Expert: Dan Griffin - 10/4/2011

Question
I am in the middle of purchasing a home. It is a new build. I have signed papers and have given them earnest money and half of the cost of upgrades. We made changes to the home plan at the beginning which they signed and now I want to see actual drawings of how they will implement the changes and they are really slow to respond. It takes almost 2 weeks to get a complete answer from them and when I have seen what they mocked up it has consistently been wrong. They are framing now and so I want to be sure they have all the details correct so no major changes need to be made that cost me more money. I had them sign a drawing that I made of the kitchen area. It doesn't have dimensions but I drew it to scale and I included locations for things such as sink, countertops, and bay window. I want to see the drawings of these items before they get too far into doing it wrong so I can correct them. What can I do to speed up the response time? And can I use my drawing to get them to fix things that are wrong?

Answer
Andrew, I wish I had a really good answer to give you.  Is this builder in the same city as you?  I would think that a trip to their office would be the most productive move.  I agree that the men in the field should have an accurate shop drawing (technical term) of modifications to the original design.

They have earnest money and 1/2 payment.  Make it very clear that you want accurate shop drawings that you have signed off or that you expect work to cease.  I hate using the "I'll get my lawyer . . ."  The best approach is verbal agreement with written and drawn follow-up.  If the framers that are working now do not have final shop drawings there certainly can be complications.  This is true for the plumber and electrician just as much as the framer.  If the outside dimensions will not be changed, they may be trying to get the structure in the dry.  This is a legitimate goal, but any interior framing, window location issues, etc need to be absolute.

With whom have you been working out details at this time?  If it is the builder himself, I would ask for a meeting again.  Go in with a tape recorder, tell him you want to record the conversation (don't hide the recorder), and discuss the changes and the circumstances.  If he is an upright builder this should become very evident quite quickly.  Get a recording about slow shop ddrawings and your concerns.

I hope this helps.