We completed construction of a new home in July 2019 as our primary residence. At that time, the construction loan was converted to 30 year mortgage. The builder received and we signed off on the final draw with the lender. Now the home builder is asking for additional funds saying that the actual costs ended up coming in higher. It seems as though the time deadline has passed and that he has already certified that the final draw satisfied and cleared title or how could we have closed on our mortgage? Wondering if we could possibly have any responsibility to these costs at this point as he claims?
The statute of limitations to file a lawsuit for breach of contract is five years. This means that the contractor can technically make a claim for non-payment up to five years after substantial completion. That said, your construction lender likely required the contractor to execute lien waivers as a precondition to receiving payment of its invoices. The bank and title company should have further required a final lien release as a precondition to final payment. Lien waivers are enforceable in Idaho as long as they were supported by valid consideration (i.e., payment was received by the contractor in exchange for its execution of the lien release).