New Home Warranty

wackman

For you guys who build new homes, what do you have in your warranty and where did you get it from. Did you make it up yourself or did you buy one somewhere?

I'm trying to put together a comprehensive warranty for my new homes. So far I just fix what's reasonable and haven't had any problems but I want to do it right and CMA. I'm trying to get ideas on what I should put in there and I also would like to find one I can just buy and then add my stuff to.

Even if your'e not a builder I'd like to hear your real world, experience taught, warranty lessons. I'll start.

1. I don't fix cracks in the caulking on my trim for at least a year unless they are huge. That's because the house will be settling and I want to wait till it's pretty much done before I come back so I don't so it over and over. And then I'll only touch up paint that area where the recaulking was done.

2. Cracks in the drywall, same deal, not for the first year unless bigger than normal and then I WILL repaint the area but not the whole room, just the wall where the crack was.

Whatcha got? Who will have the best tip?

Chris Johnson

Check out the TARION program from Ontario, Canada, it is a very fair program for both the builder and consumer

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Chris

GregS

It is to a point. Many home owners complain about it favouring the builders because it's an organization made up of builders.

There's a lot of discussion about it in the forums of my site.

Chris Johnson

And if it was made up of consumers, builders would complain, and if the government actually ran it nothing would ever get accomplished.

I had 2 unreasonable customers over the years, both times Tarion - ONHWP back then stepped up did their review and guess what I was in the clear

Case 1 - To be fair the first guy was not happy with the quality of his kitchen cabinets, they were spec'd in the contract, he visited the showroom, chose his door style, was offered an upgrade and refused, for months afterwards he complained, I attended and responded to each call, the manufacturer attended twice and each time there was nothing wrong other than an inexpensive cabinet "That he just did not like" I refused to give him a new kitchen cabinets he wrote ONWHP and requested a concilliation - He Lost - I had done nothing wrong

Case 2 - 6 Months after moving into their new home customer complains that they receive the wrong roof, yes wrong roof, not shingles, it was the style and pitch. These people are the ultimate in unreal, again review contract and drawings with them show them the pitch scale/detail review still not acceptable, ONHWP called in again - review all pertinant information and reply "Builder did nothing wrong - house built as per plans and spec's". Now to make matters worse these people felt ONHWP was on the builders side and chose to spent the time and money to go to Tribunal. The day arrives and they plead the ignorance of 'expecting' something else, they even went so far as to state that because I built the house in the winter and we had heavy snowfall that the 'defect' was not visible until the summer when they could properly inspect it (insert buzzer noise here). Tribunal takes 30 days to respond and politely tells people to have a nice day, builder is not at fault. This finally goes away after a year.

So in all fairness Tarion is a good program, it does protect builders who meet there obligations with their clients and does not allow the clients to bully and start frivilous lawsuits against builders, and for the consumer it does protect them from builders who refuse to do legitimate repairs, who don't finish the job, who cheat people out of what they are entitled to. It is a fine line Tarion must walk, the job of inspecting and deciding who's being unreasonable is not that easy.

Looking at the Tarion program and how things are handled here in California, I would love to see the Tarion program working here, it removes a lot of ambiguity, would definately reduce insurance rates, and the fact that Tarion made me supply financials yearly to review my solvency was what I call a good thing, because here in California if you have $ 2500 in cash and your 4 years experience purchase a $ 12,500.00 bond you can qualify as a GC, but too often here you get GC's doing work and not being able to finish it, leaving the owner with no where to turn except suing (increased builders insurance rates), now with Tarion they have a guarented fund to protect the purchasers or refund their deposit.

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Chris

wackman

Hey Chris, so is this Tarion only in Canada or do you use it down here in the states as well (I'm in Portland, OR)? Were you suggesting I look into signing up for what sounds like a type of insurance program or just have a look to get warranty ideas? I haven't had time to check on anything yet.

Appreciate the info.

Wack

Chris Johnson

Tarion is only for builders in Ontario, it is mandatory if you build new residential homes, it is at arms length run by the provincial government, it is essentially an insurance company, but does not claim that, they are the warranty administrators, however if a builder fails to meet his obligations, the warranty program pays for repairs, to me that's also acting as an insurance company.

I find there program actually quite good and wish it were available in the US or some version of it, it eliminates lawsuits.

I was suggesting that you look into their standards for what you offer with you warranty. It is reasonable and fair by both parties. Another route you may wish to look at is a fellow by the name of Joe Turner, he is located in California and is a consultant for new home builders throughout the US as to standards and practices for dealing with new home construction issues, what is considered acceptable and what repairs must be performed. I don't have his number handy so perhaps just try to google his name.

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Chris

wackman

Is he related to Bootstrap Bill Turner???


Sorry, just watched the new pirates of the Caribbean....


I will check on him. I was thinking about looking at the sites of some of the big name national builders websites to see if they post their warranties on there for me to gather some ideas but I'm sure I won't find much. Sounds like it cost big bucks to put these together and they want to keep it under wraps unless you bought one of their houses.