Watermark Communities Inc (WCI) recently bought out Florida Design, i.e., gave them an infusion of cash. Many people still think of the developer here as Florida Design, although it is technically WCI.

Quality control has been and continues to be one of WCI's (Florida Design's) major problems. I recall that one of the community meetings that we attended turned into a shouting match between the CEO of Florida Design and irate home owners who were venting their anger that the Developer wasn't making good on his shoddy work. I've been told that residents of new sections get to meet and know each other as they join together in an "us against them [WCI]" movement to protest shoddy workmanship.

WCI (Florida Design) is very much aware of their reputation. In their promotional video tapes (from at least the early 1990's to their current one) they make a point of the fact that they have a guy assigned to "quality control". As in any building project, one loses some control when work is sub-contracted. But still, WCI should be responsible enough to catch simple errors, like: bad block work, bad framing, plumbing fixtures set out-of-level, substituting cheap woods for expensive ones, carpeting that doesn't match from one room to another, etc. It troubles me that such careless mistakes are made for homes costing $200,000+.

Soooo, face the fact that your new home will have problems! Check the work-site often! This is particularly important during the early phases of construction when the structural integrity of the house may be compromised. If the home is being constructed while you are up-north for the summer, surely it's worth 1 or 2% of the cost of the house to fly down for one day and check for mistakes, several times during construction. And if you don't feel competent to check out things like framing, you can hire a Certified Home Inspector (there are several in Brandon) who will do a framing inspection for you for $200-$300. Be sure that the warranty period on the house is long enough for you to comfortably find all the problems. Also find out the current backlog of other peoples' problems, so that you'll know about the response time for your own problems. And the hearsay is that the louder and more vehemently you protest, the sooner the problem will be corrected. I've also been told that a firm date for the completion of your home is not really firm, and that once WCI has your down-payment in hand, the date may start to slip (due to "the weather"). Just for laughs, see if they will refund $1,000 for each day that they're late!

My experience is that their poor workmanship is caught most often by people who are familiar with the construction industry. I'm afraid that most home buyers in Sun City Center are more concerned with the pattern of the tile in the foyer and the right shade of mauve for the curtains, rather than the basic integrity of the structure.

However, there are two things that I will say on behalf of WCI (Florida Design). One is that when they do get caught, they will usually try to make it right. Also, I understand that if they are overwhelmed by your protests of the shoddy workmanship on the house that they are building for you, they will let you out of the contract. Of course, they then turn around and sell it to some unsuspecting soul as a spec house.

These first five photographs are courtesy of William Saunders of 718 Winterbrooke Way. The first two photographs were taken by Mr. Saunders' daughter and son-in-law when they were in Florida and stopped by Sun City Center to see how the house was progressing.

Note under the bay window how the frame wall hangs out in thin air because the slab was incorrectly poured. And to add insult to injury, the framing had been appproved by the Hillsborough County Building Inspector, the day before these pictures were taken! So don't count on County inspectors to make sure things are done right!

This is taken from inside the house. Note how you can see the out-of-doors through the hole between the bottom framing and the slab.

At the closing on the house, Mr. Saunders (who had driven up from Ft. Myers to sign the final papers) asked the Florida Design representative if concrete had been poured under the overhanging framing. After a phone call to someone, the Florida Design person assured him that it had been taken care of. So Mr. Saunders went ahead with the closing.

After Mr. Saunders moved in, he noticed that the carpet was a little strange (sagging) in the area below the bay window. He shoved a screw driver in and was able to push it all the way into the void where there was supposed to be concrete. This is a photo after he pulled back the carpet to see what was going on.

Mr. Saunders then went outside and started to dig around and lo-and-behold discovered that Florida Design had simply filled in the space with blocks of styrofoam and then applied stucco. So much for quality control!

Several months later, Mr. Saunders noticed a leak in his bathroom. To quote him: "Dry wall was removed from the inside of an outside wall to fix leaking polybutylene plumbing. I discovered a patch of wall with no mortar in 12 vertical joints of inserted blocks to fill an opening that was too large for the window. There was no mortar in several of the vertical joints, very little at the bottom of the window and no precast sill." Again, so much for quality control!

These next four photographs were given to me and are of a home that was recently constructed off of Platinum Drive.

This photo shows how Florida Design failed to put bridging between the spans. Bridging are the metal straps that stabilize the trusses to each other so that the ceiling won't develop cracks when the roof sways in the wind. You can see bridging to the left and right, but not in the middle.

Florida is Termite Heaven! Use of pressure treated wood is required by the building codes where wood touches floor. Note the use of the light-colored wood for the front door frame. This would imply untreated wood. Treated wood usually has a darker greener color like the adjacent half-wall.

And this is the framing around the back door. Again, the light color of the wood is indicative that it was not treated.

What's wrong with this picture? Can you see what it says on the piece of lumber? "Replace Lumber" And can you tell what activity is going on? Yes, that's right! Drywall is being applied. According to the person who took this picture, the lumber was never replaced - it was covered up. It would be interesting to know who wrote the sign.

My own favorite anecdote for this sort of thing is that in another Florida Design house under construction, someone had marked a dozen or so studs for replacement. The new replacement wood was even delivered - and the drywall crew worked around the pile of new wood as they covered-up the bad wood!