Our Homes in jeopardy, Any lawyers out there?

[turn1]

Wow, DavisBeefmasters, you sound like a lawyer and know what your talking about. YOUR HIRED. Yes I do realize it will be time consuming. Especially when we were told by Clayton Homes their lawyers said not to pay the subs what the general contractor, who was already paid, should have paid. Who am I to fight a corp. such as Clayton Homes that puts out millions on lawyers each year? I'm just me who owns a small machine shop that just wants what I work for and pay for. It shouldn't be that difficult. I will need to read and reread your reply in order to decipher what your speaking of. I would hate to involve a lawyer in this due to the fact I can't really afford one that could handle something of this magnitude. I've already called two lawyers that wanted nothing to do with this case. They refer me to the next guy/girl. Anyway, the work on the house continues and we have one more paper to sign that seals the deal and states we accept the home. Until then, Clayton Homes gets no more money from the bank. javascript:emoticon(';-)')
Wink

 

[turn1]

Tanks for the encouragement. I to believe it will in the end work out.

 

[kerley]

Who is your lender ? I would notify the lender and have them cut off the money until this mess is cleaned up. Your lender knows the law and they most likely don't want a mess on their hands.Most lenders use the voucher system where as each sub contractor gets a pay voucher from the general contractor upon completion of their work.They in turn take the voucher with the required lein release to the lender for payment. You may need an attorney, be careful as the attorney might wind up being your biggest fear.Good luck

 

[turn1]

The lender ended up being a local bank. All funds have been frozen but as I said Clayton Homes lawyers have stopped paying contractors that have not been paid. The Gen. contractor took off with that money. This will be a long, drawn out process. ( MESS ) I meant to say.

 

[kerley]

Did you mortgage your land to the lender as security for the new manufactured home? Did you say that you fired the general contractor that the home dealer hired and replaced him with someone of your choice? Which general contractor took the 19K . Were either gc licensed by your state to contract. ? Good luck .Did any of the private contractors file a pre-lien before commencing there work.If they did not per-lien they may not be able to lien under construction law in your area.

 

[turn1]

Yes, our land is in on the loan. The main gen. contractor that CH hired was a plumber and he in turn hired all the subs. Only one sub was known by the main Gen. Contr. and in turn was the only one that got paid. The main gen. Contr was supposed to pay all the contractors which were, foundation, excavating, rock and two concrete companies. The one I fired was the main genr contr. and that was agreed to by CH. CH had previous customers that had work done by this same main gen. contr. and all of the jobs were botched but lien wavers were passed with them and people were paid. All the contrs. that are putting liens on our property were hired by the main genr. contr. that CH hired and he is the one that received 19k but as I said he only paid the excavator which was his friend. The people I hired were the electrician, plumber and septic. All are people I know and all are being paid directly by my bank via me. They will not get paid through CH.. All but one, the excavator, are wanting to put liens on my property including the main genr contractor that was paid 19k. because he to said he did not get paid by CH even though there is canceled check. NOW THAT'S HARD TO SWALLOW. !!!!!!!!! Boggles my mind just typing that. Hard to believe, but true. :roll:

 

[TheBullLady]

What a mess is right! I won't touch the liability issue with the contractors and sub contractors on having your mobile home set up, because I've never sold a mobile home, but I do have an opinion on the loan!

The reason the housing market is in such a quandry right now is because of similar issues with lenders and buyers. Buyers get excited, and like you mentioned, don't read enough of their contracts OR ask enough questions. I've seen it happen often enough, and I have begged clients to walk away from a deal, but they never listen. They get in a bind, or just can't say no to their "dream home" and they don't realize what they are getting into. Lenders who don't fully explain the loan documents should be working at Wal Mart, not lenders! If you understood your loan was fixed, and you were asked to sign papers that showed an ARM, you should have immediately found another lender. The fact that you had a difficult time getting a lender would have been a red flag to me. When people shop for a "zero down" loan, they are going to get a high interest ARM, or a short term with a balloon. When a buyer can afford to actually put something down (ie: 10-20%) you are in a position to get a decent fixed loan fairly easily.

 

[kerley]

The people seem to have put the loan on the back shelf for now. The loan has nothing to do with the fact that it was not managed properly by others in control nor does it negate the fact that she apparently has been swindeled by a dishonest trailer dealer,who apparently hired a plumber that was'nt a qualified nor licensed gc. Personally I know this family is upset, and they will need some legal help to resolve this mess. I would contact the Missouri state contractors board and the state attorney generals office to find out my options before paying attorneys that don't give a crap about anything but getting your money.

