Good evening. It's no secret tht
new housing developments are
popping up all over the valley,
but our builders prioritizing
quantity over quality.
A lot of buyers think they are.
And turn to the 12 News I team for help.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Mark Curtis.
A viewer submitted a tip about
a new community in Maricopa
for seniors and those concerns
prompted I team reporter Bianca
Bono to dig in for the issues.
She spent weeks investigating the company.
And uncovering records that
show problems with these new
homes have been getting worse.
When you first drive into
province, it's breathtaking.
It's easy to see what attracted
Julie Schwarberg to this new
55 plus community in Maricopa.
Built by Meritage Homes.
Walking trails.
There's lakes. So we closed.
Before they knew it,
they were signing a contract
and getting ready to build and
design their dream home. We
expected it to be like the model. Homes.
But the problem started right a.
They closed on December 23rd,
but the house wasn't ready yet.y
told us we're not quite ready.
Give us a few days.
We want to make it move in ready
days later. When the time came
to move in, Shoreberg says the
house was a mess months later.
I mean, there's blue tape everywhere.
The house is a sea of blue tape,
each piece marking a problem.
They shut, but they don't.
There's no latching.
Who leaves a paint finish
like that? There's a gap.
You can see outside even more ty
left this. There's a gap.
It's coming undone. She's
reported all of these problems
to Meritage for months,
but they're still here.
Our new construction fixer
upper down the street.
I don't see any of their
models looking that way. Craig
and Julie Williams, who moved in
January of 2021, have yet to see
all of their problems addressed.
You don't move into a house.
And in one year, it looks like
you've been there for five. They
decided to buy a new home, hopio
avoid the hassle of renovations. 2 days
after we moved in, we experienced a crack
in our driving and it was about 6 inches.
Well now you can see it's about 5 feet
striping on the side of their h,
the scars left behind of
cracks that were repaired.
Meritage refused our interview request
but sent an e-mail citing labord
material shortages causing dela,
frustration and inconvenience.
I'm so tired of hearing it's COD
and supplies and contractors.
If it's so difficult then how it
they continue to build Mike Kas?
Good thing I'm retired because
it's a full time job this cabin.
Moved in April of 2022 and has n
scheduling fixes with Meritage
for the past year, he says.
Oftentimes staff wouldn't
show up to appointments.
His home still has blue tape.
You don't know what you're gettg
into until they hand you the kes
the back. It's been
a year and a half for
Manny and Danny Navarro,
who moved from Washington.
I just kind of gave up.
It wasn't until Jeff Leach
it's your new home fixer Upper hosted
a community meet up that everyoe
realized they're not alone. Mere
will tell you that that if.
The inspector crawls in the att.
It voids the warranty on
the structure of a home.
They can't crawl on the roof. S.
Porter is one of those
inspectors. Have you ever
encountered builders that discoe
folks from getting inspections?
I think most do. I took your advice. He
and his company, Scifi home inspections,
have skyrocketed in popularity r
since he started sharing new bud
horror stories on social media.
I'm going to be posting this so
everyone can see your conversat,
what build you work for, he say.
Although new homes should
be close to perfect.
They never are And estimates
in his experience,
it takes about two years after
moving in to get them up to par.
Do you think that needs
to be communicated better?
That would solve all the issues.
Then all the homebuyers
would be super happy.
They would understand it.
But no, they think,
oh the home closed,
it's perfect. No, it's not,
Porter says. Builders put the os
on the buyer to find the probles
with their construction, then rt
them and wait for them to get f.
They're more focused on closinge
home than walking through slowly
and making everything perfect,
he says. All homeowners should familiarize
themselves with the Registrar of
Contractors Workmanship standar.
If everyone knew that,
I think the quality would skyro,
because the builder knows.
They're gonna get caught and
Roc records show there have bee5
complaints filed against Merita.
81% of those complaints
were for poor workmanship.
The company adding in their e-mail no
home is perfect and we are addressing
outstanding and ongoing warranty issues.
Porter also recommends owners of
new builds get their own inspecn
within 10 days of moving in and
another at the one year mark th.
Forgot to make sure that this ws
sealed. Many neighbors in provie
are long past those deadlines ad
still waiting. Stop building and
finish what you started.
Frustrated as they watch
meritage continue to build.
Fix the problems right. They
hope by speaking out they'll get answers
and something will get done. Thy
know that they have put together
houses that aren't acceptable
and I want them to fix it.
Team draws. Bianca Bono
joins us live in studio now.
And Bianca, you mentioned
the registrar of contractors.
What else can you tell us
about those complaints? Well,
let's take a look at them.
Overtime you can clearly see tht
they have increased starting bak
in 2011 with by far the most nur
of complaints coming in 2022.
It's not reflected in this data here.
But this year we've already
seen 25 complaints.
So we are on pace to top what ww
last year in total, again there were 200.
65 complaints.
These are all to the Arizona Registrar
of Contractors, all Against Meritage.
So what happens when someone fis
a complaint while 120 of them we
either withdrawn by the person o
filed it or resolved with Merit?
85 were dismissed by the Roc.
This could be for a number of reasons,
including maybe insufficient evidence.
45 of them actually resulted in
some sort of corrective action,
Meaning the Roc told Meritage yu
have to fix things and make it right.
And as you can see today 15
complaints are still open.
We mentioned Meritage,
declined to do an on
camera interview with us,
but sent a lengthy e-mail about
this particular community saying
they have fired some subcontracs
where necessary they've hired.
Additional subcontractors,
again addressing concerns specifically
in this province community.
Mark, back over to you.
Well, if I was a new homeowner,
I would be upset too.
Bianca, thanks.
Meritage isn't the only
builder receiving complaints.
Tonight on 12 News at 10,
we're taking you to the West Vay
where new construction homeownen
Goodyear are at their wit's endd
we want to hear from you once a.
These stories, including this o,
came to us through a viewer tip.
So if you have a story you
want us to investigate,
just shoot us an e-mail at
Connect at 12 news.com.