Your Colorado Custom Home Builder Did Not Deliver. We Hold Them Accountable.
Finding a Defect
A custom home is not a production build. It is a one-of-a-kind investment designed around your family's specific vision, built with premium materials, and executed by a team of specialized contractors and design professionals. When that process goes wrong, the consequences are uniquely personal and uniquely expensive. The defects that emerge in a custom home are often more complex, more costly to repair, and more difficult to prove than those found in any other property type.
Defects
Where do I look?
What to look for at your property.
Our Recovery Process.
A custom home is unlike any other property. You did not choose from a builder's inventory. You designed it, specified it, and paid a premium for craftsmanship that was supposed to match your vision. When a custom builder deviates from the approved plans, substitutes cheaper materials, or delivers workmanship far below the standard you contracted for, the betrayal is both financial and deeply personal. Custom home claims also present unique legal challenges: detailed specifications that must be compared against as-built conditions, unique architectural elements with no production-home equivalent, and builders who often dissolve or disappear when problems surface. Hearn & Fleener has spent over 40 years holding custom builders to the standard their clients paid for.
Specification-level investigation of original blueprints.
Aaccountability for the premium standard you expect.
Unique element expertise for distinct architectrual features.
Builder pursuit even when the original company has dissolved.
Full repair recovery that restores your home and vision.
A solid foundation makes for a solid building.
Colorado’s Premier Construction Defect Attorneys for Custom Homes.
Finding a Defect
As a custom home owner, you made the largest and most personal investment of your life: a home designed around your family, your vision, and your future. When poor workmanship, failing materials, or negligent construction threatens the home you dreamed of and paid a premium to build, the financial and emotional weight can feel overwhelming.
Defects
Where do I look?
What to look for at your property.
Plans vs. Reality.
We compare your home's as-built condition against the approved plans and specifications, documenting every deviation and every shortcut.
Held to Your Standard.
You paid for a premium home built to exact specifications, and we hold your builder accountable to every detail of that promise.
Builders Can Run. They Cannot Hide.
Even when a custom builder dissolves or disappears, we pursue their insurance carriers and subcontractors to recover what you are owed.
No Cost to You.
We work entirely on contingency, advancing all engineering, expert, and legal costs ourselves so you recover without any upfront financial risk.
You do not have to carry the responsibility alone. Hearn & Fleener helps Colorado custom home owners meet every one of these obligations with confidence.
Your Colorado Custom Home Builder Did Not Deliver. We Hold Them Accountable.
Hearn & Fleener
Construction Defect Experts.
Don't let a builder's deadline become your problem.
A custom home is not a production build. It is a one-of-a-kind investment designed around your family's specific vision, built with premium materials, and executed by a team of specialized contractors and design professionals. When that process goes wrong, the consequences are uniquely personal and uniquely expensive. The defects that emerge in a custom home are often more complex, more costly to repair, and more difficult to prove than those found in any other property type.
At Hearn & Fleener, we represent Colorado custom home owners against the builders, architects, engineers, and contractors who failed to execute the home they promised. We understand the technical demands of luxury custom construction, and we have built an elite network of forensic consultants, specialty material experts, and high-end construction professionals capable of investigating and documenting defects at every level of sophistication your home requires.
We work on a contingency fee basis, advancing all engineering, expert, and legal costs ourselves. You pay nothing upfront and only pay us when you recover.
Let’s look at some common construction defects custom homes face in Colorado.
Common Defects in Custom Home Builds.
Where do I look?
Finding a Defect
Custom homes feature complex architectural designs, exotic materials, and advanced mechanical systems that create opportunities for defects that would never arise in a standard production build. Colorado's expansive soils, steep mountain terrain, and dramatic freeze-thaw cycles add another layer of challenge for homes that were not properly engineered for their specific site conditions.
Defects
Custom Built Properties.
Roofing.
Custom homes frequently feature slate, clay tile, standing seam metal, and other premium roofing materials that require specialized installation expertise most builders do not possess. Substandard installation leads to hidden leaks and significant interior damage to the custom finishes beneath them. Repairing these failures requires craftsmen with the specific skills to match existing premium roofing work.
Foundations.
Many Colorado custom homes are built on expansive bentonite clay soils on the Front Range or steep mountain slopes in the high country. When a builder fails to properly engineer the foundation for the specific site conditions, the results include heaving slabs, cracked walls, misaligned structural frames, and in mountain properties, slope movement that threatens the structural integrity of the entire home.
Decks/Balconies.
Elevated decks, terraces, and outdoor living spaces are among the most common sources of serious construction defects in Colorado custom homes. Reverse-sloping surfaces, improper ledger flashing, inadequate waterproof membranes, and substandard structural connections all create progressive deterioration and in the worst cases structural collapse risks for residents and guests.
Home Automation.
High-end automation systems frequently fail in custom homes due to inadequate planning during construction. Common defects include undersized electrical circuits, poor cable management, and a complete lack of dedicated cooling for AV server racks. These defects are fully recoverable under Colorado construction defect law when they result from a builder's failure to follow the engineering specifications provided.
