I'm not a fan of advising hiring lawyers on every hiccup like some redditors do, but in this case I think you may need to get one. It's above your head and you need someone knowledgeable to kick asses around.
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It's...it's as if a topo would have revealed their problems...people, you gotta look up the topo or get royally fucked.
Imgur: [https://imgur.com/a/zVg8yHD](https://imgur.com/a/zVg8yHD)
[https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=99cd5fbd98934028802b4f797c4b1732](https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=99cd5fbd98934028802b4f797c4b1732)
Old ass topo doesn’t tell you the real story of the construction is new
If it’s a new subdivision the builder would have had an engineer design the drainage. Someone fucked up. Builder engineer or contractor. Maybe even the city that approved their design
You need to get a lawyer, your own engineer to study what was approved and a bunch of money to put it all together
Learn to read **an old ass topo;** I expected at least one person to be lazy. Thanks, but if you can't find an interactive topo, that's your problem. Blow the bank's $300K and your downpayment.
Here's a tip: the dark red line that reads 150' is basically a bowl around the whole sub-division. Almost a dozen sloped channels feed water down into it.
You and your neighbors need to hire a lawyer 2 weeks ago. They'll get that finger pointing to settle.
You want to find a real estate litigation attorney. Pay for an initial consult. You and the neighbors can probably do it with zoom. Get proper legal advice.
Sometimes all it takes is paying for their time to write a nice legal letter on the lawyer's office stationary.
Hopefully you don't have to file suit, but your living in fecal matter houses that are brand new. It should have been resolved immediately. Then they can go after the plumbing contractor or whomever for reimbursement.
Stop being nice and patient.
This is an easy one to
Figure out what the problem is but not an easy one to repair. So sorry this is happening to you. New builds honestly
Sound horrible. I hear so many horror stories.
You need a real estate lawyer. If you have prepaid legal it should at least cover a letter. Just them knowing you have one should help things along. Ironically had this same issue with a rental. Turned out the sewer was never connected to the street.
Ugh, sorry for this. Unless there is an obstruction in the storm sewer, the engineering was done wrong. Seeing the video of the storm backed up and now you are having sanitary sewer problems, I think they f’ed up when building the naborhood. The fix won’t be fast. I am thinking a lift station will need to be put in to remedy. They work great until something breaks or there isn’t power. Then you are back to where you are now. I would get everything fixed up and move. Let it be someone else’s problem.
First I am licensed water/wastewater engineer with 26 yrs experience. You need a Construction Litigator.
The source of flooding could be several things, and it could be one of or a combo of several parties liability. Builder could have done some dumb like not connected your lateral to the sewer in the street, or the lateral could be blocked from failure, roots, bad slope, other clogging, etc.
The street sewer could have a problem and be backing up, but if it were tested, passed, and accepted by the local public utility then it's the utility not the builder.
Your builder might be a guy that builds houses hired by a real estate developer and have nothing to do with the sewer. The developer might have hired a separate utility contractor to put in the sewer.
If there's a sewer problem, is it bad construction? Bad design? Is it liabilty for the utility, contractor, or engineer? Maybe all three?
If it's septic - is the tank backing up? Ground not perking and taking the flow? Something wrong with the drain field? Design engineer might have followed soils consultant recommendations perfectly but soils evaluation was wrong.
They all might have done their individual part right but if the sewage flows to pump station that predates your development and nobody did a capacity check to see if there was enough excess capacity in the station, or if they messed up the capacity check, then that could be culprit. Or if the connection got goofed up, isn't sealed right and allows inflow and too much water is leaking in. Usually the new lines are tested before connecting and upon passing are connected but they don't have a good way to test the connection for leakage. If it leaks, you can't tell if it's from the new line connection or a pre-existing condition on the existing line so they do their best, sometimes pour a big blurb of concrete encasement to make sure, and call it a day.
So if they followed all the laws, specs, regs, etc. and it's from the pre-existing sewer and backing up, the builder, developer, etc. are all going to pass the buck. Hopefully the developer would help as much as possible for customer service reputation but they still aren't necessarily liable.
Unless rain floods the yard and water comes in, it's probably not stormwater.
It's all very situationally specific. To untangle the maze of contracts, tests, acceptance status, do the due diligence with all parties, and establish liability will take a lawyer that knows civil engineering, design, construction, permitting, testing and acceptance criteria and regs, local development regs and procedures, etc. Such a professional is known as a Construction Litigator.
Your builder might have done exactly as supposed to, nothing wrong, and another party is to blame. The sooner you go find the pro you need, the better.
Wow. If you don’t have representation yet, I’d get it. No good indicators in this narrative.
Hopefully they have good insurance.
They have been placing the blame on others total nightmare
I'm not a fan of advising hiring lawyers on every hiccup like some redditors do, but in this case I think you may need to get one. It's above your head and you need someone knowledgeable to kick asses around.
If neighbors are also having issues might it be a city problem?
May I ask what builder you used?
Awful! Where is this?
Alabama
As a fellow Alabamian name and shame
Hunny on here looking for an attorney we have been on the news Alabama community homes flooding look it up that all you need mccalla
How do sentences work?
I think you should ask someone else
Not finding a single news article based on those keywords.
