Inspector Failure = Lives Ruined

My name is Andrew Smith and I am a resident of Willowbrook of Bradenton, Florida and a victim of shoddy construction along with my entire community.

Over the course of the last year we have been on the news on an almost non-stop basis and several of us have been fighting KB Home.

I would like to ask the admins to use my website as an example of why its important to be an ethical and hardworking inspector. Thank you to all the inspectors who do the right things.

http://thekbhome.com/pictures/

Andy

Can’t be true…passed code :wink:

Was a contractor in charge of inspections?

We sympathize with what the owners of these nightmares are going through.

It’s our goal to help our clients avoid this kind of mess.

I hope that it can be resolved.

Andy,

Why do you believe your problem is Inspector Failure?

In our case one honest inspector would come in and fall the inspection and within a day or two later this one inspector would come in and pass the inspection. We have seen the issues originally reported still there today after the drywall has been removed. From what I have been told it was the same inspector every time.

I think he means municipal inspector

He definitely is talking about the municipality. I also live in one of these nightmares and have had several professionals come inspect and given the thumbs down stating it should have never passed inspection and are baffled as to how it did.
As Andy has stated please visit the site and make your own determination from the pictures you see and if you are ever close to Lakewood Ranch please stop by for a free tour. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Correct, I am talking about the inspectors from Manatee County. I came here to show the world an example of why private inspections are needed (even with new homes) and to provide a real world example of what can happen. I don’t want to bash on KB Homes, but they have a history that can’t be ignored and you all are the last line of defense for homeowners.

Thank you all for your honesty and all that you do. What has happened to my community and many more around the country is just disgusting. Now KB Home is taking and sueing 41 subcontractors saying its their fault, everyone down to the landscapers, but with so many communities coming forward and my website helping to spread the truth, people are starting to really realize what is happening.

If you all know the admins, please ask them to consider using our site as an example of why you all are needed. We really need to expose the truth and show why new homeowners even need their homes inspected.

No one buying a new home should rely on the local municipality code enforcement officer. You MUST get an independent inspection when buying new construction: www.InspectorSeek.com

Here is the problem with that…many GCs will NOT allow an independent home inspector on the property as long as it belongs to him. Secondly, this man is telling you ALL why there is a break down within the Inspection Dept. of that county. I see and hear of this all the time here in FL. We used to have an expression for this kind problem, called the “brother-in-law” effect. The entire system is incestuous and people look the other way when things are known not to be done correctly. The inspectors are empowered to make decisions on the spot that are contrary to existing codes. The inspector is the final authority. If someone pisses off the inspector he can simply fail the project on the spot without explanation. Seen it with my own eyes. Relatives or friends are hired as inspectors and code enforcement officers. And finally, the independent home inspector has NO legal standing in FL. NO one has to do anything the inspector recommends, in fact since licensing has been introduced I believe it has gotten weaker rather than stronger. Contractor license and county inspectors trumps anything the independent inspector says.

The buyer doesn’t have to close escrow now does he?

Inspector can’t come on the property? Don’t buy the damn house.

They don’t want to fix what the Inspector points out; Don’t by the damn house.

Get on the news and tell people; don’t buy the damn houses.

AHJ’s don’t have to enforce stuff; don’t buy the damn house in that community.

There ain’t no “trumping” or “authority” between inspectors to discuss; don’t buy the damn house.

Oh, did I mention; don’t buy the damn house?

I remind clients; you don’t have to buy this damn house… Seems to work here (even when we are not allowed to tell the client “don’t buy this damn house”).

Back during the last housing boom new construction phase inspections were about 25% of my business, back then builders wished that buyers would walk so they could add 20% to the price and resell it. Today, things are a bit different, still property values are on the rise and I’ve never seen a buyer walk.

Although I still do these inspections they aren’t my favorite. I suggest anyone who is serious about phase inspections get ICC Certified, or at least purchase a code book.

Exactly! With most buyers having to put down 10-20% earnest money if they just walk they lose that money. And as Joe said, the builders would salivate over someone walking. They get to keep the money and then jack the price up and sell to the next person that walks thru the door. At one point after the particularly active hurricane seasons of 04 and 05, housing was in high demand due to many losing their homes, I had people calling me to see if I knew of anyone who had a home for sale in any condition. Sub-divisions were springing up in old farming land then the bubble burst. Many of those homes sat (and still sit) empty. I know I did a number of home inspections on new homes that had sat for three or more years and the prices had gone down over $100K. Wacky sales and desperate realtors and contractors. Saw some premier homes that had multiple discrepancies; missing trusses, boogered up electrical systems (which we won’t be able to talk about soon). Time to lay on the beach, brew homemade beer and go fishing.

I live in the same neighborhood as Andy and can agree that there were definitely inspections that were missed in thiese homes. The same inspector passed inspections within days of another inspector failing the inspection. This particular inspector “abruptly left” the county not too long ago. This is such a nightmare that KB Homes put us in and the the checks and balances of the inspections failed these homeowners. You can see plenty of stories, news, pictures, and videos at http://TheKBHome.com

Not if they had their stuff together…

Buy a crap house with a crap contract and find yourself in the “crap”.

I had a phone call from a lady last week, she didn’t say where she was, who was involved with a lawsuit with her HOA for allowing KB to come into their neighborhood. She kept saying that the houses were being built without any nails. After a few minutes of conversation I figured out she was concerned about there being no nails in the roof trusses, she had NO knowledge of engineered roof trusses.
When we finally got to the crux of the issue her and her friends were mad because they had all payed well over 1 million dollars for their homes and now KB was coming in and putting up these “little” “shoddy” 3000 plus sq/ft homes that were ONLY selling for just over 300K. Yeah I laughed as well…
Is this a part of the same group??

“If, If, If”. If grandma had nuts she would be grandpa. How many young couples get taken to the cleaners when they buy their first home. “If” they had their “crap together” they probably would not even need a Home inspector. It is easy to find fault with the buyers but the truth is, there are many unscrupulous builders, not just in FL, but around the entire country and they take advantage of unlearned, inexperienced buyers. It does not help when the inspectors who are supposed to represent the county and protect the consumer are either incompetent, dishonest or both.

If they really had their crap together they would hire their own lawyer to go over any contract or have them draw up their own and put the builder in a position of if they chose to walk they pay nothing and the builder eats the loss but most people never think to do that. I have worked for few clients who did just that. They told the builder and their Real Estate professional they could stick their standard contract up where the sun don’t shine and if they wanted to build a custom home for them they would sign “their contract” with all the penalties, etc.

LOL, no… ours is a real situation but they did do the typical build the nice houses first and sell cheaper homes later to devalue the community. Our homes really are missing nails in some instances. Should go check out my website and watch the videos, you won’t be making pokes at us anymore.

The issue is KB Home silences the vocal ones by buying them out and hitting then with a NDA. In our instance they sold us homes knowing of defects without disclosing them.