First Texas Homes Reviews

I contracted on a new First Texas home in the Cotton Creek Ranch Addition, Midlothian in August of 2014 and moved in when it was completed In August of 2015. Right after we moved in cracks began to appear in the drywall, some of them ten feet long! By the third month of living in my new home, I knew that I had a foundation problem because of the extensive damage inside and outside. Three times in those first few months warranty reps showed up at my home, took pics, adjusted doors, and fixed drywall cracks. Each rep agreed with me that I had a foundation problem and promised to speak with his boss and get back to me. I never heard from any of them again despite many calls and messages. In spring 2016 I hired an engineer to investigate and sent the results to FTH. We also excavated piers in my yard that should have been under the foundation holding the house up! So, why did my foundation fail? Because First Texas Homes failed to chemically inject the soil that my home is built on. They didn’t follow their own engineer’s foundation plans. Then, they misplaced my home on the lot so that the piers weren’t directly under the structure providing support as intended. Clearly, through their own negligent actions, FTH created a latent and catastrophic defect in my home (which FTH later admitted during trial). I want the reader of this to understand that in the thirteen months between November 2015, when I first told FTH about my foundation problem until November 2016, when I filed a lawsuit, that I sent (3) warranty requests, (3) certified letters, had (2) face-to-face meetings with Mike Cryer VP First Texas Homes, sent FTH an engineer’s report and a PowerPoint illustrating the piers that were in my yard instead of under my home. I also requested mediation two times. During this time, and despite all my communications, FTH did not attempt to repair my foundation. Instead, they only delayed. In November 2016, I filed a lawsuit against First Texas Homes. In April 2017, we attended our first hearing in Ellis county where Judge Cindy Ermatinger, 443 District court, denied us a jury trial and ordered arbitration. In April of 2018, we met for arbitration with FTH and their attorneys. Arbitration lasted only two days. During arbitration, I discovered that the laws in Texas are heavily skewed toward business. According to the attorneys for FTH (who admitted and apologized for their client’s negligence): I have no right to damages of any kind. I have no right to have my attorney’s fees reimbursed. First Texas Homes only must make what they consider a reasonable offer regarding a repair plan or buy-back etc.. (I will only describe their version of reasonable as very unreasonable in my opinion, although other descriptors come to mind). A month or so after the arbitration hearing, Judge Ken Rubenstein awarded my wife and I enough money to cover most of our attorney’s fees and the repair costs to our home which at this point was badly damaged (the slab had finally failed during the interim). Not a windfall...but we could live with it. We were almost giddy at the thought of fixing our house. The celebration was a short one. In June 2018, FTH appealed the ruling to the 10th circuit in Waco. My attorney says that that an appeal usually takes around a year. So (as I type), one more year of my house crumbling away. One more year of ups and downs, and never-ending court costs. One more year of dreaming about a solid and safe home for my four kids to live in. One more year for Justice. I write this to warn folks about First Texas Homes. Their contracts are long with much “fine print”. We didn’t read every word...we just signed and initialed where we were told to. At that time, we had no reason not to trust them. If you choose First Texas to build your home please read the contract thoroughly, or even better, have an attorney read the contract thoroughly so that you know what you are getting into – your rights are at stake! We have no personal animosity towards First Texas Homes. It is not lost on us that there are families living happily in a First Texas home at this very minute. Certainly, First Texas Homes employs many great people. Some of what my family endured is simply due bad luck and to a FTH construction superintendent who clearly exercised a “less than robust” oversight. But what does bother me most is how FTH failed to do the right thing when the lights were shining brightest. They know very well that they screwed up my home and should have just fixed it. Inexplicably, FTH decided to drag this out as long as possible. And then when it was all finally settled, they chose to appeal a fair judicial decision. First Texas Homes has used the loop-holes of the law against me, and my wife, and our four innocent kids, instead of simply doing the right thing. I would feel sick if I discovered that another family had to weather the same storm that my family has (and is) because I was unwilling to share my story.