Understanding Construction Defects found in Colorado’s Single-Family Homes.
Understanding.
Your home is likely the largest investment you’ll ever make, and you trusted your builder to get it right. When poor workmanship, failing materials, or design mistakes affect its safety or value, the worry that comes with it is real, and you don’t have to sort it out alone. Hearn & Fleener works alongside individual homeowners at every step. We find out exactly what went wrong, explain it to you in plain language, hold the responsible parties accountable, and recover the funds needed to make your home right.
Finding a Defect
Where do I look?
Our Recovery Process.
Our process is built to give you clear answers before you make any decisions. We investigate what went wrong, explain it in plain terms, and handle everything from the first inspection to the final recovery, so you're never navigating it alone.
A thorough, expert investigation that documents every defect.
Honest claim assessment of your options & realistic recovery.
Determined representation against builders & insurers.
Full repair recovery that funds permanent repairs, not patches.
Thorough construction records research.
Hearn & Fleener handles every step, so you’re not facing the builder alone.
Colorado’s Premier Attorneys for Single-Family Construction Defects.
Why Choose Us?
Colorado’s dedicated defect attorneys.
Hearn & Fleener
We are dedicated to holding developers accountable and recovering the funding needed to address construction failures and ensure your home’s long-term stability. With over 40 years in the field, no firm is better equipped to protect your single-family home.
Proven Track Record.
With over 40 years of experience and more than $450 million recovered, we have the results single-family homeowners can trust to hold their builder accountable.
We work entirely on contingency, advancing all engineering, expert, and legal costs ourselves, so you only pay when your home recovers and never a dollar out of pocket.
Zero Upfront Cost.
We bring specialized engineers and building-envelope experts (specialists in the outer shell that keeps water out) to your home, building the technical evidence that shows exactly what went wrong.
Experts on Your Side.
We give you a clear-eyed assessment of your claim from day one, so you always know exactly what your home is dealing with and what a realistic recovery looks like.
Honest Guidance.
When It's Your Home, It's Personal. We Treat It That Way.
Hearn & Fleener
Construction Defect Experts.
When a builder falls short, we help you make it right.
Finding a construction defect in your own home is a very different experience from a community-wide claim. You're not coordinating a board vote or managing dozens of residents. You're one family, dealing with a builder who didn't deliver what they promised, and often up against a large national homebuilder with a legal team of its own.
For more than 40 years, we've represented individual Colorado homeowners, not just large communities. We bring the same expert resources, legal knowledge, and courtroom strength to your claim that a big builder brings to defending itself, so you're on equal footing. We find the true cause and full extent of the problems in your home, explain what we find in plain, honest language, and handle every step of the case for you, start to finish.
Let’s look at some common construction defects your home could face in Colorado.
Common Defects in Single-Family Homes.
Common Issues.
Colorado’s climate is especially hard on homes. Heavy snow, repeated freezing and thawing, high winds, strong sun, and some of the most expansive soils in the country all reveal the weak spots in any home that wasn’t built to code. When construction falls short here, the problems tend to show up before long, and too often it’s the homeowner left paying for them.
Finding a Defect
Where do I look?
Drainage.
When a builder fails to direct water away from the foundation through proper grading and drainage infrastructure, water pools against and beneath the home. In Colorado's climate, that standing water accelerates soil movement, foundation cracking, and in the worst cases, basement flooding that causes widespread structural damage.
Foundations.
Colorado’s expansive bentonite clay soils are the leading cause of single-family construction defect claims in the state. When a builder fails to properly engineer a foundation for these conditions, the results include cracked slabs, heaving basement floors, bowed walls, and structural instability throughout the home. Builders frequently misattribute this damage to normal settling to avoid accountability.
Siding.
Improperly installed siding, stucco, and stone veneer allow moisture to infiltrate and become trapped inside the wall assembly. Over time, that trapped moisture causes wood rot, mold growth, and structural framing deterioration that remains completely invisible from the outside until the damage is extensive.
Flashing.
Flashing around windows, doors, and roof penetrations is one of the most frequently defective components in Colorado residential construction. When flashing is missing or incorrectly installed, it creates a direct pathway for water to enter the wall assembly or roof structure, often causing significant hidden damage long before the homeowner notices anything wrong.
Decks & Patios.
Decks and patios built with reverse-sloping surfaces, inadequate waterproofing, substandard fasteners, or insufficient lateral bracing deteriorate quickly and pose genuine structural collapse risks. We treat deck and balcony defects with particular urgency because of the serious life-safety implications they present for Colorado homeowners and their families.
Ventilation.