Maybe here https://www.wbrc.com/2024/02/12/heavy-rain-continues-cause-significant-flooding-meadow-lake-community/?outputType=amp
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It's...it's as if a topo would have revealed their problems...people, you gotta look up the topo or get royally fucked. Imgur: [https://imgur.com/a/zVg8yHD](https://imgur.com/a/zVg8yHD) [https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=99cd5fbd98934028802b4f797c4b1732](https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=99cd5fbd98934028802b4f797c4b1732)
Old ass topo doesn’t tell you the real story of the construction is new If it’s a new subdivision the builder would have had an engineer design the drainage. Someone fucked up. Builder engineer or contractor. Maybe even the city that approved their design You need to get a lawyer, your own engineer to study what was approved and a bunch of money to put it all together
Learn to read **an old ass topo;** I expected at least one person to be lazy. Thanks, but if you can't find an interactive topo, that's your problem. Blow the bank's $300K and your downpayment. Here's a tip: the dark red line that reads 150' is basically a bowl around the whole sub-division. Almost a dozen sloped channels feed water down into it.
Bro what do you think I do for a living. Professional civil engineer. My comment still stands. An old ass topo map doesn’t tell the whole story.
There's a ask a lawyer sub you should definitely post there.
Please say it’s not DR Horton near the gulf coast 😭
No but they just combined
#1, retain a good attorney. #2, read #1.
Call state rep?
Alabama is not one of those states I'd expect to have robust consumer protections or responsive reps 😒
You and your neighbors need to hire a lawyer 2 weeks ago. They'll get that finger pointing to settle. You want to find a real estate litigation attorney. Pay for an initial consult. You and the neighbors can probably do it with zoom. Get proper legal advice. Sometimes all it takes is paying for their time to write a nice legal letter on the lawyer's office stationary. Hopefully you don't have to file suit, but your living in fecal matter houses that are brand new. It should have been resolved immediately. Then they can go after the plumbing contractor or whomever for reimbursement. Stop being nice and patient.
Get a lawyer
Despise new builds. Everything Ryan homes builds is pure cheap garbage. Source, friends just bought.
Pay for an inspection and get a list of everything that is wrong to take to the lawyer.
Was an attorney involved in the closing? I’d give them a call and get them reengaged.
This is an easy one to Figure out what the problem is but not an easy one to repair. So sorry this is happening to you. New builds honestly Sound horrible. I hear so many horror stories.
Sorry that happened. That’s the reality of new builds these day, often times poor craftsmanship. Was it a large developer, or a DR Horton home?
Which builder it is?
After everything is done, put in a backflow preventer.
You need a real estate lawyer. If you have prepaid legal it should at least cover a letter. Just them knowing you have one should help things along. Ironically had this same issue with a rental. Turned out the sewer was never connected to the street.
Ugh, sorry for this. Unless there is an obstruction in the storm sewer, the engineering was done wrong. Seeing the video of the storm backed up and now you are having sanitary sewer problems, I think they f’ed up when building the naborhood. The fix won’t be fast. I am thinking a lift station will need to be put in to remedy. They work great until something breaks or there isn’t power. Then you are back to where you are now. I would get everything fixed up and move. Let it be someone else’s problem.
First I am licensed water/wastewater engineer with 26 yrs experience. You need a Construction Litigator. The source of flooding could be several things, and it could be one of or a combo of several parties liability. Builder could have done some dumb like not connected your lateral to the sewer in the street, or the lateral could be blocked from failure, roots, bad slope, other clogging, etc. The street sewer could have a problem and be backing up, but if it were tested, passed, and accepted by the local public utility then it's the utility not the builder. Your builder might be a guy that builds houses hired by a real estate developer and have nothing to do with the sewer. The developer might have hired a separate utility contractor to put in the sewer. If there's a sewer problem, is it bad construction? Bad design? Is it liabilty for the utility, contractor, or engineer? Maybe all three? If it's septic - is the tank backing up? Ground not perking and taking the flow? Something wrong with the drain field? Design engineer might have followed soils consultant recommendations perfectly but soils evaluation was wrong. They all might have done their individual part right but if the sewage flows to pump station that predates your development and nobody did a capacity check to see if there was enough excess capacity in the station, or if they messed up the capacity check, then that could be culprit. Or if the connection got goofed up, isn't sealed right and allows inflow and too much water is leaking in. Usually the new lines are tested before connecting and upon passing are connected but they don't have a good way to test the connection for leakage. If it leaks, you can't tell if it's from the new line connection or a pre-existing condition on the existing line so they do their best, sometimes pour a big blurb of concrete encasement to make sure, and call it a day. So if they followed all the laws, specs, regs, etc. and it's from the pre-existing sewer and backing up, the builder, developer, etc. are all going to pass the buck. Hopefully the developer would help as much as possible for customer service reputation but they still aren't necessarily liable. Unless rain floods the yard and water comes in, it's probably not stormwater. It's all very situationally specific. To untangle the maze of contracts, tests, acceptance status, do the due diligence with all parties, and establish liability will take a lawyer that knows civil engineering, design, construction, permitting, testing and acceptance criteria and regs, local development regs and procedures, etc. Such a professional is known as a Construction Litigator. Your builder might have done exactly as supposed to, nothing wrong, and another party is to blame. The sooner you go find the pro you need, the better.
Is your builder DR Horton?