Wick Homes

Recently bought a Wick townhome less than 5 years old from the first owner. Home was inspected before purchase. Shortly after I moved in, I noticed problems with «softening» of the front porch deck and stairs. The problem got much worse, very rapidly. Discovered that the support structure under the porch and stairs was rotting (you could take your finger and push it all the way into to the wood), because non-​pressure treated wood had been used outdoors, and no ventilation was established under the stairs to reduce retained moisture. Attachments of the porch and stairs were direct with no provision to drain water away from the house itself, and over time, this would have affected the outer wall and ceiling of the lower level bathroom below (i.e. migrated indoors). Mildew was attacking all of the outdoor woodwork, even the wood that was not yet completely rotten. I work with an excellent design-​build contractor, who would 1) never have let this happen and 2) certainly would have offered to help with mitigating the cost of construction if it did. He is now my go-​to guy to correct this serious problem. Normal home wear and tear happens, but construction with subpar materials (non pressure treated wood on an outside deck and stairs) is inexcusable. I contacted Mr. Wick as soon as we were able to define the extent of the problem and it became obvious that demolition and rebuild of the front porch and stairs would be needed, and asked him to come see the issue before demolition and removal of elements, but he said he didn’t have time for a couple of weeks. The porch and stairs were now disintegrating rapidly (such that the sinking was visible from the street), and posed a safety issue, as well as being the main access to the home, and so repair could not wait. We took copious pictures and offered to hold on to materials for his examination, but he did not make time to come examine the problem or send anyone else. After a few days, having never come to examine the issue, Mr. Wick announced that he had no obligation to mitigate the costs of demolition and reconstruction, and the home was only guaranteed for the first owner and for a year (BTW this is not an unusual standard of warranty – most builders in Washington would not offer anything more than this, so it was a long shot to expect help, and I was relying on the hope that he might have a sense of pride and responsibility for defective workmanship).
The main issue is that he did not even seem to be concerned that a serious issue existed regarding meeting even the minimum construction standards of an outside element, and that defect posed a safety risk. I would be worried that this quality of construction may be applied in other Wick homes. There have been some other more easily correctable issues with this home, but this particular issue was costly and unsafe. I would suggest anyone buying a Wick home, either as the first owner or subsequent owner, take a very close look at those «out of sight, out of mind» elements that might be subject to subpar construction, but not show up easily on a routine home inspection. Understand that unless a defect is discovered relatively soon after construction by the original owner (and some of these type of construction defects can take several years to show up if the underlying problem is hidden behind walls…) Wick will not make an effort to help you correct the problem, even if it was the result of a major mistake in the original construction. Buyer Beware.