TRCC Story Time
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:18 am
Knee deep in bill summaries, trying to understand proposed reforms at the Texas Residential Construction Commission, we realized this issue can get a bit … dense. So, a story to illustrate, courtesy of the Dallas Morning News.
Bob and Jane Cull appeared in the Texas Supreme Court this week, fighting against homebuilder and political bigshot Bob Perry. The Culls are an elderly couple who has been fighting for 10 years with Perry Homes over a home that an arbitrator and two separate courts have said was ruined by a faulty foundtion. They’ll be relying on the integrity of the high court’s judges to judge the case on its merits, since the money’s on Perry’s side — he’s given more than $300,000 to the nine judges over the years.
The Morning-News also profiled the Culls earlier this year.
When they signed on with Perry Homes in 1996, the Culls thought they were building their dream retirement home, with 2,800 square feet and upgrades such as cedar closets and raised arches, in a new subdivision south of Fort Worth. …
But the house was never whole.
“First we thought they’d bought the wrong-sized door,” Ms. Cull said. “Leaves and critters could come in. Roof supporters were not staying attached in the attic; they were just hanging free. And there were cracks in the walls and the tile was cracking.”
The couple complained, but work crews simply patched the problems, they said. Soon, they were sure their new $250,000 home had fundamental defects, and they expected Mr. Perry to make it right.
Mr. Cull described himself as “a firm believer that people settle their differences face-to-face and resolve things on a kind of man-to-man basis. We thought this was something we could talk to Bob Perry about over a cup of coffee and settle with a handshake.”
Instead, their legal fees have run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. We know many of the proposed reforms at the TRCC aim to make the dispute-resolution process clearer for both homeowner and builder alike, but the measures that would clarify conflict-of-interest standards will be just as important. I mean, Bob Perry’s corporate counsel — John Krugh — sits on the commission, which would be the first hurdle the Culls had to clear if they had built their home in 2006 instead of 1996.
