Sandlin Homes

Homeowner and Sandlin have come to an agreement and we have proceeded to finish house for Mr***

We have contacted the customer and are in the process of scheduling any warranty repairsI believe there was conflicts with customers schedule to accommodate the repairs, but I'm informed we are resolving as soon as possible. Thank you, *** ***Owner

Sandlin has no way of knowing the cause defect as they have not bothered to inspect the issueThis particular construction defect was addressed prior to closing and is still an obvious issueSandlin has no regard for their customers and builds a poor product that they do not stand behindThey have a sales office a block away yet will not even extend the courtesy of looking at the issueyear old houses should not have water flowing down their interior wallsThe Sandlin method of operation of fighting their customer without even looking at the issue is on display hereIt is a shame the Sandlin chooses to go the route of Perry Homes instead of addressing what could be simple issues

Again, I am sorry for the unpleasant experience you had with our companyLike in any business, problems occur and in my plus years in construction, I find them mostly due to miscommunicationOne person thinks one thing and by the time it gets to the person actually performing the task it is not what was originally plannedHouses are built by humans and not machines as say an automobileTherefore, mistakes are madewe strive to not make them or correct them as quickly as possibleRegardless of what I say I can see, by your letter that there is no changing how you feelWe can both believe what we wantThat being said, I will offer to send you a payment of $which is half of the earnest money depositConsidering my costs to commit to building this house, I feel this is more than fairMy offer will be valid till 12/7/

Mr*** says:
"I am absolutely unwilling to consider this issue or the other issues on our punch list resolved until EVERYTHING is completed."
We will address ever item on any list and facilitate any warranted repairs

Please see below, the email from our National Risk Manager from Structure Home Warranty, the company that holds the warranty insurance for the homeowner
11/2/
The water leak coverage as defined in the STRUCSURE HOME WARRANTY Express Limited Warranty Coverage Book had expired in August of
Therefore that specific warranty coverage is currently outside the window of designated coverage
*** ***
*** ***
National Risk Manager
StrucSure Home Warranty
###-###-####
www.strucsure.com | www.s-rmg.com

The homeowner stated:
The damage to my sheetrock is not an opinionWater tests proved that water was getting behind the tar paper on the whole wallThat is not an opinionAccording to the part of the warranty that was first quoted by Sandlin Homes, it is acceptable to prevent further damage
(Yes, but the homeowner is taking this out of contextIt states they must take action to "Minimize" the damageIn this case it would mean putting towels down to absorb the water intrusion, not tear down an entire wall of stone.)
The Structure Home Warranty also states, "The homeowner agrees that any and all repairs performed beyond such measures will NOT be covered by the warranty"
Add to this the documented fact from MK Roofing that the homeowner turned down their offer to go out and see what the cause of the leak wasThat too voided the warranty

I must reiterate what the National Risk Manager said in his email
" The water leak coverage as defined in the STRUCSURE HOME WARRANTY Express Limited Warranty Coverage Book had expired in August of Therefore that specific warranty coverage is currently outside the window of designated coverage."
If there was a construction error on the roof, it certainly would have showed up way before the homeowner had resided in the house for
over yearsThere are a lot of variables that can be attributed to roof leaks
Strong winds
Hail Storms
Unattended homeowner maintenance, i.e., periodic caulking, replacing missing shingles, etc
Homeowner maintenance gone wrong causing the issues
Outside independent trades hired by homeowner disturbing the roof
These are only a few of the variablesIt would not prove anything for me or one of my inspectors to look at the issue as we do not know WHO or WHAT caused the issue since all of this time has passed

Although we are within our legal right not to warrant this issue or even to look at it, I have discussed the matter with the Vice President of Operations and he is going to take a look at the issue this Thursday, November 5,

To date there is still a lack of communication and as late as yesterday plumbers were sent out without my knowledge and I had no chance to understand the issues that were being addressedkey employees have been fired or quit and I really have not seen a completed list of all thy original complaints completed

Sandlin Homes has every intent to personally visit with Mr***Presently, there has been a death in the Sandlin familyWe will contact Mr*** sometime next week to coordinate a time to visit with him

