New Home Construction Delaying Home Repairs

DENVER (CBS4)- The housing boom may have some builders in a bind.

When homeowner Brent Housely needed some concrete fixed, he discovered that construction of new homes has pushed already-built home repairs to the back burner.

Housely bought his home in December.

"It felt pretty awesome," Housely said. "You know, it was our first purchase, first home."

Two months in, he started noticing cracks in the concrete. By May, it was buckling, and the steps had fallen away from the porch.

"You can see right here," Housely showed CBS4, "This is where the concrete was, this is where it should be."

Housely calls the situation dangerous, adding "A UPS driver was delivering to my door, and he ended up falling off my step."

He called Oakwood Homes warranty department right away, and while they came out to assess the situation, they still haven't fixed it.

"He said he concrete guys are just too busy doing production. They don't know when they're going to get warranty stuff out to us."

Meanwhile, new homes are being built right down the street.

Oakwood Homes says a shortage of construction workers is creating a backlog.

In a statement to CBS4, the builder said "We have been in conversation with our concrete vendor and are in the process of developing a timeline for repairs."

"I just want it fixed," Housely said. "I want them to come out and make sure that they do it right this time, so we don't run into this again."

Housely wants the work done before his one-year warranty is up, and Oakwood Homes is no longer responsible for repairs.

Update: The homeowner tells us repairs have started. Colorado home builders are also taking steps to address the worker shortage. They've created the "Colorado Homebuilding Academy" to train more people to work in the industry.