Unfinished home

Good afternoon.  I'm sorry to hear about your situation.  How deflating it is to buy that new dream home only to have the builder let you down.  At this point you are in the home to stay so looking back on what should have happened is probably not going to get you closer to a solution.  I'd encourage you to be "goal oriented" in addressing this issue prospectively.    The first thing to do is get a better understanding of what your rights are to the patio and steps.  Your rights are likely governed by the terms of your building contract or sales agreement (sometimes you buy both from the builder or a development company controlled by the builder).  I would want to know what those agreements said about your entitlement to the patio and steps.  The agreement may provide for the patio/steps subject to municipal approval.  Once you understand your entitlement to the patio/steps you can determine your options.  You could try and call the municipality directly and see if you can find out for your self whether the steps are possible, whether the builder actually submitted any request for approval.  A little self-help can go a long way here.  You may find that the steps are ok with the municipality and put the builder in a spot where it does not have any excuse for getting out of its commitment to you.  Maybe the municipality will tell you that the steps proposed won't work but a redesign would work.  These things can only be learned by contacting your local municipality.  If you paid for a patio/steps and aren't getting them, you might have a claim for reimbursement from the builders.  You might follow that path and calculate an appropriate amount of reimbursement.  Maybe the builder promised you something that it knew, at the time of the promise, that it could not deliver and the promise was intended by the builder to get you to the closing table without having first completed all of its commitments to you.  This might be a violation of the Pennsylvania unfair trade practices act.  Violations of that act entitle you to actual damages, penalties and attorneys fees. It can be a powerful tool to be used to get some type of remedy that works for you.