Understand we were not swindled. We did not enter into any shady deal and no one ran away with our money. We simply contracted for a custom-built home and thought we were going about it correctly. We thought we were dealing with competent, honorable men, and that we were legally protected against any major problems. You were just unlucky.
Bad luck is only part of it.
We just didn't know how, and our contract lawyer evidently did not know either. In the final analysis, our bad luck was to enter into a legitimate business deal where practically everyone involved was either incompetent, inept, or lacking in business integrity. If any one of the people involved had done their job properly, or competently, or as promised in writing, our painful experience could have been avoided, or at least greatly ameliorated. The pain of litigation was every bit as great as the pain of learning we had a defective home. After the facts became known we encountered a defense based on denial, distortion, and intimidation, causing us to incur enormous expense for lawyers and experts.