Several homeowners in a Utah subdivision are suing their homebuilder over claims their homes are sinking.
Twenty-one newly constructed homes in a Nephi, UT neighborhood are allegedly developing cracks and sinking into the ground.
Realtor.com® obtained the civil complaint filed earlier this year in which 21 couples in Nephi, roughly 80 miles from Salt Lake City, claim they were led to believe their homes in the Winn Ridge Community met high safety and construction standards.
Now, nearly two dozen families have sued local real estate and construction companies, alleging their homes suffer from severe structural issues.
They contend that the properties were built on collapsible soil and that essential engineering safeguards were ignored.
According to the complaint, the homes constructed in 2022 and 2023 have developed a range of issues. Plaintiffs describe drywall cracking at door and window corners, uneven floors, doors that won’t stay closed, and basement floor fissures that they allege are letting in “dangerous levels of radon.”
The homeowners are suing Riding Siding Construction, which the complaint says is the company that built the homes; Salisbury Homes, who reportedly handled the sales; three sales agents; and GeoStrata, who allegedly prepared the soil report.
Realtor.com reached out to Riding Siding Construction, Salisbury Homes, and GeoStrata for comment and did not hear back.
Homeowners speak out
Chelsie Rios and her family moved into a newly built home in November 2022, but she told FOX 13 News they started seeing cracks in the walls less than two years later.
The Rios family, who said they paid $700,000 for their home, have now moved out.
“It’s emotional,” Rios told FOX 13. “I have a hard time going inside and going in my kids’ rooms. It makes me really sad. This was our house. We expected to be here for a while.”
“It definitely felt very unsafe,” said her husband, Edgar.
“We worry about wires being pulled and starting a fire,” Chelsie Rios said, “or gas lines breaking, pipes breaking. This is our biggest investment. We have no other debt except for our house.”
Homeowner Dallas Doane told ABC 4, “We moved here with the intent to find our forever home with our girls and raise them, but now we’re in a position where we’re not sure what our future holds for us. We would expect that the house is stable and secure and no cracking.”
Doane continued, “We hear popping noises like a wooden baseball bat hitting a baseball really hard. It appears to be pulling away from itself on both sides. [In] our family room, you can see lots of cracks and crevices and in our ceilings and significant shifting in the basement.”
Inside the allegations
The lawsuit alleges the builders were aware that soil in Winn Ridge carried a “moderate to high collapse potential,” according to a geotechnical report GeoStrata allegedly provided to Salisbury Homes in June 2022. According to the soil report, they were instructed to add between 6 and 10 inches of fill soil, depending on compaction.
However, the complaint claims that Riding Siding and Salisbury Homes did not comply.
“Salisbury Homes and Riding Siding failed to follow the requirements of the geotechnical report by, among other things, failing to follow the foundation drain requirement, failing to follow the footing structural fill requirements, failing to have a geotechnical engineer on site during excavation, and failing to perform collapsible soil tests for the lots,” the lawsuit states.
Plaintiffs also accuse GeoStrata of neglecting to conduct required inspections.
“The fraud alleged by homeowners involves the failure to disclose critical information about the condition of these lots and how the soil was—or was not—properly prepared,” Chase Wilde, the plaintiffs’ attorney, told FOX 13.
“Homeowners have suffered from severe stress and worry over the stability of the major investment they have made when they purchased their homes,” according to the complaint. “More importantly, homeowners suffer from daily psychological stress and worry over the safety of their children and themselves as they watch their homes fail.”
The cost to repair the damage
Plaintiffs Mike and Brandee Wing shared an estimate with FOX 13 from a foundation repair company outlining the scope of repairs, which would involve excavating beneath the home, lifting the structure, and installing support piers.
The estimated cost exceeds $267,000—more than half of what the Wings originally paid for the home.
“They don’t necessarily want to move,” Wilde told FOX 13. “They don’t want to sell their homes. They just want the homes repaired.”
The homeowners allege 10 claims against the defendants, including fraud, negligence, civil conspiracy, and violations of Utah’s Consumer Sales Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs are seeking “general, special and consequential damages” in an “amount to be proven at trial, but believed to be in the multiple millions of dollars.”
