[Pringleshaftsus]

We contracted with Pringle Development, Leesburg, FL, to build an investment home for us. The house had a crack in the slab. Pringle contacted engineers who determined that improper fill was used and that there are man-placed plastic clays under the house. These plastic clays expand with water and contract when they dry. This causes the slab to constantly shift. The shifting is cracking ceilings, walls and floors. Pringle said that they could repair the house and a one-year test period was agreed. The President/CEO said that the Pringle would buy-back the house and pay our carrying costs to make us "whole" if the repairs failed. A year later, there were more cracks than before repairs. The repairs failed. Pringle offered to buy-back the house but did not include carrying costs. We rejected the offer because it did not include carrying costs. After failed negotiations with Pringle, we decided to forget the carrying costs and take the original buy-back offer. Pringle's lawyer said that because we rejected the original offer, that offer was "off the table". The builder provides a Money-Back Guarantee and we are barred from exercising the Money-Back Guarantee because the one-year test period took us beyond the period of the Money-Back Guarantee. So, we are being screwed by Pringle. We could sue, but it is costing us $2,000 per month to carry the house and Pringle will either cause a delay in getting to Court or be out-of-business by the time we get there. We don't know what to do other than just walking away from the house and dumping it into the mortgage company's lap. The problem is that we have fantastic credit and equity in other assets. If there is a foreclosure, the Bank will get nothing for this house and there will be a large deficiency for the Bank to come at us with. Any ideas out there? We need a good Samaritan to take first mortgage position and allow payments to accrue while we sue the builder.

[smearcase]

This is a tough one. I hope the agreements are in writing.
Is there any chance of homeowner's insurance doing anything?
Have you checked with any other contractors to check if they could pump some type of cement product under the slab to stabilize it?
My first priority would be to protect the investment however I could, and get it ready to sell. Pictures can help too.
Build as good a set of documents as possible and sue the builder within the statute of limitations. I would even write the builder letters to get his statements documented if he will respond. Sue to get all your expenses back for which more recordkeeping is needed.
What about the building inspectors? Why did they approve unexceptable grade?
I realize all of this is easy for me to say but not as easy for you to do but that's all I can think of. The licensing board that licenses the contractor may be interested. Some ststes follow-up on complaints. Some even pay for corrective work but I don't know about FL.

[Fr_Chuck]

Figure what you would lose in waiting and try to reach a settlement for a lessor amount to get out of home.

Sue in court and hope all costs can be gotten as final settlement