Angry homeowners contend that state agency, complaint process are tilted toward builders"
There are so many problems with the legislation that passed in 2003 it would take us hours to enumerate them," said Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, an Austin-based consumer-advocacy group. "We need real protections for homeowners so that when they buy a home they know that what they are getting is built to high-quality standards and if it's not, the builder will be held responsible for it." ...State Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, asked the state comptroller's office to look into the agency's effectiveness last year. He said a lot of homeowners have wasted their time and money going through the agency. With the TRCC, consumers face a bureaucratic maze to find their way through before they have an opportunity to hold their builder accountable," Winslow of Texas Watch said. Janet Ahmad of San Antonio, president of Homeowners for Better Building, said the TAB devised the TRCC to create "an ironclad, surefire method of seeing to it that the homeowner was regulated. There was never an incentive for a builder to build the house right the first time."