Taylor Morrison, a major U.S. home builder, wants a Phoenix-area home inspector gagged after he highlighted incompetent and dangerous building work by the company on his popular social media channel. Cy Porter has a growing audience turning in to his genial yet zero-BS narration of home inspections; you wouldn't want to upset Taylor Morrison by checking it out, would you?
Porter said he initiated contact with Taylor Morrison following an inspection that revealed problems. He said corporate reached back out to him and they created an open line of communication. Porter said that changed after he was stopped from inspecting a Taylor Morrison home while it was still under contract. He made a video about the experience.
In April, Taylor Morrison filed a complaint against him with the Arizona Board of Technical Registration which regulates home inspectors.
The complaint alleges unprofessional conduct.
"Taylor Morrison would like Cyril Porter, on behalf of himself and his companies, to stop posting any videos to social media about Taylor Morrison," the complaint reads.
One of the videos shows him pouring soapy water on a gas meter; bubbles promptly expose a leak caused by defective work. Yikes!
Would you buy a house from a company that doesn't want inspections of its work to be publicized? Porter says he "has no plans to stop posting to social media unless he is ordered to."
"A lot of these videos have actually gone to city officials that have led to investigations to make the builder fix things properly. Others have led to citations against the builders. So yes, there is accountability. But most more importantly, people are aware of what the builder is responsible for and what they're allowed to ask the builder to fix," Porter said.
Taylor Morrison put out a statement that shows why they're going after his professional accreditation rather than, say, suing him: what Porter posts is true and that's really the only chance they have to silence him.
"We want our customers and home shoppers to have faith in the care and quality we take in building their homes, and we absolutely allow them to hire third-party home inspectors for added peace of mind. Similar to many professions, licensed home inspectors are required to abide by codified rules of professional conduct. While we have no issue with the home inspections Cy Porter conducts, we do believe his advertising through sensationalist social media postings violates the professional conduct standards set forth by the Board of Technical Registration, which licenses and regulates home inspectors, and we trust the board to review and make an assessment."
Previously:
• Britain's appalling residential building standards under the spotlight
• Why building codes should be open
