Shoddy Construction on the Rise?
To the Editor:
I just read your article “Big Builders
Face Media Scrutiny” (Notebook, 11/01)
and disagree with the builders who
say homeowners’ complaints are "isolated
incidents" — a vague term that
implies that shoddy construction is
rare, which is false.
In our neighborhood alone, people
complain verbally to those they know
will understand their frustration, but
when you ask them to make the complaint
official, they back out. The reason
isn't that they don't have
legitimate complaints; it's because
they see the easy way out is to cover
up the defects and resell without disclosing,
or just fix the defects themselves
and cut their losses in order to
protect their property value. It's an
expensive,