Jay Hirata
                                       

 
 

posted 15 August 2006 04:41 CET    

My wife and I purchased this new home in the EMERALD FOREST subdivision in the north central San Antonio, Texas area. We are a military family, I am currently a Colonel in the Army and my wife recently retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army as well. We were stationed in San Antonio in June 2004 and we purchased this home due to its great location and beautiful area.

Within the first few months, 2 Oct 2004, to be exact, we observed water penetration to one of our walls in the basement storage area. Again, this was the first time that we noticed this leakage, it may have occured prior to our purchase and during the 18 months that the house was unoccupied. It was only by chance that we we down in the basement where we maintain our empty boxes. We immediately contacted the SITTERLE CORPORATION and the defective basement leaked four additional times from three different walls before the company attempted to fix the problem. There is a strong musty odorous smell in the basement and the flooring is marked with water stains.

The SITTERLE CORP attempted to remedy the situation by applying Line-X to the foundation walls. This is the same solution applied to truck bed liners. We hired a lawyer once we found out their repair plan and brought in a structural engineer and foundation subject matter experts to determine the appropriate measures to prevent future water leakage/penetration. Of course, the SITTERLE CORP does not admit any fault and are unwilling to remedy the situation. They feel that the LINE-X, an unapproved substance, with no guarantees, is the fix.

During the deposition with the owner, Mr. Sitterle JR, he revealed that the company has built six basement homes in the same complex, EMERALD FOREST, to include our defective home. Of which, four basement homes have reported water penetration, 4/6, a 67% failure rate. In addition, they have revealed that they dug up the front yard due to water penetration prior to our purchase. They did not feel that they had to reveal this to the new homeowner, but the homeowner would have to reveal, by law, on the real estate disclosure report if they sold the home.

The blue print also revealed that the SITTERLE CORP did not follow their construction plan. Insulation was not installed in the basement walls and the french drains were not properly installed.

The SITTERLE CORP's quality assurance and quality control measures are suspect. We found out their Production Manager was fired during the construction of our home and we personally witnessed the unsupervision of their worker who painted on the Line-X on the foundation walls.

The TRCC ruled in our favor and we are disgruntled homeowner, we are the victims of shoddy construction and a company that is unwilling and unable to accept responsibility and accountability for this defective foundation and home. Their poor track record, 67% failure rate proves that they have major problems and issues in building basement homes.

Thank you for your time.

Jay and Joy Hirata