It was, in its way, a kitchen debate as tense and dramatic–if not quite as historical–as the epochal 1959 clash over the merits of competing economic systems between then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev.
That one was in the kitchen appliances section of a Moscow trade show. This one was in the kitchen of a townhouse in a northwest suburban Bartlett subdivision, and it was between home inspector Bill Dettmer and Mark Malouf, vice president of operations for Westmont-based Montalbano Builders Inc.
“One man to another, do you say this is right?” Dettmer challenged Malouf, referring to a flexible aluminum foil vent pipe in a cabinet above the kitchen stove, which he claimed presented a potential danger because it could trap grease from cooking fumes.
“I would prefer hard pipe,” said Malouf.
“OK, fine,” said Dettmer.
“I only said I’d prefer hard pipe,” cautioned Malouf, going on to say he wasn’t sure why his sheet metal guy had installed the flexible pipe.
At that point Dettmer started talking aggressively about building codes, and Malouf broke in: “Today, if the complete resolution is to go to hard pipe, I’ll have that done.”
The scene was part of an extraordinary encounter between the contesting forces of Montalbano and Bartlett homeowner Jeffrey Platt, who is suing Montalbano over alleged defects in his home and Montalbano’s alleged failure to repair them in a timely manner.
The cast crowded in the compact, two-bedroom townhouse included, in addition to Malouf and Dettmer, another home inspector, two attorneys (Platt himself being one), a concrete subcontractor, a painting and drywall subcontractor, Montalbano quality assurance representative and a public relations counselor–along with a reporter and a news photographer.
The spectacle was vivid proof of the prolonged, expensive wrangle that can result when relations between a homeowner and a builder over repairs to a new home completely break down.
The sad tale of Platt vs. Montalbano carries a warning for home buyers–especially buyers of new homes–in an era where home purchases are booming: Your home can become your nightmare instead of your refuge.
Platt’s agony over his home, which he and his wife, Michelle, bought at the Country Place subdivision in March 1996 for $128,584, also illustrates two universal truths about homes and about much else in life: One thing leads to another; and little things add up.
The Platts filed suit in DuPage County Court last spring against Montalbano. The suit, alleging breach of warranty, fraud and even forgery, affords a rare look into the frustration that owners of new homes can suffer if they feel their complaints aren’t being addressed.
Such suits by homeowners against builders are infrequently filed because of their expense, but since Platt himself is a lawyer he could proceed without paying what he said would ordinarily be a $10,000 to $15,000 retainer.
The Platts’ allegations, which cite dozens of defects and delayed, inadequate or unperformed repairs, have been rejected by Montalbano. “We’re denying and contesting pretty much all of it,” said Malouf.
In their suit, the Platts say they noticed many unnamed defects shortly after taking possession of their home, but matters came to a head about six months after they moved in when water started coming through the dining room ceiling during a bad storm in late September.
Platt was out of town, but his wife called Montalbano to get someone out to inspect the damage and repair it. What ensued were repeated phone calls and lost time waiting for Montalbano repair people who didn’t come when expected, the suit says.
That experience led to the Platts’ growing irritation over the state of their dwelling. In subsequent letters Platt began to cite more and more alleged defects. (He finally came up with 51, he said.)
They included annoyances familiar to most new home buyers such as drywall cracks and loose tiles, but also other less common problems, including a very cold kitchen in winter and water seeping into the floor heating registers during rain.
Platt had also obtained a copy of a June 1996, report by an Arlington Heights property inspector hired by the Country Place Townhome Association, citing–among other things–roof defects in more than two dozen homes, including his own.
By early February of this year, four months after the storm, Platt was still unsatisfied with repair attempts on the roof and lack of action on the water in the registers, and was noticing cracks in the foundation of his garage and buckling of the concrete floors there. He was threatening to sue.
Around this time Montalbano hired Malouf as its new vice president of operations, and he went through the home, setting up a date for late February to take care of the remaining repairs needed. But by this time Platt, with expiration of his warranty coming up at the end of May, decided to carry out his threat to file suit.
