LEHI, Utah — New Yr’s Day proved to not be an excellent begin to the yr for Kayla Holman.
“We woke as much as water coming in by way of two home windows,” Holman mentioned. “The water constructed up within the window effectively so excessive that the home windows simply weren’t holding the water again.”
Holman felt the difficulty was a building flaw that allowed water to pour by way of cracks in her window wells and into her basement.
The harm price her $1,700 to wash up, and she or he expects to spend one other $2,000 to restore the harm.
Holman moved into the home greater than a yr in the past after constructing it with Ivory Properties.
“We now have submitted guarantee claims by way of Ivory’s web site, and we now have not heard again from their guarantee division up to now,” Holman mentioned.
Just a few doorways down, Ben Cannon nonetheless had the sandbags in place after struggling the very same difficulty: water coming by way of the basement home windows destroyed the basement he had completed simply six weeks prior.
“We simply barely completed it,” Cannon lamented, “so I’m completely devastated. On the finish of the day, I’ve simply spent all the cash I had and financial savings to get up to now. I don’t have cash to repair all this.”
Cannon, Holman, and several other others within the Holbrook Farms group mentioned they reached out to Ivory Properties, anticipating some assist with repairing the damages and potential defects to their brand-new houses.
They are saying they had been advised it wasn’t a constructing difficulty, or a neighborhood drainage difficulty, however a landscaping difficulty.
The householders disagree.
“The supply of the leaking, which is these home windows, is below an enormous concrete pad that the builder put in for me,” mentioned Cannon, who confirmed the bottom below the pad had additionally settled.
“The truth that 5 out of six houses on our road flooded, I don’t assume that’s a landscaper downside,” Holman mentioned.
When the KSL Investigators reached out to Ivory Properties, we had been advised the identical factor because the householders. In an e-mail assertion, their spokesperson wrote, “typically, flooding and standing water is often brought on by landscaping after closing that modifications the pre-set drainage of a house and lot. We’re encouraging householders who had post-closing landscaping, to additionally attain out to their landscaping contractor immediately.”
The spokesperson added the corporate is “dedicated to upholding the requirements outlined within the Ivory Properties Restricted Guarantee.”
Ivory Properties advised us “…this will likely be our solely touch upon the story.”
KSL Investigators took a deeper take a look at the restricted guarantee and located it certainly limiting with regards to flooding.
For instance, Ivory Properties lists they’re accountable for the house’s grading, ensuring water flows away from the home.
The Holbrook Farms HOA, which continues to be below management of Ivory Properties, requires landscaping to be put in inside a yr after closing. If Ivory decides that landscaping modified the floor water runoff patterns, the house owner isn’t lined.
“It’s Ivory’s get-out-of-jail-free card,” Holman mentioned. “They’ll do no matter they need. Even when it says it’s lined within the guarantee, it’s as much as their discretion.”
Round these houses, there are areas the place the earth subsequent to the house gave the impression to be compacting, altering the grade.
Ivory’s guarantee says the “house owner is accountable for monitoring settlement,” and that “floor settlement of as much as 12 inches is widespread.”
Kyle Rollins, a professor of engineering at Brigham Younger College, disagreed.
“Engineers sometimes design for settlement of possibly an inch,” Rollins defined.
Way more settlement than that, mentioned Rollins, could be a recipe for catastrophe – one that can take greater than particular person householders fixing their very own properties.
“Drainage techniques will be remarkably efficient, but when the entire space is having issues, then simply coping with your specific lot isn’t prone to remedy the issue,” he mentioned. “It in all probability must be a coordinated effort among the many metropolis builders and landowners to deal with the issue.”
As for Holman and Cannon, they await remaining phrase from Ivory on whether or not the builder will assist repair the problems inflicting the water to get inside their houses. They’re not hopeful, as each houses fall outdoors of the one-year restricted guarantee interval. “I’m trusting that signal that claims they’re the primary builder,” he mentioned. “I’m trusting them to do a superb job, and that belief is now utterly violated.”
Have you ever skilled one thing you assume simply isn’t proper? The KSL Investigators need to assist. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we are able to get working for you.
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