Feedback on a DR Horton Home (sales, fees, lawsuit, lawyer)

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Kristi Shupe

We purchased a brand new DR Horton home in 2003. Everyone in our neighborhood has had a bucket load of problems with the quality. They cut so many corners when building our homes and yet charged a pretty penny. Not just small problems either. We have had water intrusion problems since the first year because code at the time of building our home didn't call for a water barrier behind the siding and brick. So if it's not code they don't do it and aren't ashamed about it either. Our self adhesive roof tiles blew off the first big wind we had. We still see roof peices all over our neighborhood after a strong wind. We could list many, many problems with our home big and small. My advice would be to ask about the construction from beginning to end and find out what they are going to skip and leave out to pad their pockets. Really I'm not sure they saved much with all the work they have had to come and redo to our home. They are still not finished and it's been 5 years!

A vapor barrier IS required behind siding and masonry work. It has been prior to the 2003 IRC and UBC. The membrane should keep all moisture from reaching the wood sheathing installed before siding is installed.

[Get the Facts]

Originally Posted by solanoMan

I just want to solicit feedback from owners of DR Horton homes.

We purchased our home 12/30/2006, and to date (4/17/2008) there is still a list of construction defects that have yet to be addressed. This is the worst experience of my entire life. D.R. Horton makes false claims, and makes appointments to make corrections, but fails to show up... and no courtesy call either. I have lost atleast 90 hours of work waiting for someone to show as promised. The fact is the builders customer service personnel are trained to deceive customers and sugar coat issues. We moved in our home and it was filthy from construction debree. We were informed it would be cleaned the following day. Didn't hear a word till 3 days after the fact. ( Did they think I was going to live in a filthy home)? There are stucko defects, light fixture covers falling from the ceiling, cabinets that sound cracked when they are closed.- (kitchen & baths), debree under carpets, mastic on flooring, improperly set tubs, defective glass, windows that won't close/lock, paint flaws, these are just a few that have yet to be corrected or addressed. The day after we moved in the customer service rep, and the superintendant came to my home to advise me they had to dig up my garage floor as there was a crushed pipe under the concrete. I asked why wasn't I informed this prior to close? There response was they were just informed of the discrepancy..... I replied sounds like crap to me as you knew if the garage floor had to be dug up and repaired I would have walked from the deal. My garage floor has a huge patchmark that takes up approximately 1/8th of the entire 3 car garage. They were fully aware that this would have been a deal breaker if they informed me prior to close. I collect antique cars and have made several representations of how important the garage is to me. This was clearly deceptive business practice. They offered me a $900.00 check to have the floor epoxied, which I reluctantly accepted. They refused to remove the entire "square" area ( the garage is divided into 6 concrete squares) as it is a post tension floor and the labor is somewhat intensive and time consuming. Now to my next issue...... After cleaning all the dirt away from the interior of the home, my wife and I noticed that the hood for the stove was scratched. D.R. Horton refused to replace this unsightly defect and claimed it was non-warrantable. which seems to be their favorite words.
After several failed appointments and physically going to the customer service reps office (which was the garage of a model that has yet to sell) I decided to go to the Corporate office which was just as useless as the rep. 15 months have passed and we still have no resolution. My neighbors have suffered the same frustrations as my wife and I. The customer service rep, a Mr. Brett Parker would dodge calls and make promises to have an issue corrected the following day to no avail. I finally had enough of his deceipt and happen to be driving behind him on my way back from getting coffee. I followed him to his (office/model) which is a mere block from my home. I yelled at him as I am tired of all your lies and deceipt etc.. and was loud at around 9:15am as I wanted the neighbors to hear my frustrations. Do you believe this guy called the Police and told them I threatened his life.. ( NEVER HAPPENED)...... Then I get a visit from 2 squad cars wanting to question me about what transpired... I advised them exactly what had occured and why. They told me there still had to be a police report filed even though the claim was "unfounded". I couldn't believe this. Then to make it better the company attorney from DR Horton calls me and says that they can no longer perform any warranty work as I threatened the life of one of there employees. I inturn contacted my attorney, Consumer Affairs, and The office of the Attorney General and filed the appropriate complaints. About 36 days after the complaint was filed with the Attorney General, Brett Parker was terminated by D.R. Horton.
Now I have a new customer service person by the name of Bruce Higham. He wants to buy his way out of any work that needs to be performed by the builder.... ie; warranty work. -------- and writes:

Thank you for meeting with me on 12/10/2007 to discuss and review all of the open issues and concerns pertaining to your home. Due to warranty procedures implemented by our legal department for your home, we discussed reaching a financial settlement amount in lieu of actually performing the repair work. This settlement amount covers both warranty and courtesy repairs.
As per our discussion and agrreement, the following items were observed and discussed, and a final settlement amount was agreed upon:

ISSUE RESOLUTION

Stucco Issues No Action to be taken, non-issue
Exterior Rock No Action to be taken, this was an elevation option

Kitchen Hood scratch No Action to be taken, non warrantable
Added Cabinet door/drawer pads No Action to be taken

Replace defective fluorescent light fixtures - Will replace when subcontractor schedules phase completion. Work can be scheduled by contacting Ryan Saldivar, CS Rep, 760-535-7400. Warranted for 1 year from closing; homeowner to contact subcontractor directly to schedule.

