"House from Hell" - How America's Largest Homebuilders...
newsletter
home<br>team<br>about us<br>investigations<br>breaking news<br>contact<br>terms
get our free newsletter
Follow us
“House from Hell” — How America’s Largest Homebuilders Shift the Cost of Shoddy Construction to Buyers
June 26, 2025 8:59 AM<br>EST
BY:
Jenny Ahn<br>Michelle Cera<br>Matthew Termine
EDITOR:
Jim Impoco<br>Wendy Nardi<br>Sam Koppelman
Hunterbrook Media’s investment affiliate, Hunterbrook Capital, does not have any positions related to this article at the time of publication. Positions may change at any time. Hunterbrook Media is working with litigators on potential lawsuits based on our investigation. If you are a victim, we invite you to share your story by emailing ideas@hntrbrk.com — where we source information for ongoing reporting.
You’re in what you thought would be your dream house — until it wasn’t.<br>The living room ceiling has been ripped out after sewage water backed up and flooded the upstairs bathroom. With the drywall gone, you can spot loose nails and concerning gaps between the floor joists. Rainwater seeps through the cracks around the front door.<br>Insects crawl through the window frames — even though the windows were reinstalled because they weren’t installed properly in the first place. And most of your bathrooms are unusable, awaiting repairs the builder promised more than a year ago.<br>It feels like a nightmare — but it’s reality, according to Danielle Antonucci, who invited a Hunterbrook Media reporter to the home she and her husband bought just four years ago in Sarasota, Florida, built by the nation’s largest homebuilder, D.R. Horton ($DHI). In an email provided to Hunterbrook, Antonucci desperately pleaded with D.R. Horton to address the numerous defects rendering their home nearly uninhabitable: “I keep getting the response that this matter has been escalated to the Sarasota office,” she wrote. “It has been 21 months!”
A photo of Antonucci’s living room. The ceiling has been ripped out since over a year ago, she said, after sewage water flooded from the upstairs bathroom. Source: Hunterbrook Media<br>Photos of numerous problems in Antonucci’s home, including poorly fastened floor joists, incomplete bathroom and bedroom repairs, and cracks along the main doorframe. Sources: Danielle Antonucci, Hunterbrook Media“Physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, it’s been the biggest nightmare of my life,” Antonucci said, adding, “This is my full-time job now, dealing with this home.”
Antonucci’s makeshift office where she said she deals with D.R. Horton over the defects in her home pretty much full-time. Piles of records — her correspondence with various subcontractors, building manuals, architectural plans, county inspection records — sit neatly on tables. Source: Hunterbrook Media. Photos taken on April 25.<br>Antonucci and her family. Source: Danielle AntonucciMore than 60 homeowners across 16 states who purchased their dream home from one of the nation’s two largest residential homebuilders, D.R. Horton and Lennar ($LEN), shared similar accounts with Hunterbrook. They described extensive construction defects stemming from substandard workmanship, inferior materials, and blatant building code violations that sometimes make their homes unsafe and unlivable.
D.R. Horton and Lennar Homes Closed in the Last Two Years and Locations of Issues Reported by Interviewees<br>These homeowners also expressed profound frustration with the builders’ complex tactics to evade responsibility for these defects, leaving families out in the cold — sometimes literally.<br>“It’s been the biggest nightmare of my life.” - Danielle Antonucci<br>Take Leslie Montgomery, who said her family has had to live in hotels since county officials condemned her house after a mold infestation so severe that her previously healthy teenage son was unable to attend school.<br>Lennar offered to clean the ducts, according to Montgomery, downplaying the problem even after biochemical inspectors the company hired declared the home a total loss. The inspectors tried to reason with Lennar, saying there was “a sick kid involved,” according to Montgomery, but Lennar didn’t budge.<br>Their testimonies echo those of thousands of other homeowners who have desperately turned to social media platforms, official government channels, consumer review sites, and local news to demand answers on the construction defects that the companies refuse to acknowledge or address. Common complaints range from water intrusion, truss and joist deficiencies, ventilation problems, and missing or inadequate fireproofing or insulation, to foundation cracks, improper grading, and plumbing issues, many in violation of building codes.
A screen capture of Better Business Bureau consumer ratings and complaint summaries regarding Lennar and D.R. Horton, captured on May 1. Source: Better Business BureauBoth D.R. Horton and Lennar promise that their mission to build affordable homes will not come at the cost of quality — even as...