Building a house, screwed up the specs - Options?

[fun ticket]

I'll try to make this short and will be the first to raise my hand and say I screwed up, big time.

We are building a new house and paid for a three car garage option. The configuration is a double door and a single door, side by side. During the sales process I made a big deal out of I need a garage that I can park my Raptor in and the sales person said it is 20 feet, ok, that will work.

Fast forward, went out yesterday, foundation is poured and block exterior is up. Measured garage length and it is only 19.4" Raptor wont fit. Hmmm. Starting walking around looking at others just poured and some have a longer (by 4 feet) double car side, staggered if you will. Same house plan. Im thinking, wtf.

Went back to sales office, "oh yeah, we have an extended option, 4 feet, $5700". I said you never mentioned that and you knew how important the garage situation was. Reviewed the docs, sure as shit, I missed it.

Walked out with the sales person agreeing it was a miss by both parties. She has agreed to go back and see if (1) they can modify the existing slab with the extension or (2) move us to a different lot, start over, put the current home in their inventory. Waiting on an answer tomorrow.

Again, I admit I blew it but they should have said something as well knowing the importance of this item.

Has anyone run into anything similar? Outcome?

I put $30K so if I walk I lose that.

Thx

[BayMoWe335]

Is this a cheaper, track home type house?

If the builder is worth anything, they’ll make it good for you. Couple thousand bucks to them, tops.

If 20 works, 19.4 doesn’t sound like 20 and that’s a screw up on their part. Why is it short? What am I missing?

[Bups]

Worse case scenario set it on fire in the middle of the night and make them start over.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by Bups

Worse case scenario set it on fire in the middle of the night and make them start over.

He's in Florida, not Detroit.

On an unrelated note, I just saw a pretty big doe walk through my back forest. About 30 feet from the window. Easy shot if it was in season and I had a tag. Venison is so tasty.

[Bups]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

He's in Florida, not Detroit.

On an unrelated note, I just saw a pretty big doe walk through my back forest. About 30 feet from the window. Easy shot if it was in season and I had a tag. Venison is so tasty.

Have you never heard of the famous "Floridaman"?


I had three does walk through the apartment parking lot when I was on the porch the other day. Unfortunately the 30-06 is not a straight wall cartridge and illegal for deer hunting here. Crossbow is at my buddies, that would have been easier to play off as an accidental kill.

[RickFLM4]

I expect they will work with you in some way to fix the problem but don't expect it will be free. I don't know enough about foundations or construction to figure out if option 1 is feasible but that would seem to be the best option. Obviously you will need to pay for the upgrade / extension option but maybe they can split cost of re-work with you (or better yet not charge you for the re-work). Option 2 may be less feasible from timing and lot preference perspective.

Option 3 is to get rid of the truck or store it elsewhere. Presumably you already considered that and ruled it out.

[Lups]

Lol, I once built a cabin (a summer home) from the ground up and the company which provided the logs tried to hold off the warranty for the logs if I wouldn't pay for them for the cement base they billed for me (not agreed to) and used the one I had laid up and had half of the cabin built on already.

[fun ticket]

House is $510K, reputable builder, been around a long time.

I just bought the Raptor last April so selling it now is not really an option. Plus, I friggin love it.

If they wont work with me worst case it just sits outside and I use the third car side for storage.

I wont take legal action, because I dont think i have basis for it, but i might make them think i will. Hopefully, they will work with me.

I think both sides are at fault. Me and their salesperson.

[RickFLM4]

Make sure your HOA (assuming there is one) lets you keep the truck outside if that's what you plan to do. Mine does not allow overnight parking of pickups or any other trucks in driveways.

[fun ticket]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Make sure your HOA (assuming there is one) lets you keep the truck outside if that's what you plan to do. Mine does not allow overnight parking of pickups or any other trucks in driveways.

Yes there is an HOA and yes, they do allow pick ups in the driveway. Just no commercial type trucks, boats, campers, etc.

[Malibu1]

You should also check the door height. My garage doors are 7 high and my raptor on 37s does not go under the door header. Also might want to check width of doors.
MY doors are 9 feet wide while some garages are only 8.

