“If a home with stucco-related or water intrusion issues falls within Pennsylvania’s 12-year limitation and repairs are needed, Toll Brothers has committed to repair it,” the company said in the statement.

Some homeowners have disputed Toll's assertion and have said they were denied when their homes were less than 12 years old.

Others wonder: If builders knew about this problem years ago, why did no one tell them something could be wrong with their homes?

"The problem isn't just how many cases [attorneys] are handling," said Peter Bryant, of Bochetto & Lentz, who represents several dozen homeowners in these cases. "The problem is, how many people are left out in the cold because of these latent defects that haven't shown up until 13 years, 14 years or later?"

It’s something that the Goldsteins in Buckingham Forest think about often. They had seen rot around their front and back doors and ultimately replaced them in 2013. Had Mitch Goldstein known it was a sign of a bigger problem, his home — just 11 years old at the time — would have still been new enough to bring a claim under state law.

Instead, it was not until late 2016 that Goldstein began to hear whispers about water damage and see scaffolding rise. By that time, his home was more than 14 years old. He was out of luck.

So this year, he hired a construction company to rip the stucco and stone off his house and replace it with fiber cement board and some stone. The price: slightly more than $60,000.

“They call themselves a luxury brand … but there’s nothing luxurious about this,” Goldstein said, sitting in his kitchen as crews drilled and hammered, shaking the walls of their house.

Since Goldstein discovered water intrusion in his home, he has passed out flyers, created a website, and contacted lawmakers in Harrisburg.

One of them, Rep. Bernie O’Neill (R., Bucks), responded by proposing legislation.

In 2017, O’Neill, who is retiring in January, introduced two bills: House Bills 1831 and 1833. The first would extend the amount of time a Pennsylvania homeowner has to file a lawsuit by three years. The second would require builders to notify homeowners of construction defects once they become aware of the problem.

O’Neill’s bills are awaiting action in the House’s Local Government Committee, where they have sat — untouched — since they were introduced.

In the meantime, residents in the Philadelphia region say they are doing everything they can to get by.

“My neighbor across the street, he’s got a daughter in college and he said, ‘I’ve got to get her through school before I can do [repairs],’ ” said Hagerich, the Toll homeowner in Bucks County who took out a home equity loan to pay for repairs. “My daughter’s in high school. … We’re not contributing to college, which is highly concerning.”

“I planned to put a roof on; I planned to replace the furnace,” Hagerich said. “I did not plan to replace the sides of my house.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the company that was ordered to compensate a Chester County couple over water damage to their property. The company was Misty Meadows Homes, which sold the house to the couple. The judge found that neither the builder, Megill Homes, nor Wayne Megill, were liable. The decision has been appealed.