By Kaushal Patel, News 13
Posted: 5/6/04

Buying a home for most people is a dream come true. But a dream home turned into a house of horrors for one Tucson couple.

After moving in, one thing after another went wrong. And now the couple isn't satisfied with what the builder -- D.R. Horton -- has done. So, the couple contacted the Arizona Registrar of Contractors office -- the policing organization that oversees home builders.

From the outside, it looks like a perfect home, but once you're inside, pictures might have you thinking again.

"There was a water leakage under the base board and we had to soak it up with rags," says Vanessa Houston.  "It was a constant water leakage. We didn't know why. We called D. R. Horton and it took threee months to send anybody out."

Houston has spent the last 13 months finding problems she never expected to find in her new home.

"We had a mold test taken and it came back positive."

D.R. Horton built Houston's home and admits mistakes were made.

"Some of the items that should have been repaired were not repaired good enough," says David Greenberg, president of Dr. Horton's Tucson division.  "Quite frankly they should have been. I don't mind stepping up to the table when we're wrong."

But fixing what's wrong isn't enough for Houston.

"We want them to buy back the house, because of the permanent problems and because we have to disclose all the problems we'll get a lot less then what we paid for it," she says.

"If i walked through that home I wouldn't have any qualms about buying it," says Greenberg.

The president of D.R. Horton says the only way he'll buy back the house is with a court order, but he is offering other concessions.  "Maybe what I need to do is give her a little longer warranty just to assure them it's done correctly."

Houston says a warranty won't give back what she has already lost.

"They said that if I wasn't home every time they scheduled a worker that the warranty would be void and so I've lost thousands in lost wages the last year."

An inspector looked at the Houston's home and gave D.R. Horton another chance to get the job done right. If the Houstons believe the builder does not complete the job to their satisfaction they can call for an administrative hearing. At the hearing a judge could either fine or revoke the contractors license.

D.R. Horton has built more than 2,000 homes in tucson. The state Registrar of Contractors says the company has had three complaints against them in the last two years.