Lesson 4
A builder says he will have all the required inspections done. I have nothing to worry about, right?
WRONG AGAIN! (Are you beginning to see that many of our assumptions about choosing a builder were wrong?)
Brint Construction never told us that our garage roof failed the windstorm certification.
I had a brief conversation with Brian Byrom prior to move in (near the end of 2016). Brian Byrom asked me if we were going to insure the detached garage. I replied that it was our understanding that we cannot insure it as it was on the ground level. (We understood that Windstorm would not insure it if Flood Insurance was not available.)
Brian replied, “Oh, ok then. If you were going to insure it, we would have to do things a bit different, but since you are not, we are OK.” I didn’t think to question him deeper.
Fast forward to 2018, after Brint Construction emailed us that they would no longer work on our house. Our new contractor repaired our roof leaks, and told us to be sure and verify the Windstorm Inspection Certificate on his work. Our new contractor told us how to verify this, and when we did, we were SHOCKED to learn that the garage roof WAS NOT BUILT TO CODE!
Brint Construction had a duty to build our garage according to standard building code. Short of that, they had a duty to tell us it had failed inspection. Instead, Brian Byrom hid that fact from us. Is this the level of service you would expect from your builder???
BE AWARE: How can you verify your windstorm certificate? Go to the Texas Dept of Insurance website https://appscenter.tdi.texas.gov/windstorm/p/searchForAppl , then in the middle left of the page, enter your street address, city, and county. (Our example is 1586 Hwy 87 Gilchrist, in Galveston County) Then Click “Search by Address”
TIP TO AVOID THIS: With any builder, ask them what inspections will take place and when. Then verify the inspection results for yourself.
DO NOT ASSUME that your builder will be honest about this.
