Custom Homes
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.
Your Colorado Custom Home Builder Did Not Deliver. We Hold Them Accountable.
CUSTOM HOME DEFECT EXPERTS
Colorado’s Premier Attorneys for Custom Home Construction Defects.
You invested everything in building your dream home. When your builder failed to deliver, we hold them accountable.
Coordination.
Custom home defect claims almost always involve a finger-pointing dynamic between the architect, the structural engineer, and the builder. Without experienced legal counsel to cut through that dynamic, homeowners are left in the middle with no resolution. We have navigated this exact scenario hundreds of times and know exactly how to establish liability across multiple design and construction professionals simultaneously.
Defects.
Defects in custom homes rarely have a simple cause. They typically involve the intersection of architectural design decisions, structural engineering specifications, and on-site construction execution by multiple specialized contractors. Identifying who is responsible requires forensic expertise that goes far beyond a standard building inspection.
Repairs.
Repairing a custom home requires white-glove remediation by contractors with the specific skills to match existing high-end finishes and exotic materials. We pursue full repair cost recovery that accounts for the premium cost of restoring your home to the standard it was originally built to.
Challenges.
Custom homes feature exotic materials, complex building envelopes, and advanced mechanical systems that demand a higher standard of care than production construction. When a builder lacks the specialized experience to execute a sophisticated architectural plan, the resulting defects require an equally sophisticated legal and forensic team to pursue.
Protecting the Rights of Colorado Custom Home Owners
When It's Your Dream Home, Ordinary Legal Help Is Not Enough.
Discovering construction defects in a custom home raises questions that are both practical and deeply personal. Who is responsible when the architect and the builder disagree? How do you repair exotic materials that require specialized craftsmen? At Hearn & Fleener, we have answered those questions for Colorado custom home owners for over 40 years.
We discover the full scope of the defects through a forensic investigation that engages the specialty consultants required to properly evaluate every system and finish in your home. We communicate our findings to you in clear honest language so you fully understand what happened, who is responsible, and what your path to recovery looks like. When it is time to hold the builder and design team accountable, we pursue every responsible party with four decades of Colorado construction defect experience behind us.
Your home was built to be extraordinary. We make sure the people who fell short of that standard pay for every dollar it takes to make it right.
Your Free, Four-Phase Evaluation Process for Colorado Custom Home Owners
Every phase of our evaluation process, from the first forensic site visit to the final written report, is provided at absolutely no cost and no obligation to you. Custom home investigations require a level of forensic sophistication that goes beyond any other property type, and we bring exactly that expertise to every phase of your evaluation.
Here is exactly what that looks like for custom home clients:
Research & Risk Analysis.
Our attorneys review your custom home contract, architectural agreement, builder warranty, and all relevant design documentation. We research the financial standing of your builder, architect, and every responsible subcontractor, identify your statute of limitations deadlines, and evaluate any arbitration clauses or warranty provisions that may affect how your claim must be pursued.
Free On-Site Inspection.
Our team conducts a thorough forensic inspection of your home's building envelope, foundation, structural systems, roofing, windows and glazing systems, and mechanical infrastructure. For custom homes we bring in specialty consultants including curtain wall experts, radiant heating engineers, and high-end roofing specialists. Every defect is documented at our expense.
Construction Records Research.
We pull the complete construction history of your home including building permits, approved architectural and structural plans, and inspection reports. For custom homes this research establishes the precise specifications your home was supposed to be built to and identifies every architect, engineer, and contractor whose work contributed to the defects you are experiencing.
Written Report & Presentation.
We compile our findings into a written report and present them to you and your family in a personal one-on-one consultation. We walk you through what we found, who is responsible, and what a realistic path to recovery looks like for your home. You receive every answer you need before committing to anything.
Common Defects.
Custom Build Homes & Properties.
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.
If your custom home is experiencing any of the following, you may have a valid Colorado construction defect claim:
Defect Types.
1
Decking
2
Materials
3
Leaks
4
Siding
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Successful Case Results.
The following are real results Hearn & Fleener has achieved for Colorado custom and luxury home owners. Each case involved a different home, different defects, and a different set of responsible parties, but the same outcome.
Full financial recovery for homeowners who invested in a premium product and did not receive what they paid for. In every case, our clients paid nothing upfront, and the funds recovered were used to restore their homes to the standard they deserved.
The Hearn & Fleener Advantage: Proven Results for our Clients
Longmont Patio Home Community.
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.
Denver Cherry Creek Neighborhood.
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.
Denver Metro Expansive Soils Settlement.
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.
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.