We were excited to move into our new home.

David, who has incurable blood cancer, was recovering from a stem cell transplant and required a safe, clean environment.

Kathleen was looking forward to creating a home that met the needs of her family and would become a place of comfort and style.

“We’re in the life changing business.”

“We create homes and neighborhoods that make a premium lifestyle possible.”

“We exist to create solutions that far exceed our homebuyers’ expectations and truly enhance their lives.”

“We are committed to enduring craftsmanship.”

These were promises that were on the TriPointe website and marketing materials.

Our buying process was impressive. We went to the design center to choose options for kitchen, bathrooms, etc. We studied the quality of the workmanship in the design center and made choices that allowed us to get the best quality for our purchase.

We were excited for this new phase in our life.

Almost immediately the nightmare began when we moved in.

Sewage backed up into our first-floor shower and also flooded the garage utility room, the flow exiting through the garage. This occurred twice in less than two weeks. Workers found that the sewer line was blocked with gravel and large pieces of 2x4 wood.

The AC flooded the utility room. Caps from the overflow pan were replaced. The next time the AC was turned on it did not work. The serviceman who arrived to fix it claimed the system was not installed properly. He pointed out instrumentation was left hanging unattached inside the unit.

Less than a week later the hot water heater stopped working. The plumber indicated that the exhaust pipe was placed on a downward tilt causing water to collect in the pipe and back up into the water heater. Other plumbing issues have included all three hose bibs leaking which required multiple visits by plumbers to fix.

The main water line in the utility room leaked, also requiring two visits to fix. The water pipe under the kitchen sink leaked, flooding the cabinet and warping the wood. The primary bathroom shower leaks. A repairman simply added some silicone caulking, but you can see that the brackets at the bottom of the glass are misaligned and not installed properly. The glass surrounding the shower is covered in paint over-spray.

This, at the time, seemed like sloppy workmanship. Something we and the builder could fix.

Then the mold came.

We’ve been through four major mold remediations.

The first remediation required gutting of drywall in the lower level entry, bedroom and bathroom; second floor ceiling and living room walls as well as areas of the kitchen. The cause, at the time, was attributed to poor insulation in those areas that was allowing hot, moist area into the cavities between floors.

We were forced to vacate our home for two months while the work was being done. Kathleen was forced to become the supervisor of the workers because Servpro, the remediation company, was not thorough in its identification of problems areas and their process of treating the affected areas.

This has become an ongoing issue with Tripointe. The lack of supervision has created stress and tension for our family. It has been left to Kathleen to investigate where mold was growing. Servepro and Tripoint were happy to quickly deal with only the most obvious sections of mold.

Kathleen has become an expert in mold remediation and made recommendations that were dismissed. The duct work should have been wrapped in insulation. The cement slab on the first floor should have been properly sealed.

We found that the wrong size HVAC system was installed in our home.

Mold remediation 2 happened after Kathleen discovered fungal gnats in the lower level coming through the baseboards. She had to remove the baseboards herself to the problem, which was being dismissed by Tripointe. There were large gaps between the cement slab and walls which needed to be filled. This required removing and replacing the floors.

Our last mold remediations have been the most disruptive and emotionally difficult. We had questioned seams in the ceiling in the main bedroom from early in our ownership. We were told it was the home settling. What was really happening is that there were leaks in the roof that were seeping through the foam insulation in the cavity above the ceiling. This has required major demolition and again much of the supervision has fallen on Kathleen. Our frustration has been that promises have been made to have the best workers be on our project with the owner of subcontractor being present or Tripointe being present. That has never happened consistently which puts Kathleen in the position of being the supervisor often questioning quality of work and requesting rework. We have often found the quality to be sloppy, with short cuts taken. It is demoralizing to see what started out to be a dream home become one that has brought so much anxiety and drama.

We don’t know how much impact living in a home with mold has had on David’s health. He was in remission until the first mold remediation. He is now back in chemo and cannot return to the house until all work is completed. The replacement of foam insulation creates another potentially dangerous situation. The gases from the foam are toxic and can remain in a home for weeks even months after application.

We are also now faced with the stress of owning a home with the stigma of mold. Real estate experts cite that a history of mold can reduce resale value between 25-40%.

This is supposed to be a time where our family cherishes the time we have left together. We don’t know what the future holds but we know that the stress and anger that we have regarding this home is having a lasting impact.