Angry Homeowners Take to the Web

As homebuilders struggle and houses get harder to sell, builder-bashing gripe sites are grabbing more attention and more traffic

by Maya Roney

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The outside of Susan Sabin's house in Lenexa, Kan., is covered with lemons: lemon-shaped foam cutouts, twinkling lemon Christmas lights, and a lemon-adorned wreath on the front door. If you go to her Web site, you can see for yourself. You'll also see photographs of splintered beams, bowed floors, and a graphic that declares: "Pulte Homes sold me a lemon!"

Sabin has been called crazy, but she's not the only dissatisfied customer. The Internet has rapidly become an outlet for frustrated homeowners to chronicle their bad experiences with new homes they have found to be structurally defective. Homeowners can now post complaints, discuss legal options, and warn future buyers on at least a dozen builder-directed "gripe sites," with names such as www.crapconstruction.com and www.khovsucks.com.

Careless Building During Boom?

As home values decrease and home sales slow in many parts of the country, construction problems seem to have become an even bigger concern for homeowners. "I notice the traffic has definitely picked up," says Andy Martin, a longtime consumer advocate who runs three sites: www.FightPulte.com, www.FightDiVosta.com and www.FightDelWebb.com. The three sites serve as national clearinghouses for those who think they may be victims of shoddy construction. During the housing boom, builders were working fast to keep up with all the people gobbling up new properties, and Martin believes the quality of building suffered as a result. "The pendulum swung too far in [the builders'] favor," he says. "The Internet now is rising to level the playing field."

For many of the creators and visitors to these Web sites, the problem is water intrusion and mold, brought about, they claim, by faulty construction. Dan Wenk, creator of www.levittandsonshome.org, claims he was not able to return to his Levitt & Sons home in central Florida after receiving chemotherapy because his immune system could not tolerate the elevated mold levels. "I was struggling with my life-threatening illness and now needed to find a new place to live," he writes.

Levitt & Sons, a subsidiary of Levitt (LEV), has not tried to stop homeowners like Wenk from using the Internet as a sounding board. "Today consumers increasingly turn to the Internet and other new forums to share their opinions and openly discuss products," said Levitt & Sons President Seth Wise in regard to Wenk's site. "While at times it may be difficult, Levitt Corporation welcomes this evolution as it creates an open dialogue and enables our employees and subcontractors to be accessible and accountable to all of our homeowners."

In Lieu of Litigation

In Sabin's case, the culprit is a type of soil called fat clay that swells excessively and has been pushing apart the frame, doors, and ceilings of the brand new home she bought last summer. The builder, Bloomfield (Mich.)-based Pulte Homes (PHM), should have tested the soil before constructing her house, Sabin says. Pulte has come in to make repairs, but Sabin claims they have proved futile as the soil continues to exert pressure on her foundation. The value of the home has fallen nearly $120,000 in the past six months, Sabin writes on her site. She now wants Pulte to buy back her home, but they refuse. "I try not to be emotional, but I live in this house every single day," Sabin says. "I have a right to be emotional about this."

But Sabin doesn't have a right to sue the builder. Not yet, anyway. Many new-home sales contracts, including Pulte's, state that disputes related to the purchase of the home must be settled by arbitration before moving to court. For now, Sabin says she's content to use her Web site to spread the word and prevent others from going through a similar ordeal.