Bob Perry Homes

[JimNeu]

Did any of you catch the news clip this morning on NPR radio regarding Bob Perry Homes? Chronicled how BP built a home for the Cull's and after just 6 weeks of living in the house foundation started to heave from the expansive soils. Apparently the couple went through arbitration and were successful with that, then Bob Perry homes filed appeal after appeal and he Cull's won all appeals. Finally Bob Perry had enough and took it to the Texas Supreme Court, where he was successful. According to the NPR article all of the nine Texas Supreme Court judges were recipients of campaign money from Bob Perry, so none were impartial. A nice tangled web that Bob was able to tidy up in his favor. If this is all true I'm going to Texas to built, where you can do anything to your customers with impunity.

Now I'm a bit cautious because this was reported on NPR, a leftist view, I'd like to hear the other side of the story from you guys in Texas. I'm sure Alan knows all of this already.

If this NPR story is correct, its highly disturbing that a home builder could get away with treating folks like this and when the buyers complain and then eventually file law suits, you pay off the supremes to make it all go away.

Idn't America great.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=102453061

Jim

[davenorthup]

This was mentioned in another thread as well.

I do not think NPR came to the conclusion that Perry 'bought off' the Texas Supreme court. That came from a quote and they followed up with the fact that it is true (that he donated money to all 9 judges).

Like mentioned - I agree that every law firm usually contributes to the election of judges so the judges would always have to not hear any cases themselves.

A great case to not have judges be elected at all. Appointment is better; but not by much. The best solution is to have a panel of them.

I read the story and see no assumption of so-called NPR leftist bias. remember this guy Perry IS VERY, VERY partisan - ie funding the 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' for one.

Now if you really want to get depressed and see how the law does not work for you listen to this weeks 'This American Life'.

The first story (after intro) chronicles a developer skipping town leaving a partially filled building virtually uninhabitable.

[Dick Seibert]

I've been on HOBB's mailing list for some time, they've been storming Austin on this and other issues, they are demanding to get rid ot the TRCC which they call nothing but a builder protection agency and establish licensing there.

Originally Posted by HOBB

Like never before your participation is so important; Hearings & Lobby Days

After all of these years the time of change for new homebuyers and homeowners with defective homes is now, from Texas to Washington DC finally elected officials see the need for consumer protection.

Since the Texas Sunset Commission issued the scathing review about TRCC, lawmakers have gotten serious about regulating the powerful homebuilding industry. See: HOBB Press Release: Sunset recommends to Abolish TRCC.

TRCC was great for the homebuilding industry. As one builder bragged; "We're happy, you bet," says Ron Connally, a homebuilder and developer out of Amarillo who is also president of the Texas Association of Builders. "Court actions are way, way down because TRCC has taken care of a lot of those problems."

Since the Sunset Report all of that is about to change. Yes, It was great for builders while it lasted but for homeowners who suffered under TRCC it was devastating. Now that the Texas legislature is underway elected official are getting serious about abolishing TRCC and things are about to change in a big way

This past Monday the first bill to abolish the TRCC was heard. Homeowners spoke candidly and effectively about their builder and TRCC experiences. View Official State Testimony on TRCC Sunset Bill 2295. Video: 03-23-09: 3:46 p.m. - 9:49 p.m.

Let the hearings begin MARCH 31 HEARING – 20 Bills to Regulate Texas Homebuilders will be Heard! Then April 9 TEXAS HOMEOWNER LOBBY DAY – Meet and speak with law makers. THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO TESTIFY! See reviews and ratings of proposed bills

The national media is looking at Texas. The National Public Radio (NPR) has done an outstanding report that takes a look at Politics and Homebuilding Texas Style. NPR takes a look at Bob “The Builder” Perry and the defective house he built for Bob and Jane Cull 13 years ago, Perry’s money and TRCC. Tomorrow, Sunday morning (3/29) the second part will air between 8-10 a.m. (CST). See: NPR Station Finder for your area.

Bob Perry has avoided warranty responsibility for defects utilizing his money, and the courts including the Texas Supreme Court. TRCC, the “homebuilder protection” agency Bob Perry built was created and is run by the building industry to regulate homebuyers. A builder run system that for too many homeowners has gone awry.

