From the sidewalk, the $200,000 home in Eaton Estates in Sagamore Hills is a beauty.

Christine and Donald Brown of Northfield certainly pictured it that way when they decided last summer to build their four-bedroom home on the former farmland of industrialist Cyrus Eaton in northeastern Summit County.

The location was perfect. It was near Christine Brown's parents. And because it wasn't far from their former home, the Browns' five kids could go to the same parochial school.

Ideal, too, was the floor plan set forth by the builder, Pulte Homes of Ohio: a grand entryway, eat-in kitchen, family room and master bedroom.

"It was too good to be true," said Christine Brown.

Well, actually, it was.

Since moving into the new home in December, the Browns have uncovered a rash of problems. Faulty staircases, leaky windows, cracked concrete, bowed walls and heating and plumbing problems. An engineer hired by the family said green lumber was used to frame parts of the house, and the wood is now seeping moisture and growing mold. The couple's charges are outlined in a suit filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, in which the Browns seek $2.2 million in damages from Pulte.

"I can't believe this is happening," said Christine Brown, who has spent the last several months poring over blueprints, building codes, engineer reports and construction contracts to ferret out the flaws she sees in her new home.

Greg Williams, president of Pulte Homes of Ohio, said he was unable to discuss details of the Browns' case because it is pending. "We're disappointed, but we would like to be able to work it out with the homeowner," he said.

Building professionals remain at odds over how widespread situations like this are in the region, which has seen a burst of new housing in recent years.

"It's a big problem," said Amir Farzaneh, a structural engineer hired by the Browns to evaluate their home. Farzaneh said he is seeing more and more disgruntled homeowners, between 35 and 40 last year alone. "I have files and files full of cases I'm not supposed to talk about."

But Carmine Torio, executive director of the Home Builders Association, said it is unrealistic to expect that some new homes would not have a few problems. Generally, most problems are easily repaired by the builders. And most new homes come with an insured warranty that guarantees repairs will be fixed.

"I really find it hard to believe a company like Pulte would do that," Torio said of the Browns' dilemma.

Summit County Building Inspector Jim Etz said his department monitored the construction of 700 homes last year; complaints were raised on less than 1 percent.

While the Browns' home came with a 10-year warranty for defects in material or workmanship, they said the corrections proposed by Pulte were unacceptable.

Based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Pulte Corp. is one of the nation's largest home builders, and its Ohio subsidiary is a familiar face in these parts. Last year, the company earned $162.8 million on sales of $1.7 billion. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Those attributes led the Browns to select Pulte, even though the price of their home was about $30,000 more than what they had originally planned.

And when a few acquaintances also gave the company a good word, the Browns felt comfortable about their decision.

"We thought going with a big company, we wouldn't go wrong," said Donald Brown, 41.

Brown, a manager at a Finast supermarket, said he visited the site almost daily during construction, sometimes pointing out errors. He said on one visit, he discovered that the footers to the foundation didn't match the blueprints.

At one point, the Browns' suit said, the construction site project manager told the Browns they could no longer go inside their home during construction. A Pulte salesman recanted the order, however, and the Browns were let onto the site.

Once the house was completed, however, the Browns noticed trouble.

Family members, including Christine Brown's mother and 6-year-old daughter, Jennifer, kept tripping on the stairs. The problem? The treads were too short and, according to county inspector Etz, they violated code.

Since they moved in, rain has leaked through their front windows, soaking the wall-to-wall carpeting. The master bathroom toilet leaked and nearly caved in the first-floor ceiling. The shower stall is unsteady and one of the bedrooms isn't getting enough heat.

Also, according to the Browns' suit, they hired the private inspector, Farzaneh, who found more than a dozen structural deficiencies that would cost several thousand dollars to fix. More recently, the basement staircase is pulling away from the wall and cracks are visible near the ceiling.

"The more you look, the more you find," Chris Brown said.

The Browns' attorney, J. Norman Stark of Cleveland, said the Browns would be happy if Pulte bought back the house and paid their moving costs.

The Browns requested a jury trial, but in early April, Common Pleas Judge Thomas Curran granted Pulte's request to halt proceedings to bring the case to private arbitration. The Browns are asking the court to reconsider its decision.

Meanwhile, bright yellow tape outlines the edge of the carpeted stairs, and a blue exercise mat is tacked on the wall at the foot of the stairs to cushion any falls.

The Browns say their construction calamities have taken an emotional toll. The litigation is exhausting their finances.

"We're just sick now; we're physically sick," Chris Brown said.

Second Story of the Brown family from Ohio

COUPLE'S DREAM HOUSE EVOKES NIGHTMARISH MEMORIES

Friday, December 29, 1995
Section: METRO
Page: E3\
MAURA McENANEY

Last year at this time, Christine and Donald Brown and their five children celebrated the holidays just weeks after moving into their $200,000 dream house in Sagamore Hills.

This year, the Browns are celebrating at Christine's parents' home nearby, while the house they once were so excited to call theirs is up for sale.

For the past four months, Christine and the children have been living with her parents, Lillian and Andrew Krainz of Sagamore Hills, while Donald shuttled back and forth from his parents' home in Springfield Township.

The arrangement, although temporary, is the fallout of a lengthy dispute about the quality of the construction on the Browns' home at Eaton Estates.

Although Donald still visits his family at night, he stays at his parents' house so as not to overwork the taxed septic system at the Krainz's household, Christine said.

Staying in Springfield makes it easier for him to shower and get to his job at Finast in Cuyahoga Falls every day, she explained.

It's not an easy arrangement, but it's a solution to what the Browns last year classified as their very own nightmare.

Last February, the couple filed suit against builder Pulte Homes of Ohio, seeking damages for what they said were a rash of construction problems at their new home.

Although the house did come with a 10-year warranty for defects in material or workmanship, the Browns said Pulte's remedies were not acceptable and decided to sue instead. In June, Pulte Homes of Ohio agreed to buy back the Browns' home as part of a court settlement negotiated by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Patrick Curran.

The Browns moved out in September and agreed not to discuss the terms of the settlement or say anything more about their former contractor.

In the meantime, the Browns have found another home in Sagamore Hills, a 40-year-old two-bedroom ranch that was converted to a five-bedroom house. The couple plans to be reunited when they move to their new, older home in March.

"We feel now we're finally going to get to the end of this tunnel and be normal again," Christine said. "We're just waiting for '95 to be over."