In a red-hot real estate market, timing is everything. When a Mill Creek man found the house of his dreams, he immediately signed on the dotted line. That was nearly two years ago, and he's still waiting for his dream house.

"This is a phenomenal layout, the floor plan is just tremendous!"

Steve Covello knew this was his dream house.

"They did a nice job with picking this layout," he said. He sees himself here with a wife and kids. "Everything is open."

The only problem? It's not his house.

The one he bought never got built. "This model should be mine. I shouldn't have to be going through this right now," insists Covello.

Nearly two years ago, he found the perfect house and a premiere lot - right next to a coveted greenbelt with a mountain view.

"This right here screams privacy to me. I'm not sandwiched between two homes," says Covello as he points to a protected greenbelt next to the lot he bought. In Mill Creeks' Outlook Ridge, that's a rarity.

Covello wasted no time. "Write it up, let's do it right now," he said of his initial reaction to the deal. But as the framing went up, Covello realized something was wrong.

"I stopped right about here, looked in the front door and noticed the stairs were in the wrong place. I said, 'wait a minute, they're building the wrong house.' "

And they were building a much smaller house. Covello told Sound Built Homes of Puyallup about the mistake. Sound Built has been in business 26 years, and last year built 1,000 homes here. So, Covello insisted on a fix.

He wanted the Teton model - that's the one he bought. "We caught the error so early. I caught the error so early!" he said.

Sound Built's attorney wrote back. He does not dispute the mistake and apologized for "any disappointment." The letter reads: "It is unfortunate that the error...was not realized until months after construction began."

I wanted to talk to Sound Built President Gary Racca. Instead I got his public relations consultant, John Koshar. "There is a real serious and sincere intent to provide 100 percent customer satisfaction," he said.

But I checked with state Labor and Industry and found Covello's complaint isn't the first. The exact same thing happened to a Pierce County couple in 2004. They wanted Sound Built's Premier model, but got the smaller Summit model.

They sued, accusing the builder of a bait and switch.

According to state documents, the couple settled out of court for $10,000, but because of a gag order, they are forbidden to talk about it. Sound Built won't comment either.

In Covello's case, Racca signed the sales contract agreeing to build the Teton model. All the fliers marketed the property as the Teton home.

But in letters to Covello's attorney, the builder insists it never intended to build the Teton model, and that the contract it signed was based on "mistaken information."

Sound Built won't tell me what the mistaken information is.

"It wasn't my fault, I didn't build the wrong house, I wasn't out here swinging a hammer," says Covello.

The builder offered Covello his dream house on a different lot, but without the greenbelt and no view of Mt. Baker. When Covello balked, the company terminated the sales agreement, and walked away. Covello got his earnest money back.

"You can definitely feel sorry for the guy who bought the house," said Seattle real estate attorney Chris Brain. He says a paragraph in the contract called "Limitation on Buyer's remedies" allows the builder to drop the deal. And it's legal.

"It's fairly clear in Washington those limitations are generally enforced," says Brain.

He says most buyers don't realize that if anything major goes wrong, the builder - not the buyer - has an out. "If the seller defaults, makes a material mistake, breaches the contract, you'll get your money back, and made whole, but I don't owe you anything more."

Covello is suing - it's his only recourse. No state agency investigates this kind of complaint. He hopes his story will be a warning to others. And, Covello is still waiting for that 100 percent customer satisfaction.

"I still want that house, I want that house," says Covello.

Brain reminds buyers that any language in the Sales Agreement and Builder's Addendum is negotiable -- just like the price. He says too often buyers in a red hot market overlook the fine print.

He says if your agent can't explain the fine print, ask the seller or get a real estate attorney.