Fallone Builders Inc.

Thank you for the opportunity to address the items referenced in the above complaint. I would like to go through each item as best as I can. The customer states there was flooding in the basement in the early stages of construction. As is typical of our region, groundwater is encountered when you...

excavate 8 feet into the ground for a basement. This is the reason that nearly every modern home in our area has a sump in the basement floor with a standby pump to send collected groundwater to the storm sewer system. As the customer stated, the basement was pumped dry at this early stage and that condition was maintained through the remainder of the construction process. The unfinished items that the customer referenced were part of a final walk-through punch list. A small list of minor tasks is not uncommon upon the completion of a new home and those items were taken care of. The customer does indeed have 3"-4" of driveway settling where the driveway meets the garage. As I explained to the customer, the area immediately in front of the garage was excavated to roughly the same depth as the house foundation in order to build the garage foundation wall. As such, that area, as do all excavated areas, will experience settling in varying degrees. Although we attempt to compact the backfilled area to minimize this settling, it still occurs. The stone base under this area is installed to the same thickness as the rest of the driveway, which has not experienced significant settling. This particular area has dropped (stone and asphalt) because the soil underneath has settled. Our contract specifications are for a binder driveway so as to allow for this settling to occur and for the area to be shimmed up to an appropriate level before the customer has a "top coat" of finish asphalt independently installed to flush grade. These detail were discussed with the customer. As detailed by the customer, there was ice accumulation discovered in the attic in the first week of March 201 5. I happened to be out of town on a personal matter, so I could not immediately address the issue in person. Upon my return, the second week of March 201 5, the customer and I went in the attic together. There appeared to some daylight around the flashing around the vent. I sealed the area with roof sealant and replaced the wet insulation in the attic. I speculated that perhaps the wind had shifted the flue and created the gap in the flashing because there had not been any leaking issues in the winter of 201 3-2014, which was the customer's first winter in the house. As a follow up, I had a roofing contractor go onto the roof in the summer of 2015 to assess the flashing around the flue to ensure the matter was settled. As the customer stated, and as was confirmed by the roofing contractor, the flashing and sealing were sound and there was no daylight visible from the attic. In January 2016 the customer again contacted me stating that there was a leak on the ceiling in the same area. As the customer detailed, our heating contractor determined that the flue cap had been pushed down too far and was not allowing the flue to vent properly. The problem was taken care of by the heating contractor as this is part of their equipment. At no time did the customer or the heating contractor state there was an issue with the flashing around the flue. The customer requested a roofer to come and look at the roof again, t saw no need for this. There were no roof or flashing issues. The cap for the heating system was fixed by the heating contractor, who supplied it and has professional expertise in its function. The issue was taken care of by our qualified, partner contractor and I saw no further need for a roofer in this situation. Finally, the subdivision in question is still in active construction. Therefore I have construction equipment and storage trailers parked on site. As a matter of fact, two homes that were built last fall need final site grading and lawns installed in the spring of 2016. The equipment on site will be needed to do this work, just as it was done for every other home in the neighborhood. With only one lot remaining in the subdivision, it is anticipated that the subdivision will be finished this year. Accordingly, our equipment will be removed from the site at that time when it is no longer needed. Although some graphics on the sales sign for the street have faded, the real estate agent's name and phone number are still abundantly clear which is very important to us as we strive to sell our last lot. In addition, this sign is at the entrance to the street and the person on whose property it sits has made no complaints to me about its appearance or its existence. She is certainly more affected by this sign than anyone else. We don't feel a reimbursement to the customer is appropriate. I believe we have given reasonable explanations for the complaints and have otherwise fixed the issues that have arisen. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Davide Fallone Fallone Builders, Inc.