with the representative of the warranty company, the homeowner, and the builder. He showed disdain for the process, saying in writing he was too busy to attend a meeting. A date was set without him, but he was notified. He, the builder, failed to appear and instead sent his wife. The defects and negligence which persist are: ? Dark, scuff marks on the metal roof over much of the garage; ? Chips in the glass of the rear sliding glass door; ? Reddish/brown color from the faucet in the upstairs bathtub; ? Poorly constructed moisture barrier in the crawlspace that caused mold; ? Rain that leaks into the garage floor stemming from a porous section of concrete In conclusion, the builder showed minimal interest in making repairs. I thought we purchased a new home, but I was mistaken. He wanted the rewards associated with home construction but not the problems. Builder satisfaction, not homeowner satisfaction, was his top priority. As a result, I would not recommend him as a homebuilder. Caveat emptor.