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Disabled woman fighting for accessible home
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8 years later I went through my divorce and part of the court proceedings was to decide who should live in the home. That same builder came to court to testify for my ex-husband that the home did not have any special accomodations for a handicapped person. I GUESS THE BUILDER GOT THAT PART RIGHT!
Many commercial architects or builders would know how to do this, and there are companies like ASSIST that help a lot of people. Richmond obviously didn't hire anyone to help them, and they don't do this typically.
Ramps should be 1:12. That takes a lot of room. You are better designing the house so it doesn't need a ramp. Ramps steeper than 1:8 are usually worse than stairs for safety.
Disabled persons don't really want more privileges, just want the same ones.
I'm glad these people are not giving up. Give them what they paid for- a house with specific accommodations. Consumers shouldn't keep settling for less. Hold these companies accountable for what was agreed upon and don't settle!
Also, is there no Building Supervisor on these sites that makes sure the buildings are going up according to the contract, plans and specs?
A Professional Engineer has determined that the house could have been built almost 5 feet lower to allow a reasonable 5% slope as per contract. It pains us that the Antidiscrimination Division�s report was based on outrageous fallacies. It even sought to change the contract to our detriment. We have requested that Gov. Huntsman audit the case, We do not want our case to be a negative precedent and harm other disabled persons who need accessible housing.
If you want a custom home with everything built to your individual needs and specifications... You need to design it that way from the begining, instead of making a grundle of verbal modifications to a standard model.
I have family who live in Richmond Homes (Lehi). From everything I've heard or seen they are excelent and fit their needs (but they learned you must keep a close eye on them to make sure any customiations requested are done right). These crews are used to banging out a standard floorplan in a few days. Sometimes customizations don't get communicated correctly or are not executed correctly (these crews don't specialize in custom home construction).
People just need to know what they're getting into. Richmond, Ivory, etc, don't specialize in building custom homes. There ARE builders out there who do design homes from the ground up to fit your individual needs (instead of starting with a standard model and making small customizations), but it costs much more.
Richmond should know their limitations and turn-this-type-of-job-down-or-commit-to-do-it-right.
I just don't get it, other than the fact that the builder is a very careless / disorganized person or just blew her off.
I rented a wheelchair, and told the builder that the only way he was going to get paid was after he sat in it for a couple of hours in the demo home.
An hour into the ordeal, he was tired of slamming into doorjambs, straining to reach light switches, counters, outlets, etc, and to get from the chair to the toilet.
My friends got the house they wanted -- and the personal attention from the developer that made it work.
When you threaten their paycheck, these people start to listen. Once they listen, they often have that "V-8 moment" and realize how stupid they have been looking until then!
If they couldn't deliver, then they shouldn't have agreed to do it. It's their job to make right what they did wrong. If they think it's too expensive to fix, then they can cough up a new house from scratch.
If the special considerations weren't specified and compensated for in the contract, you're going to have a hard time holding the builder responsible for something the salesman promised but never put in the contract.
The ADA's job is to make sure PUBLIC buildings are accessible. They don't force builders of private homes to make modifications that were not specified in the contract and paid for in the purchase of the home. You don't call ADA after the fact and say, "Make them make this house accessible to the handicapped". There is no law that private residences be wheelchare accessible. It is the job of the home buyer to specify what modifications they want and are willing to pay for, Not the ADA or any other regulatory agency.
Bottom line... If it's in the contract you will get it, or generous compensation (that's what contracts and courts are for). If it WASN'T in the contract, the ADA can't help.
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"Just buy the house first, THEN we'll fix the mistakes" (and meanwhile, they'll sneaky-sneak some tiny words into the written contract, negating that verbal promise and the buyers would be stuck with the mistake-ridden house).
In the midst of a housing downturn, it's mind-boggling why a builder wouldn't want to build the home that the customer ordered!
I've heard too many builder horror stories from buyers of Utah's largest home-builders' products.
In no way would I want to do business with any of them.
If this builder was smart, they'd realize that light switches can be on two levels, that an aging population will want more homes like this, and that ADA homes are increasingly in demand.
Richmond, step up. Give the buyer want they want, NOT what YOU want to build. THEN, they'll buy it.
The Ugolinis are obviously smarter than the average gullible Utah homebuyer.