[fun ticket]

Originally Posted by Malibu1

You should also check the door height. My garage doors are 7 high and my raptor on 37s does not go under the door header. Also might want to check width of doors.
MY doors are 9 feet wide while some garages are only 8.

Mine is on 35's so height is ok. Width is fine, i will be using the double door side......or not....

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Make sure your HOA (assuming there is one) lets you keep the truck outside if that's what you plan to do. Mine does not allow overnight parking of pickups or any other trucks in driveways.

what kind of HOA doesn't allow you to have trucks parked outside? i've never heard of that anywhere. work trucks yes! RV's and boats...yes! but a Raptor is a personal truck so either your HOA sucks or you don't know much about your HOA I have a lifted longbed sitting in my driveway and my HOA is pretty strict. but nowhere does it say you can't park a personal truck out front on the street or in the driveway



but to the OP i would have to say that the Builder should known that. it's not your job to remind them especially if you brought it to the table that's one feature you would like done. they should have brought that up right away and let you know there's an option for that. also, if these are custom home builders they definitely should have known but if they're your typical track home builders than i can see how this error could have happened. hopefully they can work something out for you since they only just poured the concrete in

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Make sure your HOA (assuming there is one) lets you keep the truck outside if that's what you plan to do. Mine does not allow overnight parking of pickups or any other trucks in driveways.

Good point. Mine is the same way.

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

what kind of HOA doesn't allow you to have trucks parked outside? i've never heard of that anywhere. work trucks yes! RV's and boats...yes! but a Raptor is a personal truck so either your HOA sucks or you don't know much about your HOA I have a lifted longbed sitting in my driveway and my HOA is pretty strict. but nowhere does it say you can't park a personal truck out front on the street or in the driveway
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but to the OP i would have to say that the Builder should known that. it's not your job to remind them especially if you brought it to the table that's one feature you would like done. they should have brought that up right away and let you know there's an option for that. also, if these are custom home builders they definitely should have known but if they're your typical track home builders than i can see how this error could have happened. hopefully they can work something out for you since they only just poured the concrete in

Obviously you don't live in Florida. Many Florida HOA's prohibit pickup trucks in the driveway. It is what it is and your truck would never be allowed outside in my HOA.

[zx10guy]

I've gone through 3 homes built new. The builder always provides you an options list. While the salesperson should have known and mentioned the garage extension, it's on you to make sure you've selected all the options. I know you say you admit fault but it's really more on your side than the builder's. Just want to set expectations.

The only time I saw a builder eat the cost of moving a homeowner to a different home was my neighbor. The owner's made it clear they expected a certain size porch. They were assured about the size of the porch on the model they selected being adequate. Upon the preconstruction meeting, the site foreman went over the plans and that's when they realized the porch on the model they selected was inadequate. The builder upgraded them for free to a model with the size porch they wanted.

This leads to the next point. You didn't have a preconstruction meeting with the builder? This is where you sit down with the site foreman and the sales person to go over final details before they break ground. This is where you'll see the blue prints for the home, how the home is going to be situated on the lot...going over the site survey plans, etc. The first home I had built didn't have this as it was a back to back town home. The last two were single family detached homes and both had this preconstruction meeting.

The only option for you right now is to hope the builder moves you to a different lot. There's no way they're going to redo that poured slab/foundation. I saw how they built both my homes and there's a ton of work already done to get to that point. Footers have to be dug and poured before they even build up the foundation wall and pour the slab.

The only time I've seen substantial modification to concrete/stone work was another neighbor. There's a long story behind why the builder agreed to come back and do this after the home was completed. But this homeowner got the builder to retrofit his home with the brick front option. This required the builder to dig out the soil to pour new footers for the brick front to anchor to and then rip out all the siding on the front of the house. They also had to put in a new steel beam through the garage as another anchor point for the brick front. I talked to the site foreman about this. He said he wasn't happy he had to do it.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

what kind of HOA doesn't allow you to have trucks parked outside? i've never heard of that anywhere. work trucks yes! RV's and boats...yes! but a Raptor is a personal truck so either your HOA sucks or you don't know much about your HOA I have a lifted longbed sitting in my driveway and my HOA is pretty strict. but nowhere does it say you can't park a personal truck out front on the street or in the driveway

They make it clear before you buy the house. It’s not like they changed the rule on everyone and I’m quite certain it’s the rule. All houses have 2 or 3-car garages. Our’s is 3-car and 20.5’ deep. If a truck doesn’t fit in the garage, personally I don’t mind not seeing it in anyone’s driveway.