UPCOMING NATIONAL EVENT: APRIL 29, 2009,
ARBITRATION FAIRNESS DAY! LOBBY DAY AT THE CAPITOL – WASHINGTON, DC
Arbitration victims and consumer advocates from across the nation will be attending. HOBB is planning a get-together in the afternoon the day before, April 28, 2009 or please plan on coming a day early if possible. Please let me know if you are interested in attending. Binding Arbitration is one of the hottest topics in Washington. More details on this coming soon…

Perry's Money Speaks and Builds TRCC to Regulate Homebuyers
Critics: Texas Agency Favors Builders Over Buyers
Imagine hundreds of executives from BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil rallying on the steps of the Capitol in Washington to save the Environmental Protection Agency. That may be hard to picture, but recently in Texas, 1,000 homebuilders rallied at the state Capitol in an effort to save the agency that theoretically regulates them. Texas homebuilders are big fans of the job the Texas Residential Construction Commission has done since its inception five years ago. But after a backlash from homebuyers, who say the process is stacked in the builders' favor, state lawmakers are now considering whether to abolish it. Out of 181 legislators, there are only six who don't take money from the Texas Association of Builders. So when the homebuilders come to Austin to lobby, the most powerful politicians in the state pay their respects. .."We're happy, you bet," says Ron Connally, a homebuilder and developer out of Amarillo who is also president of the Texas Association of Builders. "Court actions are way, way down because TRCC has taken care of a lot of those problems." Read more...

Bob Perry's Power and the House Without a Warranty
Did Builder's Clout Trap Couple In Dream Home?
Bob and Jane Cull bought the home of their dreams in Texas. It was built by one of the most powerful and politically connected homebuilders in the country — and it was defective. Thus began a 13-year odyssey that would teach them some unhappy lessons about money, power and influence....Seventy-six-year-old Bob Perry is one of Texas' most successful homebuilders. For the last two decades, he has used his $600 million fortune to fund the Republican revolution, both in Texas and nationally. He helped put George W. Bush into the White House. He was the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth's largest contributor. In Texas, if you hold a position of legislative, judicial or executive power, a Bob Perry donation is almost certainly in your campaign account. After he lost in arbitration to the Culls, the builder began appealing the award through the state courts. Perry's appeals were rejected at each stop until he got to the Texas Supreme Court. And there, he got satisfaction. Read more...

Dallas Morning News on the NPR on Bob Perry's TRCC and Bob and Jane Cull
NPR to spotlight political moneyman Bob Perry
The battle has come to symbolize the disadvantage that an average homeowner faces in going up against a builder with deep pockets -- especially one as politically well-connected as Bob Perry. The Houston homebuilder is Gov. Rick Perry's (no relation) biggest campaign donor, and the governor was instrumental in creating the state agency that Perry wanted. The homebuilder has contributed money to much of the Legislature and to every member of the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor last year -- overturning the arbitration award and a string of court rulings and directing the Culls to start all over. Bob Perry spokesman Anthony Holm says the homebuilder is defending his legal rights. Read more...

Star-Telegram: The Watchdog, TRCC Follow the Money
The Watchdog: When it comes to the Texas Residential Construction Commission, follow the money
As always, you can follow the money behind efforts to promote the builder-friendly Texas Residential Construction Commission. As always, most of the money leads back to the largest individual donor in recent state history. Usually, such a big elephant would remain unmentioned in a legislative hearing, but on Monday,Rep. Chente Quintanilla, D-El Paso, brought it up — obliquely. He berated the construction commission: "It never became consumer-friendly." Then, after asking why, he mentioned "some builder who should not be named" and a "report about donations." Referring to the lawmakers’ overturning of the sunset staff report, he said: "All of a sudden, it changed overnight. Was the tail wagging the dog? Were they able to control what the commission was supposed to do?" Read more...

Homeowners troubled by builder liens
“We moved in January, and about two weeks later, we got our first claim to lien,” Renee Hoffman said. The lien was for work that Wilshire Homes should have paid for during construction. The Hoffmans said the company told them it was an isolated incident. “They said all debt on the house was paid for, all vendors were paid,” James Hoffman said. Read more...

TRCC in need of a mercy killing
Who supports the Texas Residential Construction Commission
The staff of the Sunset Commission after a 6-month indepth investigation recommended abolishing the TRCC. A list of those in support of this recommendation and those who were against abolishing was published in the report issued by the staff. Here is the list of those who are for abolishing the Commission... then the list in support of abolishing the TRCC: Read more...

Dallas Morning News - TRCC, Tail Wagging the Dog
Homebuilder who backs TRCC donated thousands to lawmakers deciding agency's fate
The fate of the Texas Residential Construction Commission, an agency designed to regulate and handle complaints against homebuilders, lies in the hands of lawmakers who received thousands of dollars from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, one of the agency's top supporters. The Legislature's Sunset Commission staff – which reviews state agencies and recommends how to beef them up – determined last year that the agency is so toothless and such a hindrance to aggrieved homeowners that it should be abolished. Since 2000, Perry, whose corporate attorney helped create the commission six years ago, has donated $388,000 to 10 of the 11 members of the Business and Industry Committee, state records show."Maybe the tail was wagging the dog," said Rep. Chente Quintanilla, D-El Paso, the only member of the House committee who has never received a donation from Perry. Read more...

