I've been following this story on Rants and Raves, the photos are absolutely insane the amount of damage they've done to her property. They even tried to give her a check for $1k for her troubles

These developers are out of control in this city

I know he does basically nothing but maybe Larry Krasner can be bothered to go after these unscrupled developers.

The city should shut this job site down until this homeowner is totally and completely reimbursed to her satisfaction.

When a developer puts a shovel into your land without permission you step the fuck outside and tell 'em to get the fuck off your lawn. If they don't, you call the police. It sucks, but then you gotta get a lawyer.

There's a such thing as a construction easement, and you gotta get in the face of workers and the developers early on in the process, and demand $$ for any incursions into your property. She could have easily demanded thousands beforehand. Now she'll spend thousands on a lawyer too. I've heard of similar easements costing 10k or more. She's got much more than that in damage now, but it will cost here as much money to a lawyer to recoup.

I mean the construction company will be liable for her lawyer and court fees after she wins

He'll get right on that, lol.

Not exactly how it works. You'd think so, but only if it goes to trial, and believe it or not, trial can cost 30k. Hell the lead up to trial can cost 30k. I'm familiar with a similar case, but more damage, lawyers racked up 50k in the year of litigation. Parties agreed to settle for 100k. Person took home 50k. If it had gone to trial, would have cost even more, but there's no guarantee a jury would award that much.

Vast majority of these cases are settled.

Interesting thank you for clarifying!

The only reason this person walked away with 50k is that he was willing to spend 50k, and had it to spend. It sucks. This is why you gotta get ahead of it at.

Fuckin lawyers. Pretrial motions, motions in limine, motions to dismiss, expert witnesses, depositions, discovery, statements of fact, opposing statements of fact, motions upon motions, it adds up. A civil case right now can take years to get to trial.

IANAL

This whole construction site is totally out of control. Sidewalk is wrecked, they regularly start making tons of noise before 7am, parking in no parking zones all the time. Watched them use both neighbors land to drive all sorts of stuff around the site.

Hope she sues them into bankruptcy.

I have 3 accounts in a new townhome development in roxborough. I am a landscaper. The developer back filled the lots with what they dug out for foundation. Grass is almost impossible to grow. Air conditioners are set almost on the ground. Philly developers are terrible.

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what is rants and raves

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Roxborough Rants & Raves. It's a Facebook group for Roxborough/Manayunk/Andorra/Wissahickon residents. It's a drama goldmine. Also, every once in a while they come together and actually give good, neighborly advice that ends up helping someone in a tough situation. This is one of those times.

ah okay, thanks i don't have facebook, so appreciate the context

No problem.

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Who is the developer?

They fold the LLC they are operating under and open a new one. Seriously, construction firms are some of the biggest scumbags I've ever worked for.

That’s fucked up, I feel bad for her.

Ha if the city fined any developers that fuck up the surroundings, it will be a miracle

Settled to account for these costs. She will come away, if not whole, better off. The Developers insurance will pay but it may take time.

They’re probably a LLC that’ll just fold at the first sign of trouble and nobody will be held accountable.

Honestly only reason I'm still on Facebook is the neighborhood groups and finding out how unhinged my neighborhood is.

Roxborough Rants and Rwves is one of the reasons I deleted Facebook. There is so much blatant racism on there.

“Permit for digging more than 5’”

Goodbye basements on new construction. They ain’t going to do it.

Civil Lit attorneys mostly use a contingency contract. If there is a settlement, the attorney takes what they said they’d charge in the contract, and the client gets the rest. But, the client does not spend a dime to retain, have representation, court fees, etc. The firm puts up all this money with the hopes that they’ll win a profit.

If no settlement is agreed upon and it goes to trial, the attorney could lose quite a bit. I served on a civil jury where the cost for a forensic actuary alone was 10k/day. They were suing for millions and we awarded him nothing (he was a lying mfer). His attorneys were out quite a bit of money. But, shame on them for turning down the settlement, agreeing to trial bc they genuinely thought this guy was going to get sympathy from the jury.

