Comments:

Our place was finished over 6 months late. The delay in itself would not have been such a problem if the builder were ever honest about it. By contract we had a limited time to close after we were given notice of completion. This was less than we needed to change notice on our lease or to reprocess a loan. The builder would say "next month" through the entire process. We initially set things with several months extra because I wanted to make sure we were covered. When we were down to the wire I talked to the builder stressing how important it was that I know if they would have additional delays. They reassured me how everything was in order and how they couldn't help but make the next date. The result was we had no place to live and I had to send my wife (and less than 1 month old baby) to stay with relatives out of state for most of the next month. We also had to pay relock fees and numerous extra inspection fees (the builder kept calling our mortgage inspector out saying the place was done when it was not even close). Things did not get any better after closing. We really should have walked away however that is a hard sell to a wife with baby. The emotional toll of having to deal with such a builder is really hard to describe. Our punch list was never finished. Our living room ceiling collapsed from improper plumbing. They improperly installed an upstairs toilet so that it leaked on the kitchen counter when flushed. Our garage ceiling collapsed twice. The gas HVAC and hot water heater were exhausted into their intake pipe. The builder insisted this was correct. They finally added a separate pipe but left all the pipes unattached in the floor/ceiling space instead of attaching them to the vents going outside. We spent months and months trying to get the place fixed. The builder would make appointments but seldom showed up. When they did the quality of work was so bad I usually ended up fixing it myself. We went to take out a home equity line of credit but were denied because we didn't show as owning the place. Apparently they hooked to city water without any permits. A water certificate should have been required to close but one of the top people at the title company is a friend of the president of Forest Knoll. We finally took the builder to court for the extra fees from them repeatedly missing their closing dates. (The owner had verbally promised to pay these near the time of closing but never had nearly a year later.) He asked to settle out of court with a written agreement. Now he says he won't pay unless I send him a letter saying everything in the place is correct. Since we had sold the place a month ago so this seemed irrelevant (getting the water meter was quite an ordeal). Now I?m wondering if there is something else wrong for him to want this in writing. Checking with the city I found they didn?t do most of the required inspections or issue an certificate of occupancy. I couldn't be more relieved to be done with this builder but the broken agreement is a bit of an irritation.