So, it is now four and a half months after we closed on the house and the contractor just informed my husband today that he is going to sue us. My husband told him to go ahead and try. We met with our lawyer this past week after the contractor started calling again (he needs more money since he didn't pay all the suppliers and they are now placing liens against him and are going after him criminally). The lawyer reviewed our contract and says that since the contractor signed the Contractor Affidavit (stating that he has been paid in full and has no rights to any more payments, liens, materials, etc). AND because he never produced change orders for the changes in question, we should be off the hook. Of course, we will see what his lawyer says about all of this. We are prepared to countersue if necessary. We have had cracks in walls that keep re-appearing after the contractor has come back to fix them multiple times. Hired a structural engineer this week and he showed me that the foundation was not done correctly. Basically, we are going to have to jack up a portion of the foundation and install more beams. Additionally, discovered that he did not do the soil compaction to the specs in the contract nor the envelope of the house. We have discovered multiple breaches of contract (did not use spec'd materials but instead used cheaper materials and charged higher price, etc). This is turning into a nightmare. Have you ever heard of a contractor winning a court case over overages for which there was NO change orders and that were not brought to the owner's attention until AFTER the closing?

You may have to go to the State office that licenses the contractors to see if there are any law suits against him along with complaints. Another thing to check on, it make sure, and get it in writing along with paid recipts from the sub contractors on the job. Do it NOW!! or you might find yourself paying for the materials twice. We did that with our building. DH was acting GC, but NOTHING came on the property without paid recipts from the business the materical were bought from. Don't go any further until you get some good legal advice. Meet the contractor with the bank manager with your paper work and get everything straightened out NOW.

Around here, the health department has the final say in septic. If they won't pass it, you won't get a CO.....so.... I'd call the health department just to confirm what you are being told is true. You can ask them some friendly questions about why the change, etc. - but at the end of the day, they really hold all the cards here. And no, they don't care what it does to your budget. Good luck - I had a minor septic issue too. It cost more, but it worked out fine in the end. It's just money, right? Ha-ha. :)

Let's not pretend that a tract or production builder taking advantage of the power dynamic for a bait and switch is unusual. It is close to the entire business model of many tract builders. If it is hard for you to imagine a tract builder showing a customer a drawing of a house that they know doesn't match the house that will get built, then you are not trying very hard because it happens all the time. In fact, I will argue that if nine out of ten people just say, "the house has still has plenty of windows," then he can turn adding windows he already promised into a profitable endeavor and even if he has to eat one in ten, it is still a great profit making tool for him. The OP notes, "We have already signed the drawings 6 months ago agreeing that these were our plans." Assuming that the OP actually did sign off on that drawing it seems something worth getting professional help from someone who is an expert in contracts...