Hot/Cold reversal of water - Warrantied for 1 year from closing; homeowner to contact subcontractor directly to schedule.

Hearth Deck needs Paint - $200.00 Settlement Amount
Caulk and Paint for Year End - $250.00 Settlement Amount
Removal of Paint on all flooring - $250.00 Settlement Amount
Replace 1 kitchen cabinet door gap at frame - $200.00 Settlement Amount
Adjust and level kitchen can lights thru-out - $150.00 Settlement Amount
Dry brush paint touch up at kitchen lid repairs $150.00 Settlement Amount
Baseboard detail and caulking - $200.00 Settlement Amount

Cracked tile and grout at laundry & bath window - $400.00
Silicone caulking of master bathtub $100.00
Drywall correction Jack/Jill Bath, towel bar $75.00

Total amount for settlement agreement is $1975.00. This amount has been submitted to our accounting department for check dispursement. A release will be generated pertaining to all of the issues, as noted above, and must be signed prior to the check being released as per our agreement.

Please accept my apology for the delay in following up with this correspondence. Please sign this letter below and return it to me acknowledging your agreement to the terms above.

Sincerest Regards,

Bruce Higham
Customer Service Area Manager

cc: Kelly White, Asst Vice President/Legal Councel
Diane Lyttle, Vice President of Customer Service
Lot file, Palisades, #36

By executing below I agree to the settlement terms stated above for the warranty items in my home.


------------------ -------------------- ------------------------------


I wrote this release to the letter. To date 4/17/2008 the defective light fixtures have yet to be replaced... 4 calls have been made and 1 returned with the promise that a follow up call will be made in a week or two. That was 7 weeks ago.

I guess the proof is in the pudding! Here is DR Horton's customer service department "again" putting the burden on me... WHY AM I CALLING THESE PEOPLE.... I DON'T WORK FOR DR HORTON.... TO DATE THE ISSUES REMAIN OPEN...

iF ANYONE WOULD LIKE FURTHER INFO REGARDING THIS NIGHTMARE YOU CAN call me directly at: 708-254-7519

Live and Learn!!!!! We will never buy a D.R. Horton home again, nor will our family or friends.

[blondie909]

We bought our DR Horton home in 2002 in Riverside, CA, and have been very happy with it. No problems at all except we are trying to sell now to get away from the So Cal environment.

[solanoMan]

Where are you located; what community is this? It's a good thing I didn't buy a house from DR Horton. I heard from some DR Horton homeowners that their homes are ok. I also heard that the workmanship of the home depends on the contractor they get.

[Get the Facts]

Originally Posted by solanoMan

Where are you located; what community is this? It's a good thing I didn't buy a house from DR Horton. I heard from some DR Horton homeowners that their homes are ok. I also heard that the workmanship of the home depends on the contractor they get.

I am located in San Elijo Hills, a community of San Marcos.. The name of the site is the Palisades.

[scgraham]

Regretfully, it sounds like he got a real lemon; however, there are certain steps that a homeowner can take to avert such problems when buying new construction. It's all in the details.

[Fuchsia]

Originally Posted by scgraham

Regretfully, it sounds like he got a real lemon; however, there are certain steps that a homeowner can take to avert such problems when buying new construction. It's all in the details.

What steps can be taken? We are currently trying to purchase an inventory home from DR Horton in the Atlanta area and are getting scared from all of the lemon stories. Please, any advice would be helpful!

[CreditWitch]

I own a DR Horton home in Atlanta and I need an attorney to sue them for not doing the warranty work and what they have done is very poor.

If anyone knows an attorney that can help or handle these cases please send me a DM.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Fuchsia

What steps can be taken? We are currently trying to purchase an inventory home from DR Horton in the Atlanta area and are getting scared from all of the lemon stories. Please, any advice would be helpful!

What you need to do is have a host of experts in the housing field take a look at it. Bring a structural engineer, a home inspector (make sure it is not one recommended by DR Horton) and any other inspectors you think you might need, if the lot looks weird, you can have a soils engineer take a look as well.

It can get expensive, but well worth the money. Place contingency's in your contract if you need to as well.

It is far easyer to keep an eye on a house that is being built than one that is inventory, the experts can take a closer look at what is going on in the house.

Take pictures at every step as well.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

a buddy of mine bought a horton home in so cal a while ago and he didnt like the initial quality. cheap materials and they slammed the house together in only 3 months. also had problems with DHI(their lender).

after the first year or so of getting warranty work and doing his own upgrades, the house is fine, but if you're looking for something of high initial quality and not having much work, i'd look elsewhere

Same for the town home I bought close to Tampa FL.. After signing the contract the went so fast and at the final walk through the construction manager told us we looked to good and every builder had things they need to fix. Well the walls looked more blue (sticker to mark bad spots) than white, some walls weren't even painted. The outside at the front door wasn't ready but I was told clearly we bought the inside and not the outside and it wasn't a reason not to close. We did close and after everything was fixed we flipped the home to a couple from California who bought it from us as an investment. We sold it for $ 215K and now many are on the market for $ 160K even lower than we paid to the builder, so we are happy with are deal, but it wasn't quality build.