We built with Stepper and moved in to our new home in June 2012. We decided to have our basement developed by Stepper, thinking that this way, we would know it was "done properly". From the DAY WE MOVED IN, there was a musty "wet concrete" type smell in the basement. Because it was our first time building new, we thought maybe at first it was a normal smell that would dissipate. Unfortunately, the smell did not go away. We contacted Stepper within a few weeks of moving in to let them know of the smell. The service guy at that time let us know that before we moved in, there was a pipe that had burst and our carpet in the basement was soaked in the hallway!! He said that before we moved in, our carpets were pulled back and heavy duty fans were brought in to dry the floors. He suggested that perhaps it was residual smell from that and offered to have a carpet cleaning come in to do a cleaning. We said we were okay with that (in hindsight, we should have not settled to have our brand new carpets steam cleaned instead of replaced!!). Within a couple of weeks or so, after the smell of the chemicals dissipated, the musty smell remained. It was then suggested that perhaps the underlay was mouldy and therefore, they made the decision that the carpets would be replaced. It didn't take long after that to notice that the musty smell was still there. By this time, there was a new service guy. In the meantime, through trying to figure out what was going on ourselves, we came across some small bugs and mold behind the vanity in the basement bathroom. We also discovered that the carpet in one of the bedroom closets was mildly damp. The stepper service guy came and said he thought there was probably a problem with the foundation or weeping tile and that he thought the best thing to do would be to dig out the dirt along the side of the house to see where the problem is coming from. He said he would talk it over with his manager. We were satisfied that as we completely agreed that there was obviously a structural problem. However, after speaking with his manager, they decided that the problem was because of undue pressure on the one side of our house because the lot was vacant. We disagreed completely. Houses stand alone all the time with vacant lots for months on end!!! How could they even think that was logical? Stepper came back and pulled some of the drywall off and of course, the wall was wet and there was a crack. Also, when we shine the flashlight inside the drywall, you can visibly see mold! Still, they said they wanted to wait until the lot beside us was sold and the home was built to see if that stopped the problem. By this time, we were in our home for about or just over a year. We decided to call the New Home Warranty people and pay the money to have an "unbiased" opinion. The guy came, wrote his report, and even though he saw the mold and damp wall, he agreed with Stepper and said we should wait until the house next door to us was built! We felt we had no choice but to wait it out because that's what we were told to do. Eventually, the house beside us was finished last summer (2014) and we had to call and call the New Home Warranty people to come back and assess it again. (The musty smell was no less obvious). He finally came back, took some pictures, wrote a final report and sided with Stepper. Despite the mold, wet wall, and constant smell, they said Stepper would need to come back and seal the "hairline crack" (it is thicker than a nickel) and close up the walls. In a nutshell, seal the wall and wash their hands of this. Also, similar to another review I just read, the New Home Warranty people blamed "homeowner lifestyle" for the exceptionally high humidity levels. I'm not sure how they can justify that comment. If that was the case, shouldn't all families with children have musty smelling homes? (For the record, we are pretty certain there is not an unbiased relationship between the Home Warranty guy we dealt with and the Stepper service manager. When the Warranty guy finally replied to our email, he cc'd the Stepper service manager on it and the contact name was a nickname. The reason we have left it so long is because we have listened to Stepper's every suggestion. We have not wanted to be difficult customers but here we are, going into year three with an unresolved basement issue. We realized that this structural problem could happen with any home builder company. That is not the issue. It is the fact that this has dragged on for so long that it is simply unethical.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $562,000.00