Customers of America’s largest homebuilder have accused the company of leaving them with dirty and dangerous new homes that they are now desperate to sell.
DR Horton calls itself “America’s Home Builder” and has built more than one million new homes since its founding in 1978.
But homeowners across the country say the company has turned a blind eye to complaints about major structural problems, leaks and mold in their new homes.
The Texas company settled a $16 million construction defect lawsuit filed by hundreds of South Carolina homeowners last year, and it may not be the final litigation it faces.
“We already spent all the money to get the house and now we have to spend more money to be able to hire a lawyer to try to do something,” Isaac Ortiz said from his home in Las Vegas.
Danielle Antonucci said families had been left “financially, physically and emotionally” ruined by the trauma of living in their poorly built homes.
She discovered that the doors did not fit into their frames when she bought her home in Florida in 2022
He had to rip out ceiling and wall panels in an attempt to combat the mold in the house.
“Everything was in poor condition,” he said. AZfamily.com. ‘All.’
Jayson Warren was left with medical and home repair bills after his wife fell down the uneven stairs of their new construction home in San Antonio, Texas, in 2020.
“I couldn’t look at that house without seeing a ticking time bomb,” he said. “We walked into the house and it hadn’t taken more than 24 hours for a problem to appear.
“As a result, my wife had to go to a specialist doctor,” he added. “It’s like you’re going up and down the stairs on autopilot. There’s a reason why all the stairs in the country are built the same way.”
Her family eventually moved out, but others fear they spent their money on “dream homes” that now can’t be sold.
PJ Skipper discovered faulty air conditioning, bent nails, faulty plywood, and hundreds of maggots when he moved into his DR Horton home in Locust Grove, Georgia, in 2019.
“I thought, ‘This is turning into a hell house,'” she said.
And he says the company’s refusal to address his complaints has forced him to pay for the repairs himself.
Nikole Willis says she was ignored when she raised the alarm about problems with her home
She claims that a poorly constructed stormwater pond has repeatedly flooded immediately.
The pond was sold as an ‘amenity’, but flooding has made life a misery for residents.
And the standing water reaches within a few meters of the houses in the Santee, South Carolina, development.
“We are left as owners paying the price,” he said. “More often than not, we have to pay for it out of our own pockets.”
“Here in my neighborhood, a lot of people have sold their houses,” he added. “They thought it was best to sell them and leave.”
‘I can say that Dr. Horton has left a very bad taste in my mouth.’
Nikole Willis says she, too, was ignored when she raised the alarm about constant flooding with standing water from the stormwater pond built immediately next to her home in Santee, South Carolina.
“When the water got dirty they just stopped coming,” he said.
‘My fear is that Dr. Horton will leave us to our own devices and to deal with this nightmare that he is.
“I don’t have much respect for Dr. Horton. I don’t like being lied to, I don’t like being ignored, I don’t like that,” he added.
“They gave a lot of empty promises to the people of this neighborhood.”
The company made an effort to fix a number of issues reported by Danielle Antonucci after she moved to her Florida home in 2022 before disappearing from the radar.
Jayson Warren (left) had to take his wife to the hospital after she fell down the uneven stairs at their new build in San Antonio, Texas, in 2020, while Isaac Ortiz (right) said his Nevada home was filled with construction debris and had leaking walls.
He said ill-fitting doors, major structural problems and mold inside the walls due to water damage have left the Sarasota home nearly uninhabitable.
“They haven’t given me the new house I bought,” she said. “I’m worried that in three or four years I’ll have a house full of mold on the walls.
“We share a tiny bathroom. We’ve been fighting with them for over two years.”
And you’re starting to realize how many homeowners have been through a similarly hellish experience.
“These stories are heartbreaking,” she said. “They ruin families, financially, physically, emotionally, mentally. All of that. It’s devastating.”
And homeowners’ anger is fueled by the knowledge that county inspectors are giving their defective new homes the thumbs up.
“I filed a complaint with the Nevada Attorney General almost 45 days ago,” Ortiz said. “At this point, it’s been almost 45 days and I haven’t received a response.”
Others wonder what it takes to hold the Fortune 500 company accountable.
“I think the federal level potentially has some role when you start talking about compounding effects,” Warren said.
A company spokesman insisted it had no intention of evading its customers’ concerns.
PJ Skipper says his neighbors in Locust Grove, Georgia, are now desperate to sell their homes.
A company spokesman insisted it would not shirk its customers’ concerns.
“We are proud of the quality of DR Horton homes and have helped over 1,000,000 individuals and families across the United States achieve the dream of homeownership,” the spokesperson told AZfamily.
‘Our team takes all homeowner concerns seriously and is committed to customer satisfaction.
‘We encourage any DR Horton homeowner who has concerns about their home to contact us at CorporateCustomerCare@drhorton.com so we can work to resolve any issues.’
Dailymail.com has contacted the company for comment.