 

[sanchez]

Yes, our land is in on the loan. The main gen. contractor that CH hired was a plumber and he in turn hired all the subs. Only one sub was known by the main Gen. Contr. and in turn was the only one that got paid. The main gen. Contr was supposed to pay all the contractors which were, foundation, excavating, rock and two concrete companies. The one I fired was the main genr contr. and that was agreed to by CH. CH had previous customers that had work done by this same main gen. contr. and all of the jobs were botched but lien wavers were passed with them and people were paid. All the contrs. that are putting liens on our property were hired by the main genr. contr. that CH hired and he is the one that received 19k but as I said he only paid the excavator which was his friend. The people I hired were the electrician, plumber and septic. All are people I know and all are being paid directly by my bank via me. They will not get paid through CH.. All but one, the excavator, are wanting to put liens on my property including the main genr contractor that was paid 19k. because he to said he did not get paid by CH even though there is canceled check. NOW THAT'S HARD TO SWALLOW. !!!!!!!!! Boggles my mind just typing that. Hard to believe, but true. :roll:

Like others said, save yourself a ton of hassle, and just get an attorney. Skip dealing with the BBB because they're a scam in themselves. If you want to cause "damage" to any of the contractors that have done you wrong, file a complaint against they're license. In AZ, they're required by law to respond to it - if they don't their license and bond can and normally is lost.

 

[turn1]

Thanks for the advise sanchez, How do and where could I file a complaint? I will indeed seek advise from a lawyer. Too many people have told me to do that I just hate spending all that money I don't have. I can't see how I could afford not to. I let you know what happens.

 

[sanchez]

Thanks for the advise sanchez, How do and where could I file a complaint? I will indeed seek advise from a lawyer. Too many people have told me to do that I just hate spending all that money I don't have. I can't see how I could afford not to. I let you know what happens.

I'm not sure what the organization is there, and I tried a bit of Googling to no avail. But here in Arizona, it's called the contractors registrar. For AZ they have a form right on their website. What county are you and/or the contractors in?

When you goto find an attorney, call around. Don't go for the most expensive, or the cheapest attorney based solely on price. More than likely someone focused on contract law (a "business attorney") will do you the best. Give them a call, get a consultation or discuss it real quick over the phone. Just briefly explain the situation, tell them you're stuck, and see what they say.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Here's the unfortunate part... Missouri doesn't require board certification for general contractors (at least they didn't when I lived there a few years ago)... only electricians and plumbers :roll:

So posting complaints with the BBB on line so others can be warned and proceeding with an attorney is probably the only options you've got...

...again though, you will need every scrap of document, lien waiver, pre-lien notice, etc. that you can get your hands on because it will save you the discovery costs with an attorney requesting them anyway...

Clayton Homes: "How do I know who's been paid?, What can you show me to help me understand? Can I have a copy of this? Who are these people and what did they do? Is there anything else in your file on this project that I can look at because this is just all so confusing"... play it up, play the gosh oh golly, oh gee, aw shucks and gather as much as you can!

Best of luck and try to have a good holiday season and not give control of your mood to those in the world who really need some Christmas blessings.

 

[turn1]

Thank you for the advise. Sorry I hav'nt replied sooner. We've been out of commision for a while due our move. We are finally in our home. It has been a mess getting everything to work. We have found leak after leak in the water pipes. Most everything that is supposed to be thightened is loose including the knobs on all the cabinets. I'm afaid to think of what's loose in places I can't see. Anyway, we are speaking to a lawyer tommorow that we have dealt with before. Thank you all for the comments and advise.

 

[Lammie]

If there are issues with the quality and workmanship of the home, then you need to contact your dealer. They have people who will come in and service the home. If those items are part of your warranty, then the manufacturer will fix them through their service department. You need to read through your warranty carefully to see what is and what is not covered. Loose fittings and such should not be an issue. Someone should come in and cheerfully fix the things that you are talking about. Use the dealer and the factory first. Don't try to fix these things yourself and risk voiding the warranty.

Your dealer is going to blame everything on the plant, which may or may not be the case. Just find out who the service manager is at the plant where the home was built and contact him or her personally. You should get some sort of remedy from that. Good luck and I am glad you are in your home finally.

 

[turn1]

We do have a warranty on most every problem we have encountered but the problem is most of these defects need immediate attention. Their was a leak under the kitchen sink where the water line was attached to the faucet. It was as if it was tightened by hand. The same with the bathtub. The main heater duct fell off in the basement as did the dryer vent. Very frustrating. It took three days for the maintenance man to come look at these problems. Again it just makes me wounder what else is wrong in places we cannot see. My wife has been very optimistic with all this and has encouraged me considerably. Like she says, in two years we will look back and laugh at all this. Maybe even look at the pictures we took of mud and more mud. I am, believe it or not, very thankful for what we do have. As the song goes, " what a nice problem to have ". We do work very hard for these problems. ;-)