I would not want to do business with a company that clearly accepts very sloppy work and Rube Goldberg fixes for it. Run, don't walk.

Good for you for taking your business elsewhere. The mistake needs to be corrected properly and the builder needs to not only be willing to do this, but in my opinion, he must *want* to do this or you have the wrong builder.

He had his chance. Definitely go with a new builder.

Drain pipes are kinda large. Moving them laterally within a wall means cutting out a LOT of that 2x4...

The plumber probably COULD have dug this up, fixed it in the ground, patched the slab and gotten on with it - but boogering up the walls seems easier. And the heck with anyone that has to come after him and work around him (electrician)....

Seems like a bad lack of site superintendent oversight to have this happen TWICE... and that is enough of a cause for concern for you to go elsewhere. Sorry this happened, but better to happen early so you know, right?

Walk away.

My guess is that unless the market in your area is weak, this builder would have little interest in building you a new house. I know if I were a builder and the person walked away from one build b/c he thought he knew better than I do about how to construct a house based on his feedback from an internet forum I'd run far away from them. I'm not saying you are right or wrong, but he obviously thinks he is right and should have little tolerance for back-seat driving.

OMG, builder relies on subs to do the work, work on time, to be dependable and reasonable. Subs may have a master plumber and lots of helpers. Mistakes are made at all phases of process. Plumbing is probably easily fixable: not as bad as poured foundation incorrectly, house with no place for hvac runs, missing structural walls or no way of supporting the second floor, driveway incorrectly poured and pitched toward the house, funky dormers, missing/incorrect flashing, contractor "forgot to glue the floor", stairs incorrectly pre-built, etc. I used to have a very long builder checklist for every phase of the process. What most consumers think in terms of house quality - is very far from the reality.

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I do, hate long horizontal plumbing wall runs. They amplify the sound. I have been to a house, where flush the toilet upstairs and literally enjoy 5 minutes of water runs.

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You got a lemon

1) House incorrectly flashed windows, doors, etc. Or brick improperly installed. Smells musty.

2) Your pavement sloaps toward the house.

3) Your exterior elements (wind, water, etc) come to interior.

4) Your framing is off, nothing plumb or square.

5) Your roof is wavy

6) Your new house has waterhummer.

7) Your subfloors are NOT glued and screwed to joists.

8) Your nailed walls are moving, big gaps in framing

9) Your floors are uneven

10) plumber hooked up hot water line to your toilet

11) You can find every componet used in your house as stock item at Menards including windows.

12) etc.

If they're off by 7-8 feet from actual plans, what else are they going to be off by?

If they're off by 7-8 feet from actual plans, what else are they going to be off by?

I am not there and I wouldn't place a bet on this unless I had to. However, if I were forced to bet on what happened I would go with the plumber was working off a set of plans that didn't have the porch footers on them. Knowing the way semi-custom plans often work the plumber might not have had the porch included on his plans.

A measuring mistake is a measuring mistake. Off by four inches or four feet is the same mistake. Let's be honest, when measuring from forms into a big empty space with nothing laid out, there is not a lot to indicate that something isn't right. In fact, until you start putting up walls there is little to indicated something isn't right.

If you would fire the guy for being 4" off then go ahead and fire him. If you wouldn't fire him for being 4" off then don't fire him for being 8' off, they are the same mistake and show the same level of competence.

Incorrectly reading the plans (if this actually happened) is a mistake, as is not ensuring everyone had the latest set of plans. The builder not detecting the problem is a mistake.

There were lots of mistakes made, unfortunately, there will be lots more. None of that changes the real question - will this house be the quality you want for the amount you want to pay? If you don't believe so, then walk away. And to answer your original question if you walk away from this house because you don't like the builder's remedy, then don't use him for another project. Your problem isn't with this house, it is with this builder.

However, I will warn you. There are very very few contracts for semi-custom or tract builders (really any builder) that will let you get your deposit back for this type of mistake. In fact, any attorney who plans on not getting sued for malpractice will protect a builder from this. If not, every correctable mistake would be grounds for cancelling the contract. This is not to say that the builder will not let you out, but I very strongly suspect he will not be obligated to do so.

Point taken, Bry, but plumbing seems like a bigger deal than something major I fortunately got to correct before I broke my ankle and couldn't get to the site... from the description it seems like the plumbing would be in the dining room! Yes, I'd like to see a visual of the plan.

In my case, the builder kept looking at the old plans AND at the updated plans... He did the bathrooms via the updated, but when it came to putting closets into the master, he went with the draftswoman's plan... which would have meant that I'd have had to float my bed in the middle of the room! Fortunately, drywall hadn't yet gone up... But since it was in A plan (just not the current one), I simply corrected it, and so did he. Hey, for all he knew, I'd want to float the bed! Plumbing in a dining room is harder to understand at least at face value. So, I will agree... more info.

from the description it seems like the plumbing would be in the dining room!

This can't really happen, if what you are describing happened they would have to saw up the slab and move the plumbing, again, something all plumbers have done many times. Concrete takes a very long time to fully cure, cutting through concrete that has been down for less than 6 months is just not that hard. If the plumbing was coming down in the middle of the room, this would be the only solution.

When laying out plumbing to go into an interior wall, you would measure from the two sides. One measurement gets you into the wall, and the other measurement gets you in the right location in the wall. It is obvious from the description that the plumber is in the right wall, but is in the wrong cavity.

It certainly is a mistake and if you want a mistake free build, then it is time to fire someone. However, we don't have enough information to judge the how effective the remedy is. This could be absolutely no big deal or it could be a big deal.

I think some laypeople in this thread are putting too much emphasis on the magnitude of this mistake. I suggest that if it were a few inches off and missed the wall altogether that would be a bigger problem than being a few feet off but inside the wall.

"I think some laypeople in this thread are putting too much emphasis on the magnitude of this mistake."

Bry, that is exactly why I posted on this forum. I didn't know if we were over reacting and I've really appreciated your dissenting opinion. Turns out you were pretty spot on!

The porch wasnt on the plans as you guessed. The plumber used was a replacement and wasn't familiar with the floorplan. I've talked to several plumbers and all have the same opinion, about the fix: It's the best option to avoid tearing up the foundation. The builder owned up to their portion of the mistake; not catching it before the foundation was poured.

Thanks for all of y'alls input!