Western Homes Top the Nation in Quality Production
20,867 single-family and 11,128 multi-family homes during this survey period. The three predominant construction risks discovered in single-family homes were in Building Envelope (41%), Framing/Structural (34%) and Plumbing/Electrical (8%). In multi-family homes, the top three defects were Life Safety (29%) Framing/Structural (26%) and Building Envelope (23%). The single highest risk problems identified in single-family homes included improper framing around windows and doors, building paper and house wrap installation flaws and missing structural connections. In multi-family homes, the risk problems included building paper and house wrap installation flaws, unprotected penetrations in life safety assemblies and missing fire-rated materials.

The Watchdog DAVE LIEBER
Lawmaker says area's new homes 'substandard'
State Rep. Marc Veasey is unhappy with 29 newly built shotgun-style homes in part of his district. He is considering filing a bill related to minimum housing standards... The homes look exactly alike. The front exteriors are brick, but olive-green siding covers the backs and sides. One long side of each home has no windows... The yards are mostly dirt and weeds...The builder, Don Livingston, tells The Watchdog that the homes meet the city's minimum standards...He says the lawns are not complete, so it is too early to judge, but he has no plans to lay sod. Livingston says he didn't install windows along one side of the houses "because when you are building the houses, people will steal the windows."

Tightly built homes jeopardize air quality
...unless there is a stronger emphasis on ventilation and an avoidance of building products that release or off-gas toxic chemicals, indoor air quality will continue to erode. And it doesn't matter if you buy a $300,000 home or a $2-million home. Toxic building products are used in every home built in Ontario.

Teamsters Call on Las Vegas Homebuilders to Hire Qualified Workers
The coalition is working to end the epidemic of shoddy home construction that has plagued the Las Vegas market in recent years.  Newly passed Nevada legislation requires homebuilders to resolve all structural defects and code violations reported by consumers within a specified period of time.

Web page gives info on fraud-charged home builder
A federal prosecutor in Kansas has created a special Web site to provide information about a Kansas City-area home builder who faces fraud charges. The U.S. Department of Justice said in May that it was charging F. Jeffrey Miller, 45, of Stanley, with organizing a $25 million scheme to boost his business through conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering. Miller was charged in a 60-count indictment detailing crimes that allegedly occurred from 1997 to the present in Johnson County, the Justice Department said.

Forget faulty products: Poor customer service is the worst culprit
Elizabeth Gould is getting her fruit-freezing refrigerator replaced this week at no charge by General Electric, but Alexander Gessen is still waiting for a resolution to his furnace-soot problem with Home Depot...Home Depot, however, was still talking with Gessen last week about what to do. His furnace occasionally spews soot into his home, and no one is quite sure what to do about it. The most severe incident occurred in February and cost $11,000 to clean up.

Firm is failing to pay its carpenters
More than 100 workers at a Scottsdale construction framing company haven't been paid in several weeks, and that has Latino community advocates concerned that some employers are taking advantage of workers...Richmond American Homes...some of the Valley's largest home builders, including Toll Brothers and U.S. Home, which is owned by Lennar Corp.

Home Builder Charged With Deceiving Clients
Nebraska's attorney general Thursday charged an Omaha homebuilder with overbilling a family by $60,000. Tim Brummels of D&R Builders is charged with three counts of theft by deception, three counts of second-degree forgery, and two counts of issuing a bad check.

A Dismal Standard
A veteran builder bemoans the state of the construction industry today
Most of the roughly 1.5 million houses built every year are pieced together in a wasteful, antiquated way that has changed remarkably little in 150 years. While many industries have reinvented themselves, taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies and innovative management styles, home building has not. As a result, new homes are an overly defective product, many of which will be lucky to survive their mortgage...Those who end up in the trades often get there because they ran out of options. My brother is a psychologist who evaluates inmates for a state penal institution. He tells me that at least 75% of the convicted felons he interviews were previously in the construction industry. I've also read that the building trades have the highest industry incidence of drug and alcohol abuse. When all hope and good intention are gone, you always can go out and build somebody's home. With few young people getting into the building trades, many contractors are resorting to day laborers or illegal immigrants or, basically, anyone with a pulse. Most work in the trades today requires no qualifications or training. Read more...

Owners say ''dream'' home became anything but
Sean Regan began noticing problems in his home, near Pretty Lake in Norfolk’s Ocean View section, a couple of months after moving in, including doors not closing quite right, cracks appearing in walls and pieces of exterior siding falling off.