Couple Describes Nightmare of Building New Home

OXBOW, N.D. (KVLY/Gray News) – New homeowners in North Dakota say they’ve been struggling with nothing but problems since finalizing their home purchase last year.

At first glance, Tom and Katie Webster’s newly built home appears pristine, but a closer look reveals a completely different picture.

“From the day we signed the contract, it was one thing after another… one thing after another… one thing after another,” Katie Webster said.

The Websters say they closed on the home in March 2023, but the house, which sits on a corner lot, still needs to be finished or completely renovated in 37 projects.

The couple says the home has dented and cracked siding, crooked walls, unfinished moldings and poorly installed windows.

According to the Websters, the home’s original floor layout was backwards, and several walls were installed incorrectly, requiring them to be redone three times.

Heavy rains flooded their home, which had a domino effect of problems to focus on. They both said their “dream came true turned into a nightmare.”

Footprints can also be seen on the driveway, from workers walking on concrete that has not yet dried. Cracks, chips and tape are also visible from the two front pillars.

Tom Webster, a retired veteran, had previously started his own home inspection company, which allowed him to stop construction work whenever he spotted a problem.

“It’s just crazy because I paid them to watch and supervise their work, but I actually had to watch it multiple times. If we didn’t have that knowledge, we would be in an even worse situation,” he said.

Katie Webster added: “They found 87 different recipes that needed to be completed before they could move on to the next part.”

However, the next part didn’t seem any better.

“Workers who were working on the house were arrested on our property for having a party and smoking illegal drugs, and another person was arrested and extradited back to Texas,” Tom Webster said.

The couple explained that the lot size decreased from the time they signed the purchase agreement to the time they started installing sprinklers.

The purchase agreement listed the lot size as 41,000 square feet. Tom Webster said that when he tried to install sprinklers, it somehow changed to 32,000.

They said there were other things in the purchase agreement that they were promised but weren’t, such as a dual-zone heating and cooling system.

Due to so many problems, the implementation of larger projects was delayed, which cast a shadow over the family’s future plans.

As a veteran, Tom Webster received a loan to buy a home from the VA, but he says he now risks losing some of that federal support because his mortgage company learned the projects won’t be completed.

A year and a half later, they had to fix many of these faults themselves, spending extra money on repairs that should never have been made in the first place.

“The quality of work is what really makes me sad because we put our life savings into this house expecting it to be our forever home and now we just can’t believe it is. We can’t keep putting more money into it,” said Katie Webster.

The $1.1 million home was built by Spire Custom Homes, who the couple says have not communicated with them at all when it comes to complaints.

Unable to get any help from the housing company, the couple contacted the North Dakota Attorney General and hired a lawyer to help them send demand letters to the contractors.

The Websters now try to speak to anyone who might be going through the same thing or planning to build a new home to learn from their story.

Trying to stay positive, they admit that this situation is the reason they are now close to their neighbors.

“Our neighbors call us all the time asking about something going on in the building, which is kind of embarrassing. It’s embarrassing that we live on the corner with all the problems, but we’ve met some really great people through it,” Katie Webster said.

On Thursday, Spire Custom Homes CEO shared the following statement regarding the situation:

“Spire Custom Homes does not and will not litigate customer complaints in the news media or on social media. Spire Custom Homes considers customer complaints and warranty work to be matters between itself and its customers. To be clear, Spire and the customer who was recently featured in the media have had ongoing communications regarding their home for over a year, and Spire will continue to communicate, perform warranty work, and fulfill its obligations in accordance with the parties’ agreement and the warranties to which the customer is entitled.”