Hawkins Construction

February 2018, we filed a lawsuit against Sean Hawkins Construction and won We hired Hawkins Construction to install our patio cover on our new house back in The Hawkins' couple seemed very friendly, and the quote is quite fairHowever, our nightmare has started sinceAt first, we noticed water has cascaded down the wall below the patio cover when rainedSean came a few times to re-caulked the gap, where the patio cover connected to the wallHe extended the flashing; caulked the lower edges of our windows above the patio cover (which has nothing to do with the wet wall below the patio cover)Even worse, when we've found out about the caulking on those windows and questioned him, he did not admit itHe pointed finger to our builderHowever, the caulking material is exactly the same at the one being used on the patio coverAfter a few calls and fixes without success, we had given up and lived with the wet wallIt was not a big deal, we thought The big storm on January has bought the water into our house through the window right below the patio coverWe've stayed up the entire night to keep the water from damaging our drywall and carpetSean was notified and came back to check on the patio coverThis time, he has suggested to apply clear sealant to our stucco wall to prevent water from soaking into the unpainted stuccoWhen I've concerned the trouble of painting the 2nd storage wall above the patio cover, Sean then educated me about the structure of the houseHe told me that there is a flashing line separating the two levelRain water soaks into the stucco wall from the 2nd storage will exit through the flashing lineWith that says, we only need to paint the stucco wall below the flashing line down toward the patio coverWe've agreed and Sean did help us with the few coats of sealantHowever, the water still cascaded down the wall belowEven worse, we found out that Sean has applied clear sealant above the flashing line as wellOf course, he did not apply them all the way up toward the roofHe only applied them up to the lower line of the upper windows, where he could reach from the top of the patio coverThe issue here is what can keep the water out will also keep water inBy applying sealant half way on our upper wall, rain water that soaks into our stucco wall below the roof and upper windows area will be kept inside the stucco wall since it will not be able to escape through the flashing line belowWhat's a brilliant idea, huh!? Since a few coats of sealant did not work, Sean came back to suggest paintingThis time, we've to remind him not to paint above the flashing line =(Regardless, the painting was also unable to keep the water from soaking the wall belowWe then pointed out that with the painting, if works, it may only help temporary preventing the water from coming into our houseHowever, the cause of the leakage is still unknownAt this point, Sean blamed it to our builder again and claimed that his patio cover may have been preventing the problem to surface all these years After consulting a few constructors, we finally found out that the causes of the leakage are coming from: 1) The inefficient slope of the patio coverand 2) The improper drainageSean did not leave any gap on the patio cover to allow rain water to drain into the gutter belowThe excessive amount of rain water from the big storm has sat on top of the patio cover like a pool and found its way to get into our houseWe have provided many opportunities for Sean to correct the problem, but it seams like he did not even realize the problem is triggered by his own faulty designHe has let us in a wild goose chase for years with headache, stress, and inconveniences

February 2018, we filed a lawsuit against Sean Hawkins Construction and won
We hired Hawkins Construction to install our patio cover on our new house back in The Hawkins' couple seemed very friendly, and the quote is quite fairHowever, our nightmare has started sinceAt first, we noticed water has cascaded down the wall below the patio cover when rainedSean came a few times to re-caulked the gap, where the patio cover connected to the wallHe extended the flashing; caulked the lower edges of our windows above the patio cover (which has nothing to do with the wet wall below the patio cover)Even worse, when we've found out about the caulking on those windows and questioned him, he did not admit itHe pointed finger to our builderHowever, the caulking material is exactly the same at the one being used on the patio coverAfter a few calls and fixes without success, we had given up and lived with the wet wallIt was not a big deal, we thought
The big storm on January has bought the water into our house through the window right below the patio coverWe've stayed up the entire night to keep the water from damaging our drywall and carpetSean was notified and came back to check on the patio coverThis time, he has suggested to apply clear sealant to our stucco wall to prevent water from soaking into the unpainted stuccoWhen I've concerned the trouble of painting the 2nd storage wall above the patio cover, Sean then educated me about the structure of the houseHe told me that there is a flashing line separating the two levelRain water soaks into the stucco wall from the 2nd storage will exit through the flashing lineWith that says, we only need to paint the stucco wall below the flashing line down toward the patio coverWe've agreed and Sean did help us with the few coats of sealantHowever, the water still cascaded down the wall belowEven worse, we found out that Sean has applied clear sealant above the flashing line as wellOf course, he did not apply them all the way up toward the roofHe only applied them up to the lower line of the upper windows, where he could reach from the top of the patio coverThe issue here is what can keep the water out will also keep water inBy applying sealant half way on our upper wall, rain water that soaks into our stucco wall below the roof and upper windows area will be kept inside the stucco wall since it will not be able to escape through the flashing line belowWhat's a brilliant idea, huh!?
Since a few coats of sealant did not work, Sean came back to suggest paintingThis time, we've to remind him not to paint above the flashing line =(Regardless, the painting was also unable to keep the water from soaking the wall belowWe then pointed out that with the painting, if works, it may only help temporary preventing the water from coming into our houseHowever, the cause of the leakage is still unknownAt this point, Sean blamed it to our builder again and claimed that his patio cover may have been preventing the problem to surface all these years
After consulting a few constructors, we finally found out that the causes of the leakage are coming from: 1) The inefficient slope of the patio coverand 2) The improper drainageSean did not leave any gap on the patio cover to allow rain water to drain into the gutter belowThe excessive amount of rain water from the big storm has sat on top of the patio cover like a pool and found its way to get into our houseWe have provided many opportunities for Sean to correct the problem, but it seams like he did not even realize the problem is triggered by his own faulty designHe has let us in a wild goose chase for years with headache, stress, and inconveniences