From: William
To: Richard
Cc: Janet @outlook.com); Tammy
Subject: Re: Last request for warranty support Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 11:18:18 AM
Richard,
As we have detailed in our previous on site meetings Lennar is committed to performing
the agreed upon repairs as we have discussed. With the new developments as to which I
explained up front was my priority in remedying upon the first visit to your home (water
containment), however, your response at that time was until we raised the wall, no further
work could be done on the exterior as it relates to the yard and subsequent drainage. This
position only delayed the work and allowed additional jobs to be placed in front of yours as
we worked through further discussions and site visits to your home. Only on the last visit to
your home was it agreed upon for us to be able to proceed. Tammy and I also detailed at that
time that Whitney Site Services is weeks out and that we would notify you the week prior to
starting to confirm the date they would begin. That being said given the new developments,
pending the inspection on Friday, if the engineer tells us we can proceed with the drainage
plan discussed then we will lock in the date at that time. However, if any exterior site work
relating to the foundation of the home needs to be executed first, the order in which the work
is done will be based upon the engineers recommendation. As it relates to the neighboring
pipes present in the supplied picture, as we discussed on site prior, upon installing the upper
drain, these pipes will be located and outlet points verified to ensure proper drainage. We will
have a better idea of the time frame upon the completion of Friday’s inspection by the
engineer. Once we have his report and response we will layout the schedule to complete the
warrantable repairs. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
Bill
Area Customer Service Manager
Lennar Homes
Charlotte NC / Greenville SC
On Aug 29, 2018, at 9:37 AM, Richard
@outlook.com
> wrote:
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Bill
The disconnect is, nothing has been done on this property. Our patience and
understanding was based on work beginning in August. Those were your words about 2 months ago. At that time, you stated the landscaper already had work scheduled that would take him into August. Well, August is pretty much history.
My understanding is no longer taking a back seat to “other” work. The issues on this property demand immediate attention.
concentrated water flow onto our property, the excessive slope, inadequate retaining wall and now structural stress fractures are probably all related and as such, need to be addressed together.
Any existing structural issues cannot be fixed until the cause is identified and resolved. And what is the cause? Are you qualified to make that determination? If not, bring whatever resources you feel are necessary to evaluate this property as a whole. It cannot be fixed in pieces.
The October 1st deadline remains in effect, which we feel is more than fair. Hell, I still have an 80 foot silt fence on my property. Your resources will simply have to put someone else’s work on hold and make this property a priority.
As a side note, the collection box installed in the backyard less than a year ago has detached from the 6” drain tile. I tried to reattach it. Water simply fills the hole and water and soil are now discharged through
the open ended drain tile, causing further erosion.
Also, we need to have a conversation concerning my neighbors foundation (?) drain tiles and what is to be done with them. In the picture below, they appear to discharge onto our property.
<image001.jpg> Sincerely
Richard and Janet SC 29708
847-From: William @Lennar.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 6:28 AM
To: Richard @outlook.com>
Cc: Janet @outlook.com) < @outlook.com>;
Tammy @lennar.com>
Subject: Re: Last request for warranty support
Richard,
Im not sure where the disconnect is as we had a plan of action to address these concerns in which we went over and discussed on the previous three visits to your property. At first you would not allow us to proceed unless we were going to “raise the retaining wall”. I spoke with the installing company in which discussed with the original engineer and stated this was not an option given the design and subsequent approval by all governing bodies necessary at the time of the community plan approval. Upon the additional visits to your home we discussed the alterations needed to remedy the water drainage concerns in the rear of the property and such based upon the last (third
Lennar’s reply to my lengthy message back to Lennar warranty stating that it has been a week and no one has contacted me.
You responded in a voice mail to me, I believe on August 24th , saying Tammy said I had some questions and you’re reaching out to help anyway you can.
Well, I guess my question is, do you recall, Bill, that we were to have quite a bit of work done on our property? The last call my wife made to Tammy, Tammy said that you would be calling
me back that week. I think that was 3 weeks ago.
