Poor quality construction by area home builders

Posted in: Farrington at Lake William
  • Avatar
  • Jerry H
  • Respected Neighbor
  • Fayetteville, NC
  • 6 Posts
  • Respect-O-Meter: Respected Neighbor

 

Dear Homeowners,
This letter is to inform all the active duty military, Soldiers, veterans, DoD employees and family members who have
purchased a home from ANY builder (i.e. Caviness and Cates, Caviness Land Development, Inc., H & H Homes, LWS Homes, etc.)
in the Ft. Bragg surrounding locality. Who am I? I am an active duty Sergeant Major with 26 years of service who has lived in the
Fayetteville area since the early 90s. We, like many military families and veterans, had decided to call Fayetteville home after
retirement from the military. What happened? Within the first year of owning the home, we were having some “punch list” repairs
completed on our hardwood floors when a substantial amount of “moisture” was discovered in our slab-on-grade (monolithic)
foundation. It was at this point that we discovered what “home builders” are all about. Why are we telling you this? We have over
15 North Carolina building code violations and cannot sell our home. This problem has led my wife and me to a horrible situation we
have to deal with through legal channels and has consumed all of our retirement money, weekends and holidays. Additionally, we
both are in a deployable status and this has caused major disruption to our everyday tempo. To this day, four years later, our builder
has not taken ownership of his poor construction and rectified the matters. We have since learned there are many active duty soldiers
and veterans that are in our very same situation. Lastly, and most importantly, we have learned there are resources in place which
active duty, veterans and DoD civilians can use to assist in matters such as these and these resources are not well known to the
military and DoD community. Therefore, we want to inform you about your rights as veterans and active duty military members to
use these resources that are free and can hopefully help you get your problems resolved which you have not been able. It is highly
recommended that you put all communication in writing and follow up any phone calls with an email to the individual.
The first resource is the Ft. Bragg Dept of Public Works, Housing Division. In writing, over the phone and thru email contact Mr.
Donnie Cabral, Housing Manager. Mail: Donald L. Cabral, Housing Manager, DPW Housing Division CHRRS Bldg. 4-2843
Normandy Dr. Room 611 Fort Bragg, NC 28310-5000, Phone: 910-396-9526 (DSN 236), Fax: 910-396-7705,
Email: donald.l.cabral@us.army.mil.
The second resource is the local Better Business Bureau (BBB). The military has a very close working relationship with the BBB and
has measures in place to assist. You can file your complaint online and this will have your matters entered into the channels
immediately. Use the following link to file online with the local BBB at www.myrtlebeach.bbb.org. On the right side, go to BBB for
consumers, File a complaint to submit your complaint.
What will this do? Thru established channels this will get your complaint presented to the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board
(AFDCB). They are an appointed group on post that is comprised of both military and civilians who receive complaints and will
investigate matters that concern Soldiers health, welfare and well being both on and off post. Additionally, they publish the annual
“black list” that lists all the businesses and areas that have been voted “off limits” to active duty members stationed at Ft. Bragg. This
“black list” is designed to protect the Soldier or veteran from any type of bad business that he/she may endure.
There is no bigger investment that a Soldier, veteran, DoD civilian will make in life other than their home. Protect your asset, let your
complaints and concerns be heard and see that local builders stop using the military as “cash cows”.
In closing, it is our service to this country which provides the freedom for our country which affords these builders
to build homes. Let’s make sure we are getting what we paid for!
File your complaint and concerns today!
www.brac-newhomes.com

Dear Homeowners,

This letter is to inform all the active duty military, Soldiers, veterans, DoD employees and family members who have purchased a home from ANY builder (i.e. Caviness and Cates, Caviness Land Development, Inc., H & H Homes, LWS Homes, etc.) in the Ft. Bragg surrounding locality. Who am I? I am an active duty Sergeant Major with 26 years of service who has lived in the Fayetteville area since the early 90s. We, like many military families and veterans, had decided to call Fayetteville home after  retirement from the military. What happened? Within the first year of owning the home, we were having some “punch list” repairs completed on our hardwood floors when a substantial amount of “moisture” was discovered in our slab-on-grade (monolithic) foundation. It was at this point that we discovered what “home builders” are all about. Why are we telling you this? We have over 15 North Carolina building code violations and cannot sell our home. This problem has led my wife and me to a horrible situation we have to deal with through legal channels and has consumed all of our retirement money, weekends and holidays. Additionally, we both are in a deployable status and this has caused major disruption to our everyday tempo. To this day, four years later, our builder

has not taken ownership of his poor construction and rectified the matters. We have since learned there are many active duty soldiers and veterans that are in our very same situation. Lastly, and most importantly, we have learned there are resources in place which active duty, veterans and DoD civilians can use to assist in matters such as these and these resources are not well known to the military and DoD community. Therefore, we want to inform you about your rights as veterans and active duty military members to use these resources that are free and can hopefully help you get your problems resolved which you have not been able. It is highly recommended that you put all communication in writing and follow up any phone calls with an email to the individual.

