improper work during construction

[angeleyzad]

What is the name of your state? ME

Not sure if this is the proper spot for this, but here we go. I went through a real estate company that does modular homes turn-key. Everything wtih the house is fine, the problem we have now is with our heating system. We chose to go with a geo-thermal heating system, knowing that it would be 'cheaper' than oil, propane, or natural gas for our heating needs. The inside cost was the same as oil heat, we had additional cost for burying the pipe outside in the yard.

Now comes the problems. Everythig was set up in November, 2006. My December electric bill was through the roof...and we weren't even living in the house yet. I brought it up to the builder, and he basically blew it off, saying that the unit we have may not heat the home fully, that we are basically stuck with the high bill. They had put the system in themselves (units in the house they had left-over, and they installed the pipe in the ground on their own)

I had someone from a certified installation company come out and look everything over, as our electric bills have been so high (and the drain on electric was pin-pointed to the geothermal system), and he sent me a list of everything that was wrong...basically, the entire system needs to be replaced. Not enough pipe in the ground, wrong type of pipe, wrong fittings in the house, oversized unit, wrong heat-delivery...you name it, it's wrong. Our entire heating system needs to be replaced.

We do have a 1-year warranty with the realtor, where anything that goes wrong, he pays to have fixed, this runs out Dec. 26, 2007.

I'm not sure how to approach this, any advise? I am not sure if I should try to approach it on my own, or if I should just go right away to a lawyer.

 

[LindaP777]

What did your builder say when you sent him a copy of the findings or report?

 

[angeleyzad]

What did your builder say when you sent him a copy of the findings or report?

I've been trying to get in touch with him, I left amessage for him, and explained the basic issues to the assistant. I'm just really discouraged, because this is so much worse that I first thought. Not only that, but my electric bills are so high, it's unreal...something that I did bring up to them back before we signed the papers. I found the fax that I sent to him 12/15/06. I'd like to get some type of reimbursement for that as well, I knew there was an issue, but he did nothing about it. What are my chances are of that?

 

[angeleyzad]

Not happy with his answers...

Okay, i fianlly talked to the builder, he would not even really listen to the problems, said that the way he installed our system was the same way he installed all the systems he had installed, which was per the comany's instructions. He was certified by this company to install the systems, which he could not tell me when his certification ran out, or when the company went out of business (I believe that it was at least 20 years ago that the company went out of business). He kept comparing my electric bills and my installation to the installation and electric bills for his farm house, saying that the electric bills are the same. He said that he wants to keep me happy (yeah right), and said that he'd refund the $3500 for the loop field he installed, and refund the $3000 for the basic furnace/tank cost that we incurred in the beginning, and that we can go elsewhere for our heating needs. The problem with that is that we cannot install a correct geo-thermal system for that...the correct loop field itself will be approx. $6000 - and that doesn't include the units that are inside. Then there's the issue of the heat delivery...we would need to add air ducts into the house to deliver the proper amount of heat...

I'm not sure what else I can do about this...I'd like to have some type of reimbursement for the electric bills we've paid, plus have the proper system installed, but I can't see him budgeing from what he's saying...he'll rip the system out and refund our $, but like I said, that won't cover a new system (his costs stayed low in the beginning because he had all the units on hand). I don't know if I'd have to contact a lawyer or what.