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closeBONAIRE — Every time it rains, Maj. Gregg Rich worries.
He worries about water filling his home’s crawl space. He worries about water flooding his yard. And he worries about what kind of water damage he will find next.
“Every time it rains, I stress,” he said. “Every time it rains, I think about what kind of mess I’m going to come home to. ... It consumes me.”
Rich worries because he says the construction of his Southfield Plantation home is flawed, causing it to crack and crumble.
He sued the builder — Grey Wolf Homes LLC and its principal officer Eric Blazi — in Houston County Superior Court and won. Blazi, a member of the Warner Robins Planning & Zoning board, denies wrongdoing. He is appealing the judgment and made a motion for a new trial. A hearing is set for Thursday.
“It is my belief that the verdict was not supported by the evidence, and we are in the process of appealing the case,” Mike Long, Blazi’s attorney, said in a statement. “I don’t intend to take the low road and re-try this case in the newspaper.”
Rich can’t move. No one would buy a house with these problems, he said. As a flight test navigator at Robins Air Force Base, he knows he could be shipped out any day and stuck with a mortgage.
Rich said a structural engineer told him the house needs to be torn down and the site prepared properly. But without the nearly $438,000 payout from his judgment, he can’t afford to rebuild.
For now, he’s just stuck in the mud.
"MORE AND MORE WATER"
Rich moved to Houston County in early 2006 after two years serving in the Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. With only two weeks to shop for a home, he and his then-wife, Charity, settled on a brick house located at 114 Glenda Drive.
The couple purchased the house from Blazi and Grey Wolf Homes for $322,000 in March 2006, documents show. The Riches had a home inspection prior to purchase that came back mostly clean, with only a few minor issues, Rich said.
In April 2006, a termite inspector told Rich he couldn’t go under the house because it was “all wet,” Rich said.
Rich said he asked Blazi to fix the problem. From that point, according to Rich and court documents, a series of attempts were made to dry out the crawl space. Blazi, who in an April 2008 deposition called the space “damp,” brought in a space heater, fans and a dehumidifier; put down plastic; and repaired faulty plumbing underneath the shower in the master bath.
Rich said he put in berms, installed gutters and piped them out underground, and extended the home’s French drains to direct water away from his house.
Nothing worked, Rich said.
“I started to notice as time went on more and more water,” he said.
With no end to the wetness in sight, the Riches sought an attorney. Unable to find one in Houston County who would take the case to trial, and unable to afford an Atlanta attorney, Rich said, he hired Amy Griffith Dever out of Macon.
In November 2007, the couple sued Blazi and Grey Wolf Homes, accusing them of breach of contract, failure to construct the property and residential improvements in a “fit and workmanlike” manner, negligent construction, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claimed Blazi and Grey Wolf Homes knew the property was affected by subsurface water, standing water and surface water run-off conditions that affected its development. In addition, the lawsuit claimed the property was not in compliance with local codes and construction requirements.
Blazi then failed to disclose to the Riches the water problems and the fact that the house did not meet code, according to the complaint.
As a result, the Riches experienced several problems, outlined in the complaint as including:
— Water accumulating in the crawl space;
— Water percolating up through the yard and around the driveway;
— Severe flooding in the yard and crawl space when it rains;
— High levels of moisture that saturate the home’s foundation walls; and
— Cracks in the foundation walls, exterior brick veneer walls, garage floor, driveway and interior floor.
Blazi and Grey Wolf Homes deny the accusations.
In his deposition, Blazi said that during construction he noticed run-off from a neighbor’s property draining toward Rich’s house. He said he installed a French drain around the house to correct the problem.
“I didn’t have any reason to believe there was any other thing wrong with that lot because the houses on both sides of that lot were perfectly fine,” he said in the deposition.
The house was built in compliance with local codes and construction requirements, he said.
Furthermore, Blazi claims he personally can’t be held liable because the seller was Grey Wolf Homes, not Blazi as an individual, according to court documents.
Blazi, who is retired from the Air Force civil service where he worked logistics, is the sole member of Grey Wolf Homes, created in 2004, according to court documents and the Secretary of State’s Office. Grey Wolf Homes purchased the property at 114 Glenda Drive in 2005, according to court documents. The home was the first and last Blazi and the company built.
In July, a jury decided in Rich’s favor. In August, a judgment was issued against Blazi awarding Rich $437,659.34, which includes $382,659.34 in damages and $55,000 in attorney fees.
STILL NOT HOME
Although Rich moved to Glenda Drive more than three years ago, he still hasn’t made it home.
The walls are bare, rooms are near empty and voices echo in the halls. Until he receives his judgment, that will remain the same.
“I don’t decorate. I don’t put any money into it,” Rich said. “It’s hard to live somewhere and not be able to fix it up. To not be able to really move in because you don’t know if you’re going to have to move out.”
He said he sees his situation as a cautionary tale for other home buyers.
“If this could happen to me, it could happen to anybody,” he said.
To contact writer Jennifer Burk, call 256-9705.
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