The first resource is the Ft. Bragg Dept of Public Works, Housing Division. In writing, over the phone and thru email contact Mr. Donnie Cabral, Housing Manager. Mail: Donald L. Cabral, Housing Manager, DPW Housing Division CHRRS Bldg. 4-2843 Normandy Dr. Room 611 Fort Bragg, NC 28310-5000, Phone: 910-396-9526 (DSN 236), Fax: 910-396-7705, Email:  donald.l.cabral@us.army.mil.

The second resource is the local Better Business Bureau (BBB). The military has a very close working relationship with the BBB and has measures in place to assist. You can file your complaint online and this will have your matters entered into the channels immediately. Use the following link to file online with the local BBB at www.myrtlebeach.bbb.org. On the right side, go to BBB forconsumers, File a complaint to submit your complaint.

What will this do? Thru established channels this will get your complaint presented to the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board (AFDCB). They are an appointed group on post that is comprised of both military and civilians who receive complaints and will investigate matters that concern Soldiers health, welfare and well being both on and off post. Additionally, they publish the annual “black list” that lists all the businesses and areas that have been voted “off limits” to active duty members stationed at Ft. Bragg. This“black list” is designed to protect the Soldier or veteran from any type of bad business that he/she may endure. There is no bigger investment that a Soldier, veteran, DoD civilian will make in life other than their home. Protect your asset, let your

complaints and concerns be heard and see that local builders stop using the military as “cash cows”.  In closing, it is our service to this country which provides the freedom for our country which affords these builders to build homes. Let’s make sure we are getting what we paid for!

File your complaint and concerns today!  www.brac-newhomes.com

 

  • Stock
  • RW2624
  • Active Neighbor
  • USA
  • 1 Post
  • Respect-O-Meter: Active Neighbor

Hello,

 

I am former Army, and my husband is AD reg, who bought a home in Lillington in 2013.  To say we have had problems is putting it mildly!  I would greatly like to speak with you if I may.

  • Avatar
  • Jerry H
  • Respected Neighbor
  • Fayetteville, NC
  • 6 Posts
  • Respect-O-Meter: Respected Neighbor

Absolutely.  Please send me your phone number to farringtonhoa.com and I'll call you.  

The article that I posted was reference Regina and Richard Wills.  They were fighting with their homebuilder, Caviness and Cates, (builder of the homes in my subdivision) and pursuing all possible courses of action to include filing complaints with the BBB, getting them listed on Ft. Bragg's off limits list and a lawsuit.  They eventually won a lawsuit against Caviness and Cates for the amount of $165,000.  The link to the newsarticle from Fayobserver.com is no longer valid, but I have saved a copy and pasted it below.  I had many problems with my house.  I got a lot of it fixed, but not without persistence.  What was very frustrating is simple building code violations that Caviness and Cates violated, but even worse the city building inspector missed.  The most simple violation is that a hot water heater must be elevated off of the garage floor.  I bet that every hot water heater in the neighborhood buy mine is sitting on the concrete floor.  

I hired a superb home inspector (he is unfortunately retired) who inspected my home in great detail.  Not only did he identify building code violations, but cited the reference from the state's building codes.  I will never purchase a Caviness and Cates home again.  When they built my home, their motto was "builders of excellence."  They were far from it.  Below is a copy of the article from the lawsuit.

 

By Francis X. Gilpin 
Staff writer

A Cumberland County Superior Court jury has awarded $165,971 to a couple who sued a Fayetteville builder over alleged defects in their 4-year-old house in the Baywood South subdivision.

Caviness Land Development Inc. sold the house at 1013 Bobby Jones Drive to Richard K. Wilson and Regina E. Wills in 2006 for $290,000, according to county records.

Wilson and Wills alleged in their lawsuit that Watson G. Caviness and his company refused to acknowledge that the house's concrete slab foundation shouldn't have been poured at ground level. County assessors had classified the lot as swampland before the house was built, according to court records.

Moisture will remain in the slab, the couple's experts maintain, so no interior flooring will function properly on the foundation.

The experts said adhesives applied on the slab to keep flooring in place won't work because of the wetness.

Code violations

The experts found more than a dozen code violations in the rest of the house, according to court records.

Claude T. Canipe, a private inspector hired by the couple, said he found no covering between the shingles and wood sheathing on the roof, at least around the eaves where he could pull up the corners of shingles. Without the underlayment, which is required by the state building code, Canipe said, roof leaks are more likely during wind-driven rain. The leaks could lead to mold in the attic and wall cavities, Canipe said.

Canipe said he found that the stairs in the two-story house weren't erected at uniform heights, a potentially dangerous code violation.

Caviness could not be reached for comment Monday.

