What to do when a builder deviates from house plans

[beetlespin]

The wife and I found our dream house after a year of searching. The idea was to find a house we can enjoy into our later years which meant no or little stairs on the first floor.

When we looked at the model home there were three stairs from the garage into the main house which I would consider normal. We are now in the framing stage and there is a 5' difference from the main house to the garage floor which will mean many more stairs. The model home has less than a 2' difference.

We are not sure what to do. The contract states that the house would be substantially close to all brochures, drawings, etc.

 

[PCustoms]

He didn't deviate frome the olans, he deviated from the model.

Sounds like you didn't review the plans prior to build?

Also sounds like the lot you are on has an elevation change greater then the model did, and thus the stairs down into the garage. Or they hit ledge and had to raise the basment.

 

[MushCreek]

The garage is probably lower than the model because the land has a different slope. They could have filled and raised the garage 3'- at considerable expense. I don't really see what you could do now unless you can find something that specifically states the maximum height difference. What do the drawings actually say/show?

 

[bczygan]

Sell the house and build another.

 

[larry4406]

This happens all the time in the production homes I build. Each lot is unique which results in different grade elevations which in turn affects the number of risers on the garage stairs and the front stoop. To that end, this is shown on the engineered site plan and we specifically discuss with the customer the stair configurations and number of riders.

 

[gungatim]

went through that when we built as well, fortunately our builder, well actually the foundation contractor, met with me before the poor and we discussed things like steps up to the porch, garage height, etc. we built a walk out and had a nice slope so they needed to establish a baseline before even digging...

not sure how old you are, but I was given some advice when I was young and built my "dream home" that I could raise kids and retire in. You will likely NEVER stay in a house that long. what you think you want today WILL change drastically in your later years. it's been 25 yrs. now, and I can say he was dead on...

so live in it a few years and move on...your tastes will likely change.

 

[glentre]

If you wanted three steps, that should have been written in the contract specifications. At that point, most contractors would have seen that requirement and determined the slope of your lot would not have permitted three steps and discussed the situation with you. Your choice would have been to pay the expense to change the lot slope or live with the extra steps. Unless your desires regarding the stairs were explicit in the specs, you have no leg to stand on regarding the issue.

Unfortunately, folks who buy homes in a development get what the contractor normally builds in the neighborhood with little chance of changing anything. Custom homes using architects or with owners who know in detail what they want and can write a strict spec don't have these problems.....but it is more expensive to do it that way.

Glen

 

[johninct]

Just get a stair electric chair. My in laws have 2 in their house and it works good.

 

[pmiranda]

Does that mean the garage interior height is higher than expected? That wouldn't be such a bad thing. What stage of the project is it in? foundation, or framing? If only foundation you can make this work to your advantage

 

[slow]

how much garage space is lost to these stairs?

 

[ssdave]

At least he built the garage at the right grade (I presume) instead of blindly using model house plans and not fitting it to the land.

I had neighbors at my last house that had a "dream" house plan they wanted to build. They bought a view lot, but unfortunately it had a cross slope on it. Instead of adapting the plan to the lot, they made the builder build to the plan.

They ended up with a garage at grade to the house (only 1 or 2 steps). But, they ended up with a ski ramp of a driveway to get to the garage.

On my house next door, i excavated down 4 feet and built the garage half underground. My driveway was essentially flat to the street. Incredible difference in the winter.

The funny thing is that cost would have been essentially the same. Required footing depth was 4 feet, so the builder excavated 4 feet to put in the garage footings, and then backfilled with gravel to do the floor. So, they could have simply excavated the rest of the inside of the garage out 4 feet, and removed the wedge of soil between the garage and the street and had a flat driveway. But, they would have had steps from the garage into the house. I'd much rather have that than an 18% driveway grade in snow and ice country.

In the case of the OP, I'd say the builder didn't deviate from the plans, it's a normal change to put the garage at grade for the lot and put in the required stairs to get from it into the house.

 

[vavet]

I feel your pain. We built a house in 2015. We purposely chose a lot that was mostly flat so that we wouldn't have to worry about the steps into the house from the garage. We ended up with 3 steps - I think that's about the minimum. I've looked at other houses in out subdivision built by the same builder - some of them have a lot of steps. It consumes a lot of space in the garage. Our floor plan has the steps at the far corner of the garage. Other floor plans by the same builder have steps somewhere along the side wall. that works OK if it's just a few steps, but more than that and they have to build a landing coming out of the house so the steps can turn and occupy floor space along the walkway. If you have a vehicle parked in the space adjacent to the steps, it can make access to whatever is in front of the steps difficult.

