A Phil Hall Op-Ed: The humorist Will Rogers once wisecracked, “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.” I was reminded of Rogers’ classic comment while reading a pair of recent Wall Street Journal articles regarding the home building industry.
To be blunt, the articles “Flimsier Cabinets and Fewer Windows: Home Builders Are Skimping on the Basics” (published on April 14) and “Home Builders Are Getting Buried in Claims of Shoddy Construction” (published May 18) do not represent an honest overview of the homebuilding industry.
With these articles, the reader is assaulted with sensationalist headlines that try to condemn an entire industry. But once you get beyond the headlines, the articles’ contents do not to affirm the claims made by their headlines. Indeed, the “home builders” under the Journal’s magnifying glass consists of only four publicly traded companies: DR Horton (NYSE: DHI), KB Homes (NYSE: KBH), Lennar (NYSE: LEN), and PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM). Four companies do not make up an entire industry.
In both articles, the cases against the builders involve people who seem to have an axe to grind. In “Flimsier Cabinets and Fewer Windows: Home Builders Are Skimping on the Basics,” one homebuyer – a Warren Bryan of Tallahassee, Florida – took aim at what he viewed as inadequate trimmings on his DR Horton-constructed home.
“But the home had vinyl flooring and a skimpier-than-typical three-fourths of an inch granite countertop,” the article said. “Horton also didn’t put up gutters or install a towel rack on the bathroom wall, or screw in a doorknob that promptly fell off after Bryan moved in.”
The article adds this quote from Bryan: “I would have loved for them to have put a rack on the wall for us to hang towels. [But] you get your foot in the door and then you just manage it.”
No towel rack in the wall? Oh, Heavens to Murgatroyd! Call the Wall Street Journal and let the world know of this injustice! Okay, that’s being a tad sarcastic, though it is odd that Bryan would complain to the Journal after the fact and not to his realtor when closing on the house.
This article also makes grand statements that are either incomplete or without support. It claims that a “John Burns Research & Consulting survey published last year found that residential architects were implementing less complicated roof lines and synthetic instead of natural materials,” but it never explains why the architects are doing this.
The article adds that “many builders are shrinking their entire footprints” but only quotes the example of KB Homes, where “the median square footage of new single-family homes was 2,153 in 2025, down from 2,466 in 2015.” One company is not “many builders.”
Then, there is this: “Builders also are installing cheaper doors and opting for low-end appliances, analysts say.” Which analysts, you may wonder? Well, keep wondering, because the article never identifies them.
The other article, “Home Builders Are Getting Buried in Claims of Shoddy Construction,” is even worse. The burial in this case involves a grand total of three lawsuits against three companies. Not a trend, by any stretch.
This article carries on the shtick of its predecessor by claiming in its subhead, “Legal liabilities for big builders have surged. Industry representatives say lawyers encourage homeowners to pursue dubious allegations.”
As with the previous article’s imaginary analysts, the “industry representatives” are nowhere to be found in this article. Indeed, the National Association of Home Builders, the industry’s main representative, is never cited in either article.
The article also insists, “The legal liabilities of some of America’s biggest home builders, including DR Horton and Lennar, have surged in recent years as buyers increasingly sue for damages from alleged construction defects.” Oddly, only the legal reserves at Horton and Lennar are cited – there is no evidence that any other of the “biggest home builders” are dealing with surging legal liabilities, let alone the midsized and smaller builders.
Both articles were authored by someone named Nicholas G. Miller. According to his LinkedIn profile, he only started working as a full-time professional journalist 10 months ago after a few internships. How much of the misguided content of these articles is the fault of the inexperienced Miller and how much can be blamed on his editors is hard to say.
Still, one shouldn’t hold a grudge against Miller and his editors. Once again, Will Rogers comes to the rescue with the right observation: “You know, everybody’s ignorant, just on different subjects.”
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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