Ask the Architect

'Just don't pay'

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Q. My backyard was completely redone — even the bulkhead — after everything was ruined by Hurricane Sandy. I made sure I had all permits for the bulkhead, dock, pool and deck. Even the fence needed a permit. Everything is almost done, four years after the storm (whew!), and I have one last payment. While waiting for the deck to be finished, I noticed that the railings are crooked, sagging and wobbly. The deck is sloping down to one corner. I’m afraid someone will fall off. Could the ground be sinking? Everything is angled to one corner, and it’s so obvious. I sit in the morning with my coffee and can’t stop staring at it. What can I do? I’m a single woman. I think the contractor takes advantage of that, because I tried several times to discuss it and he shut me down, pointing over at all my neighbors’ decks and saying they’re all doing the same thing. But theirs are old and my deck is brand new!

A. Every day I see deficient construction. Every day I open construction plans and have to ask if the person doing the work even bothered to look at the plans. The problem is that enforcement and penalties for contractors, for the most part, don’t exist. People think that formal building inspections will do the job of keeping contractors proficient. To some extent, inspectors do a very good job of pointing out the problems they can see. But people in construction are very skillful in explaining away deficient work or even hiding it. An evening’s dose of TV builder shows will demonstrate how some couple is renovating, opened a wall, and found damage caused by hidden, preventable, illegal work.

Government came up with all these rules, or laws, called building codes, but they actually enable workers building poorly by making someone else, who didn’t build, responsible. Let’s face it, by making an architect or engineer write a letter saying your sloping deck or sagging handrails (not to mention sinking support columns and footings) are “to code and the plans were followed,” when you can clearly see that the work is bad, does nothing to protect you. Where’s the responsibility of the contractor to put their name on their job, stand proud, and go back to correct deficient work? It doesn’t exist, even if you have one of those one-year guarantees.

While excavating, if poor soil is uncovered, you’re at the mercy of the person down in that hole to say something, yet I’ve walked onto job sites, seen non-supportive muck and had to stop the job. How many jobs have continuous management, someone looking out for you? Very few. Construction is like the Wild West. The best recourse is to just stop paying. Have a good contract, have an expert construction manager sign off at each step before payment, even now, and have the contractor agree to make corrections, or just don’t pay.

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.