Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  01/18/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We built a house through Allan Builders LLC and moved in Halloween weekend 2023. Upon moving in it was immediately recognized that the south end of the house was colder than the rest of the house particularly the southwest bedroom. We brought this to the builders attention. They attempted to make the room warmer but at no point did they attempt to find out WHY the room was cold. All "band-aid" style attempts made on their behalf were unsuccessful in warming the room. So, we eventually decided to hire a professional inspector to help assess WHY the rooms are cold. The inspector found several issues and compiled a ***ort and I submitted this ***ort to Allan Builders. The ***ort included visual evidence of airflow coming as well as other noted concerns. The ***ort was sent to the builder along with a request for $2400 reimbursement and a request for the recommended action items from the ***ort to be completed to address the cold rooms. The Field Operations Manager has ***lied not "understanding what the company's responsibility is". We are obviously very unhappy with the situation and their lack of willingness to correct the very obviously stated "recommendations" from the inspector's ***ort. Our sales *** declined to talk with us and we attempted to connect with owners but they did not ***ly to our e-mail.Inspector Report...(includes video showing outside air flowing into room of concern via fog machine outside home)********************************************************

  

  Business response

  01/24/2025

  Allan Builders, LLC was contracted in December 2022 to build a new home for **** and ***** Collar at ************************************************************************************  After getting the proper subdivision and municipal approvals and securing the building permit, construction of the new home started in March ***************************************************** October of 2023.
  
  The home we constructed for the Collars was based on our Brightwatermodel which we have built more than 50 of over the last 10 years.
  
  A couple things to note here about us as a builder:
  *   We, as are all builders in the state, are required to build according to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code (***) as a minimum standard.
  *   Allan Builders consistently outperforms the *** minimums in many areas of the home building process
  *   All homes that we build require that we obtain an Occupancy Permit from the local municipality who performs multiple inspections throughout the building process to help ensure the home is being built in compliance with the *** and any local municipal codes.  I have attached a copy of the Occupancy Permit for your review
  *   Allan Builders certifies EVERY home with the Wisconsin Focus on Energy NEW HOME CERTIFICATION program and has been doing so for well over 10 years.  As part of the certification, we have a 3rd party energy company perform additional site visits to perform energy testing to provide a certified report on how the home compares to the minimum code requirements.  The Collar home EXCEEDED the minimum requirements by *****%.  I have attached a copy of that report for your review.
  
  We have been contacted by the Collars regarding Bedroom 2 (** 2) being colder than the other living spaces in the home.  The total square footage of the home is 3420.  The 1st Floor is 2326 SF and the Finished part of the lower level is 1094 SF. There are (2) **** Zones for the home, one serving the 1st floor and one serving the Finished portion of the lower level.  The contributing factors to the space being colder are:
  *   The thermostat serving the entire 1st floor zone is just outside the Master Bedroom in the back hall area, which is at the entire other end of the home from ** 2.
  *   Exterior walls make up 2 sides of the ** 2, with (1) Double Wide and (1) Single Wide windows in those walls
  *   The space under ** 2 is the UNFINISHED part of the Lower Level
  *   There is no carpet in the room as the flooring is Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP)
  
  When building a home, a client can decide to add multiple zones to their home to help ensure that the spaces meet their comfort level.  Each zone comes with added costs,so it is ultimately up to the homeowner as to the configuration they choose for their home.  The Collars chose one zone for the entire 1st floor and one zone for the FINISHED part of the lower level
  
  Since the issue was first reported, Allan Builders, along with many of the contractors who worked on the home during its construction, have made multiple trips to the home to assess the reported issue.  In an effort to appease the customer and situation, we have:
  *   Run larger heat ducts to ** 2
  *   Added additional foam insulation to the Box ***** in the UNFINSHED basement space below ** 2
  *   Added additional BATT insulation in the attic above ** 2
  *   Removed exterior siding around windows and retaped to ensure there were no issues
  
  All of these items were done as good will and was not something that we were required to do as the home passed all necessary inspections and again, performed *****% more energy efficient than required by code.  We even offered to add a 3rd Zone to the **** system at COST which would allow that end of the home to have its own thermostat, which the homeowner refused.
  
  We are aware of the HOME INSPECTION report that was done by ************************** and while we agree that the report has a lot of cool looking thermal images and videos, nothing in the report is something that is required by the Wisconsin Uniformed Dwelling Code (***).  While we agree that the recommendations made in the ************************* report would make the comfortability of the overall home better, it was not what we were contracted to do when building the Collar home and we feel that we have gone above and beyond to make the situation better.  It would be like buying a new car, and then a month later taking it back to the dealership and saying the car does not perform like you THINK it should so now you want a Turbo Charge added to it, and the dealership should pay for it.  I also spoke with ***** ***** with ***** ******************* about his report and he agreed that these were his opinions on what MIGHT help with the colder room, but that he could not point to a single contributing factor that pointed back to the original construction of the home.

  Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions and/or if we can be of further assistance .

  **** ******

  GM & VP of Operations

  Customer response

  01/28/2025

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  First off, these unacceptable conditions have been noted since day 1. We arent looking turbocharge anything as was insinuated by the respondent. We are looking for the room to be livable which it isnt for most of the winter when documented unreasonably extensive infiltration is occurring. At no point did the builder ever once seek out as to WHY these conditions were occurring. They attempted to make the room warmer but did not take any time to seek out WHY these conditions room was cold. So we had to spend $2400 to have it determined that cold air is rapidly flowing into the room. This is very well documented on video. We are asking for reimbursement of $2400 for the cost of the inspection as well as rectifying the infiltration issues illustrated in video and per Victory warranty guidelines. Thanks much!!

  Regards,
  
  **** and ***** Collar

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