We're building so much so fast in theLas Vegas valley, that builders will do almost anything to make you choose their home over other developers. Sure, you want your new home to be pretty but as News 3 found, pretty isn't always practical.You're about to meet a couple who moved here from California and paid a half million dollars for an 1800-square-foot home in the Vistas neighborhood in Summerlin. One reason they chose the home? A bathtub designed to let them relax in luxury. Only now, they say it was just money down the drain. "When you see the models on display and it shows a large Jacuzzi-style tub, anyone would expect you can fill it up and relax in a hot bath." But according to Paula Johnson and her husband, Tom, there was no such thing as a hot soak in their brand new master bath. "You can't fill it up because they don't give you the appropriate size water heater.""Capacity 50... Is that what we're looking at?""Yes."This 100-gallon tub and this 50-gallon water heater come standard in Paula's model. When you do the math, you realize the one, simply won't fill the other. No one from Kimball Hill Homes would go on camera, but over the phone, they explain... "We have elected sometimes to install a larger tub esthetically, to, uh, for it to enhance the master bathroom, but it certainly doesn't mean that you would necessarily fill the entire tub up with hot water."Not fill the tub? Guess it depends on your definition of a hot bath. According to master plumber Dennis Daniels, the amount of hot water you'll get from a 50-gallon water heater... "I would say between 20 and 30 gallons."Just to give you an idea of how high the warm water comes up -- on me it's about waist high. If I want to fill the tub anymore, I would be filling it with cold water. "T he houses weren't cheap, I just, I never believed a builder would pull something like this, give you a bathtub you can't fill up.""I can tell you it meets all city codes."He's right, and that may be part of the problem. Code doesn't take tub size into consideration. "What is the use of the bathtub? This isn't a Jacuzzi tub that she chose, this is a soaking tub. So, it's not a hot -- it's not a spa, it's not a hot-tub, it's merely to get in to bathe."Kimball Hill sent Paula this letter saying that in their inspection of her home, the water heater functioned properly, but they added that she "may have lifestyle needs that the hot water system cannot fulfill, " and told her she should hire a plumber and put in a bigger water heater at her expense. Why won't they cough up the few extra bucks for a bigger one? It's not a simple fix. "We don't want to tear out walls, re-do gas lines, redo the plumbing in order to give you the proper size water heater for the house." And that's what it would take, because this nook was designed specifically for the 50-gallon heater -- meaning, Paula Johnson may be left in the cold... water, that is. Kimball Hill is now instructing its sales force to point out the option of a larger water heater for home buyers who purchase at an early enough stage in construction. They're also making it mandatory that if you add jets to your tub, you have to get a 75-gallon water heater. They're doing this to avoid problems like Paula Johnson's, in the future.

The Nevada State Contractors Board is also involved in this case. They sent Kimball Hill Homes a corrective action order to install an expansion tank for Paula Johnson's water heater. They did that yesterday, but it failed a city inspection today. The builder has until Monday to get it right.