I've never seen a construction contract where the responsibility for the condition of the subsurface conditions wasn't that of the property owner.

Normally the owner provides the contractor with the relevant information regarding the site: land survey, geotechnical testing/engineering, etc. unless the builder is specifically required to provide those services.

All of this should be spelled out in a normal construction contract. What does it say about responsibility for subsurface conditions and the proper procedure for terminating the contract?

What is your plan after you terminate the contract? Shouldn't you find out what the cost of moving the home on the site would be before incurring termination costs?

Do you have a professional advising you in these matters?

REPLY:

Our Contract does NOT say anything about responsibility for subsurface conditions and the proper procedure for terminating the contract!! It is vague to say the least (2 pages)

Not really sure what our plan is after we terminate the contract but we have "other" reasons for not wanting to continue with this builder.

We don't have a professional advising us at the moment...we are confused about who we would even call about something like this.

Think of it the simplest terms.

The builder is contracted to build a home on the land you provide. He is not an expert on what lies under the surface( neither are you).

How can he be held responsible for any costs that he has occurred to date because you have stopped work?

Would you hold him responsible if there was an underground spring under the surface? This is the very reason that site prep is almost always an allowance item.( unless you have provided site engineering by a third party)

Sorry to hear that.

I hear about homeowners signing inadequately written contracts and then spending a lot of money when things go wrong but I can't tell you much about what to do now because that is beyond my experience since I'm an architect and I give my clients very specific advise about how to protect themselves with (dare I say it) AIA contracts, full specifications, and pre-construction site investigation when appropriate. And I monitor the project since IMHO a contractor can't be expected to protect an owner's interests as well as his own.

I hate to suggest that you spend even more money but you probably need a lawyer. There may be implied warranties and other state laws that protect you as a consumer.

You never know what will be discovered by a good lawyer; the GC might not be properly licensed and therefore cannot use the courts to force you to pay the bill.

Good luck.

"...you probably need a lawyer. There may be implied warranties and other state laws that protect you as a consumer."

I agree 100%. Some states have very specific requirements on what must be contained in a construction contract. That is the case in my state, and the burden is on the builder.

I would be prepared to pay for the work that was done and any out of pocket in anticipation of work bring done. But there may be some charges he is going overboard on, hard to say. For example, how can there be Energy Star charges when there is no house? Or was that to evaluate the plans? What are the "closing costs", I thought you owned the land? Why would the builder have closing costs? That said, YOU are choosing to back out.

And this is where I say (for about the 100th time) that building a house is probably the most expensive thing most people will ever do, you should use a lawyer to review the contract BEFORE it is signed.

Apparently this was a design-build contract so the contractor is probably asking for compensation for the design work and perhaps some final site work and the OP is calling this closing costs instead of termination costs.

For the builder to claim such compensation there should be a section in the contract stating exactly what the owner must pay for in case of termination.

I would suggest that you get someone to read your contract that knows what they are looking at.

Also, you may want to consider getting an engineer to come and assess the land and see if your contractor is in fact correct or if he is trying to use the "land" thing as a way to get more money. You may call his bluff and he might just walk away. I say this only because it does appear from your earlier commits that there are other issues. Who is trying to stick who???

Good luck!!!

Sorry you are going thru this.

I would get an attorney if I were you. It's hard for anyone here to say when we can't read the contract. From my own personal experience, when I wanted to back out of a home contract (new construction) about 10 years ago, the builder said I lost my deposit. I obtained an attorney. The attorney was able to recover all my money $7,500 minus attorney fees and $250 to the developer.

Make sure you get a report on your land. We spent the money on soil bearing test and advice on basement structure from an engineer and was soooooooo worth it! Good luck!