Shownotes
Mold is quietly turning into the new lead paint/asbestos scandal and I’m here waving a giant, slightly gross flag about it. I walk through why big volume builders like D.R. Horton and Lennar are getting slammed with lawsuits — bad HVAC sizing, poor framing, and homes built so tight they sweat themselves into unlivable molds. I riff on the Dixon case in Louisiana (buyers from 2014 pushing back, state court standing and a potential class action stretching back to 2007) and the Seminole Tribe litigation in Florida where 450 homes and a thousand tribal members are dealing with defective roofs and moldy walls — damage estimates topping the hundreds of millions. The numbers get my attention: Horton’s $1.1 billion self-insurance reserve and Lennar’s 21% bump to $336.9 million tell you insurers and builders are already feeling the pain; jury verdicts north of $10M rose 52% between 2023 and 2024. I don’t buy “just maintenance” as an excuse — undersized HVAC, poorly ventilated attics, and wet lumber are failures in basic building science, not bad luck. I also talk about the human cost — property values tanking (one Texas house plunging from $318,700 to $117,000 when mold was disclosed) — and why legal, insurance, and construction practice pressures are converging into what could be a long, expensive reckoning for national builders.
Takeaways:
- We warned mold is becoming the new lead paint — builders are ignoring humidity, and that's a systemic failure.
- I walked a Lennar job with wavy walls and undersized HVAC systems, proving sloppy framing and poor load calculations aren't isolated oopsies.
- We talked legal fireworks: the Dixon vs. D.R. Horton fight stayed in Louisiana courts and may expand into a class action reaching back years.
- I pointed out insurers and builders are quietly padding self-insurance reserves into the hundreds of millions, because construction litigation costs are rising fast.
- If you're buying new, we insist the punch list is 100% done before closing; seriously, pay for pre-drywall inspections and someone to manage the build, don't take their BS.
- Mold testing is a circus — spore counts and remediation estimates can vary wildly, resale values can plummet, so get proper air quality tests from pros like Caroline Blazowski before you panic or sign away rights.
Links referenced in this episode:
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Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.
