National Association Of Home Builders
1201 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Fax: 202-266-8400

Re: Defective constructions issues at akbhomesucks.com

To whom it may concern,

I am contacting you to bring a serious matter to your attention regarding my awful experiences due to the defective construction of my KB Home. I am sure you are aware, KB Home is under a Federal Trade Commission Consent Order and I have requested the FTC to enforce it for the reasons listed below and many more.

I have written to Jeffrey Mezger, CEO, at the company headquarters in Los Angeles, Ca repeatedly, about all the major construction defects in my KB Home. I have asked him to buy back the home and make full restitution, but he has never bothered to respond. I was recommended to do so by a KB home customer service manager. He said he has worked on a lot of homes, but never seen one with as many problems as this one. Neither have I.

Mr. Mezger seems to have no conscience, or concern about reputation, so I have created a website www.akbhomesucks.com which includes photographs. This is the only way I can publish information about the major construction defects with my home.

I have contacted state and federal representatives and many advised me they have pursued the matter with KB Home who only say they are “willing to keep doing any outstanding warranty repairs.” This is ridiculous because their own managers have told me that there is no guarantee any of the construction is sound, or that any repairs have fixed the multitude of problems. They had every opportunity during the last three years when they were trudging through my home to correct the defects, but they failed to do so. They are supposed to repair and fix problems in a timely manner. The third leak in the kitchen ceiling occurred on July 4th last year and it took them 6 weeks to come and work on it.

I went to the state legislature and shared my experiences. I am hoping to help others avoid the same untenable situation and get a Lemon Law for home construction enacted.

The repeated leaks in the kitchen ceiling created excessive water in the walls for over eighteen months, as they could not determine the cause of the leaks. No wonder black mold is now growing in the house. I had a specimen tested and confirmed by an independent inspector. KB Home managers found this black mold while tearing up all the upstairs floors repeatedly because they no longer fit the house and loud cracking and squeaking was ongoing.

They know I took pictures and a sample and discussed it with me in full knowledge that the house is protected by audio security equipment. I am therefore stunned that they chose to just cover it up and when I wrote and asked them to do something about it, they replied they would not do anything about the “discolored flooring” under the tub or the live electrical wire that is hanging under there. This mold has grown where a leak occurred because the toilet had been installed incorrectly.

This report also confirms my belief that the pneumonia, bronchitis (twice) asthma, dermatitis and acute Rhinocitus I experienced during the last couple of years were due to environmental causes in the home. All these health issues were new and never experienced prior to living in this house. The upstairs den always smelled musty, I thought it was because they forgot to install the roof vents when they built the house, but I now know why.

Most recently, the A/C unit blew up for the third time in sweltering heat. It took ten hours to get someone out to fix it. The repairmen advised for the third time that the equipment was not wired correctly, but equally disturbing was the black mold found in the A/C equipment. KB Home sales agents promised me the home was energy efficient and cost effective, but this is not the truth. I had extremely high bills as the A/C kept continuously running and when these repairmen stated the “damper was never connected properly so it did not function” I realized why we had the high bills.

One of the major problems that can never be fixed is the external brickwork. Cracks developed 24 bricks long in steps, on both sides of the house and up the front. The upstairs doorframes were crooked and doors could not close. There is a major drainage issue, with frequent standing water at the back of the house. Much of the land has washed away and water continues to drain from another home built behind the house, on a higher elevation. A KB Home division president told me it is illegal for water to drain from someone else’s’ property onto mine, so why did they plan the sub-division this way? He also told me that no builder puts rebar under the concrete driveways, so I went round to the house being built behind mine and took photographs of the rebar on the ground where the drive would be laid. I did this because my drive way cracked in half and had to be re done. He also told me that if I wanted good drainage I should have purchased a $2M home!

They tried to patch the external cracks, but it has fallen out and many of the bricks are crumbling and dissolving. Because of this and the areas where they had to remove hundreds of bricks while searching for the cause of leaks, the house looks like a patchwork quilt. The brickwork is appalling.

I am sending you this information because KB Home does not do your industry credit. The excessive construction defects and constant repairs made my life hell and the house is now unlivable. I can’t sell it or rent it out because of all the problems. They should be ashamed of themselves. They get away with this because no one wants to do anything about it.

Main points of complaint:-
False advertising – publishing and staff statements that they install energy efficient and cost saving A/C equipment – A/C unit broke down in the height of summer on three different occasions. Never correctly installed, wiring wrong – high utility bills when they promised energy efficiency and lower bills?

Failure to complete warranty repairs in a timely manner. Nonstop repairs went on for three years and never successfully completed. Upstairs flooring torn up on six different days, everything had to be moved each time – ruined the carpeting – two inch gaps between the skirting boards and flooring – found Black Mold – toxic fumes. Abandoned the work on 19th December 2008. no contact until February 2009?

Inability to guarantee any repairs or re-construction will ever fix the house or correct the problems?

Using sub-standard products – e.g. Bricks are crumbling, dissolving – large cracks 24 bricks long in steps on both sides of the house and up the front?

Sub-standard workmanship – Patio roof and upstairs deck collapse – repeated leaks – brickwork – toilet installation. Repeated repairs for the same issue?

Unqualified workmen – the proof is in the work orders for all the repairs – KB Home Mgr stated everyone who worked on this home had to be fired?

No supervision during construction – admitted on the record by KB Home Managers.

Non-disclosure of major significant facts regarding the land use and the sub-division – land drainage issues – Home down the street had to be purchased by the city because built in a known flood zone, left dilapidated for over three years – Westgrove Blvd., was planned to become an arterial road onto the freeway – 16 lane freeway expansion planned to be built at the end of the road.

Building only two homes and then abandoning the phase – Leaving these two homes surrounded by uncared fort rubble for three years

Building a different phase at the bottom of the road and selling the homes much cheaper.

Total abandonment of the community – eventually selling unsold lots to a homebuilder that constructs cheaper homes.

The President Jeffrey Mezger totally ignores every communication and never responds.

When asked for details of how they would make this house whole and built to last, no one ever replied to me, yet they keep responding to state and federal representatives who contact them on our behalf, that they are “ready, willing and able to repair the home”.

Yours truly,
KB Home Owner – aka AKBHomeSucks.com

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We will post the reply as soon as we hear from the National Association Of Home Builders. The letter was faxed on 5th August 2009.