Asking advice how to deal with business dispute

[BroadHopper]

Originally Posted by Dr. Green

OK, I see I need to clarify as people are not understanding what I meant (probably as I was deliberately vague). I tried to not identify the business, but that seems to have led to confusion.

I hired an architectural firm to design a house for me. I told them the budget for the project. They designed a house that would take 2x my budget to build. The architect said he thought it would cost 2.5 times my budget to build. I just got one bid from a contractor friend, but the architect thought it was lower than expected (though of course he said he "hoped it would come in close to budget, seeing as the contractor was a friend"). Did he think contractors don't need to eat? Just the raw materials were over budget not including any contractor labor.

The contract with the architectural firm was to have them design the house. I was utterly shocked when the house came in at twice budget, and even more shocked when the architect said he thought it would cost more.

I have heard of another customer of the same firm having a similar experience and abandoning the project when that happened (or abandoning it with them and moving onto a different architect). I moved on to a contractor with architectural software and am quite happy with both the design and the cost now. I went to an architect because I thought that is how one designed houses, but have learned it is just the most expensive way to design houses (the design was actually my own).

Sounds like a similar experience. Contractor was suppose to start in August and finish before the year is over. Started the excavation in August and didn't pour the foundation til December! Didn't start the framing til March. At the time I fired the contractor. New contractor no better. Suppose to start framing in March and didn't show up til June. As he started the framing it was not up to 'green' spec of RBC 2009. Gives me a run around that the state is at RBC 2004 and he can't do it. I fired him. The third contractor started in August. halfway through the building, he insist he needs an additional $100K to finish the project, a multitude of excuses like labor cost, lumber cost etc. I told him to give me the bill of materials and the labor details. No luck, so I fired him too.

That is when I bought software and spent hours putting the house in the computer. It was my girl friends design. The software updates itself to the latest RBC and is energy star labeled. I should have done this last year. Now with new specs and BOM, I sent out several RFQs. Only two responded with close quotes. The quotes will be similar if they were on the 'same page'. I picked the final contractor based on the reference check with prior customers and subcontractors I deal with at Lowe's.

During the final building the new contractor found flaws in the initial construction and foundation. I requested a new building inspector.

The new builder found ways to save money as I was laid off and not making the money I'm used to.

I'm not the only one. I have heard many horror stories of building gone wrong around the Lakes Region at Lowes. Seems like the contractors/subcontractors in the area are very lazy and scrimp on materials and try to add labor. Many do not want to work on a 'contract basis'. So they can call the shots.

My builder is from Southern NH and he offered a home owner's warrantee when completed. One local reputable builder says. 'He'll be out of business soon.' This builder been around since the 70's.