Orlando Sentinel - 11/10/04
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/weather/orl-asecseepage10111004nov10,0,6616975.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
Sopping houses get short shrift
Many owners of new homes find builders are reluctant to repair water damage.
By Dan Tracy
Sentinel Staff Writer
November 10, 2004
Roxanne Russell and Michael Goldstein each frantically shoved towels, dishcloths -- anything they could get their hands on -- against baseboards to sop up the hurricane-driven rains that seeped through the block walls of their houses in August and September.
Both homeowners went to their builders, seeking repairs of the water-damaged drywall, carpet, tile, ceilings and cabinets in their homes on opposite ends of Orange County.
Russell's builder, Levitt and Sons, took responsibility. The South Florida-based company overhauled her $325,000 home in southeast Orange, even paying for a week's stay at a hotel while the work was taking place.
Goldstein got the opposite response from his builder, Ryland Group Inc. Officials told him they were not liable for damage caused by a hurricane, which was an "act of God." He wound up cleaning the mess himself at his $221,000 home in northwest Orange.
Needless to say, Goldstein isn't happy. Nor are most of the Central Florida homeowners -- 2,000 or more -- whose houses suffered similar damage from hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne, a survey by the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-NewsChannel 2 showed.
Only six of the 33 production builders that dominate home construction in the region have agreed to fix all or parts of the houses damaged by the trio of hurricanes that swept through during a six-week stretch.
Together, these 33 builders will construct well over half of the estimated 25,000 houses to be built in greater Orlando this year. Homeowners have lodged multiple water-intrusion complaints against each.
But only three -- Levitt, Issa Homes and Ashton Woods -- are repairing homes regardless of age. Three others -- Demetree Builders, Pringle Development and Park Square Homes -- will fix only homes still under their one-year warranty.
The remaining 27 builders will not help, owners of their homes said. These include Ryland, Pulte Homes, Lifestyle Builders, Avatar Properties and America's First Home, all of whom confirmed that position to the Sentinel/WESH.
Another 15 builders did not return at least three phones calls each from the Sentinel/WESH seeking their position on water problems. Numerous owners of homes built by each of those companies complained that the builders have refused to fix their leaks.
These builders include: Beazer Homes, Bovis Homes, Cambridge Homes, Cosmopolitan Homes, Deluca Homes, D.R. Horton, Landstar Homes, Lennar Homes, Maronda Homes, Mercedes Homes, M/I Homes, Morrison Homes, Transeastern Homes, Engle Homes of Orlando and US Home.
Four more -- David Weekley Homes, Centex Homes, KB Home and ICI Homes -- would not directly answer questions about their repair policies. Two declined comment: Arthur Rutenberg Homes and Banyan Homes. One, Palmer Homes of Winter Park, is waiting for the results of a builders' inquiry into the leaks before deciding what to do, a spokesman said.
The Sentinel and WESH have logged more than 700 calls and e-mails from unhappy homeowners -- many claiming to represent dozens with similar gripes. All complained that rainwater seeped through the concrete-block walls of their homes. Most of the homes were built since 2000.
Adding in damage totals reported to local building officials and by some builders -- Levitt said 400 of its houses leaked; Ryland recorded more than 670 complaints -- and the estimated number of affected homes easily exceeds 2,000.
All new homes come with a one-year promise to fix most flaws, from cracked bathroom tiles to crooked kitchen cabinets. Homes also have a 10-year warranty covering structural integrity, such as broken foundations or crumbling walls.
But warranties typically include numerous exceptions, including the catch-all "act of God," which the builders say gives them an out. And the most likely causes of the leaks -- paint improperly and too-thinly applied to exterior walls; cracks in the stucco-like coating applied over the wall; and sloppy mortar joints between the blocks -- aren't covered by Florida's building code. As a result, government building officials say they cannot force builders to fix damage caused by water seepage
Bob Olin, Orange County's chief building official, said his office has received 269 complaints about water breaching masonry walls. Only 21 were for homes more than 5 years old.
Those findings led Olin and other construction authorities to suggest that the building code might need to be rewritten to include standards for the composition and application of paint and the stucco-like material on the block walls, to make them more watertight.
The Florida and Metro Orlando homebuilders associations are conducting their own investigation of water intrusion in Central Florida and elsewhere in the state.
In a statement, state association spokeswoman Edie Ousley said the group can't "mandate" its members to repair water-intrusion damage.
"We are hopeful that FHBA's study will be completed by the end of November," the statement said. "The Working Group will then convene to review the investigative report, and make any necessary recommendations to help ensure that water intrusion can be prevented in the future."
Some experts blame Central Florida's booming housing market. They say too many houses are being built too quickly by inexperienced workers who have little concern for quality. Last year, a Sentinel-WESH survey of 406 homes built in 2001 found more than 60 percent had cracks around windows and doors, in the foundation and in the stucco-like finish on the block walls.
The study also found that builders often don't allow poured-concrete foundation slabs to dry and "cure" before constructing walls on them. That can lead to settling, which causes cracks large and small in a home's stucco-like finish.
For homeowners such as Roxanne Russell, who lives in Avalon Park in southeast Orange County, the hard-driving rain caused extensive damage. Levitt ended up replacing walls, ceilings, tile, baseboard and carpeting in parts of five rooms. The exterior of the house was repainted, too.
"The smell was the worst smell ever. I don't know how to describe it, but it was not pretty," Russell, a 27-year-old information-technology project manager, said of her 6-month-old home before the repairs.
Robert Hutson, president of Levitt's Central Florida division, said 400 of the 1,000 homes built by his company since it entered the market in 2000 reported damage. "We just knew our customers were in a bind," he said of the decision to fix the houses. "Our name is very important to us."
Rehabilitation costs will be "substantial," said Hutson, who declined to be specific -- or to comment on builders who have refused to make repairs.
Most builders, though, are like Ryland, which built Michael Goldstein's 1-year-old house in the Summerport subdivision in west Orange County. After the hurricanes, Goldstein reported warped interior walls, baseboards and kitchen cabinets because of water that came in through the walls. Several of his windows leaked as well.
"It was just saturated with water. It was just bubbling everywhere," said Goldstein, a 27-year-old Web site administrator. "I can't see how that should be acceptable or right."
Goldstein is one of an estimated 1,000 owners of Ryland-built homes who maintain the builder has ignored them, according to residents organizing 12 neighborhoods developed by the company, which is based in Southern California. Larry Nicholson, Ryland's regional Southeast president, disputes that estimate, saying the company has been contacted by 677 owners, not 1,000.
Ryland is one of the region's five largest builders and expects to construct a record 1,500 homes this year. A statement by Keith Bass, Orlando division president, said the company shares the frustrations of customers dealing with the aftermath of three hurricanes:
"The water intrusion is a result of prolonged periods of hurricane-force wind-driven rain on an exposed exterior wall. In many cases, this caused water to saturate the block wall and puddle on the floor next to the wall," the statement said.
Nicholson said company officials still are looking at damage to each Ryland home, trying to determine the cause. He did not promise a change in the company stance, but said: "We want to make sure that what we do do is correct."
Dan Tracy can be reached at 407-420-5787 or dtracy@orlandosentinel.com.
