ComplaintsforKoetje Builders, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  05/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We live in a condo that was built by ***** Koetje/Koetje builder we have been here 7 years and the condo was being built for us and others up to 70 condos now on our street! About a year and a half ago one of the condos owners noticed a wet floor in their front room! Called Koetje and told them about the problem, not sure who came out but they found that the flashing around the window was installed wrong the front of the condo had to be torn apart and flashing needed to be installed correctly took about 2 weeks! So someone decided to check a few more! They found that those condos flashing was also installed wrong so now theyre going to start first of July 2022 to check all 70 condos on the street. They estimated that this is going to cost ******* to complete ,yes you heard that right ******* bucks!!! ***** Koetje/Koetje builders is offering to pay 1/2 and his crew is doing the work!!! And the other cost is coming out of the condo owners pocket! We have to each pay **** July 1st and another payment of **** or more in October 2022 we should not have to pay at all! Its not our fault plain and simple this is awful and he should be held accountable for this!!!

  

  Business response

  05/17/2022

  All of the units were **** years out of warranty when the first problem was discovered. The project was built under 3 different building codes during which time there was a lot of focus on moisture intrusion into the building structure in the code changes. All buildings were inspected and approved as done consistent with the current code at the time of construction. That being said there will be some anomalies found in the flashing installation, specifically around the window openings as there comes a time of learning and adjustment as new products and methods are introduced. The majority of openings will be found to be consistent with the code at the time of installation. We have learned that some of the larger builders in west ******** have found similar results and are working through additional preventative measures on their new builds also. 

  We really feel that there are 2 causes to the problem for this particular project.

  1. The house wraps and flashing tapes are not able to adequately do their job as designed of being the primary means of keeping water from getting into the wall cavity. We have been told to rely on the house wrap for the last 10 plus years by the code and building professionals. We believe there are many other houses built in the last 15 years that are developing the same problems. The big difference is that with a single project you find 1 of many built and think it is an oddity. In a multi-unit project if you find 1, you end up checking more.

  2. It is partially an unforeseeable  architectural feature design problem, the decorative brackets around the windows are directing an unusual amount of water back on to the window trim helping to overwhelm the house wrap system.

  We feel that our offer to pay for half the costs, manage and perform the repair at cost with no clerical or contracting fees added and take a big chunk of our production capacity for at least a month of our year is fair for buildings that on average are around 5 years off warranty. Our true costs will be well over the " half" that we are agreeing to pay. According to our contracts, warranty and findings of the board regarding condominium law and time frames for going back on the original contractor we could walk away and say I am sorry the warranty is expired .

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