Homeowners Hire Inspectors To Investigate Hurricane-Damaged Homes

Dozens of homeowners unhappy with Mercedes Homes have now hired inspectors to investigate their hurricane damaged homes. Despite hundreds of complaints and threats of legal action, Mercedes Homes says it has no plans to change the way it builds homes.

Email News Sign-Up Multiple Choices - Auto sign-up (RIGHT ALIGN) GET WFTV NEWS HEADLINES BY EMAIL 9 a.m. Headlines Noon Headlines 4 p.m. Headlines News of the Strange Breaking News Alerts Homeowners insist the problems began with construction and, to prove that it's not Mother Nature but Mercedes who is really at fault, they've got those inspectors documenting the damage and reporting back to attorneys.

John Tremper is quickly becoming familiar with the Oak Groves neighborhood and its problems.

"Improper drainage, improper drain planes, lots of cracks in stucco," Tremper says.

The professional inspector has been hired on behalf of dozens of Brevard County residents in the area who own Mercedes-built homes and have found themselves in a nasty battle with the builder over what they call shoddy construction.

"They're out there competing for the low-end portion of the market place and, needless to say, they're gonna cut corners," says Tremper.

Since the hurricanes, several hundred have complained about the problems. But because of a confidentiality clause in their contracts, many are afraid to talk, or even show us their homes. They worry, if they do, Mercedes may not fix the problems and may even sue them.

Meanwhile, as more homes go up, Mercedes insists it has found nothing wrong with how it builds houses and has no plans to alter them.

The problems occurred, a spokeswoman says, only because of multiple hurricanes, facts they claim are backed up by experts brought in from the University of Florida.

Nevertheless, facing possible lawsuits, they say they are now fixing whatever problems do exist.

Mercedes insists they've only had a couple hundred complaints out of about 7,000 homes and say, frankly, they're quite pleased with how the homes fared during this hurricane season.