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& the police don't do shit, they tell you to call L&I, who don't do shit, they tell you you have to go before the zoning board, etc...who don't do shit, & so on & so on & so on . & By the time all these city agencies who are supposed to be protecting you are done giving you the runaround, the contractor/developers are done doing whatever shit they were doing that they shouldn't have been doing in the 1st place & you & your property are screwed. Wanna guess how I know??

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I would be so sad if RRR ever went away, it's a constant source of entertainment and people are batshit crazy lol

That practice doesn’t really work anymore.

I would bet you didn't go outside and tell them to fuck off your land tho

Contact the attorney general. They regulate contractors in PA. The GC should have a PAHIC#, the city won’t allow you a permit without one.

All ears/eyes. Tell us why.

Grass is green, sky is blue, developers don’t follow the rules, Philly cares about nothing

Strictly speaking as soon as lawyers are involved the construction companies insurance will get legally involved and start making legitimate settlement offers many of which will likely cover the damage plus lawyer fees.

I mean even if they do their liability insurance will still be on the hook. It really only serves to protect the business owners and if they didn't do anything fraudulent then you can't pierce the veil and go after them anyway

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Maybe they need a Developer Task Force......

I was about to say, that group's "drama" is usually just generic brand NIMBY racism. It was pretty much the Citizen app before the Citizen app got popular.

One of facebooks most racists Philly community group. It’s also full of entertainment. Used to be more racist pre pandemic

Each neighborhood basically has their de facto community group on Facebook , west Willy is for wast Philly and super progressive in nature

Rants and Raves has to be one of the most toxic places on the internet and I'm here for it.

It's still wild to me that cycling through construction LLC's are even legal. I understand the need for them, but you shouldn't be able to create a new one for every development and claim the old one has no money.

They're building what is the average american families largest asset, and the house is supposed to last decades, but a year after construction is done, the company that built it is 100% absolved of any liability, failings, etc. And even if something goes wrong before the year, they'll just claim it's bankrupt and nothing happens to the owner.

Been through it myself nearby, and it put me off new construction in philly for good.

I’m sure our ~4% city tax pays for several different departments whose stated mission is to protect homeowners from shit like this, but whose actual mission is to redistribute tax dollars to employees who don’t do a fucking thing.

Because larger LLCs, or those simply operating like a legit business, will carry the appropriate liability insurance in the event that it’s employees screw up or when accidents happen. That’s extremely common, a best practice, and the typical result to settle the claim.

Smaller LLCs, or ones that are badly managed, will be personally involved in operations including any negligent/fraudulent/illegal actions. That involvement negates the standard LLC protections and exposes the ownership to individual liability. You also run into situations where a member claims they weren’t “directly” involved in X matter, but somehow their specific LLCs are constantly being sued for the above issues. A strong argument to make and one that leads to a settlement in order to head off the much larger ramifications.

There’s also a crap ton of legislation coming down at a federal level which is focused on improving the transparency of beneficial ownership, including for LLCs, because such business setups are constantly used for financial crimes.

Right, if they are a legitimate business, they will have the insurance and just pay the claim out.

If they involved in fraud/negligence/reckless/illegal acts, then the LLC doesn’t protect them anyway.

I’ll bet he did.

This happened to my neighbor this year.

He tries to get a formal agreement in place before letting contractors on his land, developers don’t want to sign anything.

Workers just start coming onto his property/roof. Neighbor tells them to get off, workers pretend not to know English. Neighbor calls police, police tell him he should just let them finish the work. Neighbor says not without agreement in place. Workers try to time future trespassing when neighbor’s car isn’t around. Neighbor calls police again several times but eventually they stop showing up.

As a developer this shit drives me crazy. Even if they legally owned part of per property, this is absolutely no way to go about the situation. Roxborough is already a tough area to work in, and this will only further create tensions that have the potential to escalate to violence. This is no way to treat a neighbor. Develop as if you were going to live there.

If they can't do it right, good

According to the Roxborough Rants and Raves post it’s Kiddma LLC. Looks like a couple of millennial Israeli tech bros.

Once I saw which neighborhoods were included in that group, I already know.

As opposed to buying used where the minute you sign the paperwork the old owner is 100% absolved.

Yea, exactly? People pay a premium for new construction because they don't want old home problems, the fact that the builder can't be held responsible for selling a broken product is a problem.

