Is this a custom home or a tract home?

Whoa pink. I am so, so sorry to hear you are still having troubles...two years later. I sure would like to know EXACTLY what was meant by “shorting the foundations”, especially since you are possibly having “settling” issues. I would pursue finding that out and I would talk to a lawyer as well as immediately hire a true expert to throughly inspect your foundation (no matter what the cost)...and I mean find someone who truly knows his stuff and has integrity as well.

Did you hire an independent inspector before you closed..can’t remember.

Mark these were sold as semi custom homes. I would consider them production BUT with all custom finishes and the ability to have walls added and omitted , rooms changed etc.

Beverly that is great except if this is a foundation issue on a slab wall foundation it would likely mean tearing down the house and rebuilding. No crawl space. We are on concrete.

Nidnay. Yes we did. We had him do a pre drywall inspection. He noted at that time some very fine cracks in slab. Noted size. Told is to watch if they got larger. They didn’t . They were very fine. He also did a precluding Inspection. Then a third inspection prior to our one year warranty. There were findings but nothing involving foundation etc. But now I’m feeling like we need a structural engineer?

I think by shorting the concrete foundation is probably how many inches deep( concrete) the foundation is or the footings were shorted. Also if the dirt under foundation was not prepared or compacted correctly could be causing the excessive settling.

This is what I thought that term might mean as well. Not something to take lightly.

The majority of settling in new homes is caused by moisture leaving the construction materials, and them shrinking. 1/8” is not excessive. 1” is excessive. If your foundation is settling excessively, you ought to be able to ascertain that by creating and using a water level, on the exterior. A water level is just very long tubing, filled with water and no air bubbles. Mark increments on the exterior. Water seeks its level, and you can tell if one point is higher than another quite easily.

https://www.deckmagazine.com/products/tools-equipment/making-and-using-a-water-level_o

One fairly simple way to find out what the foundation looks like is to core through it in a few places with a concrete coring saw. Just small holes (1") is enough. I'm not a foundation expert but that would answer the question. If there are rooms with carpet, or a garage, those are easier to get at.

Footers or foundation walls, around the outside of the house, are harder and would require digging in spots to see how deep they go. A small excavation, even as little as a foot wide, down the wall till the bottom is reached. You'd have to know the required depth per building codes in your location.

Read your contract carefully and see if there's an arbitration clause in it.

If they are "suddenly responsive" - I'd get some sort of structural inspector and talk to your neighbors. I'd hate to have this go bad later and the builder comes back with "hey - we even went back WELL AFTER the 1 year warranty period to dowry and this was not mentioned". It seems fishy that they suddenly give a darn about customer satisfaction.

Invest in a report by a professional. If your neighbors are seeing the same - go in together on a group buy. Focus on homes started the same time as yours - as my experience has been that cheater and quality issues seem to degrade over time - i.e. superintendent starts out doing everything right and little by little...... with less and less supervision......

And you might want to find your permit and see if you and see all the inspection notes your county's website - see if your house failed anything like footings, etc.

Have you considered having a foundation repair company come to you house and measure the relative heights of your floor throughout the house. It is a common procedure for them to use a machine which can determine differential elevations throughout a house with a slab on grade.

Differential movement can occur for many reasons. The common remedial procedure is to install galvanized steel piers (no concrete piers!) to stop settlement, and to raise low spots to some degree. Not a cheap procedure, but if you have settlement it's about the only preventive/remedial procedure.

Preliminary measurement will at least let you know the condition of your slab on grade.

Good luck!