Building Industry Struggles - Sub go Unpaid
Houston chronicle: Troubles build up for housing contractors
Another indicator of how the builder woes are rippling though the housing market is the number of complaints received by the Texas Residential Construction Commission, the agency that regulates home builders. Duane Waddill, the TRCC’s executive director, said consumer complaints related to builders abandoning work sites or other financial issues like earnest money refunds made up 19 percent of the agency’s complaints in the last fiscal quarter, up from 14 percent in the previous three months. “There’s clearly a major increase in the complaints we’re getting related to builders no longer in business,” he said. Read more...

Come tell your homebuilder experience and call for the abolishment of TRCC, the homebuilder protection agency.

[Johnson]

Originally Posted by davenorthup

I read the story and see no assumption of so-called NPR leftist bias. remember this guy Perry IS VERY, VERY partisan - ie funding the 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' for one.

ooooh boy, those Swift Boat guys are some bad dudes. And those that funded them must just be some dirty rats as well. After all, the Switfboaters were instagators in keeping John Kerry out of office by speaking the truth. How dare they! Now for NPR, that is a "fair and balanced" program isn't it Dave?

Anyway, if I build a house and soon after the earth makes a shift, I hope I'm not liable for the earth shift. Point being, one can't judge this situation without all the facts and to trust NPR for this is nothing short of being stupid.

[Allan Edwards]

Dick & Jim

I also get stuff from HOBB and while they are pretty extreme to the other end of the spectrum, the TRCC has been, to my understanding, a bit anti-homeowner in some respect. Bob Perry, a local builder, is very powerful in Austin because of his financial contributions, I believe he and David Weekly pushed for the establishment of the TRCC. I worked for a framer in 1967 and we worked for Bob Perry, he is a very successful builder and I understand very conservative and very religious older guy. He builds a lot of starter homes here in Houston.

I think the TRCC has been a step forward in controlling bad builders, and good for consumers in many respects. Where it seems to be bad for consumers is when you have extreme construction defects and need to sue your builder.

The TRCC has set up some very minimal insurance, warranty, and continuing education requirements. It also has a way for homeowners to formally make a complaint against a builder that is public record. They also have a third party inspection process. But it (TRCC) does make it difficult to sue a builder. I built a house for one of the most senior state senators and had discussions with him about the TRCC, no doubt there is some concern at Austin about the TRCC, but I don’t expect it will be abolished.

In the last 2 years I have finished a couple of houses started by other builders who were dismissed or failed to complete them, so I’ve seen first hand what consumers go thru. One house was actually next door to the Senator I built for, it was an extreme case of homeowner being screwed. So bad the local DA went after the builder and put him in jail.

I know of no state that has laws that really control the quality of homes being built. Most building codes here are enforced locally, and I’ve built in some small cities with very tough codes and still seen some poor construction. I have also seen consumers buy from bad builders and not do their due diligence in researching their builder or the quality of the home they’re buying.

As to this particular case sited, the Culls paid $240,000 for the home, their $800,000 judgment was overturned because of a legal technicality, nothing to do with the merits of their case. The court ruled that the Culls potentially benefited by initially going to court under one set of rules, then seeking arbitration under another. I believe they are free to re-try the case. I would think correcting their foundation with drilled piers and cosmetic corrections after the fact would cost less than $100,000.

[GaryJR]

Where was this house built? North Central Vermont?

[Lavrans]

Originally Posted by Allan Edwards

I think the TRCC has been a step forward in controlling bad builders, and good for consumers in many respects. Where it seems to be bad for consumers is when you have extreme construction defects and need to sue your builder.

The TRCC has set up some very minimal insurance, warranty, and continuing education requirements. It also has a way for homeowners to formally make a complaint against a builder that is public record. They also have a third party inspection process. But it (TRCC) does make it difficult to sue a builder....

I know of no state that has laws that really control the quality of homes being built. Most building codes here are enforced locally, and I’ve built in some small cities with very tough codes and still seen some poor construction. I have also seen consumers buy from bad builders and not do their due diligence in researching their builder or the quality of the home they’re buying.