HOA probably wants to avoid stupid shit like this from the next town over:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/200...ck-jeff-george

[jlstyle]

In the end, you are the buyer and liable for options that YOU would be paying for. Unless lot is very crucial, I would just move on to the other empty lot that they can accommodate you with a bigger garage.

[BayMoWe335]

Originally Posted by fun ticket

Mine is on 35's so height is ok. Width is fine, i will be using the double door side......or not....

Again, they said 20 feet and that would work for you right? If it’s 19.4, they are at fault.

[fun ticket]

Originally Posted by BayMoWe335

Again, they said 20 feet and that would work for you right? If it’s 19.4, they are at fault.

I do agree with some comments that I own this, yes, I do.

My argument is this:

I specifically pointed out i needed 20 feet, we discussed it at length
The sales person said yes, our garages are 20 feet
She did not point out that the usuable space is 19.4, I would have made a different decsion, you lose inches in the portion were the door shuts. They count that in the 20 feet but it is not usuable space.
At no point did she offer or point out the extended option, she should have

They own all of the above. This is their profession I expect them to be knowledgable of their products. That is not my job.

That is the discussion I will have tomorrow if they come back with an undesirable solution.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by fun ticket

I do agree with some comments that I own this, yes, I do.

My argument is this:

I specifically pointed out i needed 20 feet, we discussed it at length
The sales person said yes, our garages are 20 feet
She did not point out that the usuable space is 19.4, I would have made a different decsion, you lose inches in the portion were the door shuts. They count that in the 20 feet but it is not usuable space.
At no point did she offer or point out the extended option, she should have

They own all of the above. This is their profession I expect them to be knowledgable of their products. That is not my job.

That is the discussion I will have tomorrow if they come back with an undesirable solution.

Trying not to be argumentative here. But if a few inches is going to make or break if you could fit your truck in the garage, I would have done my due diligence and asked to see the actual building/construction plans. While the model home brochures are more or less accurate, there are variations. You may or may not have the full 20' you wanted due to the fact homes are built by humans. Especially with builders who just toss up a bunch of homes at once. And I would even say custom builders will have slight deviations from plan. My home had its walls and roof trusses built in a factory. The pieces were brought down by truck to the construction site. Even with this level of "assembly" line construction, there were mistakes. Such as the carpenters setting the long floor joists in the wrong location which was to support the gas fireplace in the family room. The guys ran the longer floor joists under where one of the windows was to go. And then there's the door to the toilet in the upgraded owner's bath. You can't swing the door fully open as about 7/8 of the travel it'll hit the baseboard. The wall was put up a couple of inches off.

I'm still wondering why you didn't have the preconstruction meeting before they broke ground. This is the final if you have any last minute changes speak up now meeting.

And you putting this on the salesperson is expecting too much from the salesperson. Yes, for the most part she should have know quite a bit about the product she is selling. But of all the people that she sees in the course of doing business, I would say she could maybe count on one hand the number of customers who have the same situation/requirements you do. These people are sales people. They won't know every minor detail about the homes especially if this builder has a bunch of different models to choose from.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Alpine300zhp

Obviously you don't live in Florida. Many Florida HOA's prohibit pickup trucks in the driveway. It is what it is and your truck would never be allowed outside in my HOA.

that's crazy! lived in Cali San Diego to be specific...HOA ok with trucks. Temecula, CA no problem there. Mesa, AZ no issues there and finally here in my current residence OH none. Just called my brothers for shi** and giggles in Texas and Alabama and both said they're allowed to. just surprised that you guys have this...unreal!