Test-Drive Your New Home

Frye is not alone in his gripes. About 17% of new homes constructed last year had significant construction problems, up from 15% in 2003, according to Criterium Engineers, an engineering consulting firm with 65 offices in 35 states.

"On the one hand, we're making our buildings, our homes, more complicated than they used to be," says Alan Mooney, the firm's president. "At the same time, we have a decline in the skills of the people in the field putting these things together."

Mooney says water intrusion has been the biggest residential construction problem over the past decade.

Debbie Pool, a Loveland, Co., homeowner, found herself in this situation a year and a half ago when frozen water pipes burst, sending 337,000 gallons of water flooding into her home over a 10-day period. The walls had not been properly insulated. The house was demolished down to the studs to treat the property for mold. Sixteen months later, it is finally near being fully rebuilt.

While the builder, Lennar(LEN Quote - Cramer on LEN - Stock Picks), made and paid for the repairs, Pool says she is still disappointed by the lack of communication and poor customer service. She has been trying for months to get a copy of the mold report from the industrial hygienist that Lennar hired. "Mold is a huge issue. I'm compromised as a seller," she says, explaining that she needs the mold report if she wants to sell her home.

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