If your custom built home is experiencing any of these issues, you may have a valid construction defect claim.
HVAC Systems.
Radiant floor heating, snowmelt systems, wine cellar cooling, and integrated home automation all require installation to exact engineering specifications that many general contractors are not qualified to meet. When they fail, the repair costs reflect both the complexity of the systems involved and the disruption to custom finishes required to access and remediate them.
Window Leaks.
High-end wood windows, oversized glass curtain walls, and multi-slide door systems require precision flashing and installation that many builders lack the experience to execute correctly. When they fail, water infiltrates the wall assembly behind premium finishes, causing structural rot and interior damage that is both extensive and extraordinarily expensive to repair.
See why Colorado custom homeowners choose Hearn & Fleener.
Successful Case Results.
Winning Results for our Clients.
Our case results show why we’re the best.
Every custom home is unique with different builders, different designs, and different defects, but our commitment to maximizing recovery for every homeowner remains constant. The following are real results we have achieved for Colorado custom home owners and communities. In each case, the homeowner paid nothing out of pocket, and the funds recovered were used entirely for permanent repairs.
Our Advantage
Proven Track Record.
Longmont.
A community of four-plex patio homes in Longmont was marketed and sold as one of Northern Colorado's premier maintenance-free retirement communities. The reality fell far short of that promise. Residents discovered extensive grading and drainage failures, concrete flatwork defects, roof leaks, and building envelope deficiencies throughout the development.
Hearn & Fleener worked with a team of forensic experts to document every defect and hold the original contractors accountable. A confidential multi-million-dollar settlement fully funded the repairs needed to restore the community to the maintenance-free standard its residents had been promised.
Concrete issues & roof leaks.
Multi-million dollar settlement.
Drainage & grading issues.
Four-plex patio community.
A community restored.
A solid foundation makes for a solid building.
Denver Tech Center.
A high-end condominium community in the Denver Tech Center with ground-level retail space was experiencing extensive flat roof failures and dangerous conditions in its subterranean parking garage. When settlement negotiations stalled, Hearn & Fleener took the case to trial and secured a $6 million jury verdict for the HOA, a result the builder's attorneys never expected.
High-end condominium community.
Roof & parking garage failures.
Trial verdict.
$6 million award.
Lasting repairs.
Rebulding a community to last.
Dreams Defended.
Every result below represents a family whose dream home fell short of the builder's promises and who chose Hearn & Fleener to make it right. Each one ended with permanent repairs funded and not a dollar paid out of pocket.
Cherry Creek.
A community of 66 single-family lock-and-leave homes in the Cherry Creek area began experiencing grading and drainage failures, asphalt deterioration, and building envelope deficiencies shortly after construction was completed. Hearn & Fleener documented the full scope of the defects, identified every responsible party, and negotiated a confidential settlement that fully funded the community's repairs and gave homeowners the lasting confidence that their homes had finally been built to the standard they were promised.
66 single-family home community.
Drainage & asphalt issues.
Siding failures.
Confidential settlement.
Fully funding your community repairs.
The Details Matter.
Custom home claims are won in the details: the specifications, the substitutions, the deviations hidden behind finished walls. Finding those details is exactly what we have spent 40 years perfecting.
Fully funded repairs.
Denver.
A patio home community north of Denver was built on some of the most severe bentonite clay deposits in Colorado. Soil movement had caused homes to shift several inches from their original positions, damaging interior finishes, plumbing, ductwork, basement slabs, and balconies throughout the community. Hearn & Fleener engaged specialized expansive soils experts, built a comprehensive forensic case against the developer, and negotiated one of the largest soils related repair settlements ever secured in Colorado history.
North Denver patio homes.
Severe soil movement.
Confidential settlement.
Stopping the spread of the damage.
Keeping the elements out of your building.
Recognizing a potential defect is one thing. Proving it is another, and that is where our proven four-phase process comes in.
Take the First Step in Protecting Your Home Before Time Runs Out.
Hearn & Fleener
Construction Defect Experts.
Your Dream Home Deserves Answers. We'll Provide Them, For Free.
Your custom home was supposed to be built to a higher standard, and when it was not, you deserve a firm that holds your builder to every promise they made. Hearn & Fleener brings 40 years of exclusive construction defect experience to every custom home we represent.
From specification deviations and material substitutions to structural failures and hidden workmanship shortcuts, we investigate every detail, hold every responsible party accountable, and recover the funds needed to make your home what it was always meant to be. All at no upfront cost and no risk to you.
The sooner you reach out, the stronger your position will be. Contact Hearn & Fleener today for your free, confidential inspection and report, and let Colorado's most experienced custom home construction defect attorneys fight for your family's home.
Contact us today.
Your Custom Home Deserves to Be Everything You Were Promised. We Make Sure It Gets There.
Colorado's construction defect filing deadlines are among the strictest in the country, and custom home claims require early action to preserve both your legal rights and the physical evidence needed to prove your case.
Contact Hearn & Fleener today for a free confidential inspection and written report. No upfront costs, no obligation, and no risk.
You only pay us when you recover.