In Pulte's Fairhaven subdivision in Schertz, Texas, the geotechnical survey of the area indicated high plasticity of expandable soil where the homes were to be built. Aerial photos also show two spring-fed stock ponds, which were later filled in and built on. No provision was made to provide drainage for the spring fed stock tanks, which results in water coursing under foundations, cracking and splitting them. Some of the foundation cracks are horizontal in nature, extending up to twenty feet in length. Other homes have massive cement slabs which are tilting away from level - with as much as eight inches of differential from one side of the home to the other. Pulte and her engineers tell us it is due to expansive soil and is nothing more than normal settling. IUn Federal loan application paperwork, Pulte personnel falsified the data, indicating the homes were not built on expansive soil, were not built on slopes and were not built on fill. The homes were built on expansive soil with plasticity up to. 61, well above limits for construction. Many of the homes were built on what had been slopes and were filled in less than three months earlier, with no apparent compaction. Pulte does not want to buy back these homes, but they have no remedy for broken and tilted foundations.
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