A couple bought a lot in Rockwall in 2005 and had plans drawn for their “dream home,” as the opinion puts it. In early 2006 they signed a contract with a builder, whose owner assigned an electrician who had been “wiring homes” for him as the on-site construction supervisor. The couple did not know, and the owner did not tell them, that the electrician had no experience with soils testing, site preparation or building foundations, court records show.
After the house was finished in 2006, the family lived for four years with water leaks, large cracks inside and outside, falling drywall, alarms sounding in the middle of the night, and doors that would not open or close.
Each time they raised the foundation, they were reassured. A 2007 engineer’s report the owner arranged called the movement “within the normal construction standards.” A 2009 report from the firm that designed the foundation said the movement “does not reflect a failure in the foundation.”…