Hello all, I hope someone can give some guidance on this.
My mother bought her personal residence about 9 years ago; in the course of having a handyman do some work, they discovered there’s not an ounce of insulation on the addition made to the home. I know the work was properly permitted and certain to have city inspections throughout the construction. My question pertains to the liability for the substandard work? Do we raise hell with the city? The Home inspection company? The original listing agent? Thanks for your thoughts…BTW, my mother is a 70 year old widow, fwiw.
Thanks,
Dave
Anyone?? 
Sorry I did’nt see this before we spoke this morning :-
A DTPA atty is going to be your best bet. You have 2 years from time of discovery to take care of this matter. If you win this case, the DTPA awards up to 3x cost of repairs. Then take the city inspectors E&O to pay your atty fees. Make sure you have a name and contact info of the contractors that discovered the problem. Log everything. :-*
Suing is often not worth it. You will need a strong case and the potential to make a fair amount of money for a good lawyer to take this one. Otherwise, it will be a struggle.
In terms of suing the listing agent or seller, you’d have to prove that they knew about the issue AND did not disclose it. If your mother got an inspection and signed a seller’d disclosure, the ball is most likely back in her court. Buyers need to perform due diligence and if they don’t, they can’t sue for an issue that the other person may not have known about.
You can try to track down the original installer, but that can take a while. If they don’t have insurance, it will be tough trying to collect. If your mother has her old inspection records, have her check to see if the insulation was on their list of issues they look for. If it was and they missed it, you can contact the company. Most have errors and omissions insurance.
I’m not sure if there’s much recourse with the home inspection. They can only inspect what’s visiable, they’re not suppose to be tearing things apart to inspect things and opening up a wall to see if there’s any insulation in it isn’t usually on any inspection form I’ve ever seen.
The seller and the listing agent could have some liability if they knew about it, the problem is how are you going to be able to prove it? The only one with money may be the city and their inspections when it was permitted. After 9 years, the company that originally did the addition could be out of business so there may be one less person to sue.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a lost cause. Normally no biggie, but I turn into a raging wildman that wants to kill and maim where my mother’s concerned. Many thanks for the help, folks.
Dave