Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
If it's new, don't worry. The warranty department is very dependable.
If it's a resale. Water it a lot. The grass here is not like the grass in other parts of the U.S. It may just be in dormancy from lack of water..
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Definitely call home warranty, I hope you get satisfaction, but let me share my story:
Went to contract Feb 2014 on a new home south of 466A and closed by mail in April. Immediately contracted with a top lawn service and homewatch person, who was immediately unhappy with the lawn and attentively adjusted the irrigation settings and met with the lawn service technician. It was felt much of the problem was that the lawn was new, but it seemed to be wet all the time. Saw it late May 2014 and it was horrible, dead patches, weeds, etc. Reported it to home warranty who still felt it was too new a lawn to comment on. No better in October and this April reported it again on a home warranty inspection to be sure it was under the 1 year limit.
I personally met with the owner of the lawn service and senior technician. They were concerned that there was improper grading and drainage, pointed out significant undulations between the house and street in front and golf course behind where water was accumulating and felt the dead patches were due to algae. Home warranty suggested I talk to the builder.
Met personally with the owner of the company that built the house, he blamed the lawn service and tried to switch me to his new best friend--a drywall contractor that just got into the lawn business 8 months earlier. I then met with the head of home warranty who blamed it on the irrigation and pulled neighbors records to compare, which was at best inconclusive.
Since then, I have talked with the Univ of FL agricultural liason to TV, who feels it is a soil compaction and pH problem. I have a soil test out awaiting results. I have, at my own expense, hired an irrigation expert to make sure there were no underground leaks, that the "irrigation computer" was working well, and the settings were correct, which they were. I also paid to have the lawn aerated to help reduce any compaction issues
I must say home warranty has been EXCELLENT in general, we had a punch list of 10-15 items that were all handled without issue. But the lawn seems to be another matter.
Still in a bit of a quandary as to the real cause, but there have been multiple houses in my neighborhood that have had French drains installed due to poor grading/drainage. I'd appreciated hearing from anyone who had these drains installed, what their problem was, and did they have a huge fight with warranty to get it done. Thank you.