Corona del Mar, California · For Homeowners
Your remodel was supposed to make the home better. Now it is the problem.
You started the project to get the house right. A remodel, an addition, a custom build on a coastal bluff above the harbor entrance. Then the contractor walked off, or the work was not what you paid for, or a crack and a leak showed up after the first hard rain. That is a specific kind of stress. This is your largest asset, and it is the one thing you cannot just walk away from.
The real question underneath it is not about drywall or a change order. It is whether anyone can actually make this right, and what it costs you to find out. If you are dealing with problems involving a contractor, remodel, or construction project, a Corona del Mar, CA Homeowner Construction and Remodeling Lawyer can help you understand your rights and potential options.
You have real options here.
(949) 331-1937
What this looks like for Corona del Mar homeowners
- A stalled or defective remodel or build gets a path to finished or fixed, with the responsible party paying, not you.
- A contractor who walked off, overbilled, or ignored the plans and permits gets held to the contract.
- A mechanics lien on your home gets handled before it can threaten a sale or a refinance.
- A project stalled at the City of Newport Beach and, in the gated enclaves, the local association gets moving again.
A home project dispute in Corona del Mar is not like one anywhere else.
You already know how word travels here. The same builders and architects work house after house, the City of Newport Beach and, in the gated enclaves, the local association sees everything, and a remodel that goes sideways becomes something people mention long before it is ever resolved. The instinct is to keep it quiet and hope it works itself out. It rarely does.
What is at stake is bigger than a repair bill. It is a home on a coastal bluff above the harbor entrance that took real money to get right, a clean title you will need at resale, and a standing in the community you would rather protect than defend. The point of handling this well is to keep all of it intact.
It usually starts small. A missed deadline you tell yourself is normal. Then the invoices climb past the estimate, the crew stops showing up, and one afternoon you drive out toward Corona del Mar State Beach just to think without the half-finished house in front of you.
So you run the numbers. What the project cost. What it will take to finish or fix it. Whether the contractor will stand behind the work or make you chase every dollar. And it lands on you that you do not need another contractor’s bid. You need to know your actual options, and what you can make someone do about it. That is a conversation with an attorney.
What you are really protecting
This is not just a legal process. It is a set of specific things you have built and do not want to lose. Naming them is where a good outcome starts.
- The money already sunk into a remodel or build that is not finished or not right.
- The value of the home, and a resale record that does not carry a documented defect with it.
- The structural integrity of a coastal bluff above the harbor entrance after grading, drainage, or waterproofing that was never engineered for real conditions.
- Your standing with the City of Newport Beach and, in the gated enclaves, the local association.
- Your privacy, and keeping this off the neighborhood grapevine entirely.
These are solvable problems with the right approach. The sooner someone maps them, the more leverage you keep.
What your case will actually involve
Large, multi-party construction cases in Orange County are handled at the Orange County Superior Court’s Civil Complex Center in Santa Ana. Most Corona del Mar owners never see a full trial. Resolving this well is less about the courtroom and more about knowing exactly what is on the table before anyone sits down.
Getting the project finished or made right. When a remodel stalls or the work is wrong, the first questions are what the contract and the plans required, what was paid, and what it will cost to complete or correct it. That is the foundation of the claim.
Tracing a defect to its real cause, and who owes you. A crack or a leak is a symptom. The cause may be grading, drainage, waterproofing, or the design, and there is often a builder, subcontractors, and an engineer to sort through. Proving the cause is what decides who pays.
The association and design-review layer. Work here runs through the City of Newport Beach and, in the gated enclaves, the local association and the CC&Rs. A stalled approval, or a repair that touches them, has to be handled without creating a second problem with the community.
Keeping it private. Mediation and a negotiated resolution are usually the default here. In a community this connected, confidentiality is a strategic choice, not just a preference.
Why owners bring this to Mahyar
Mahyar Ghassemian has spent more than twenty-five years in these courts on exactly this kind of case. This is the work, not a sideline.
She came to law from physics, and it shows in how she treats a matter. The pattern is precision, not sympathy. She wants the contract, the documents, and the timeline nailed down before anyone talks numbers, because that is what decides who pays.
I do not measure a result by how fast we closed it. I measure it by what the client’s home and life look like after we are done.
This is a small firm on purpose. When you call, you work with a senior attorney, not an intake screener passing you along.
25+ years in these courts95% settlement rate100+ years combined experiencephysics-trained technical analysis
Questions Corona del Mar homeowners ask first
My remodel or home project went wrong. What can I do?
Quite a bit.
Whether the contractor walked off, billed for work that was never done, or built it differently than the plans and permits called for, California gives you real ways to recover, from a demand and mediation to a lawsuit if it comes to that. The first step is understanding where you stand.
How long do I have to bring a claim over a defect in my home?
Less time than most owners expect.
You generally have no more than ten years after the build is complete to bring a hidden-defect claim, and in practice the deadline that matters expires three to four years from discovery. On a coastal bluff above the harbor entrance, where problems can surface years after the work, waiting to see if it gets worse can quietly cost you the claim.
A contractor put a mechanics lien on my home. Can it block a sale?
A recorded lien clouds your title and can complicate a sale or a refinance.
A recorded mechanics lien clouds your title and can complicate a sale or refinance, but a lien filed late, or filed by a subcontractor who never served the required 20-day preliminary notice, can often be challenged and removed.
Do I have to sue my contractor, or is there another way?
Most Corona del Mar disputes never reach a courtroom.
With newer homes, California generally requires the builder be given written notice and a repair opportunity first, so litigation is the backstop rather than the opening move. Litigation is the backstop, not the opening move.
Will this dispute become public around the community?
It does not have to.
Confidential mediation and a negotiated settlement keep the details out of open court and off the neighborhood grapevine, which is exactly why most owners here prefer that path.
My project is stuck at the association or the City of Newport Beach. What are my rights?
Your CC&Rs give the association real authority, but that authority has limits.
Approvals cannot be withheld in a way that breaks the community’s own rules. Whether the holdup is enforceable depends on the specific governing documents, which is the first thing worth reviewing.
You do not have to have it figured out before you call. That is what the call is for.
You have been carrying this quietly.
You do not have to carry it alone.
Call me.
Contact Ghassemian Law Group by the end of the call you will know where your project or claim stands, what your options actually are, and what the next move looks like.
(949) 331-1937
Confidential. No pressure. No obligation. Serving Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, Newport Coast, and the surrounding communities.
Ghassemian Law Group, APC
27405 Puerta Real, Suite 250, Mission Viejo, CA 92691
Approximately 20 to 25 minutes from Corona del Mar via State Route 73.
(949) 331-1937
Construction LitigationReal Estate LitigationBusiness Litigation25+ years experience