In closing arguments to the 12-member jury last week, Caviness' lawyer, David S. Coats of Raleigh, portrayed Wilson and Wills as paranoid nitpickers who would have found fault with the construction of Noah's Ark.

"Watson, throughout this entire process, is taking the high road," Coats said of his client. "That lot is a perfectly, perfectly fine lot."

Coats told the jury that the couple didn't give Caviness a fair opportunity to repair the house.

Smithfield lawyer Ron L. Trimyer Jr., representing the couple, told the jury that Caviness was slow to take responsibility and initially referred Wills to subcontractors if she was dissatisfied.

Given the scope of the problems, Trimyer said, Caviness was willing only to replace the flooring.

Another lawyer for the couple, Bradley N. Schulz of Morehead City, said Caviness was never interested in fixing the problem.

"He wanted to fix a symptom," Schulz told the jury.

Trimyer said the couple wanted Caviness to buy back what they had hoped would be their retirement home for $360,000, which included the cost of improvements they had made before the alleged defects became evident.

Caviness insisted that moisture was inadvertently captured in the slab during concrete pouring, Trimyer said, but it was now gone. Trimyer said Caviness' own subcontractors contradicted that.

"My clients want to deal with facts, not his opinion," Trimyer told the jury.

Coats said the couple exaggerated the problems and moved out of the house two years ago to bolster their lawsuit, which they filed in 2009.

"Nobody says you had to move out of Bobby Jones Drive," Coats said.

Breach of contract

The jury found Friday that there was a breach in the Caviness contract to sell the house to the couple, as well as a breach of an implied warranty that the house would be built with quality workmanship, Trimyer said.

The builder's lawyers, Coats and J.T. Crook, weren't available Monday to comment on whether they will appeal the verdict.

By Francis X. Gilpin 
Staff writer

A Cumberland County Superior Court jury has awarded $165,971 to a couple who sued a Fayetteville builder over alleged defects in their 4-year-old house in the Baywood South subdivision.

Caviness Land Development Inc. sold the house at 1013 Bobby Jones Drive to Richard K. Wilson and Regina E. Wills in 2006 for $290,000, according to county records.

Wilson and Wills alleged in their lawsuit that Watson G. Caviness and his company refused to acknowledge that the house's concrete slab foundation shouldn't have been poured at ground level. County assessors had classified the lot as swampland before the house was built, according to court records.

Moisture will remain in the slab, the couple's experts maintain, so no interior flooring will function properly on the foundation.

The experts said adhesives applied on the slab to keep flooring in place won't work because of the wetness.

Code violations

The experts found more than a dozen code violations in the rest of the house, according to court records.

Claude T. Canipe, a private inspector hired by the couple, said he found no covering between the shingles and wood sheathing on the roof, at least around the eaves where he could pull up the corners of shingles. Without the underlayment, which is required by the state building code, Canipe said, roof leaks are more likely during wind-driven rain. The leaks could lead to mold in the attic and wall cavities, Canipe said.

Canipe said he found that the stairs in the two-story house weren't erected at uniform heights, a potentially dangerous code violation.

Caviness could not be reached for comment Monday.

In closing arguments to the 12-member jury last week, Caviness' lawyer, David S. Coats of Raleigh, portrayed Wilson and Wills as paranoid nitpickers who would have found fault with the construction of Noah's Ark.

"Watson, throughout this entire process, is taking the high road," Coats said of his client. "That lot is a perfectly, perfectly fine lot."

Coats told the jury that the couple didn't give Caviness a fair opportunity to repair the house.

Smithfield lawyer Ron L. Trimyer Jr., representing the couple, told the jury that Caviness was slow to take responsibility and initially referred Wills to subcontractors if she was dissatisfied.

Given the scope of the problems, Trimyer said, Caviness was willing only to replace the flooring.

Another lawyer for the couple, Bradley N. Schulz of Morehead City, said Caviness was never interested in fixing the problem.

"He wanted to fix a symptom," Schulz told the jury.

Trimyer said the couple wanted Caviness to buy back what they had hoped would be their retirement home for $360,000, which included the cost of improvements they had made before the alleged defects became evident.

Caviness insisted that moisture was inadvertently captured in the slab during concrete pouring, Trimyer said, but it was now gone. Trimyer said Caviness' own subcontractors contradicted that.

"My clients want to deal with facts, not his opinion," Trimyer told the jury.

Coats said the couple exaggerated the problems and moved out of the house two years ago to bolster their lawsuit, which they filed in 2009.

"Nobody says you had to move out of Bobby Jones Drive," Coats said.

Breach of contract

The jury found Friday that there was a breach in the Caviness contract to sell the house to the couple, as well as a breach of an implied warranty that the house would be built with quality workmanship, Trimyer said.

The builder's lawyers, Coats and J.T. Crook, weren't available Monday to comment on whether they will appeal the verdict.

 

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