Help deciding if claim is worth it?

[BenGA]

Interesting, I had no idea about that, thanks. I'm really ready to get my bedroom/office back in order and wouldn't mind keeping a good faith relationship with the builder, wonder if there's a non-threatening way I can bring both this and my awareness of the 8-year window to his attention without getting an engineer and judge involved...

 

[adjusterjack]

wouldn't mind keeping a good faith relationship with the builder,

Your house is 7 years old. There is no relationship with the builder any more.

wonder if there's a non-threatening way I can bring both this and my awareness of the 8-year window to his attention without getting

No. It's going to be adversarial at best. You can start by just asking him to fix the "construction defect." If he fixes it, fine. If he gives you a line of BS, then you'll have to threaten. If you do have to threaten make sure you are willing and able to follow through with a lawsuit. These people can smell bluff a mile away.

 

[scagnt83]

Your house is 7 years old. There is no relationship with the builder any more.
.

Legally there is. 8 years to bring lawsuit against construction defects in the state of GA.

And if they ever want to remodel or do an addition, using the original builder has plenty of advantages.

 

[BenGA]

Your house is 7 years old. There is no relationship with the builder any more.

No. It's going to be adversarial at best. You can start by just asking him to fix the "construction defect." If he fixes it, fine. If he gives you a line of BS, then you'll have to threaten. If you do have to threaten make sure you are willing and able to follow through with a lawsuit. These people can smell bluff a mile away.

Afraid you're right. And for a $2-$3k repair bill I can't say I'm willing to follow through. Even if I take a report to a judge, I'm not willing to go farther if he still calls the bluff.

For what it's worth, by relationship I just meant a general willingness to help out with subcontractor recommendations, questions, etc. In fact they helped me find the original company who installed my siding.

 

[BenGA]

And if they ever want to remodel or do an addition, using the original builder has plenty of advantages.

Yeah, that's kind of where I am with this, haven't had a ton of interaction with them but they've been good to me. Guessing just like my original question on the thread, the option of a legal threat has its own risk/rewards.

 

[scagnt83]

Interesting, I had no idea about that, thanks. I'm really ready to get my bedroom/office back in order and wouldn't mind keeping a good faith relationship with the builder, wonder if there's a non-threatening way I can bring both this and my awareness of the 8-year window to his attention without getting an engineer and judge involved...

No problem.

Send a Certified Letter through the post office. He must sign for this when delivered and is legal verification that he received the info/request.

Inform him of the problem. Include lots of pictures. And just ask him to fix it in a nice respectful manner. Also mention wanting to keep a good relationship for any future projects.

Give him your email and ask for his reply to be via email (this way you have a written record of what was said). He will probably want to talk on the phone, which could be a good sign, but get him to confirm via email what was said or any commitments made.

You could possibly add something like "if we are unable to find a resolution ourselves, I will pursue any legal means available to remedy this situation". But you could also hold off and save that for a follow up letter if the initial "nice" letter does not get any action from him.

Get more and more firm in follow ups if you are not getting results. Keep in mind the 8 year rule, be sure to file a claim in small claims before the deadline if it comes to that.

 

[Valor]

Thanks. Yeah, it's good advice and I decided yesterday not to make a claim. I'm just getting more worried now that terms like "poor construction", "underwriting issues", "non-renewed", etc. have come into play. May just be my unfamiliarity with the business making the terms sound scarier, but now I'm worried if I'm statistically likely to have more issues with my house, and scared I'll lose my insurance if I make any claims in the future. Is non-renewal a fairly common thing?

Honestly, I've always considered my home to be well constructed and made sure to have an inspection before purchasing, but I guess there's never any way to know for sure. I do know the second leak needed a bunch of holes in the swiss cheese lining up just right to result in intrusion, so I'm really hoping that means it's isolated. I've tried to examine the rest of the house to be sure and so far haven't found anything.

As far as asking my agent about how much the no claim discount is, I asked that earlier and she didn't know. Unfortunately, the original owner of the agency is no longer with them, and the other person I always end up talking to never seems sure of the answers. I'm considering looking elsewhere for auto/home insurance before much longer; there's a lot of security in being able to talk to someone knowledgeable when you need help.

Regarding timeline, I called insurance and mitigation company the same day I found the damage.

Thanks again all for the help.

Don't accept an agent's or anybody else at the agency, "I don't know" answer. I'm sure that they legitimately don't know, but they need to call in to the insurer and find out or if anything get a good approximation. The agent earns commissions based upon what you pay out in premiums. If this agent doesn't think that you are worth the effort to get this info, then by all means start looking around and getting quotes for your home & autos.

Insurance companies look at claim frequency over period of time. If there are 2-3 claims within a 2-3 year period, they tend to not like that risk and choose to non-renew. Each company is different in their approach to continuing or non-renewing.

Real quickly, if there was negligence in terms of a fire or dog bite, that may be cause for a non-renewal if there weren't any previous claims.

Non-renewal is not a common thing.