I bought my house in 2007. It was abandoned by the people who built it, so I bought it as a foreclosure. I figured out why they left after only 6 months post build. This is the worst house I have ever encountered. I had the house inspected prior to escrow and it was so young that nothing surfaced. But, after only 5 months living in it all of the fire alarms went off at 2am every morning for a solid month. Had them inspected and could not come up with an answer. Two months after that, a leak developed at the front of my house. DR Horton came out and did their inspection, stated that there was nothing wrong with the roof. Went up there myself and discovered they had not flashed the roof. Demanded for weeks for their warranty group to come out and flash the roof. They did come out and left flashing in my bushes but guess what happened the next time it rained? Same leak, same spot. Again, went up to the roof to discover... No flashing. Called DR Horton to come out and finish the job, they came out... New chunks of flashing, next storm... Leak. After about since months the leaks were so bad that water was pouring out from behind my exterior wall everytime it rained. Water was coming in from the blinds. Water was coming in from the ceiling. I eventually called a contractor to come out and fix the roof, which they did. Excellent work too since they found a gap between the porch and the house. Yes, you read correctly, a gap in the roofing panels under the shingles large enough to allow so much water in it rotted out the wood underneath. But, even then, that did not completely fix the problem. I discovered that there was enough gap between the dormer the exterior slats that the house still leaked. I went up and sealed the dormers myself, no more leak. About 7 months later a crack formed in my front porch, about a month later it worked its way into the house and cracked the tile in my foyer. I called DR Horton to tell them their foundations are crap and they need to come out and level the house. They came out and as if on some text book response code stated that is normal and there is nothing wrong with the foundation. I pointed to the crack in my tile, again stated that was normal. After they left, I broke out my levels and laser line equipment and found a grade in the floor. Very small variation but still present and enough to make my front door shut on its own. Which, btw, DR Horton told me was a feature of the house... Self shutting doors. Right. So I wrapped the house with soaker hoses and put a watch on the level variance, no major issues with that so far but fully expect the need to repair an already broken foundation in the near future. So, things were going fine for a while until about 8 months ago while laying on my couch I look up and see sagging in the ceiling drywall. It is literally sagging from the ceiling in the middle of each panel. I went upstairs and selectively turned on some lights to get some contrast and confirm, yup... The ceiling is sagging. Oh, and as added insult the bedding nails are literally falling out and landing in my living room. Right now as I write this, the sagging is now so bad that the taping and bedding are seperating from the panels. The whole row of panels that supporty my ceiling fan are the worst, it is like looking at half a cylinder. Also, as of last week, guess what is back... My leak. On the other side of my front porch, the roof is leaking right into my bedroom. Such a bad leak that I could hear it coming through the wall to the point it woke me up. Now there is a stain in my bedroom wall where the support beams and bracing joints soaked through. I freaking hate this house, it is a series of horrible problems which are all builder related. If you ever have the slightest sensation in the back of your mind to buy a DR Horton house, hit yourself there with a hammer. That will be less painful than years of shoddy workmanship constantly having to go through and fix some lousey contractors crap. Go buy a smaller custom home from a builder that takes longer than 3 weeks to build a house. At least it will still be standing 6 years after build.
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