Good article, but the chart at the end, and comments about most defects being by small builders, makes it look like the TRCC "mysteriously" doesn't find anything wrong with big builder's houses.  Could that be the result of influence by the builders who have the most money in TX?  From my experience, large tract builders take many shortcuts and the notation of 'zero' defects for some of them is not only completely unrealistic but highly suspicious.  And KB--zero defects?  They have to be kidding! 

Yeah, right, the TRCC is protecting consumers.  And donkeys can fly.  I'm glad the article exposes that the TRCC is a joke, but that chart should've been questioned.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/101206dnccohomeownerstrife.3305249.html  State-sought home fixes rarely made

DEFECTS BY LARGE BUILDERS
 
The Texas Residential Construction Commission investigated and found defects in 27 homes built by the area's 20 largest-volume builders, listed here. That represents less than 10 percent of the houses found to have defects in the last two years. Custom and smaller-scale builders account for the rest. 
Builder  Homes found to have defects 
Newmark Homes  5 
D.R. Horton  4 
Lennar (NuHome and Village Builders)  3 
Meritage Homes (Legacy Homes, Monterey Homes)  3 
McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc. (Pioneer Homes, Plantation Homes, Coventry Homes)  3 
Grand Homes  3 
Ashton Woods Homes  2 
Centex Homes (Fox & Jacobs Homes)  1 
K. Hovnanian Homes (Four Seasons)  1 
Drees Homes (Expression Homes)  1 
Standard Pacific Homes  1 
Pulte Homes  0 
Highland Homes (Horizon Homes, Huntington Homes)  0 
Choice Homes  0 
David Weekley Homes  0 
First Texas Homes (Gallery Custom Homes)  0 
KB Home  0 
Ryland Homes  0 
History Maker Homes  0 
Beazer Homes  0 
SOURCES: Residential Strategies, Texas Residential Construction Commission