My bet is that the parents will decide to pony up another $20K so that they can get everything they want.
I HOPE the parents help them. What a mess.
I am sworn to secrecy about all the issues we found. Daughter understands I tried to talk them out of doing remodel and just fixing up a bit to put it up for sale. She knows her parents are not happy about this house she bought.
Ouch. This could get ugly. What if you find more issues??
Back in the day in the town I grew up in, word was that inspection standards were looser for developers. When one of them was building a house across the street from us, my mother saw the guy come to backfill the cinderblock foundation within hours of the masons leaving. No way was it set. She went out to look and saw the wall start to bulge inward. She caught the attention of the guy operating the equipment, and he went down and propped the wall with a couple of random 2x4s lying around. He told her that he knew it was too soon, but those were his orders.
Many years later my parents bought the house and flipped it. It always had water problems in the basement. And it was NOT in a spot where that was to be expected.
I don’t think a building inspector could have stopped a builder from back filling too early. Inspector’s job is to inspect the block wall. But nowadays you have to do a huge amount of waterproof membrane, waterproof goo and a french drain. All of this has to be inspected before the backfill can go in.
Not a good idea to agree to the daughter’s request for secrecy. Could go on with lots of reasons but you probably already know them. Thats not reasonable. Decisions (financial, etc) need to be made with full disclosure. You have done them a HUGE favor- this should be on YOUR terms, not theirs Tell the dau you simply cant agree to that. She can take it or leave it-- it’s YOUR choice not hers. You are in charge. The money is not entirely coming from the daughter and you should not be expected to be complicit isn secret keeping, especially from your backers (on other projects). Trust is important- betwee you and the parents. This is their family dynamic, not yours. Dont let her put you in a position you do not want to be in.
I’m guessing you mean that you’re sworn to secrecy from the parents. That’s really unfair of the daughter since the only reason you agreed to this project is because the parents are your investors. Sooner or later they’ll find out about this financial sinkhole but hopefully they’re not asking you for updates which could involve fake news or alternate facts,
Can the owners get an equity line or raise their equity line to get everything they need? I think it would be worth it in the end.
We had a contractor disappear mid-job, so maybe they had plans but it was never inspected?
EXACTLY, Marilyn. The daughter made a bad decision in buying this money pit. Trying to keep the degree of it a secret from the responsible parents is a bad idea, and not your problem. Please do not get sucked into that. Besides, your agreement from the getgo was via a request made by the parents-- between you and them. This attempt to keep them blind to the mess is immature and not ok. SHe needs to face the degree of, and implications of her bad decision. It is what it is.
Plus…in any old house, there are unanticipated things that need to be done. Youmare doing YOUR due diligence by finding and fixing things that, quite frankly, are structural and are more important than a new kitchen.
As far as I know the parents are not providing any funds. They did ask me if I could do the job for their daughter because they wanted to motivate the kids to get the house fixed. They aren’t at the house and do not ask me any questions. I did have a private conversation with them about the financial sense of spending money vs moving to a better neighborhood. Dad indicated he has to tread lightly because they were all proud of their home purchase. But he’s frustrated that they haven’t fixed one thing on their “fixer upper”.
I think the issue is that, understandably, she’s embarrassed about the rat invasion. I have a feeling she’s not happy with her husband’s lack of maintenance. He really hasn’t done anything to fix the house since they owned it.
Regardless, expecting you to keep “her” secret is not your job. Just say no. If asked by the parents, you will either need to acknowledge that there were bigger issues that you ran into when you got into it, and the daughter should be part of the conversation to explain. Better yet, let her see your flickr album and this thread!! 
Oh, better not let them see this thread… 
Cb isn’t working for the parents, she’s working for the daughter and her husband. As such cb has no duty or obligation to tell the parents anything about anything, in fact it’s not really any of the parents’ business IMO. And if the daughter doesn’t want cb talking about it to her parents, that’s her right.
Perhaps they made a mistake buying this house, but they need to own it, and dragging the parents into it just feels like tattling almost.
If the parents ask about anything, IMO cb should just say I am working for the daughter and respectfully you need to talk to her.
She should not be ashamed about rat invasion. Here in my neck on the woods, million dollar plus posh homes can have the same issue. We are on the verge of getting a home with a rat issue in the attic (of course, those freeloaders will have to leave before we move in).
If her hubby is not that handy, maybe she can learn a thing or two from you and your crew, cb?
The arrangement to work for the dau was facilitated by and at the request of the parents based on the relationship between the parents and cb. We dont know the details of the written agreement with the family nor should we. But given the relationship between cb and the parents, she should not let the dau tie her hands. If issues surface that become impossible to complete within the budget, the dau is going to have to address it. Hoping she can, even if it requires taking out a loan if she wants to shield her parents. Not saying cb should go around the dau. Just saying she shouldnt be expected to “keep secrets”. It is what it is, and feeding “secrets” can add to challenges.
An alternative response to the dau would be something like “at present there is no need to share information with your parents, but we are facing significant cost overruns. We will cross that bridge if/when we come to it”. This keeps the option open. CB is way too nice and generous and my feel that pull to do stuff for free or at her own expense to they to “help” the daughter. Its nice, but there are limits.
- may feel that pull (a letter got left out) ..... as for the typo in the last line about doing it to help the daughter, I dont recall what the correct line should be!
Luckily, the parents haven’t asked me anything so I don’t really need to answer any questions or say anything. Haven’t really figured out whether we are going to be over budget because we have saved money on the hall bath and kitchen materials.
Can someone repost the Flicker link?