Defective roofing materials and inadequate attic ventilation are a destructive combination in Colorado's climate. Without proper ventilation, heat and moisture accumulate in the attic, accelerating shingle deterioration and creating the conditions for destructive ice dams in winter that force meltwater back under the shingles and into the home.
If your house is experiencing any of these issues, you may have a valid construction defect claim.
See why Colorado homeowners choose Hearn & Fleener.
Successful Case Results.
Our Results.
The following are real results Hearn & Fleener has achieved for Colorado single-family homeowners and communities. Each case involved different defects, different builders, and different communities but the same outcome: full financial recovery for homeowners who had been failed by the people who built their homes. In every case, our clients paid nothing out of pocket, and the funds recovered were used entirely for permanent repairs.
Real Results for Colorado Homeowners.
Our results speak for themselves.
Golf Course Community.
A large single-family HOA community situated along a Front Range golf course was experiencing widespread soils movement and building envelope failures across more than 120 homes. Hearn & Fleener worked with local civil engineers and forensic architectural experts to map the full scope of the damage and identify every root cause of the building failures. After 22 months of investigation and litigation, we successfully recovered approximately $16 million on behalf of the association, one of the largest single-family community recoveries in Colorado history.
Large single-family community.
$16 million award.
One of the largest recoveries in Colorado.
Widespread soil movement.
A solid foundation makes for a solid building.
Northern CO Community.
A 99-home single-family community in Northern Colorado came to Hearn & Fleener with widespread stucco system failures affecting homes across the entire development. Our team documented the full scope of the cladding defects, identified the responsible parties, and negotiated a significant confidential settlement that fully funded the community's exterior repairs.
99 single-family homes.
Widespread stucco failures.
Affecting all homeowners.
Confidential settlement.
Fully funded repairs.
Rebulding a community to last.
Your Home Could Be Next.
The homeowners behind these results once stood exactly where you are now, unsure whether they had a claim. One phone call changed everything.
Jefferson County.
A 72-home single-family community in Jefferson County contacted Hearn & Fleener after residents began reporting heaving basement slabs, water intrusion through roofing systems, and failures in exterior deck structures throughout the development. Our forensic team identified the cause of each defect category and developed a comprehensive repair scope. The case resolved in the homeowners' favor during trial, while plaintiffs were still presenting their case in chief, resulting in a recovery of more than $2 million for the association.
72 single-family home community.
Failing foundations
Water intrusion.
$2 million recovery.
Fully funding your community repairs.
Every result below started with a homeowner who suspected something was wrong. Each one ended with a builder held accountable and a home made whole, all at no cost to the family.
Real Homes. Real Recoveries.
Fort Collins.
A single-family community in Fort Collins was built on large deposits of bentonite clay without adequate foundation engineering to account for those conditions. Homeowners experienced severe structural damage from soil movement, compounded by water intrusion through defective roofing and window systems. Hearn & Fleener pursued the case through years of litigation that ultimately reached the Colorado Supreme Court, recovering over $3 million for the homeowners association. Just as importantly, the case produced new Colorado case law that strengthened homeowner rights under state construction defect statutes, a legal precedent that continues to benefit Colorado homeowners to this day.
A large single-family neighborhood.
Inadequate engineering.
Roof & window failures.
$3 million award.
A win for homeowner rights.
Righting the wrong.
Rebuilt community.
Proven Where It Counts.
From the courtroom to the negotiation table, our results speak for themselves. When Colorado builders fail homeowners, we make sure they answer for it.
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, giving homeowners the lasting peace of mind that comes from knowing their homes were finally built to the standard they were promised.
66 homes affected.
Drainage issues.
Confidential Settlement.
Rebuilt to proper standards.
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-step process comes in.
Take the First Step in Protecting Your Home.
Hearn & Fleener
Construction Defect Experts.
Your Home Deserves Answers. We'll Provide Them, For Free.
Timing matters in a Colorado construction defect claim. The state sets two firm deadlines, one counted from when you discover the problem, and a final cutoff counted from when your home was finished. Once they pass, the right to recover is gone, even when the builder is clearly at fault. Because that final cutoff often starts from the day construction was completed, not the day you first notice something, waiting to ‘see if it gets worse’ can quietly run out the clock.
Once they pass, the right to recover is gone, even when the builder is clearly at fault. Because that final cutoff often starts from the day construction was completed, not the day you first notice something, waiting to "see if it gets worse" can quietly run out the clock.
The good news: getting started costs you nothing. One call sets our free four-step process in motion and gives you the facts, a clear legal read, and honest recommendations, everything you need to make a fully informed decision. You'll know exactly where you stand and what your options are before you commit to anything.
Contact us today.
