In Big Dispute with Sekisui House — Dream Home Breaks Every Time Repairs Are Made, Owners Cry Out

“I entrusted them because they’re a major housing manufacturer and seemed trustworthy.”

“I trusted Sekisui House and purchased a detached home costing 70 million yen including land and building. I had always dreamed of owning my own detached house. But from the very day we moved in, defects kept appearing one after another — water leaks in the pipes, countless screw holes, bolts left loose, and dark stains on the floor. Every time repair work was done, new problems arose and now it’s in this state.”

In her home, where the ceiling on the second floor has been cruelly stripped away, exposing steel beams and girders, housewife Ms. A in her 40s quietly expresses her frustration.

In January 2017, Ms. A visited a housing exhibition in Hyogo Prefecture with her husband and mother-in-law, where a sales representative from Sekisui House recommended one of their built-for-sale homes. With their company housing move-out date approaching, the couple liked the two-story house with a total floor area of 118 square meters, conveniently located near Ms. A’s family home and the nearest station. The design was by a first-class architect at Sekisui House. “Because it was a major house maker, I trusted everything to them.” But from the day they moved in, troubles awaited.

“The handover was on September 25, 2017, but on the very same day, we had a water leak in the toilet. I contacted the Sekisui House representative, who called a subcontracted contractor to fix it. When I looked closely, the intercom at the entrance, which I had ordered in silver, was black, so I hurriedly had it replaced. At that point, I started to feel a bit distrustful toward Sekisui House.

Soon after, the next defect appeared. There was a door at the top of the stairs leading into a room on the second floor, but it was smaller than the design plans specified, so furniture couldn’t fit through. In November, over a month after moving in, expansion work finally started, but that work left multiple screw holes in the second-floor flooring. The site supervisor tried to patch and repair it, but in the end, it had to be replaced.”

This flooring replacement work caused an irreparable rift between Ms. A and Sekisui House.

“For some reason, they removed the second-floor toilet along with the flooring. Because of that, we had to have plumbing work done, too. On top of that, when they removed the toilet, they hit and scratched the drywall by the stairs. Every time they did repair work, the house seemed to get more damaged — it was an abnormal situation.”

Sekisui House acknowledged the repeated mistakes and formally apologized in writing to Ms. A. They informed her that the plumbing and the scratched drywall would be repaired again. However, more trouble arose over the plumbing work caused by the unauthorized removal of the toilet.

“Sekisui House proposed a plan to cut and replace part of the pipes. But the representative explained that this posed a risk of water leaks from the newly joined parts. I told them that since we were at it, I wanted the entire second-floor plumbing redone. However, Sekisui House insisted that their proposed method was reasonable and has not budged. Even now, seven years later, the work remains stopped. When an external inspection company examined the house, they pointed out ten new issues, including insufficient pipe slope, cracks in the foundation, and loose bolts. Later, in February 2019, the then head of the technical department became the contact person and told us, ‘From now on, discussions will involve lawyers.’”

The latter part can be found here: “Repairs Still Stalled In Big Dispute with Sekisui House — ‘We Just Want to Live in a Normal Home.’”

From the June 20, 2025, issue of “FRIDAY”