After investigation of the homeowners concerns I was informed that all warranted items had already been completed or an appointment has been scheduled with the homeowner

The different sub contractors came out and discovered that the wiring was completely wrong where our stove top and oven were on the same breaker which was costing the breaker to pop as well as our microwave and all the outlets on our islandThe supervisor for the electric company admitted to me and my wife that the super for Sandlin homes knew it was done wrong and wouldn’t approve the repair because they would have had to tear into the cement in the kitchen to do it rightNow we are looking at a hughe demolition project if my wife and I want the job done correctly; we are not interested Today we had *** come out to seal the countertops and flow as well as clean the carpetsHe told us the granite had never been sealed which was also promised to be done by Sandlin Third, my father and I went to replace all four of the awful toilets that the builder installed with nice Kohler unitsWe one to the fancy water shut off system that Sandlin sold us on only to find that none of the labels matched what they were supposed to and even shutting of the main valve didn’t completely shut off the waterWe finally had to use valves that were not marked at all This has been an utter disaster and I am not sure how this company is still in business other than home owners don’t have the knowledge to discretionary income to sue the pants off these guys…I do!!

We are assigning one of our senior builders to meet with customer and evaluate the status of warranty items and then proceed with actions to correct. They will be in contact.

I will arrange to have any plans we received to be put in the mail today. I'm sorry for the confusion and delay.

I cannot find any further written documentation from the homeowner before he took it upon himself to have the stone fascia removed, thereby not giving us another chance to look into the issue.
We did not give him authorization to remove the stone fascia.
His warranty, provided by Structure Home Warranty states on page 3, Section 4, subsection 3, item b, states:
"You agree that only those repairs necessary to make the house habitable or mitigate further damage shall be performed. You agree that any and all repairs performed beyond such measures will not be covered by the warranty. Any unauthorized repairs made by you or someone under your direction, other than those permitted in this paragraph, will not be reimbursed or compensated."

The delays in construction for this home are due to extreme weather conditions and a extensive amount of lot preparation. There is a three tiered retaining wall that had to be constructed prior to the setting of foundation boards. We understand the frustration of construction delays and have all...

urgency to complete construction. Framing is started and the project should continue in a timely manner now that the weather has subsided.

The flashing was only one problem with the wall.  As any builder knows, the flashing is the last line of defense against water damage.  The tar paper, if installed properly, should have kept the water from getting to the tremo ply and the water would have been diverted by the flashing.  In this case, the tar paper was not overlapped properly (over the entire wall) and there were not two layers as there should have been.  Water was seeping into the rocks over the entire wall getting behind the tar paper.  Since there was not suffcient tar paper, water was running down the thermo ply which is behind the tar paper and the flashing.  WATER WAS RUNNING BEHIND THE TAR PAPER OVER THE WHOLE WALL OF THAT ROOM.  Repairing a little strip of stone and tar paper at the bottom will not stop water that is running down from above that has gotten behind the tar paper.  The faux stone and tar paper on that wall are being repaired to mitigate damage.  As stated before, water can cause a lot of damage.  Re-doing all of the tar paper with the proper overlap and appropriate number of layers (on the whole wall) is the only way to prevent further damage.  The only way to get to all of the tar paper is to remove all of the faux stone.  In order to correct the old tar paper, you take all of the old tar paper off and start over with new tar paper.  When a house is built correctly, water does not get behind the tar paper.  These measures were taken to prevent further water damage.  Structure Home Warranty states on page 3, Section 4, subsection 3, item b, states: "You agree that only those repairs necessary to make the house habitable or mitigate further damage shall be performed.  The repairs performed mitigate further damage.

I apologize for the problems you have experienced. I have been discussing the needed repairs with [redacted], our warranty supervisor. I will discuss again with her to verify all repairs will be scheduled on the days you mentioned. Please feel free to contact me anytime. It may be easier than going thru this channel. [redacted]

Our customer service manager is working on the issues and will report to me what is needed for repairs.