Is it worth suing our builder?

[Aaron S.]

We bought a new build in 2022, built by a local guy's LLC. We are outside of the standard build warranty, but are continuing to discover MAJOR corners cut, and getting repairs and pre-emptive fixes is costing us lot.

We are estimating $20,000 in total expenses that we are going out of pocket for due to poor workmanship. None of this was caught on the home inspection.

One example: we discovered a garage light not working. Inspecting revealed a water leak from the second floor, above the garage, that shorted the light. The cause of the leak is that when they built the shower, they tiled it incorrectly. Grout lines are paper thin, the tiles were not affixed properly and water has been going into the wall behind the shower for who knows how long. The sub floor was completely saturated. It cost us $3,000 to demo the shower and retile it. Restoration company, with a $500 deductible for home insurance, is drying and working on fixing tile that is water damaged, grout that has eroded, drywall that needs replaced, etc etc.

We have about a dozen examples of issues similar to this. Is it worth getting a real estate lawyer, sending a demand letter, going to small claims court, suing, or doing anything like that?

A contractor friend told me that it would not be worth it, and that we would likely never get that money back from the builder. A lost cause.

Thoughts?