LEHI, Utah — Within 30 days of moving into their brand new home here, Neal Schmidt says he and his wife started seeing drywall cracks.
About two months after they moved in, “our doors are not able to open and close,” said Jessica Schmidt, Neal’s wife.
The settling got so bad, a pipe sending water to the pot filler (a faucet above the stove) burst, creating a flood while the family was away. The Schmidts, who by then had three young children, had to move out of their house and into a rental.
“We thought we're going to be gone three months – like tops,” Neal Schmidt recalled. “And it ended up being over a year and a half.”
FOX 13 has told you about other Utah homebuyers who have complained of poor craftsmanship, or, in the case of one Draper neighborhood in 2023, saw their dream homes slide down a mountainside and crumble.
As builders continue to add homes to meet demand, what state laws would ensure that those houses don’t fall apart?
One good approach
“Defect disputes in home building are some of the most difficult, unsettling problems that I've seen clients face,” said Carl Circo, a University of Arkansas professor who has written books about construction law.
Circo cautions that no system addressing construction defects is perfect but says some places do more than others to address problems.
“One good approach,” Circo said, “is through a licensing board that not only licenses contractors, but supervises, oversees it, takes complaints so it can investigate claims against contractors.”
While the Utah Division of Professional Licensing penalizes contractors for not having the proper permits or violating building codes, no state agency investigates poor craftsmanship.
Circo says some countries go a step further and have specialized courts to deal with construction claims.
“We don't really have that in the United States,” he said.
Windy City for Beehive State
The Schmidts were living in Chicago in 2022 when they decided to move to Utah. They found the house they wanted in a new development in Lehi.
“The area is really, really beautiful,” Neal Schmdit said. “I think we were drawn in by kind of the mountains, and we both grew up LDS as well.”
The builder was Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers. It calls itself “America’s luxury home builder.” The Schmidts paid $860,000 for the 3,080-square-foot home.
Toll Brothers representatives did not respond to FOX 13’s requests for an interview.
The Schmidts’ home was still under warranty when problems emerged. The warranty didn’t dictate the speed of the repairs, and the Schmidts lived in a series of short-term rentals for the 18 months Toll Brothers spent making the fixes.
“We're building tunnels under oceans,” Jessica Schmidt told FOX 13. “How hard is it to make sure this house doesn't slide down a river?”
Neal Schmidt began documenting the wait on social media. In the posts, he mentioned Toll Brothers by name.
His wasn’t the only family in the neighborhood having trouble. Property records show a Toll Brothers subsidiary bought back the home belonging to one of the Schmidt neighbors. Neal and Jessica
Schmidt say that house was experiencing settling, too.
When the Schmidts asked Toll Brothers to buy back their home, “They completely refused,” Jessica Schmidt said.
“Definitely, [Toll Brothers] needed to have more regulations,” she added.
Circo said increased regulations could also help developers.
“Those kinds of licensing schemes will keep out the less qualified builders,” he said.
No new laws
FOX 13 met the Schmidts in December. By then, they were back in their house.
Before we told the family’s story, we wanted to see what the Utah Legislature would do for homebuyers experiencing construction defects. Of the more than 900 bills filed during the 2025 legislative session, none addressed problems like the Schmidts’.
There have been some developments for the couple. They reached a settlement with Toll Brothers. Terms were not disclosed, but Neal Schmidt removed those social media videos complaining about the builder.
Public records say the Schmidts still own the house.
Jessica Schmidt told FOX 13 in December though they didn’t trust what was supposed to be their dream home, the family didn’t have anywhere else to go.
“We’re stuck with this house that we know is never going to be worth what it could be,” she said.