Having been frugal all my life, I've set myself up in a position with passive income, side business, investments, real estate, etc and have decided to take some of the spoils and build a house.
I purchased the plot of land and have the build all set up to go. To add stability to the house (I plan to live here for a long time) i had the build do piers. They said they weren't required, that the soil was stable, but all the neighbors who built in the last couple of years in this area (i bought the last plot in the neighborhood) put piers in.
The builder had their guy go drill the piers. They drilled 50+ of them. Then realized they were all filling up with water. That's a problem. (the other people in the neighborhood said they didnt haveI this problem but maybe 3-5 years ago the water table was at a different spot at that time).
This is where the chaos begins.
I met with the builder and he said the only option is to case them (EXPENSIVE) or simply fill them with concrete and move the house over a few feet.
I talked to someone that has done this for years and said that's not necessary. Just ahve the engineer on site, dig the hole, certify it (maybe pump out some water if need be), feill with concrete and move on to the next hole.
The builder had never done this before but said they would try.
They went out the next week and drilled 15 more holes and said the water then started showing up in the first holes. This is of course in no way what they said they'd do (drill hole, certify, fill concrete, drill hole).
Met with builder again. They said house had to be moved and, while i could case them, it makes no financial sense.
Then, without my direction, they went and filled the holes with concrete to, i guess, try to force my hand.
So now I'm left with a couple of options:
1) Case the holes (probably $50,000 vs the $15,000 they quoted me when this saga began back in March).
2) move the house two feet over
- There's enough room to do this
- QUESTION - Is there risk in de-stabilizing my foundation now that they've drilled 60+ holes on my property that some have concrete (all will be filled) but will have water in the concrete?
3) Can I simply get out of this?????
- This started 10 months ago and the house was supposed to be done around July. It's almost July and I'm nowhere near being able to move in (plus won't be able to sell my house at the peak time during the summer when people are moving for schools, etc and i currently live in a great school district)
Any help here from other's experiences?
I'm a very planful person and am using a reputable builder but I cannot believe their incompetence and worried this is going to be a money pit that, even if i build, will have significant foundation issues later due to them poking a ton of holes in my 1/2 acre property.