framing in the basement is installed and currently sitting in water.

Good way to encourage mould growth.

If you're worried, just ask them about it. If they're a decent builder they should have either have a good explanation or work to fix it. I'm sure you have some kind of warranty too, so keep that in mind.

We had our house built about a half a mile away from where we were living at the time. When you get out there 1-2 times every day you will find lots of things that you're not sure about. If you did your homework at the beginning and have a good agent to back you up make sure to enjoy the process and ask enough questions to learn plenty along the way. Our first house was one we had built and it was quite a trip. We are young and love our house, but I bet we will build another one sometime in our lives and use everything we learned this time.

I actually know a little bit about water in a basement.

Several builders in the area (snow area) did not put in French drains or seal the foundations of the basements in the cabins in the area where we live.

The solution is a medium size job.

You should ask your builder about a French drain and sealant for the foundation concrete with a bonding agent. Such as a melrol sealant, it is a 20 mil black adhesive rubber bonding agent placed on the concrete foundation sides. look this up.
The French drain is a four inch pipe with perforated holes throughout. The materials are semi minimal cost say $3,500 the labor is a bit more say another $3,000 if you have to hire someone other than your builder.

I think this is the builder's responsibility and you probably should try and stress its importance.

I hope this helps a bit, it should work. IÂve seen it work on cabins in this snow area.
Mara555

So there is no sump pump on-line yet?

"Should I wait until the siding is complete, the sump pump is running and the final grade is made outside?"

I wouldn't finish a basement that relies on a sump pump. Sump pumps fail, they get overwhelmed, etc.

We had our basement waterproofed (not damp proofed) with a rubber-like material and we installed french drains that drain to daylight. Do you have a daylight drain? Did they waterproof the basement?

The builder should be keeping the basement relatively dry even during construction if the framing is in down there.

Nothing should be in the basement until the house is dried in (siding, roof, windows, doors, etc.) and by then no water should be present.

If the basement is actually well done, the water cannot escape unless removed.

If wood framing is in standing water more than a day you should be jumping all over your builder for not removing it. After it is removed it would be appropriate to discuss how the water got there, whether it is likely to happen again, what specific precautions were taken to prevent water from entering the basement (type of waterproofing, drains, etc.), and how he intends to prevent it from happening again.

This should occur in a sit down meeting with a witness and meeting notes taken and distributed by you.

Don't be shy; it's your house.

Regarding sump pumps . . .

They do fail, so anyone who lives in a house that does not drain to daylight, or especially if the house is in a low area that could retain water or might get a lot of runoff in a heavy rain, needs to have a backup sump pump. It needs to be battery operated and checked for reliability on a regular basis, unless they're come up with some better way since we had to deal with ours a couple of decades ago.

Anne