N4T Investigators: Family says newly built Tucson home ‘falling apart’ | News

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TUCSON (KVOA) – A A family new to Tucson says their newly built Meritage home on the east side of Tucson in the La Estancia neighborhood has been “falling apart” since they first moved.Edition in December 2019.

Alyssa Yerian, her husband and children moved from Georgia to Tucson, where they lived in an older home. Alyssa said they hoped a newer house would have come with fewer problems. Alyssa says they ran into problems the first day they moved in.

“We noticed that there was a lot of water on the floor in the kitchen and we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from,” said Alyssa.

When they wanted to shower the next day, they found out

“So the water flowed from the shower into our downstairs pantry and flooded the entire kitchen, ”explained Alyssa.

She said they called Meritage’s emergency number, but it took more than 15 hours to get a response. Meritage sent a plumber who found that the shower drain was leaking into the kitchen.

“They had to core out the entire pantry,” said Alyssa. “They had to remove all of the drywall, all of the insulation, and he wrung the insulation out like it was a wet piece of toilet paper.”

But she saidI would That was just the beginning as many problems arose – their heating did not work during a chilly winter, They kept losing strength, your kettle is broken. Alyssa said it all happened in the first month.

she toI would they had cracks in different areas of the house including a framework in the attic, the stucco comes off the outside and the nails come through the inside color. Then in July 2021, they saw another big leak.

“Sat at the kitchen table” said Alyssa. “I got up and walked across the kitchen, slipped and fell.”

You learned that the leak was from your HVAC system. Meritage sent someone to inspect it, Alyssa herI would They discovered that the system was installed incorrectly.

Alyssa herI would There was another leak in her bathroom. She’s not happy with it like Meritage answer to the problems, so far she did not have to pay anything due to a one-year guarantee that has now expired.

S.he has asked for an extension of merit but it was refused.

“They really don’t care that their house is falling apart, they don’t stand behind their product“Said Alyssa.

The News 4 Tucson investigators turned to Meritage Homes. Tucson Division President Jeff Grobstein sent us a statement and answer our questions:

“We appreciate the opportunity to respond and provide additional background information. As we have told Ms. Yerian on several occasions, Meritage regrets that there have been problems with her new home. However, it’s just not that the home is “falling apart” or that it won’t provide excellent performance and quality for years to come. And as Ms. Yerian has repeatedly said, Meritage stands behind its homes and will not hesitate to correct future issues that do not meet industry or Meritage standards should they arise. Significantly, Meritage is not aware of any pending warranty issues with Ms. Yerian’s house, and although we had disagreements about her requests for concessions or indemnities Warranty work or responses to her inquiries could have been quicker, but firmly believes that her responses so far have been appropriate and fair. In all honesty, given Meritage’s response to Ms. Yerian’s concerns, Meritage was surprised by her frequent and public attacks in the US social media that labeled Meritage Homes as “awful” and labeled the company as “not behind their work” through negative media attention and filing a compliant Better Business Bureau (which Meritage responded to and the BBB was closed afterwards rde). On occasion, Ms. Yerian has also threatened to secure legal counsel. To be honest, Meritage would welcome such a development as it believes that objective advice from an attorney would be beneficial to their understanding of their legal rights. And if that attorney or Ms. Yerian really believes they can pursue a legitimate claim, they should do so through a formal judicial process, and Meritage would like to defend themselves on such a forum.

As for the general questions in your email, here are Meritage’s answers:

Question # 1: “why [did] her home, a newer home, face[] so many problems. Is that normal or unusual with your newer builds? “ Answer: It is normal for all new homes to require some degree of warranty work when new, as areas or components that need correction are discovered or manifested when the home is first started up. A house is a complex product that is effectively hand built on site by employees of numerous different subcontractors working together and coordinating their efforts, from frame builders to electricians and plumbers to HVAC plumbers and painters. The reason new home guarantees are provided is to fix problems as they arise. And although many municipal controls take place during construction, and despite the use of quality subcontractors and the application of numerous quality controls, mistakes are sometimes made, natural (and manufactured) materials do not always react as expected or planned, and sometimes even when everything is “right” is made, there may still be a problem that needs to be corrected. Additionally, as you can probably imagine, it would be virtually impossible to check and verify the condition of every aspect of every component of a home, and even that wouldn’t always rule out future warranty issues. In Ms. Yerian’s case, she had three main problems: 1) a leak in the shower drain in the master bathroom, which manifested itself in the first one or two uses of the master bathroom shower; (2) a broken truss element that needed to be corrected (which condition did not cause any health, safety or structural concerns); and (3) a second leak (completely separate from the first) caused by uneven HVAC equipment that resulted in normal HVAC system condensate leaking from the attic. And all of these issues were adequately addressed with the participation of licensed external experts such as remediation companies and engineers.

Question # 2: “What is being done to understand why these flooding problems occurred? “ Answer: First and foremost, Meritage denies that the above two leaks caused the house to “flood”. Ironically, the only “flood” in the house resulted from an incident in which Ms. Yerian left the house after forgetting to turn off the water on a kitchen sink, which actually resulted in “flooding” and damage. As for the shower drain leak, it is unclear what caused the line break, but Meritage is confident that it was an isolated, one-off event and that other showers or drains in the house will not be affected by the same type of problem will . Regarding the HVAC condensate leak, Meritage believes that the unit was simply not properly installed to allow proper condensate drainage and believes that once corrected, this problem will also no longer occur.

Question # 3: “I want to ask you what was done during the mold repair process. I have a mold restoration specialist on record who went home and had a safety concern about what he saw to fix his mold situation. “ Answer: Meritage has hired a licensed, third-party remediation company to assess, correct, and repair all water damage in Ms. Yerian’s home. This company prepared reports that were made available to Ms. Yerian. In fact, Ms. Yerian hired the same company to repair the damage caused by the “flooding” in her home. Meritage has followed up on every recommendation from this company and has completed all required work. In addition, Meritage arranged for air quality tests to be carried out, which showed that the air quality in the apartment was satisfactory (this report was also made available to Ms. Yerian). If Ms. Yerian believes that further corrective action, testing, or work is required, these concerns have not been communicated to Meritage and Meritage will be happy to take this into account and take appropriate action if necessary.”- Jeff Grobstein, President of the Meritage Tucson Division

Alyssa strongly denies leave a sink on.

Meritage Homes has mixed reviews online, At Consumeraffairs.com, it He hasS. 1.3 stars with 300 ratings many describe various problems they have with their homes. Ön / Avidratings.com, they have 4.5 out of 443 ratings.

The company maintains an A + Better Business Bureau rating of just 1.06 stars from customer reviews. Alyssa filed a BBB complaint, but it was closed after Meritage responded.

Clark Rustand owner and inspector at Housemaster Home Inspections says they are having more problems with new homes for almost all builders given the Tucson housing boom.

“It’s pretty consistent across the board. THere are some [housing] Developments that do a much better job, there are some that we see more problems with here and there“, Explained Rustand.

Alyssa herI would She doesn’t know where her family will go from here. She believes that because of the problems, they will struggle to get what they paid for the house that sold it. As Grobstein said in his testimony he said Alyssa has threatened legal action and merit would appreciate that.

If you have a story you’d like us to investigate, email us at investigators@kvoa.com or call our tip hotline at 520-955-4444.

If you have a story you’d like us to investigate, email us at investigators@kvoa.com or call our tip hotline at 520-955-4444.

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