Unsellable house NC | Family's dream home becomes nightmare after code violations missed

What was supposed to be a forever home for the Muehlbach family, is now a home that they say they wonder if it's safe to live in.

[NebulousFrivolity]

So, if the county is not legally liable, then why are they ones issuing permits and inspections? Makes ZERO sense.

[davids]

The. County should be responsible. If they have no accountability why are they even doing inspections in the first place. Gross incompetence.

[uncommonsense]

Country inspectors must be liable for NOT following the State building code laws. Who is fired?? Inspector paid by the crooked builder?? Thats the appearance

[kevinmach]

My HVAC guy told me a story about how he was on another job the day the city inspector showed up to check his work. His friend was an electrician who was also working on the same house, was in the property at the time. He relayed this to him: he heard a car pull into the drive way. He heard the door open, about 10 foot steps, another 10 foot steps, the door close, and a car starting to drive off. Curious as to who would be in and out so fast (less than 2 minutes), the electrician peeked out the window to see the city inspector driving off. All the HVAC work was signed off and everything stickered without having checked a thing, If you have a home built, hire an independent home builder to check it out- don't rely on bozos from the city.

[davevan]

Same issues here. In 1995 I doubled the size of my home in Mecklenburg Co NC. Picked license contractor and addition passed every inspection by county. When I went to sell in 2002 I found MANY code violations that forced me to pay $10K to correct before I could sell. When I tried to go after contractor they had changed names and wife was owner of new company. When I went after the county for the bribes the inspector took, the county said I had to go after the person that did the warned me he had so many judgments against him already I'd never get paid. North Carolina government is corrupt on many seems to be the same 20 years later. SAD

[kchiker]

I would not be surprised if the building inspector took a bribe. Sue the building inspector personally and argue that passing a code violation is not part of his governmental duties.

[ChristopherSloane]

The county sends out an inspector that you have to pay for and can shut down the entire operation yet they failed to do the job so the fault is on the county and the builder.

[jeremylarson]

if the county is not responsible for their own inspections, then the homeowners should not be required to pay the inspection costs and should be refunded all assessed fees

[garyK.ACP]

I STRONGLY suggest everyone building a custom home...or even buying a new construction home in a development, to hire a licensed independent inspector to inspect each phase of the construction, exactly as the county does AND MORE. Give that inspector a copy of your plans and specifications and include them in any and all pre-construction meetings. You can have them inspect the work every day, or several days a week. Whatever you feel is appropriate, but residential construction progresses quickly. You don't want to go too far before something is found. (as in this video)
The county inspections have NO liability (as you see in this video) and are so overloaded with inspections that they often just "pencil whip" the inspection and sign off on it (as you see in this video). Their ONLY incentive is to get all the inspections for that day done...by 4pm. With an hour for lunch.
Also understand that county inspectors are ONLY concerned with building codes, NOT your specifics for the project. Your specifications my require the use of a particular underlayment on the roof, for example. And shingle manufacturers require particular underlayments to validate their warranties. Did the builder use it, or a cheaper underlayment? The county inspector won't care. Every element of the home will be covered in the specifications...make sure the builder doesn't cheat you on inferior materials, that still pass the building code.

It is a VERY small price to pay. Include this in your contract and make the builder agree that NO work progresses until your licensed independent inspector signs off on it, as well as the county. You can also include these fees in you building costs and construction loan/mortgage. This inspector works for YOU and has ONLY your interests in mind AND is civilly liable.

YES, I was an independent inspector. For commercial, industrial and residential construction. I cannot tell you how many millions of dollars I saved my clients. I am now retired...so I have no dog in this fight. Just my experienced opinion

If the builder/developer won't agree to that, find another builder/developer!

[airwreckah.]

I feel bad for family. Steer clear of this corrupt town!

[shoemakerkris]

Immunity? They were paid to inspect the house and didn't do it. I guess only the working class get fired and held responsible for getting paid and not doing the job. Government is corrupt from the top to even this low. A Mcdonalds worker is held to higher standards than anyone in the government!!!

[lornaduwn]

They need to appeal their case. Governmental immunity should not cover negligence or gross incompetence. If nothing else, they need to go after the actual inspector who overlooked the problems that were obvious to anyone doing such a job. They also need to bring the construction company back into court to force payment. The judge could charge them with contempt of court and even jail the owner if he doesn't pay up.

[williamdavies]

Did you guys ever follow up? And the county can just walk away? Did a inspection ever really happen by the county or did it get "rubber stamped?"

[imtheonevanhalen]

I built a home in Pender County NC....didn't hire it out, I built it. Perfectly legal as long as you jump through all of the hoops.

It's in a high wind zone at the coast....135 mph rating I think. When the inspector came out for the sheathing inspection (by the way the sheathing is what gives the house strength against wracking and twist...) He got out of his truck, walked down the left side of the house, walked along the back, then went to the permit box to sign off.

I didn't see him one time actually look at the sheathing, or count the number of nails in each panel of OSB. In a high wind zone, each panel of OSB (plywood same thing...) has to have one 8D nail every 3 inches on the perimeter, and one 8D nail every six inches inside of the panel.

The first day of the inspection, when I got to the build site, there was frost on the roof sheathing. I called and cancelled due to that. The day the guy arrived, he said we don't even go up there, don't ask me why....go up there? He didn't even inspect the wall sheathing!!

It was all done correctly to code, but I can see how this happened to these poor folks....I think the true moral of this sad story is have an agent of some type do a daily inspection after work for the day has yeah, the county should be held liable for allowing this.

[Bobrogers]

The county building inspectors should lose their jobs, and any property owned by the contractor should be seized to satisfy the claim against them. Realtors in the county should warn prospective buyers of new homes that they may not be built to code.

[glendapass]

That family is being played so bad. The County is hoping they will run out of money before they have to own up to what they did and are doing to others. I pray this doesn't devastate these people.

[popperbits]

No one should be exempt from being held accountable for their actions in any capacity

[tradingwithluis]

This is what happens when you don't hire your own inspector, and letting the general contractor to take care of everything. General contractors are looking at one number and is the profit margins they can make if they are allowed to cut corners. Always hire your own instepctor and do not let any general contractor find you one. The faster the general contractor can finish a project the faster he can find another one.

[jasonluckett]

My new house passed all inspections, but the inspector we paid before our warranty was out, told us of many things that should not have passed. Luckily we were still under warranty and got them fixed.

[robertwyrick]

Think about all of those Chatham Park homes being built for between 5-700, 000 dollars or more. They are getting the same quality inspections by the county. Just imagine how many other screwed up homes there may be out there.