Bought my house new about 7 years ago. A couple of times over the years I've had a shingle or two blow off the roof. I'd call a roofer and have them come over and take care of it. It happened again a couple of days ago and the roofer that replaced the shingle told me the home builder only used 2 nails per shingle. I felt him out a little and he didnt seem to be trying to generate business for himself. He told me I should contact the home builder (Centex) and take it up with them. Is this worth a shot? Where do I begin?
Centex sounds like a big company, that's still doing biz in your area? If so, they don't want any bad publicity about their product, I'm sure. You have a right to a new roof, no matter how long ago you bought it. It wasn't installed correctly. Raise a stink about it.
On 11 Mar 2005 19:06:36 -0800, "mk" scribbled this interesting note:
Seven years. Hmmmm. Sounds like a long time to get a roofer, or a builder, to warranty something.
This is one of the pitfalls of paying hired help piecework when roofing is the issue. You don't have to have very high intelligence to figure out you can install more shingles in a day if you use fewer fasteners.
In short, I don't think you have much recourse. Laws in your area may differ from 'round here, but seven years sounds a lot like most limitations have run out. At this point the problem is most likely yours to contend with...and if I were you I would keep the phone number of your most recent roof repair person handy!:~(
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
Gosh.....I have no idea what warrantees are customary for new homes. With a little luck, you have one that warrants the roof for 20 years :o) Being in Florida, the haven of really lousy builders, I was curious about a builder with a "large" sounding corporate name, rather than an individual or family name. I did a google search........there may be more than one "Centex", but, even so, there seem to be an awful lot of hits when I searched on 'centex roof problems "south carolina" '. I assume you are in SC from your email addy. Good luck :o)
On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:03:19 -0500, "ElJay" scribbled this interesting note:
For want of a nail...
Anyone remember that story?
What this boils down to is Centex is too cheap to hire good sub-contractors. Why is that? Because the American Public (sometimes known by the unfavorable moniker Consumer) is too cheap to pay good money for good products and service...and that includes homes.
Is this the builder's fault? Well, yes and no. Builders only respond to market forces. If the market (driven by those whimsical Consumers) demanded high quality at a fair price, as opposed to merely mediocre quality at a low price, these kinds of situations wouldn't exist. Yes, low quality builders like Centex will always find a way to cut a corner here or there, but if it was common knowledge that the buyers of the product would not and did not stand for these kinds of practices, then over time quality (and prices, by default) would rise to a level where all could be happy.
In short, if you want high quality, you have to be willing to pay for it, unless you get astoundingly lucky and find an honest craftsman who demands nothing less than a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. Around these parts, Centex isn't known for hig-end, high quality homes. They build houses that sometimes look high-end, but really aren't. That means eventual foundation problems (since post-tension slab construction will not last in this area because of the very high rate of expansion the soil here has) since it is cheap to meet the very modest requirements of Code, and that is only the beginning of the list of possible problems one is likely to encounter.
A class action lawsuit might get the attention of the builder, but I'm not too sure it would stick. Lack of proper job-site supervision? Lazy sub-contractors? Poor building practices abound. I see them every day I'm on the job and I have to figure out ways to either compensate for them or fix them. Unfortunately those silly Consumers usually fail to comprehend why it would take so much money to properly fix a problem instead of merely making it work...for now. As a result I can't afford to do my best work because I have bills to meet as well and if I took the extra time, at no extra charge, to fix many problems correctly and to my standards, and paid for the extra materials out of my pocket, well, I wouldn't be able to pay my very modest mortgage since at that point I'd be paying those ersatz Consumers for me to work for them!
Ok, so I occasionally exaggerate somewhat. But it serves to illustrate the point. But I don't do less than my best work for the fees charged. In fact, based on the fact that in over 25 years of experience on roofs in this area, in which time I've yet to see an installation we're replacing which meets our standards, our clients get better service and quality from us than they could get from anyone else in this (or most likely any) area.
Like I suggested originally, keep that honest repair-man's number handy. Until your roof wears out or you get sufficient damage to warrant an insurance claim for an entire roof, he can keep it patched up. No you shouldn't have to. Would you get any warranty service from the builder or sub-contractors? Not likely in the extreme. Would a lawsuit force them to pay for a new roof? Possibly, but you have to perform a cost-benefit analysis for your own situation and make that individual determination for yourself.
Good luck and I hope this helps!
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
If you live in a development, The other houses may have the same problem. Centex probably put on all the roofs. Get with the other owners and go see Centex.
Many people who own some of the most expensive homes around here want to sue the builder for shoddy construction. Apparently they'd would hire almost anyone who walked off the street and asked for a job, whether or not they had credentials.
OTOH there's a large, run-down area of average-sized homes, built in the 1950s-1970s, that are very well built.
On 13 Mar 2005 07:08:59 -0800, "larry moe 'n curly" scribbled this interesting note:
Which is one of the reasons why I consider buying older homes before I consider buying newer ones. I don't trust the construction techniques being used today, I don't trust many of the engineered wood products being used today (from experience using them, I might add), and I don't trust the workmanship of the average residential construction worker (again, based on experience across many neighborhoods and builders. Cleaning up after someone else's mistakes is far from my idea of an enjoyable day at work!:~)
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
What brand of shingles, and what do (did) the manufacturer's instructions say about installation requirements? If the roof wasn't installed per manufacturer's instructions you may have some recourse. If it is just a matter of "more is better" then you are out of luck.
Here in Florida's high-velocity hurricane zone many manufacturers require six ring-shank nails per shingle, and you can be sure that the building inspectors check for that.
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