He also hired Dettmer to do a complete inspection of the home, which resulted in a list of 30 items that Dettmer said were not up to building code. They ranged from the offending vent pipe to ceiling trusses not being attached to a support at one end to a misplaced smoke alarm.
Further, Platt had turned up what he claims is an attempt by Montalbano to forge his name on a document required by the Bartlett Building Department. The document, a waiver certifying that the homeowner understands that the building department’s occupancy permit inspection doesn’t include electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems, is signed “Don Platt.”
At that point, the battle lines were drawn. Platt said he wanted to sell the house back to Montalbano because he knew so much about the house that he would legally have to disclose to a potential buyer and he feared nobody would buy it.
But that’s something Montalbano “has no intention of doing,” Malouf said, asserting that the company has lived up to the warranty and gone beyond it in fixing any deficiencies in Platt’s home.
And Malouf added that most of the problems, including cracks in drywall and the concrete foundation, are minor and typical of new construction. As for the forgery, nothing has been proven, Malouf said.
“I would submit this is an example of a builder with a customer with warranty-related issues taking care of those issues, and the completion of those items not being the ultimate goal. Even when they were fixed it wasn’t good enough,” said Malouf.
The two parties have a central disagreement over the timing of the repairs, which, under the warranty, are supposed to be taken care of within 60 days of being reported unless weather conditions, labor problems or materials shortages cause delays.
That disagreement has been complicated by the fact that Platt at a certain point began to notice more and more items of concern, and ultimately hired Dettmer, who found a new group of alleged problems.
Many problems were, in fact, fixed during several repair visits in the months after the suit was filed last February. After the face-off of the parties in the home, the kitchen range vent pipe problem was repaired and a hole behind the range patched.
To address the problem of the water in the heating registers, Montalbano also sent a crew to regrade an area behind Platt’s home. But Platt says the remedy didn’t work and the problem persists.
Platt’s contention–which Malouf rejects–is that he never would have gotten action unless he sued. “I don’t think the average homeowner should have to sue to get defects taken care of under warranty,” he said.
Estimating his own time at $150 an hour, Platt estimated he’s racked up more than $25,000 in bills connected with the suit so far. He hopes to recover the expenses as part of the suit, which is set for trial in DuPage County Court next July.
Montalbano has had problems elsewhere. Last year, Bolingbrook said it would require extra levels of approval for a Montalbano subdivision, citing residents’ complaints about sinking floors and other matters in a previous project there.
And Brian Goralski, head of the Bartlett Building Department, said Country Place has generated complaints to the village at a volume higher than is usual for new subdivisions. He cited in particular warping plywood on the roofs of some homes, which Montalbano fixed last summer.
Goralski said it was his impression the problems resulted from high turnover among the company’s customer service personnel.
It’s not unknown for even reputable companies to experience short-term increases in complaints from homeowners now and then.
Whatever may have happened in the past, customer service was clearly a priority on the day Montalbano sent six representatives to Platt’s home in response to being told a reporter and Platt’s home inspectors would be there.
Platt not only received promises of more repairs, he got detailed explanations on general issues of home construction–the universality of drywall and concrete cracks, the mysteriousness of water table behavior, the action of drafts in town home party wall spaces.
He was also instructed in the minutiae of building codes for such things as stairway handrails, roofing plywood thickness and proper installation of siding. (In connection with the latter two issues, it turned out the home inspector had spotted defects where they didn’t exist.)
These are all things of which most home buyers are serenely oblivious when they buy their homes, and likely don’t ever want to know too much about.
That was certainly the case when Platt bought his home at Country Place in the spring of 1996. As part of the closing routine, he filled out a survey–which is now a document for the defense in Platt vs. Montalbano.
In it Platt and his wife indicated they were “satisfied” with the condition of their home and would “probably” recommend Montalbano to a friend.
“We were pretty pleased,” recalled Platt ruefully. “We’d change that answer now–definitely.”
