Building a brand-new house should be the start of a happily ever after, not a cautionary tale.

When this family discovered their dream home came with more flaws than features, they found a clever way to turn the tables on the contractor who did them wrong.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

My contractor was cheap, so I made sure to get my money’s worth

In 2000, my parents and their two young children, ages 7 and 5 (that’s me!), were looking to move into a house big enough for a family of four and that they could stay in for a very long time.

They found a newly constructed street in a quiet neighborhood in a town known for being family-friendly.

It was perfect. There were only four available lots, so my mother chose the one she liked best.

Now, the houses on these lots were still under construction, so they were mostly just framing at this point.

So the homeowners enlist the help of a contractor.

My parents decided to contact the contractor, let’s call him Alfred, to see if they could have any input into the design, as they had already set up a mortgage agreement on the property.

Alfred agreed, but he didn’t let them do too much, which wasn’t all that bad. My parents were pretty busy trying to sell their old house anyway.

A few months go by, and the house is finally ready to be moved into. My parents are thrilled — they finally have their family home!

But things aren’t as great as they seem.

We move in, and everything’s great… for about 36 hours.

On literal day two, the furnace in the basement breaks and spews smoke throughout the whole house, setting off the smoke detectors.

The police and fire department show up, investigate, and tell us that we can return in 72 hours. So, we stay in a nearby hotel for the three days.

The family continues to notice issues with the house.

Everything is great again, until we start noticing a bunch of small details that Alfred seemed to have overlooked.

My dad hires a home inspector to look at the house. The inspector finds numerous faults that could cost thousands to fix.

Now the dad is seeing red.

My dad is angry. So my dad, being the calm jerk he is (and I love him for it), decides to get some help in paying for these repairs to his 7-month-old house.

You see, Alfred had been the contractor for four houses on the street, of which only one (ours) had been bought.

So he found just the way to get back at Alfred.

So, my dad went to the bank and expressed interest in the other lots. He asked that a $1,000 lien be placed on each one. This was all legal.

Alfred found out and was rightfully angry. He couldn’t sell these lots because of the liens!

The two go back and forth, and soon the issue is brought to court.

He asked my dad to remove them. My dad agreed and said he would, IF Alfred paid for the repairs.

Alfred refused to pay, so my dad refused to lift the liens.

Alfred then sues my parents. My parents counter-sue.

The court makes a decision and the rest is history!

The court rules in favor of my parents. My dad had to lift his liens. But Alfred — he had to pay my parents $50,000!

Instead of paying $2-3k for repairs, Alfred ended up losing way more. AND a home inspector looked at the other three lots and made him pay for any repairs on them too.

This contractor learned that just because you ignore the problems, that doesn’t make them go away.

What did Reddit think?

Now this is how you use the legal system.

This contractor’s promises were nothing but tall tales.

There’s certain people you just don’t want to owe a debt to.

This fellow contractor sticks up for others in their trade.

Justice was served, and the family’s repairs were covered. The contractor got a hefty lesson too!

Turns out, skipping the details can come with a steep bill.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.