Builder's doing it on the cheap - and paying for it!

With all the forclosed and never sold large houses on the market, and with many of them having been built by, shall we say, less that experienced builders (who use the least expensive sub-contractors they can find), a trend is developing in the houseing market. As sad trend.

I was called by a Realtor friend I know. He and his brother (who is a painter, handyStachman type) have been buying properties and either putting on additions or completing forclosed properties and selling them. Classic flippers.

Well, my Realtor friend had one such house under contract and the inspector found mold in the attic area (bathroom exhaust fans not vented to the exterior. A common defect that is not required by local codes but is still a dfect for just this reason). My friend had his brother "clean it up". As is commonly done, the brother sprayed a bleach solution on the moldy areas and painted over it.

PLEASE NOTE: Bleach is NOT a proper material to use for mold remediation on building products (like wood, concrete and drywall).

My Realtor friend requested a mold clearance test to make sure that all the mold was gone (the buyer's inspector had called out the mold growth in the attic).

So, today the results come back and it was positive. There were even traces of Stachybotrys, the so-called "toxic black mold". The Realtor got very angry, needless to say. He even had his other brother, who presented himself as an "Engineer" (although he refused to say what type of engineer he was) talk to me and tell me that there are no standards for allowable mold levels (true) and that, therefore, the lab report was useless. I, repeatedly, asked him to call the lab who performed the test (Nationally accredited) and speak to the Mycologist. But he got more and more agitated when I would not agree with his contention that the test was worthless.

Here are the fasts:

1) The Realtor and his brother had no business doing construction and flipping house. They had no real, professional training to do so (and general contractors are not state licensed in Illinois. All that is required is to pay $35.00 and to have a General Liability insurance policy. They did the work on the cheap.

2) When presented with the prospective buyer's inspection report, stating that there was mold in the attic, they attemped to clean it up themselves, rather than hiring a professional, qualified and trained mold remediation contractor. They made the situation worse. They tried to do it on the cheap.

3) They vcalled me to clearence test the attic, and my test told them that there was still mold and an even bigger problem. I, strongly, urged them to hire a professional remediation company, but they complained about how much that wold cost. Again, they are trying to do things on the cheap.

In other words, since they are completely unqualified, incompetent and not financially sound, they have to blame someone else for their shortcomings.

Just because they want to do it on the cheap.

As my dearly departed Dad used to say, "A cheap fix will ALWAYS be more expensive than a quality repair