Getting Action Out Of A GC

Tony, our builder, is also the general contractor on our house.  He has made it clear from the onset that he is not interested in communicating with us.  Instead he requests insists that we communicate with our sales associate, Linda. Linda is friendly, responsive, and goes out of her way to help us out  The only problem is that she is a sales agent and not a contractor and consequently has no clue what is going on with our house.

In each of our monthly calls to Tony, he not only made it clear he did not want to talk to us, but he informed us that our "goal" completion date has been pushed back a month with no explanation.  The closest thing to an explanation has been references to selling the last house in our neighborhood and finishing other houses before the first time home buyer credit expires.  Since different crews are required for these projects, it is hard to see how this delayed our house.

To add insult to injury, we have watched the house next to us go from just one day ahead of us to nearing the completion of framing. Not to mention multiple other houses (built by another builder) on our street go from nothing to having brick in the months since we started construction.

After two months of unexplained delays we realized that we need to do something now or it will be 2011and we will still be waiting for the final foundation pour.  We asked around and decided that our best course of action was the be the squeaky wheel.  We started making calls, sending emails, and gathering contact information of the higher ups.  We also started referring to the terms of our contract.

Our contract states that the average home is completed in 120-180 days from the start of construction.  We are currently approaching day 90 (and do not have a foundation).  We understand that a home can be completed in as little as 60 days from the completion of foundation.  So, we are pushing for a September completion, which would allow Tony approximately 90 days to complete the home after the foundation is poured next week.

It is no secret that the construction industry is notorious for failing to meet deadlines.  If you have experienced similar delays, what did you do to ensure your project was completed in a timely manner?