I hate to say it, but I agree with the others here - I don't think you have much room to say the builder deviated from the plans, unless you have plans specific to your house and lot that show it not elevated as high as it is. Model houses are just that - models. They build them with lots of fancy features to serve as a showcase.

 

[steveo1o9]

Unfortunately you are stuck with what you have like others have said. Like Vavet said above with that many steps have the builder (if he is not already planning to) put a landing at the top then the stairs run along the wall. Then the stairs wont take up space in the middle of the garage and you could have two nice hand rails. Then in the future you could easily mount one of the electric stair chairs securely to the wall if you need to. I have five stairs out of my garage into the house and they extend into the garage bay so unless you have a smart car I have to angle the car in to clear the steps.

 

[Opa]

my reaction is you should closely read the contract and plans and specs to see exactly what is stated. the build may or may not comply with the contract. if you are not comfortable in doing this yourself, and this is important to you, you should meet with an attorney and have him/her review these documents to get their opinion. if the build is not in compliance, then the attorney may be able to help you get out of the contract, or negotiate some fair price adjustment.....or negotiate some other fair solution.

 

[polexican23]

can you get some kind of pressurized laugh pad that will propel you up the 5 feet and bypass any need for stairs?

 

[slow]

how much are you locked into purchasing the house, I would discuss with the builder, and see if there is anything that can be done. I've known of situations when a developer is building a neighborhood and is building "stock" homes OR people that want a house faster than they can deliver, that allowing somebody else to take over the build so they can get a house faster and build a different house for you on a different lot has not been a problem. (This may be rare) It could also be you are 100% committed to the house and this is not an option, but a discussion should not be much of an issue.

 

[Radix2]

See if they can change it for an acceptable cost. If the garage is not yet framed, they should still be able to fill and raise it.

Sure, it might cost a few thousand, but that is not much in the scheme of things when whole building a house.

It might be within your contract for the builder to build it this way, but now is the time for you get what you want.

 

[ard]

I got a chuckle from "dream house, years of searching",...but it turns out it is a production home on a lot. .

(Not judging, just saying...)

OP- what you do next and how you do it, is entirely defined by your ultimate legal leverage.

Depending on your state, case law, the contract language, you may have good leverage. How you apply it will depend. I'd chat with an atty first. The builder may realize this immediately if you can outline the concern and may be able to address this.

A 2' ft rise is 2 steps, 3 risers (3x8=24)- no handrail, not sure about landing

A 5 foot rise is 60 inches- SEVEN steps, 8 risers (8x7.5"=60)- hand rail, landing, etc

IMO 2 vs 5 sounds close...but 3 versus 7 becomes much less 'substantially equivalent' (or whatever language the contract uses.

You really need to understand how much leverage you have- in YOUR state, with YOUR contract.

GL

 

[Casey69]

The wife and I found our dream house after a year of searching. The idea was to find a house we can enjoy into our later years which meant no or little stairs on the first floor.

When we looked at the model home there were three stairs from the garage into the main house which I would consider normal. We are now in the framing stage and there is a 5' difference from the main house to the garage floor which will mean many more stairs. The model home has less than a 2' difference.

We are not sure what to do. The contract states that the house would be substantially close to all brochures, drawings, etc.

happened to a buddy of mine too. the garage entry door is ~5' off the ground & he has ~6 steps to climb. the stairs with rails take up a lot of floor space! in his case, it was a combination of the trusses sitting on top of the foundation (vs hanging from the foundation) & his elevation/grade. he has a nice basement with a 9' ceiling, but has to climb a few more stairs to get inside from his garage.

i could easily see how this could happen. building a house is a ton of work, even for the buyers. you're picking out spots for electrical outlets, countertops, fixtures, carpet, paint, etc.

if you don't have knee problems or other health issues that would cause problems climbing stairs, i'd let it go.

 

[rsanter]

Does that mean the garage interior height is higher than expected? That wouldn't be such a bad thing. What stage of the project is it in? foundation, or framing? If only foundation you can make this work to your advantage

That was my thought.

A friend has a house with a similar setup as yours and the garage is really tall. They were able to build a loft above the garage door that has about 5' head room. Has been great for storing all kinds of stuff

I would talk with them. If you really despise this then I would see if you could,perhaps swap to a different location house that has not been spoken for yet

Bob

 

[larry4406]

Extra garage ceiling height, 4 post lift, high lift kits for the garage door(s), suddenly you have more car storage.