Bill, we agreed to start work in our backyard while we tried to find a resolution to the retaining wall issues on the south side of our home. You were to get us “on the schedule” with the landscaper.
And I said I was going to hire an engineer to review the original
engineering plans and recommend options to correct these issues. Well, I tried. We hired an engineer named Randy . And after a month of not having plans in our hands and not getting an answer…no reply to 2 requests….as to when it would be completed and the cost, we fired him. I also reached out to the Carl, the engineer who wrote up the original specs for the existing wall. And after 2 weeks of no call back, I called him and left a voicemail stating how crappy it was that he couldn’t get back to me.
I even gave him an out with the understanding that he may have a
working relationship with Lennar and by working with us directly he might put that business relationship is jeopardy.
The construction business must really be booming down here in the Carolinas. It’s tough to get anyone to call you back, let alone get something done.
So at this point, given the complete lack of progress on Lennar’s part to correct these property issues, we’re no longer willing to support Lennar in getting these issue corrected.
As my lengthy text to Lennar warranty stated, bring some qualified people to the table or don’t come.
Allow me to offer you some of my observations so that if Lennar chooses to move forward, you drag with you the correctly qualified people; As an aid, the house faces east, so the retaining wall is on the south side of the house.
1. The south facing foundation wall is bowed outward. That’s correct….outward.
Not only is that clearly visible viewing it from the outside, but the space between the basement floor and the foundation wall is widest in the middle of the wall.
2. We have diagonal cracks at windows on the east and west walls, adjacent to the south wall.
3. We have stair step cracks in the brick work in various places on the front of the home.
4. We have a separation of the foundation, about a 1/4 inch wide at the back of the house about 2 feet from the corner with the south wall.
5. The wood floor within 5 feet of the south wall is now sloping (using a 4’ level) towards the south wall.
6. Every interior corner joined by the south wall and adjoining perpendicular wall is cracked. One clearly shows it has moved down about a 1/4 inch, relative to the perpendicular wall. 7. There is a crack in the basement floor.
8. Placing a 4’ level on the floor joist, for the 1st floor, in the basement, near the south wall, also shows us they are sloped to the south wall.
9. The knee walls sitting on the south wall foundation are not plumb. 10. There’s more….
I’m telling you about these structural issues because it’s my ignorant belief they are related to the flooding and erosion issues we have in the backyard and the degree of slope on the south side of the house, where we now
have subsurface water erosion and soil creeping.
It’s tough to wrap my mind around how that south wall might be bowing outwards and sinking. But I have some thoughts about that.
What appears to be immediately clear is, it’s going to have to be determined if the correct soil was used in backfilling this property and if that soil was compacted properly before the foundation was laid.
It is in no way acceptable to say that “settling” is occurring….Not given the types of cracks we’re seeing in this short period of time. This is shifting of a portion of the foundation. And this should not be happening if all was done properly during construction.
I say all because I believe if the management of water was also handled properly, from the start, we wouldn’t see the south wall being pushed out. I believe that water flowing onto and pooling on this property is following the normal course of this
property and flowing under the basement and causing excessive hydrostatic pressure against the inside of the south wall foundation. I believe that water flow is also undermining the soil, backfill, under the foundation causing the south wall to sink.
Hence the diagonal cracks, uneven floors, and the south wall that clearly has shifted downward.
The whole idea of moving out of Illinois, down to the Carolinas, nice little wooded lot, has turned into a friggin nightmare. And Bill, since March 30th when I initially spoke with you, you haven’t made this any better. Since last you came out about, what, 2 months ago
you haven’t communicated with us nor did what you said you would. And Bill, just man to man, I told you on March 30th that we did not want to complicate our lives….go the social media route, create a stupid Facebook account, contact an attorney etc., we just wanted the issues fixed. That didn’t happen.
So last chance for Lennar. If they want to professionally address the issues that we now face on this property, they have 30 days to have viable, engineered, warranted solutions ready.
If not, on October 1st we will seek remedies to mitigate any further damage to the property and seek legal advice.
Please inform me of Lennar’s decision before noon this Friday August 31st. Sincerely
Richard and Janet SC 29708
