Residents of an upscale development in Williamson County are scrambling to file lawsuits before a four-year deadline after discovering numerous codes violations that may reduce the value of their homes.

The developers of Williams Grove, a new Brentwood subdivision off Edmondson Pike, are being hit with numerous complaints and lawsuits over the construction of about 30 homes.

By Tennessee law, homeowners have four years from taking possession of new homes to lodge complaints about their construction.

The problem, says construction attorney Jean Harrison, is that many of the flaws did not become apparent until a short time ago.

The builder, Pulte Homes, a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest homebuilders in the United States, with over 300,000 homes nationwide. Pulte officials did not return phone calls.

“In this particular subdivision there’s a host of problems. A consistent thing that hasn’t been done is weep holes and flashing,” said Harrison.

Weep holes are small openings that relieve the walls of excess water. Flashing is a piece of metal or plastic around the doors and windows designed to run the water away from the house through the weep holes. The Metropolitan Housing Code requires both.

Harrison is representing roughly 15 clients in the subdivision — the number she said appears to be growing — including Dr. Alvin Galuten, a retired radiologist who has been vocal in getting the word out to residents of the possible flaws and the time constraints.

“Its not so much that they made a mistake but that they made a mistake and they know it,” said Galuten. “And they are not going back and trying to make good on it. So I told them if you don’t make good on it then I am going to let everyone know about it. Of course they threatened to sue me numerous times.”

Harrison said the possible problems are not evident early on.

“The problem with this is that the water damage is not readily apparent and it doesn’t happen overnight,” said Harrison.

Harrison said Tennessee’s “Statute of Repose,” which was passed in 1998, also absolves builders even when death occurs from faulty construction.

“It’s an absolute bear to recover damages,” Harrison said, “What people don’t understand is that it’s not from the day you discover the defect. It’s from the time you take possession of the home. The truly insidious thing is if you’re house does not have weep holes and flashing the damage may not manifest itself during that four years.”

Walter Jowers of House Sense, a building inspection company, has inspected “over 10 and less than 20” homes in Williams Grove and found that “zero percent” of the homes had weep holes and flashing but noted the lack of attention to codes was common. Jowers is also the author of “Helter Shelter” a weekly column in Nashville’s alternative paper The Nashville Scene.

“We are finding a good many defects and by defects I mean things that are clearly wrong according to the building code,” said Jowers. “We find those everywhere we go but we are finding a little more here.”

Jowers said the structural state of homes both in Davidson and Williamson counties was sub par.

“This whole brick veneer, weep hole, flashing thing — I’ve yet to see a house done right,” Jowers said.

Jowers said Metro Department of Codes checks the foundation, framing, electrical, mechanical and plumbing as construction is ongoing but there is no spot check for the brickwork.

Bob Ramsey, chief inspector of Metro Codes’ Building Division, said flashing is inspected when the framing is inspected and brickwork is supposed to be checked off at the final inspection.

“But we are not sure they are pulling the flashing out into the brick like it’s supposed to be,” Ramsey said. “We are assuming that builder is doing that because we don’t have the personnel to stand on one job all day long.”

Ramsey said weep holes were supposed to be signed off at the end of construction and wasn’t sure why they were being missed.

The codes inspector for Williams Grove, Edward Simpkins, said he was sent out to the subdivision to inspect for two complaints so far.

“They did not have weep holes. One of them we finaled out last week. They [the developer] had taken care of the problems,” said Simpkins. “They had taken the brick out and put the flashing in and replaced the brick and put in the weep holes.”

Simpkins said it was a “good possibility” that all the homes in the subdivision had similar codes violations.

Harrison said much of the problem lies in the design of brick upon wood frame.

“These homes are not brick,” Harrison said. “Brick homes are three-brick deep. These are wood-frame interior with a brick veneer attached to it. You are supposed to have an air space between the sheathing board and the brick and you are supposed to have weep holes flashing around all the window and door openings.