Denise Anderson thought she would move into her dream home more than a year ago.  She says she paid about $235,000 for a modular home that contractor Paul Lewakowski told her would withstand hurricane force winds of more than 140 miles per hour.

“It was beautiful.  All my cabinets were in it, Sheetrock was in it, and the vanities were in it,” Anderson said.

But soon after the three modules that make up the house arrived in September 2007, she says all kinds of things went wrong.

“It didn't fit the foundation, and the roof didn't meet,” Anderson said.

According to Anderson, and the professional building inspector she hired to document serious problems with the house, two of the three modules are the wrong size.

“The center section is eight inches too short and the left section is eight inches too skinny and a foot too short,” said building inspector Michael Gurtler.

As a result, Gurtler says the two incorrectly-sized modules don't fit the concrete foundation that was poured before the modules arrived.

“It's a serious problem, because when the building doesn't align with the foundation, then you have issues of water intrusion,” Gurtler said.

He explained that the water could attract termites, causing rot or other problems.

As documented in his exhaustive inspection of the house, Gurtler says rainwater will collect on lips like the ones WWL cameras captured, on the foundation piers.  Because the modules don't fit, Gurtler says the lip and other steel straps, that are supposed to anchor the house to the foundation, are almost useless.

“This is not at all close to what the code requires, as far as what the code requires for you to anchor a house for a high wind condition.”

Gurtler points out roof rafters are attached to the ceiling joists with staples.

“That is not a proper connection by building codes,” he said.

Under the house, he found two makeshift piers made of loose concrete blocks and wood on the ground.

“This is not anywhere close to a properly-built foundation pier.  Termites will eventually find this piece of wood and eat it.”

Gurtler says a sill is supposed to support a load bearing wall, yet he found one in Anderson’s home that had an end entirely missing a foundation pier.

“I would consider the integrity of that sill worthless,” he said.

The president of the firm that sold Denise Anderson the house, Paul Lewakowski of Lionheart Development says, "That foundation will be right when the project is finished." 

Eyewitness News was unable to talk to him in person.  On the telephone, he said his lawyer has told him to decline WWL’s request for an on-camera interview.  He said, "There have been problems (with the house), but she keeps perpetuating the problems," by making new demands.

In one room of the house, there was a big crack across the ceiling, and when a heavy rain came through, soon after the house was placed into position, Anderson says it caused water damage inside.

“It rained inside this building because the first two roofs were put on inappropriately,” Gurtler said.

Gurtler and Anderson say that rain caused staining, mold and extensive damage inside the house.

“My contractor, after some persuasion, did remove the Sheetrock,” Anderson said, adding that he “did not remove the insulation until I took a piece out of the wall, squeezed it like a washrag, and a pool of water formed.”

Anderson says the contractor promised to treat the house for mold.  Gurtler says the entire house should have been treated for potential mold re-infestation.  He says good remediation leaves a uniform coating, but he found plenty of places on the house where the remediation was incomplete, and places where the Sheetrock was not completely removed.

“Any homeowner living in this house might be subject to long term problems of allergies and molding in the house, that they should not be subjected to,” Gurtler said.

When the Sheetrock was removed for remediation, Gurtler discovered more problems.  He says the framing above one door, in a load-bearing wall, is totally inadequate.

“The contractor had a copy of my report with pictures, describing this as an inappropriate condition,” Gurtler said.  “The contractor chose not to fix it and simply covered it up with Sheetrock, hoping that nobody else would see it, I would assume.”

You might wonder what Jefferson Parish code enforcement would say about this and other alleged problems.  Anderson called the parish to show inspectors what she found under the Sheetrock, but they refused to inspect it.

“We declined to do that because we believe that state law dictates, and our ordinance dictates, that that obligation belongs to the third party inspector who's been hired,” said Jefferson Parish attorney Tom Wilkinson.

Wilkinson says certified inspectors are supposed to make sure modular homes are properly built at the construction plant because they are delivered closed-in, with Sheetrock already in place.  But in this case, the Sheetrock was off and the framing was clearly visible for inspection. 

When asked whether he thought the parish was evading its responsibility to protect homeowners and taxpayers like Anderson, Wilkinson said “I don’t think we are, not at all.”

Another builder and competitor in the modular home industry, Stan Bundy, wanted to check Anderson’s house after hearing about the problems.

“It's what makes us all look bad,” he said.

He says modular homes are the wave of the future, and he hates to see anything that damages their image.

“I think what we’ve got here are some major contracting issues, and possibly there might be a manufacturing issue on this porch,” Bundy said.

When asked about the questionable framing that Anderson's independent inspector found above a door, Bundy said simply, “That will never work.”

Anderson's inspector called it a cover-up to replace the Sheetrock without fixing it.  Bundy seemed to agree.  He also agreed that staples in the roof rafters would not stand up to high winds as promised.

Bundy said he wanted to fix whatever is wrong with Anderson’s house free of charge because he doesn't want any black marks against the industry.  But before he left the house, he said he would have to give it a thorough examination before committing to that.

“I'd rather get an engineer to look at it,” Bundy said.

Jefferson Parish may take another look at the way it handles modular home inspections.

“I will tell you, based on this conversation today, and based on this particular situation, like a lot of things in the parish, it is certainly something that we need to take a look at,” Wilkinson said.

Contractor Paul Lewakowski's attorney issued a statement saying, "Apex Homes (the Pennsylvania-based builder of the house) assured Lionheart Development that it would correct design problems and water damage."  Lewakowski has filed suit against Apex, the manufacturer.

Channel 4’s repeated calls for comment to Apex Homes were not returned.

By phone, Lewakowski told WWL-TV, "I've got like $40,000 of my own money" in the house, trying to make repairs.  He said, “I'm just going to keep my head down and keep working and get the house finished."

But Denise Anderson and her independent inspector say it's going to take more than repairs to fix a house with what Gurtler describes as "very serious structural problems."

“And in my opinion,” Gurtler said, “this house, these modules need to be replaced with the correct modules and this house needs to be redone.”

“I want a new house.  I want what I paid for,” Anderson said, adding that she told her children this was going to be their dream home.  Now she says it's just a nightmare.