Heavier rain remains an issue by causing the garage to flood.

How is water entering the garage? What is "flooding" -- how much water?

Is the lot graded so it's sloped away from the house?

Where does the gutter and french drain water go?

Picture or three of the house and lot would be helpful.

The builder has not resolved satisfactorily.

What has the builder done?

Lack of proper grading would be my first concern as well. That tends to be the #1 reason newly constructed houses flood, especially if built on a slab.

Answering PPF's questions would be a big help as well.

The garage floor is set 4 or 6" lower than the house floor to protect against fumes. A reason for flooding could be the driveway sloping towards the garage opening. More likely if the drive is asphalt or concrete. Put a level on the drive surface and see what the slope is.

Very hard to comment without a picture.

Instead of an independent resourse, I recommend an advocate. Contact a realtor for references to a lawyer.

Independent Resourse,? What world do you live in?

Hi, Motherbear,

Sorry for your experience.

Your home should be constructed according to a site development plan approved by local code officials. The site development plan should indicate the elevation of the garage slab, and 1st floor, and show the contours post final grading--all of which can be verified by a surveyor. Code requires a slope of 6" in 10' from the perimeter of your home for positive drainage. If the builder is unresponsive, I suggest you enlist the help of your code official.

Ok- so I added pics. The first thing the builder did was to bulldoze a very shallow “Canal“ across the front of the yard and to the right of the house to capture the water and channel it to the backside of the lot which slopes down to the wood line. We sodded the canal and then have been adding sod on either side of it all spring. The builder also installed French drains to the right and to the left of the front porch(They are located in the pine straw beds that you see in the pictures). Additional gutters were also added. With sustained or heavy rain, the front sidewalk continues to flood- it will be underwater all the way to the front porch. Water also gets into the garage – it pools in large puddles on the floor. You can see the damp spots in the last picture.

can't get your photos to enlarge.

Expect the garage to flow water out the opening. Look for downspouts that empty near the garage as a possible source.

Most likely a deep drain around the 3 edges of the garage will resolve

Put your hose about 10 feet from the garage opening pointed across the driveway and turn it on. The water needs to flow away from the opening down the drive or off the sides. Not towards the open or closed door. This is similar to the level test. zalso get a ladder and put your hose down the downspout turned on full. See where the water goes.

The next heavy rain, go outside and watch the water. You might use a ladder to check the gutters to make sure they are not overflowing.

Go in the garage and look to see where the water is entering.

Where do the french drains exit?

Fix the obvious problems like this gutter.

All your gutter outlets should empty well away from the house.

If the sidewalk floods, then it's in a low spot and you will need to provide a path for the water to drain away.

It looks like the ground around the house is too high. should be about 8" between the ground and bottom of siding.

The garage floor should be sloped towards the door so any water that does get inside drains out.

Georgia is known for its red clay soils that probably drain poorly.

As for your question about who to call, I'd try a good landscaper, and not just someone who does plantings, but one who works as a landscape architect, or the equivalent.

But most of this should be common sense. Things like checking slope of the garage floor and drive, and providing a path for water coming off the roof to run away from the house.

And some tips. Gutters and fascia should match in color. Downspouts should match the wall they are on.

I've used a channel drain in front of a garage and across a sidewalk to move water out of an area like you have.

The time to plan for proper drainage of a new construction site is before clearing of the site begins. In the municipalities in which we operate, a site development plan produced by a licensed surveyor is required to pull a permit. The site development plan shows the footprint of the home, driveway and walkways; the elevations of the garage slab, and 1st floor, and surrounding contours--both pre and post-construction. It indicates how storm water will be managed to ensure positive drainage away from the home. If your builder didn't get a site development plan to go along with the construction plans, then they need to go back to school. The can log the expense of fixing your problem as "continuing education" expense.

Why was the house built in a low spot, with the slab level with it's surroundings? That basic deficiency is what started all of the issues. The house wasn't designed or placed properly on the actual topography. It was a pre designed plop onto unsuitable land. Unsuitable unless 100K of dirtwork happened.

@dan1888 spotted a large downspout in the photo.. that is key. Now that I can enlarge photos it shows 3 more on the front of garage and close side of low porch roof draining to front elevation of garage, which drains down hill towards garage downspout and may be loading the front of garage and/or garage door opening with most of the water off front of roof. Thats a lot of water. It will likely flow across the front of garage door but check slopes or turn on a water hose and watch it.

All downspouts need underground piping to cross under the sidewalk and route to the back yard. Unless you have 10" of pine mulch, the entire grade between sidewalk/house looks to need lowered and sloped down and away. You require 6" of exposed foundation wall per code, and that includes the mulch, and the slope requires 6" fall over 10', I suggest to measure it. If either of those are misses by the builder, it should be warranty work.

The swale (blue arrow), if done properly outside the sidewalk, should be helpful. Though the sod should be lower than the sidewalk, and sloped down to the swale. The swale should be sloped into a shallow "vee," while that vee is simultaneously sloping down to the back yard.

The driveway slope should be sloped down and away, which the pictures don't show enough of.

^^ this exactly. When you run your downspouts underground use a pop up emitter from NDS. It might sound like a lot of work but it’s worth it for the peace of mind. Also, to keep the water away from your foundation, have your contractor use solid pipe for the first 10 feet or so.

And don't let anyone tell you it can’t be done. Our house sits below road grade and we manage to get all water out of our property.