Legal Question in Construction Law in Colorado
We need help!
We bought 7/19/05, in Oct '05 our house began leaking water during a rainstorm. Two of our other neighbors had the same exact problem. Water was coming in above our sliding door, soaking the drywall, running down the door, puddling onto the floor and actualy went into the basement as well. Our builder attempted to repair the problem by removing the siding and then replacing it with the same siding and adding some caulking. They repaired damages inside to a barely satisfactory level and we assumed that the leak was taken care of...then a couple months ago we had another substantial rainstorm that caused the house to leak again in the same place...we tried contacting our builder for about 4 days, he finally returned our call and told us the house is out of warranty and he is not responsible and we need to claim it on our homeowners insurance. Our insurance will not cover because it was a builder issue. Our first issue was during our warranty, we now have almost $5,000 worth of damages, no insurance and our builder that will not stand behind the work. He will no longer keep contact with us, we need advice. We dont have a lot of money, and the contingency based lawyers dont want to take on such a small case. Thanks for any help!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: We need help!
Afternoon:
Sorry to hear about your home problems. If you are out of the warranty period, review the contract to see if there are specific dispute resolution procedures. Sometimes they have mediation and arbitration provisions. As a general rule, you have to follow those terms.
If there are no specific dispute resolution procedures and you cannot come to some mutual resolution, you will need to file suit. As a practical matter, you should file in small claims if the damages are below $7,500 because getting an attorney to represent you will quickly run up the cost. You can still contact a construction attorney to help you form your case and then you proceed small claims.
Another option is to combine with the other similar homeowners (similar as in the same defect issues) and proceed to get an attorney to pursue the case. This way you can reduce costs. As you note, this is not a contingency case. It is too small and the issues are too uncertain.
Contact a construction attorney to discuss the matter and good luck.
Re: We need help!
Even if the 1 year warranty has expired, you may still have other claims, such as negligence, that have a two-year statute of limitations. This time limit would start to run from the date you discovered the mainfestation of the defect (October 05). You should get legal help quickly, before the two-year statute expires. If your home is a townhome or a condo (sounds like it isn't), you should notify the Association as well.
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