Homeowners wage battle with builder
Come to the homes of Cynthia Daugherty and Susan Sabin and you’ll notice the lemons. But the Christmas-like display is meant to make a not-so-joyous point — both women believe their recently built homes are lemons. Since Daugherty and Sabin bought their homes last year, they say, the foundation walls and floors have begun to crack in several locations. Both homeowners maintain they were sold defective houses and are calling for the developer to buy them back. And they are taking extraordinary measures to force the issue. “Pulte Homes should not be allowed to build any more homes in this city until they buy back my worthless piece of junk,” Daugherty told the council.

homeowners wage battle with builder
Company says it is trying to honor warranty, but needs more cooperation.

   

 

Cracks in the basement of her new home’s foundation is one of the reasons Susan Sabin wants a refund from the developer.

 

Images of the yellow fruit decorate the front windows and exteriors of their houses in The Reserve, a growing subdivision northwest of Kansas 7 Highway and 95th Street.

But the Christmas-like display is meant to make a not-so-joyous point — both women believe their recently built homes are lemons.

Since Daugherty and Sabin bought their homes last year, they say, the foundation walls and floors have begun to crack in several locations. Both homeowners maintain they were sold defective houses and are calling for the developer to buy them back. And they are taking extraordinary measures to force the issue.

Pulte Homes, the subdivision’s developer, says it has made some repairs, but the homeowners have refused to allow additional work.

“We want to stand by the warranty that goes along with these homes, but the homeowners are not allowing us to do that,” said Mark Marymee, a spokesman for Pulte Homes.

Pulte has declined to buy back the homes as requested by the homeowners.

The issue came before the Lenexa City Council on Tuesday, with the two homeowners urging the city to take action against the developer.

“Pulte Homes should not be allowed to build any more homes in this city until they buy back my worthless piece of junk,” Daugherty told the council. Both neighbors claim the foundations of their homes were built improperly, causing cracks to appear in the basement walls and floor.

Marymee said expanding soil underneath Sabin’s home is causing damage to the structure, while some foundation supports to Daugherty’s home were misaligned during construction.

Both Sabin and Daugherty say they have let the company send repair crews in the past, but that all the work either had been cosmetic or failed to fix the problems. They have no confidence that future repair efforts would finally fix the problems.

The two said that as far as they know they are the only homeowners in the subdivision who have publicly complained of problems. Lenexa’s planning and development director, Roger Kroh, said the only complaints he has received from that subdivision have come from Sabin and Daugherty. Along with their lemon decorations, the two began protesting in April by sitting at the entrance of the subdivision with protest signs. Representatives for Pulte homes say they have received numerous complaints from residents about the displays. Now both Daugherty and Sabin are facing fines for the lemon decorations because they are in violation of the homeowners association’s rules in the subdivision.

Sabin’s case was mentioned in a March Money Magazine article about disputes between homeowners and builders.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Sabin and Daugherty also complained that city inspectors had failed to find defects in their homes.

Kroh, the planning and development director, said he is reviewing information on both homes and plans to have a response to the complaints soon.

To reach Michael Kan, call (816) 234-7727 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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