Archer says that of the nine TRCC commissioners who review homeowner complaints, the homebuilders regularly get seven votes.

"In actuality, I think the number most would say would be eight out of nine," he says.

Staying Out Of Court

Archer says an even bigger problem with the TRCC is that the agency has no ability to discipline bad or even criminal builders. In Texas, there is no state licensing of builders, and builders of new homes are not required by law to disclose known defects, unlike sellers of existing homes.

Even if a builder is repeatedly negligent and deceptive, there's little the state can do about it. In five years of existence, the Texas Residential Construction Commission has revoked just one builder's registration. Archer says when it comes to protecting buyers of new homes, the Lone Star State is not exactly leading the pack.

"I would say we're dead last," he says. "I don't believe there's any state in the country where the homeowner is up against more obstacles and more impossible tasks in terms of getting relief than they face here in Texas."

The TRCC process is designed to keep new homebuyers out of court, where a state judge would hear the facts and rule. That's the way it used to be in Texas. But the executive director of the TRCC, Duane Waddill, believes his agency has been a big improvement over unreliable state judges.

"It ultimately came down to a judge hearing dueling experts and that judge had to make the decision, so it was very arbitrary and was left in the hands of that adjudicator," Waddill says. "What we provide through our inspection process is a neutral professional."

Waddill agrees that the TRCC needs to tweak how it handles homebuyer complaints. But he says the agency does a good job of serving the interests of both builders and new homebuyers.

"We want to do everything we can to make sure that people want to use our process," he says. "What we've seen in every review of ours has been that the agency is run well."

Complaints From Homebuyers

When the TRCC was first proposed in 2003, most Republicans in the Legislature supported it in the name of tort reform. But a steady stream of complaints has come out of the growing suburbs of Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. GOP legislators have been getting an earful from young, conservative, first-time homebuyers.

"I have a builder in my community that currently has 37 felony indictments against him — you know, over basic TRCC-type of issues," says state Rep. Dan Gattis, who represents the fastest-growing county in the state, just north of Austin.

Gattis says buyers of new homes in Texas, who are often first-time buyers, have to be better protected.

"When you're talking about the No. 1 investment asset vehicle that anybody owns, there ought to be some protections there to make sure that people are not being taken advantage of," Gattis says.

Gattis is sponsoring a bill that would abolish the TRCC. But the Texas Association of Builders intends to do everything it can to kill that bill and save its regulatory agency.