Best home inspectors not always most experienced
Although there are guidelines for finding qualified home inspectors, there are no reliable standards that guaranty professional competence. To illustrate this, let's consider the six criteria most often cited as essential factors in selecting a qualified inspector.

Trouble-plagued house brings about lawsuit
 Melissa Allen and Robert P. Satagaj, who own the home at 111 Collins Hill Road, have filed suit in Middlesex Superior Court against the town, the building official and the public works director...The suit contends that the two officials failed to protect the couple because the officials did not require the builder to provide adequate waterproofing and foundation drainage.

Builder denies blame despite claims of shoddy roof work
Richmond American Homes has built more than 125,000 houses across the country, raking in billions of dollars each year...Of the more than 10,000 houses the company has built in Tucson, several dozen stand in Continental Ranch, where residents claim shoddy roof construction has left them with leaks, rotting wood and even fungi growing inside their homes. More than 50 irritated homeowners filled Marana's Town Council chambers last week to voice their frustrations.

Housing project runs into host of problems
Buckled unpainted exterior siding, flooded crawlspaces, mold in the attic, cramped unpaved driveways and unfinished landscaping have left owners of two units frustrated and unsure about what to do next. Construction on the triplex followed completion last year of a successful duplex next door by Whitefish Housing Development Inc., the nonprofit building-arm of the Whitefish Housing Authority, which handles financing for the city's affordable housing program.

Yard issue a slippery slope
'We knew we would have a slope, but not a cliff, and we have a cliff.'  His 2-year-old, $250,000 home in the Wellington Hills development is losing ground - literally - as the backyard hill falls away. His half-acre lot is several feet shorter than when his family moved in, and the slippage continues, Morouse said.

Dishonest Contractors Running Rampant in New Orleans Area
The number of complaints against builders and home-improvement contractors has reached epidemic proportions, said Charles Marceaux, executive director of the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors.Since Katrina, the state has issued 463 citations to contractors for shoddy work and failure to obtain the appropriate state license. In the year leading up to Katrina, the state issued only 237 citations.

Lack of gated entrance agitates Country Meadows homebuyers
Several people who purchased homes in Country Meadows want to know why the gate they thought would give them added security will most likely be little more than decoration. "They had advertised a gated community, and now I find out it won't be gated,

Home Builder's New Incentive: A Flexible Price
And now, in the latest sign of the cooling home sales market, a luxury home builder in Rockville has begun resorting to the kind of tactic usually reserved for screaming electronics discounters -- the Lowest Price Guarantee.

Trouble in Paradise?
Residents in the Sumo Golf Village development have seen their dreams of owning a fantasy home on a golf course dissolved by what one called “an utterly ridiculous pack of lies.”“We’re extremely dissatisfied and would like to have the builder buy the house back and just get out of here,” said homeowner Joe Balazs. “It’s a tragedy out here.”

Tenants call Gateway situation a nightmare; Owner says he's making repairs
Engaged couple John Hinchcliffe and Sharon Klesseck bought a condominium at the Gateway Estates last November, but said Tuesday they are just about ready to move out...Their home was one of five units at Gateway, a 150-unit complex at 229-233 Ellington Road, deemed uninhabitable Monday because of significant water damage. The main causes of the damage were defective roof drains and a leaking sky light, town officials said.