I hope someone who knows exactly what is going on will chime in here…but two things concern me (and it’s not the underlayment).

First, what ’s going on with the sink hole (if that is the correct assessment) in the front yard?

It appears your house doesn’t have a basement. If so, it is sitting in the same area as that hole.

Why is the floor uneven? This is a new build. Does it have anything to do with that hole?

Ask, was the lot filled? Any photos of the empty lot available for you to see?

Local building department, make a visit and find out what’s what. Who signed off on each construction stage?

You say it is your house. How is it yours?

In the first photo you have settling soil most likely due to poor compaction which cannot be remedied without removing the soil and compacting it properly. This must be fixed or you'll have settling sidewalks and poor drainage for the life of the home. Hopefully this is just an exterior issue and not under the foundation. Bring in a structural engineer and possibly a soils engineer to confirm.

Don't close on this house until these issues are addressed!

It is a front yard.

I couldn't find a spot like my front yard in neighbors.

And the house has a daylight basement.

The below is another picture.

Do I have to contact with Building department ? or meet a builder first?

I’m not sure what the building department would do?

Look for a structural engineer to meet with to review the issues before meeting with the builder. This will cost $500-$1000. The engineer should help you understand what’s going on and what the proper resolution is before meeting with the builder.

Take notes during both meetings.

Depending on your comfort level, you may ask the engineer to attend the meeting with the builder.

Unless the builder agrees to exactly what the engineer says, do not agree to anything verbally. Tell them you will review and get back to them..

The underpayment provides almost no insulating value. If the house is cold, that could be an HVAC issue.

Also, you may want to search out real estate lawyers, if you don’t already have one, none of these are good signs and it may be beneficial to have one picked out should you need one.

Looking at that sinkhole, a few things come to mind, they dug a huge hole in the front yard to get rid of some garbage or some other building debris, or for whatever reason they over-dug when they ran the water and sewer into the house and backfilled with lousy soil and it settled, or there are some major other issues going on underground, like a stream, etc.

Whatever it is, it needs to be investigated further.

In my neighborhood, there is a huge development of tract homes, the builder buried Jobsite garbage along the developments property line. Some kid fell into this big sinkhole about 12 years ago, thank god he was OK, they got him out... So they started to look for the cause and they found all the garbage, it was a major clean-up job they were moving 100-yard trailers loaded with garbage for about 3 weeks, roofing, concrete, wood, you name it.

As the flooring goes, they must have used the new technology that just came out... the invisible underlayment it's called "We-skipped-that-part".

Good luck

I like SashaDog's idea of talking to a real estate attorney. An hour or two consultation would arm you with excellent information for your discussions with your builder. Hopefully you can keep things friendly and cooperative with the builder and get the soils issues addressed without a lot of fuss. If not, walk away from this nightmare (at least from what I see in your photos). You may need the attorney to help recover any deposit you may have made.

This house may also have other issues. You should have it inspected by a very good inspector prior to closing.

@jina kim Can you explain further why the wood floors were replaced and what was”uneven level”?

If the floors themselves are not level and you have a sink hole in the front year, then that would indicate the sink hole may be impacting your foundation.

Have you closed yet?

Sadly, if the builder comes out they may fix things on a cosmetic level and move on, but you may have more serious issues that will keep coming back or could even damage the foundation of the home.

I used to sell Real Estate in California and we had a neighborhood where the builder didn't compact the soil properly and home after home after home in the development had cracked and sinking foundations. The builder went belly up and the homeowners were stuck with solving the issues. It was a mess.

You don't want this in your home 5 years down the line

I would start with calling a local expert on foundation repairs and find out from them who the best experts are that can help make sure you don't have foundation issues in the future.

I know someone who just recently backed out of a contract to build a home. They blasted for the basement and there found a cave that ran through the property. We have a lot of limestone bedrock here and more than our fair share of sink holes. The builders built a home on the lot anyway and sold it as a spec home.

Not a real estate lawyer. You need to talk to a CONSTRUCTION lawyer

I'd meet w/a structural engineer, a really good inspector, the builder and then the construction lawyer. (the latter because I guarantee you the builder is going to give you some song and dance routine)

have you already closed on this debacle? like, forked over all your money?

Heaven knows what else they skimped on. I bet the underlayment isn't the only thing. I'd have an inspector go over this home with a fine toothed comb

If they are visible (hopefully) how do the basement walls and floor look? Especially toward front of the house? Are you seeing cracks? Moisture? In any case of course you need an inspection.

Heard about Florida and other states with too common sink holes....

It is already closed in December in 2020.
When we found the exterior step of the entry was tilt to one side the builder promised they will install again in the spring.

For the refer, here is Michigan.

Good. It sounds like they acknowledge the problem is theirs to fix. You need to know exactly what they mean by "install again in the spring." There's a big difference between fixing this for real (removing the soil, re-installing and compacting properly) and pouring a new sidewalk on loose soil. If they do the latter, it will last just long enough for the builder to be gone.

What city in Michigan?

.1

Can you elaborate on why the wood floors needed to be replaced?

If you don’t have a level, it would be worth it to buy a 3’ or 4’ level to check your floors and the exterior entryway to the house. It will help you confirm if you have a widespread problem, or if it’s just one area.

@Jennifer Hogan - was that in Simi Valley? I had a friend who bought a new home there and the entire neighborhood had foundation issues. They later moved to Minnesota and it was about 25 years before they bought another house. Not sure what happened to the first home as I lost touch with her.

@mainenell It was in San Diego.

Contact a Building lawyer. Get you 30 min free chat. Ask for a Soil Engineer and structural engineer referals. Call them. While you are waiting for all the reports, call your home insurance company. Let them know there are issues with your new build.

Find out if you have Consumer protection or a Lemon Law in your state. Your Realty Lawyer might be able to help with your ability to get out of this...or what your options are.

I'm sorry but you will have to pay people today so you can get out of this tomorrow.

Do NOT meet the builder without legal/engineering pro sitting next to you. If that is a sink hole (worst case scenario) you do NOT want this house. You do not want someone telling you the will fix your walkway when the entire house is about to slide into a vat of mud.

Make the builder PROVE this is NOT a sinkhole! Make them pay for their OWN soil assesment.

That does not look like it was caused by poor compaction of backfill. The area is too far away from the foundation, circular in shape, and has sunk with a sharp cut along the edges and too deep which would not happen that quickly after backfill. It looks as if there is a leak at a water line entering the house there.

It does look like it is happening closer to the foundation. Take a look at the photos that show the front "step" that the OP was speaking of being "tilt". The sinking is starting there. The front portion of the sidewalk (going toward the street) is also leaning.

The "too far away from the foundation" is talking about the outer extent of the sinkhole. A typical overdig here in the midwest is around 4'-5' and follows the perimeter. If the backfill was strictly the problem, then this excavator decided to dig out 15'-20' in a circle. So either had to raise the grade by quite a bit, some deep trees were removed, backfilled with soap bubbles, or a water leak.

At least it looks like the porch foundation goes down to basement footings, so a description of what the unlevelness at the front door floor consisted of would be helpful, as it doesn't appear like the front of your house is sinking.