As to this particular case sited, the Culls paid $240,000 for the home, their $800,000 judgment was overturned because of a legal technicality, nothing to do with the merits of their case. The court ruled that the Culls potentially benefited by initially going to court under one set of rules, then seeking arbitration under another. I believe they are free to re-try the case. I would think correcting their foundation with drilled piers and cosmetic corrections after the fact would cost less than $100,000.

I wonder how often the state created agencies wind up creating this same scenario- a lot I suspect. Here in Oregon they created the CCB (Construction Contractors Board) that regulates contractors, and they have been increasing regulation, changes in contract wording, and have finally started including education requirements (sort of- they changed the license categories to distinguish between commercial and residential, and commercial now has a continuing education component).

But- anecdotally, it seems that the judgments have gotten larger and the litigation more complex since the creation of the board. Most homeowners don't report very satisfactory interactions with the CCB, which acts slowly and cautiously, so I'm betting that by the time it gets to the final stages (making it into arbitration) the Homeowners are often feeling that they are getting minimized by the state and have started piling onto the original complaint.

The CCB's reaction to this was to try to get language into the legislature that forced the homeowners to allow the contractor to make repairs first- "homeowner must inform contractor of defects and allow a reasonable amount of time for repairs", etc. I suspect that type of language, although possibly reasonable, may be fairly onerous if the contractor was bad to begin with. So the requested repairs become outright replacement, rather that repair, or some variation on that.

Allan's example is a good one- when I read the article on the Texas couple's home the first question I had was why it would cost anywhere near $800k to bore pilings under the home- I worked on a home here, an 1890s 2 story that did essentially that to get a basement installed (odd circumstances), and that was done for under $50k.

[Dick Seibert]

The Cull case is a good example of how the law works, which is basically "he who has the most money wins", and the fact that most legal cases are won and lost on legal technicalities and not right or wrong. I'm sure $800,000 is quite reasonable when you factor in the Cull's legal costs.

[JimNeu]

Problem with Socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money- Margaret Thatcher.

That's good!! Ha,Ha,Ha,Ha,Ha........

Jim

[JimNeu]

Second installment on NPR on the Bob Perry story.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=102367683

Jim

[JimNeu]

Originally Posted by davenorthup

I do not think NPR came to the conclusion that Perry 'bought off' the Texas Supreme court. That came from a quote and they followed up with the fact that it is true (that he donated money to all 9 judges).

I added the "bought off" part, that was my bias. Pretty sure that when Bob is schmoozing with his personal friends he brags about how he got this a completed through the use of his vast wealth.... Call it what you want.....he bought them off and he knows it.

Originally Posted by davenorthup

I read the story and see no assumption of so-called NPR leftist bias. remember this guy Perry IS VERY, VERY partisan

"Leftist bias" I'm cautious about NPR but it does lean to the left. BTW-I listened to both NPR and Fox for balance.

'Perry VERY, VERY partisan', you got that right.

I do like to have some protection from some who would like to do in or damage the home builders, for example the trial attorneys. Hopefully through the HBA I can get some influence to protect our industry. Without some industry group to help us small builders the trial attorney's would have a field day. But the steamroller job done by the likes of Bob Perry I don't agree with that all.

Jim

[Lavrans]

To my perspective the Perry problem isn't one that is easily fixed by legislation. The essence of the problem is that, for whatever reason, Perry decided that he didn't want to honor his responsibilities, and anyone with enough money can avoid responsibility for a time. They might eventually get caught by the system, or they might get caught by an irate client, they might get away with it.

Battered wife syndrom cum battered client syndrome?

[Allan Edwards]

Read this:

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics...n_homebui.html

All the Supreme Ct decision said was that the homeowner could not change their mind on arbitration after they had chosen it.

The lawsuit is still pending and will be litigated, so the Culls will have their day in court and may actually win their case.

The decision:

http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.u...may/050882.htm

[Allan Edwards]

Bob Perry's wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_J._Perry

The last 5 years he has contributed almost 19 million$ to different groups.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/politic...y.asp?cycle=06

At least he put's his money behind his beliefs.

[davenorthup]

Originally Posted by Allan Edwards

All the Supreme Ct decision said was that the homeowner could not change their mind on arbitration after they had chosen it.

No....

Originally Posted by Your previous link

But as the case was preparing for trial, the Cull's changed their minds, and the case was set for arbitration. In that process, the arbiter awarded the Culls $800,000, which included the purchase price of their home, $200,000 for mental anguish; $200,000 in exemplary damages; and $110,000 in attorney fees.

Perry Homes then contested the arbitration, claiming the Culls should not get a second chance when they had already turned arbitration down.

So they may have their day in court; but they did finally accept the arbitration and only after they lost did Perry Homes decide that the Culls should have stuck with the court process.