If I buy a TV that doesn't work when I get home, I return it to the store. If my new car is missing the power steering, the dealer fixes it.

If my new house has a bad roof, I need 30 grand and a lawyer to get it solved if I manage to sue the builder before he dissolves his LLC.

The South Philly group I'm in is fucking ALLLL over the place, and everyone really loves to let people know what they think about controversial issues

She's going to get way more than just reimbursed.

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This is on my old street! I walked past twice a day for years lol. Photos/vids don't do justice to how fucking ugly this construction site is. I was always pretty sure they were doing shitty work just because it was such an eyesore for SO long. I felt bad for every house around it.

> because they don't want old home problems, the fact that the builder can't be held responsible for selling a broken product is a problem.

They can be if you put that in your contract.

> If I buy a TV that doesn't work when I get home, I return it to the store. If my new car is missing the power steering, the dealer fixes it.

Because that’s what your contract with them requires.

It's in nearly every contract. The fact that the standard in philly is a 1 year warranty top to bottom is pretty crazy IMO. You shouldn't be building homes if you can only guarantee a foundation and roof for a year, but that's a separate issue altogether.

The problem is that they know enforcing your contract is out of the reach of most people, and that simply managing their books to their advantage means they'll never face any personal repercussions for it even for folks who can afford a lawyer. I was ready to sue my builder, and the reality was that 3 different lawyers all agreed I'd win, and we'd even be able to pierce the corporate veil due to the circumstances of the particular case, and that all said and done it would cost more than the repair would.

Have you been through it? Suing a builder/Developer? Or are you one? I find that people who suggest "just put it in your contract" are generally ignorant to the fact that enforcing a contract costs money, often times a ton of money. Most people aren't exactly flush with spare cash after buying a home.

Is that the house that has been under construction on green ln since at least 2019? It has been poorly fenced off, blocking the sidewalk with gaping hole in the ground. House has been on barebones open to the environment. Whoever buys it will be in for a surprise.

the port richmond group and the fishtown group are both really special

> are generally ignorant to the fact that enforcing a contract costs money,

Not really ignorant to it at all. on the business side, but the concept and costs are the same.

I appreciate this as a homeowner. Rox is developing like crazy right now. I don't want to be a NIMBY because I love that our neighborhood is so desirable. But when I see a new development my fear is that it will be just like this.

Throughout Fishtown it’s a mess of no sidewalks, tore up streets, fences all fallen over on the sidewalk, trucks hanging out into the road, you name it. I’ve seen a dozen or less L&I cars or so since I moved up here four years ago.

Is this south silly lol

Really? I lost track of how many times I went out & lost my shit on those assholes. (As well as all the other crap you're supposed to do) & yet here I am w/a cracked foundation, front steps, doors & windows that needed to be reset, etc...& thanks to city laws at that time, no recourse. But please, do go on & tell me all about my experience w/this shit...

Yup. Or they'll time their work for holidays, when city inspectors' offices are closed-they've done that on multiple properties around here. By the time anyone gets around to doing anything their work is pretty much done.

I'm sorry you went thru this, really. I'm talking more about actual encroachment onto your property, not so much structural damage of an existing structure that results from construction next door.

I live in a row home. I have had contractors & developers encroach onto my property, w/out permission, more times than I can count..guys on my roof from both sides, guys in our yard from the back & both sides, huge construction vehicles driving over or parking on my sidewalk out front, etc...etc...etc....& If lifting & underpinning your house & foundation WITH YOU IN IT FFS, doesn't count as 'encroaching' on your property, then I just don't know wth does. (& No, I absolutely am not kidding)

Oh, another favorite..taking my scaffolding ladder off of MY side roof (I had been out there doing some siding repairs) that they had never asked or had permission to be on & putting it in the yard of the house they were working on, & the owner pulling the whole she thought it was theirs b/s & didn't have them put it back, I just had it handed back over my yard wall. Contactors & developers do whatever tf they want to do here, basically b/c they know they can & will get away w/it. The city only protects property owners while they're places are under development. After that, you're on your own.

No, this house is on Fountain St and the construction started very recently

Money talks!, Bullshit walks!

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