Home builders Robert Lewis, of Lewis Homes, and Helen Foley, Pardee Homes, testified on the nature of construction defect lawsuits April 5 in Carson City.

Lewis spoke of Lewis Homes’ long standing commitment to customer service and said that builders need help from the legislature to stop attorneys motivated by greed. He supported the right to repair and said, "Let us solve the problem."

Foley noted that Pardee has been a home builder in Nevada for 44 years and has built 20,000 homes. "For that entire time we’ve never been a party to a construction defect lawsuit," she said. "Last year, we had two."

She described how a Las Vegas attorney solicited homeowners in a Pardee development to file suit. The firm sent flyers out to residents and rented a room to present a slide show of "defects."

Senator Mike Schneider was aware of the incident, since he is a homeowner in that development and attended the meeting. "It’s a hustle to drum up business," he said. "Most of it (the defects) was deferred maintenance."

Emotional testimony was given by Sherry O’Donnell representing Signature Homes. She, too, described the process by which attorneys solicit homeowners to sue for construction defects.