Whether or not one believes mold can hurt people, there’s no doubt that a house that leaks and has mold is rotting from the inside out. This is serious, expensive damage and no new home should be having these problems. The homebuilding industry has been taking shortcuts and using unskilled labor, sometimes these new houses don’t even meet the barest minimum legal requirement—the building code. Codes aren’t well enforced, and neither is the law.

When people try to hold a bad builder accountable they are often hampered by arbitration clauses in contracts and “warranties” which prohibit suing, or they can’t find a lawyer to help them because these cases are notorious money pits for law firms. Contrary to the popular notion that homeowners can win jackpot awards even with trivial concerns, the reality is that one’s legal recourse in construction defects is slim. Few cases will end up as class actions because of the strict requirements to meet the status of a “class” that the homeowners would have to have.

The building industry has been able to get away with this for years, by lobbying to reduce codes and consumer protection, by contractual waivers of rights that consumers don’t fully understand, and by widespread shortcuts that become industry standard and thus “accepted practice.”

I feel for these homeowners and hope that they’ll find resolution. Thank you for the media exposure. Let’s just hope readers listen.

mold spores are microscopic and DO NOT GROW, they do, however, proliferate