Complain about a product or service

DR Horton Homes

Lori of Thornton, CO December 7, 2006

Lori of Thornton CO (12/07/06)
I bought a brand new DR Horton home in June of 2006. The concrete garage floor had a rather large crack in it, which when I did my walkthrough, I was told 'would have to be replaced, but not until it was 1/2 wide'. Almost immediately after moving in, my front yard sank over 8 inches, to the point of being able to see underneith my front porch, and underneath my driveway. DR Horton's representative came out and said that I had a 'trench failure', and that lots of people in my area had the same thing happening.

They removed my rock, pulled back the freshly laid sod, and backfilled most of the area involved. They didn't comptact the area, nor did the backfull UNDER the driveway; just pushed dirt up to the edge of it. Less than a month later, it happened again. This time they did push dirt under the driveway with 2 x 4's, however in the process, buried two of the sprinklers. Again they didn't compact the surface areas. Now, two months later, it has dropped again.

I followed their 'rule' and complained about it online, and it took someone SIX weeks to get back to me. The driveway now has two large cracks in it, right where they say the 'trench failure' goes diagonally underneith it. I don't park on the driveway; its doing this all on it's own. Several homes in my area have had to have their concrete garage floor re-poured, and one house down the hill from me actually had to be lifted in it's entirety because the WHOLE HOUSE had dropped a couple of inches. So far it feels like they're just waiting until my warranty period is over, and doing nothing in the meantime.

If I had any idea their customer service would be so poor, I definately would have found a different builder, and am recommending to everyone I know NOT to buy from DR Horton. I paid over 350k for this house, and certainly expected the concrete to not crack within just a few months of it being poured.

I don't know yet what the economic consequences will be, however at the rate everything is cracking, I'm guessing my warranty period will be just about over when the cracks reach their '1/2' requirement for warranty replacement. And, I'm worried the whole house is going to start sinking.

Michelle of Lakeville, MN November 28, 2006

Michelle of Lakeville MN (11/28/06)
We purchased a home with D.R. Horton in 2001. Within 5 years we have now had 4 issues with plumbing. A leaking pipe on one tub and a defective toilet in the same bathroom. A leaking shut off valve and two defective jets on a wirlpool tub in a different bathroom.

We have damage to 3 levels of the house due to the defective tub and toilet and poor workmanship on the plumbing. We have been in contact with D.R. Horton and have been told they only warranty the plumbing for 1 year. I can see having 1 issue, but 4 in 5 years seems to be excessive. We are now being forced to do many repairs due to the water leaks, with no help from the builder.

James of Murrieta, CA October 28, 2006

James of Murrieta CA (10/28/06)
I am a homeowner who has had a bad experience with DR Horton the builder of the home. First let me say I love my new home. It is everything we wanted except for one problem. First when we did our walk through of teh home we found a crack pipe in one of the bathroom drawers. Justin the customer service representative quickly picked it up and apologized. I should have taken pictures of it. After a year of living in our home we had a flood fro the sewage lines. The flood took out the entire downstairs living area and also released large amounts of sewage into the backyard. My insurance (Allstate) quickly had someone out and repaired our downstairs with new paint, carpet and moldings. They did an excellent job. My backyard was not covered however.

The first plumber to come out pulled out large pieces of soggy drywall and other building materials. We had this documented. DR Horton wanted to send their own plumber out who after the first plumber video taped the line and found additional blockage where the line drops to the street. He claimed he broke through it and all would be fine. The very next day my backyard flooded again with sewage. I called DR Horton and they sent out a new plumber. This time he was there with a DR Horton Customer Service representative. Again they found a blockage where the line drops to the street. This time it was completely cleared out and the cause was reported to be a large amount of toliet paper according to the third plumber.

When I asked DR Horton to cover the cost of replacing my pavers in the backyard and also to refund my deductible they claimed they would not because toliet paper caused the backup. WHen I asked why or how toliet paper could cause this I was not given a reason. Just that they are not responsible. I was under the impression that toliet paper was supposed to go down a toliet into the sewage lines.

Inside we lost all our carpet and moldings. Also many walls absorbed water about 10 inches up the sides. On the backyard we lost our paver patio and the sod surrounding it.

Harizal of Manor, TX October 25, 2006

Harizal of Manor TX (10/25/06)
New subdivision slowly turn into slums due to many renters who don't care about their unit. When we bought the house we were told majority of the houses are not for rent i.e sold to local homeowners rather than out of state investots and speculators. Turn out a lot of houses are now being rented to Section 8 occupants. I cannot prove it since these were spoken words rather documented, but we were basically guaranteed about the high percentage of local homeownerships. Now, true homeowners are trying to sell their houses to get out of this subdivision. I'm contemplating to do the same. Be careful when buy a new house in new subdivision in Texas, especially in Austin - it may be turn into Section 8 housing. I think this is true to all new subdivisions in the country.

Break in, kids playing in the street, noise, confrontation between renters' kid (and their parents)and homeowners, nuisance, trespassing and the overall look of the neighborhood is deteriorating. Value of the houses are diminishing. Few owners trying for months to sell their house but so far unsucessful.

Emilio of Maricopa, AZ October 22, 2006

Emilio of Maricopa AZ (10/22/06)
I have owned my home for almost a year and it is a nightmare from day one. cheaply built, no sound proofing, cheap stucco keeps falling off the walls, doors not hung correctly, bad flooring. They refuse to fix anything.  They have hundreds of loopholes, nothing but promises and lies, starting with their customer service.

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