Article Courtesy of Channel 9
News -- Orlando
By Todd Ulrich
Published November 3, 2018
|
CENTRAL FLORIDA - Dozens of buyers claim their new homes are falling apart, but
a major builder refuses to fix defective stucco despite a multimillion-dollar
state settlement.
They sued KB Home. The homeowners claim
new testing and internal documents show the new homes’
stucco coating failed building codes and the company knew
it.
Action 9 consumer investigator Todd Ulrich found homes KB
refused to fix.
The stucco cracks can be extreme on some homes. Sometimes
the concrete coating failed so badly, chunks of the wall
just fell off.
“How does that happen?” Ulrich asked.
“Uh, wow, it’s hard to take. It really infuriates you, to be
honest,” said homeowner Omar Kashif.
|
|
|
Dozens of Bayberry Lakes homeowners claim their homes are
falling apart, and the builder, KB Home, won't fix glaring construction
failures.“I blame KB and the workers they put on it,” Kashif said.
“Do you think homes could be rotting behind these walls?” Ulrich asked.
“Yes sir, 100 percent,” said Bayberry Lakes Homeowners Association President
Bill Kamer.
Bayberry Lakes HOA sued KB Home. The lawsuit claims KB ignored the Florida
attorney general's 2016 settlement that ordered the builder to repair homes
built since 2006.
“But two years later, nothing has happened. There are so many loopholes in
the settlement, it let KB off the hook,” Kamer said. That's why the HOA
sued.
Lead attorney for the HOA Evan Small said, “What we see here is an epic
failure of KB Home's corporate responsibility.”
The HOA hired engineers to prove the stucco failed building codes. Stucco
over wood requires three coats, and stucco over concrete requires two coats.
“What the lab sampling confirmed is that under no circumstances was the
number of coats done right,” Small said. His legal team obtained a work
order from KB Home to a subcontractor ordering one coat of stucco.
“Why do you think that’s so damning?” Ulrich asked.
“It's damning for a couple reasons. No. 1, stucco is not allowed to be put
on in one coat,” Small said. He said he uncovered similar invoices.
The lawsuit claims despite significant damage Action 9 found, KB refused to
make repairs.
“This is a house that KB rejected?” Ulrich asked.
“Yes, there's nothing wrong here,” Smalls said a KB representative told the
homeowner.
A lawsuit deposition claims the KB manager who rejected repair claims had
not been trained how to inspect damaged stucco, despite the AG settlement
requiring training.
“He received zero training on how to do it,” Small said
The builder's response to Action 9’s investigation was, "KB Home does not
comment on pending litigation."
“The evidence will prove they messed up,” Kamer said.
The Florida attorney general's office told Ulrich that since the KB
settlement, 22 owners claimed their homes have not been fixed, and the
builder repaired 154 homes.
The agency said its KB Home investigation remains open.
Florida Attorney General response:
There have been 22 stucco complaints received from homeowners since the date
the court entered the Consent Decree. A total of 650 homes have been
repaired because of the investigation and settlement—including 154 since the
court entered the Consent Decree. Because the settlement was in the form of
a Consent Decree entered by the court, this matter has never been closed.
Additionally, the settlement does not require KB Homes to report to our
office the total dollar amount of repairs made since the decree.
|