We didn’t set out to be in a legal fight.
We set out to build a home.
Our family relocated to Tennessee from Seattle in 2020 so that Joe could serve the community as a firefighter with the Memphis Fire Department. Like many families, we were looking for stability, opportunity, and a place to put down roots. With six children, we weren’t just buying a house, we were building the foundation for our family’s future.
I am a Veteran, and service has always been a central part of our lives. We believed in doing things the right way, trusting the process, and trusting the professionals we hired to do their jobs with integrity.
What we didn’t expect was that, throughout the construction process, we would begin noticing issues that were not in keeping with the contract or local code. We raised concerns early about grading, drainage, and the significant amount of fill being brought onto the property. We asked questions, requested inspections, and sought basic assurances that the home was being built safely and in accordance with applicable standards. Those requests were denied or dismissed. In an effort to protect ourselves, we hired an independent engineer to evaluate the home. That engineer provided a “clean bill of health,” and based on that representation, we made the difficult decision to move forward with closing despite our concerns. We later learned that this engineer had a longstanding professional relationship with the builder that was never disclosed to us, they were also involved in litigation on another home with the builder- all information they were required to disclose but did not.
After we hired the engineer in 2021, without our permission the builder hired them to inspect our home twice in 2022 and once in 2025. Based on what we have since uncovered, it is our belief and opinion that the Engineering report was not independent and appears to have been biased in favor of the builder, and in Violation of the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct for Architects and Engineers.
After closing, the problems didn’t go away...they escalated immediately. Within days of move in we experienced flooding inside our home that left us under construction for 3 more months and without water, gas or electricity in our kitchen for over 30 days during that 3-month period. Not long after, we learned there were serious issues beneath the surface, including plumbing failures under the slab that required invasive repairs. As times went on, additional issues began to surface - cracking, shifting, moisture, and ongoing drainage problems that raised even more questions about how the home had been built.
This website exists because what we experienced should not happen to any family, and because the same unlicensed engineering firm continues to be used by Regency Homebuilders, and accepted by Shelby County building officials, despite our written notification to them that the engineering firm is not licensed and has not been licensed since 2004.
In 2025, we retained two separate engineering firms to independently evaluate our home. Both confirmed serious concerns with the foundation and underlying soils. Specifically, they found that the 4–6 feet of fill beneath our home was not properly compacted and does not meet minimum compaction standards. They also identified that the home lacks the required continuous perimeter footings, and that the existing footings do not extend to the minimum depth required by the International Residential Code (IRC) into native, undisturbed, or properly compacted soil. These findings raised significant concerns about the structural integrity and long-term stability of our home, as well as the validity of the Shelby county Engineering form letter about our foundation.
It is not just about one home. It is about accountability, transparency, and the right of homeowners to ask questions, seek answers, and speak honestly about their experiences without fear of retaliation.
We are still living this story.
And we are committed to telling it- truthfully, thoroughly, and with the evidence to back it up.