Some county's require engineered site plans thus the stair risers are shown on the plan (counties I build in require this) thus our customers know up front. More lax rural communities don't require site plans and then these grade and stair elevations are left to the builder to determine in the field. Driveway slopes are also considered on engineered site plans which usually is the determining factor.

 

[beetlespin]

Thanks everyone for your excellent input.

The house has been built on a flat lot with a 9' basement. The basement probably helped push the height of the foundation up. I just wish they had dug the basement a bit deeper to account for this. Many of the houses in the development have much deeper basements. It's almost like they didn't take it into consideration.

Yes the garage will be extra tall so a four post lift might be in the future

 

[bczygan]

Basement floor levels are sometimes set and constrained by ground water levels and or the invert of storm drainage piping. So then the taller basement has to go up rather than down. It can also be that they dig a standard depth basement and when a house gets a taller one, they just add another foot to the forms as a standard method.

These are production homes, not custom.

Bill

 

[HoosierMark]

what about a ramp from the garage floor to the interior of the house?

 

[wssix99]

Yes the garage will be extra tall so a four post lift might be in the future

It sounds like YOU deviated from the house plans.

Is this a spec house in a builder community? If so, they won't be able to raise the roof line. Raising the ceiling for your lift means lowering the floor. This means lowering the stairs.

Is the height of your extra steps equal to the extra height of your ceiling?


Thinking about this critically... At the point that the stairs are a problem: should you really be out in the garage working under a lift? At the point the stairs are a problem and you need to address them, is there really that much difference between 3 and 5 steps?

 

[Radix2]

what about a ramp from the garage floor to the interior of the house?

If building ramps, I would think that you want to make them wheel chair accessible. A good rule of thumb is you need about 1 foot of run for every inch of rise.

So for a 5' rise here, you need a 60' ramp!

It can be done, but it will eat up some serious real estate.

 

[ripperd]

went through that when we built as well, fortunately our builder, well actually the foundation contractor, met with me before the poor and we discussed things like steps up to the porch, garage height, etc. we built a walk out and had a nice slope so they needed to establish a baseline before even digging...

not sure how old you are, but I was given some advice when I was young and built my "dream home" that I could raise kids and retire in. You will likely NEVER stay in a house that long. what you think you want today WILL change drastically in your later years. it's been 25 yrs. now, and I can say he was dead on...

so live in it a few years and move on...your tastes will likely change.

This exactly.

My wife an I have a 2 year old and one on the way. We are looking at building a 2 story with a production builder in a new development. We plan to be there 15-20 years until the kids are out of high school, and have it paid off then. At that time we plan to sell and move to a country or lake place for the last 10 or so employment years and then retirement.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

He didn't deviate frome the olans, he deviated from the model.

This happens all the time in the production homes I build. Each lot is unique which results in different grade elevations which in turn affects the number of risers on the garage stairs and the front stoop. To that end, this is shown on the engineered site plan and we specifically discuss with the customer the stair configurations and number of riders.

X2. Try to negotiate some extras. My cousin's new vacation townhouse was supposed to have a sun room off the main floor in the back with a deck and double sliding walk out doors to the back yard from the basement. Because of the grade, the walkout became impossible. He negotiated with the builder and got them to add stairs from the deck the back yard since there was no other way to access it with the walk out removed from the build. He got a few other concessions, but they're trivial in the overall scheme of things.

Tommy

 

[Falcon67]

Some thoughts from owning a bunch of houses, watching a lot being built and having friends that contracted for houses.

Get plans, learn to read blueprints and inspect the build. Framers do what framers do and almost nobody looks at "plans". It's this wide and pitch so-and-so, we'll frame it up like this. Drain pipes popping up on the wrong side of a wall, walls in the wrong place, missing floor outlets/piping for islands, etc, etc. People make mistakes, it's just how we are.

Re - nobody reads "plans". For fun - one guy I knew wanted a few extra outlets. $100 each quoted builder. So he goes and gets the same boxes at Payless that the electrical people used, goes out there after the crews are gone, nails up/marks up what he wants and the wire monkeys just wire it all up. You'd probably give him a pass for that since he found at least 10 errors in the framing, including paying for a bumped out breakfast nook that was poured into the foundation but not framed in. Subdivision think - Builder X has 3~4 models and the subs are building "Model A", that's all they know.

 

[Ironcrow]

Doesn't sound like a problem to me but rather an opportunity. I had a builder make a detached garage taller to match the house roof line. This was in a development, not something I thought to ask for. That led to my first lift and every garage since then has had this requirement. Garage stairs? Make a little landing there. Now you have a place to put your compressor.