Construction tolerances?

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

This may be long. We just had a house built. During a walk through there was a baseboard that looked like a fun house mirror. A few, in fact. They “fixed” them and when I pointed out they still looked wavy the construction manager started into these “tolerances”. We moved in and started to notice things little by little whether it being from certain lighting showing new issues or from just looking places we hadn’t checked before. We’d start to bring up things and the construction manager would come back with, “Did you point that out in the walk through?”. Well, no because I didn’t see it!

Is there a place where I can find the tolerances or does each builder have their own? We moved to Alabama if that helps.

And, what is the best way to go about this? Do we bring back our inspector and point this out to him and have him write it up? Or do we ask the construction manager for a list of tolerances and bring him in and show him all that is wrong? and after that, it was they refuse do we say we will pay for it then come after you for the cost?

This is supposed to be our forever home and right now it’s nothing but a stressor.

adding pictures of just a few things from the huge list. I’m pretty sure no one knew how to use a level. We have doors out of line, walls seem to be way off and our blinds were even hung crooked. The Sheetrock is showing through and random bubbles are now appearing. The walls above where the baseboard were fixed look to be cut and all messed up. Help!

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Comments (2)

SJ McCarthy
6 years ago
OK...first things first: grab a 10ft level or a laser level and start documenting.

It appears the state of the 'finished' walls and ceilings are a troubling you (which can happen). Your BIGGEST recourse is to find out what LEVEL of drywall finish you PAID for. Drywall finishing ranges from 1-5. The '1' being taped and mudded + lightly sanded and then painted. The '5' being absolute PERFECTION.

You can catch your builder by understanding what you paid for. Framing is rarely square/plumb. If you PAID for 'furring out' then you should have GOTTEN it. It is an upcharge. It can cost +++money. And that's not something people believe they should have to pay for. But they do.

Find out HOW MUCH you paid for your FINISHES...and then find out if you GOT what you PAID FOR. That's where you can REALLY go after them.

As for 'tolerances'...there is something to it...but you (homeowner) has to understand "Industry Best Practices". That means you need to find out 'best practices' for plumbing, electrical, drywall, flooring, windows, roofing, etc.

It can be done...but it takes a WHOLE LOTA legwork. First things first: find out what LEVEL of finishing you PAID for. While someone digs that out, go ahead and start using your 10ft/laser level on doors, flooring, walls, etc.

I like to worry about the BIG things...like windows, doors, insulation, water proofing, eaves, roofs, plumbing and electrical. The finishes are just 'make pretty' finishes (which are important if you paid for the 'extra love' but unimportant in the grand scheme of things).

A bad roof or leaking windows REALLY add up once the 1-2 year labour warranty runs out (or whatever you have in your state).
kcoal
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the reply. We chose this builder because their finishes were of much better quality than others. They advertise as being high end, but I believe they have grown too big too quickly and their quality of work took a hit because of it. If I had seen this in their other homes we would have ran. While the roof, etc are huge so is looking at these things for the rest of my life. We closed two weeks ago on a brand new build that we paid a pretty penny for, we should not have huge lines in our walls and bubbles coming through already. Our last house we had built was half the price and certainly didn’t have lines through the walls. It’s not all over, just in certain areas.

They also left wiring sticking out of the tile next to the bath. Come to find out, it had electricity to it and was left exposed near water. This just goes to show how much was overlooked and that they were just trying to meet a deadline.

I want to be understanding, but we’ve had issue after issue with so much that it’s a bit hard.
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