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Beazer, Arbor Homes to extend shingle warranties

Posted at 3:53 PM, Apr 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-08 18:47:10-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- Beazer and Arbor Homes are extending shingle warranties from one to four years after homeowners complained about shingle and siding issues. 

Beazer Homes will make the warranty retroactive to any home built in the last four years that was damaged as a result of the 2016 storms. 

Homeowners called and emailed us following our story about wind damage to two Beazer Homes communities in Avon last weekend. But Avon wasn't the only community affected.

MORE | Beazer Homes owners say roofs can't stand up to strong wind

At the Estates at Lochaven in Noblesville, more than 20 homes have roof damage from the high winds.

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE PHOTOS OF DAMAGE FROM SATURDAY'S STORM:

For Bruce Childs, it means the third shingle repair for his home.

"The consistent message from the company that's done the repairs is that this is not a good shingle," Childs said. "It's only a 50 mph shingle, and we're having damage at less than 50 mph."

Owner after owner of Beazer Homes tells a similar story about shingles that won't withstand higher winds.

Attorney Richard Shevitz filed a class-action lawsuit against Beazer in 2004 over water damage to new homes. He won that case, and says he's been hearing from more owners with shingle issues.

"With the recent disclosure of these problems with primarily shingles and also siding, we're being told that there seems to be some common or uniform defect in the way these homes were constructed," Shevitz said.

Call 6 Investigates discovered Beazer has a troubled history with Hoosier homeowners.

The company first began doing business in Indiana in 2002, when it bought Crossman Homes for more than $600 million.

Before the purchase, there was a state investigation as a result of 254 different homeowner complaints.

In 2004, Beazer found itself in another case involving construction defects that impacted as many as 2,000 Central Indiana homes under the Trinity Homes name.

The major problem involved bad brick work that allowed water to leak into the homes. A class action lawsuit was filed in Hamilton County, and Beazer set aside $24 million to fix the problem.

By all accounts, Beazer lived up to its previous legal agreements.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller said homeowners with new Beazer issues need to file a complaint with his office.

"If there's warranties, if there's things that they have some remedy at law, we can help at least through the mediation process," Zoeller said. "We also have a homeowner protection unit that deals with these types of problems."

If you'd like to file a complaint with the Indiana Attorney General's Office, you can do so here.

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