which home builders should I NOT look at??

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I own a KB home and I like my house. It's not made out of spit and paper. It's all subjective, I say.

This is good to know. I know KB came a long way for lots of horror.
I never even knew Chandler Creek in Round Rock had issues w/ the KB homes there. From what I know.... they are stopped protest's there. I am NOT sure if they got KB to work with them or the residents bailed on their properties over there.

I know my grandma had a KB and she enjoyed it for the 6 years living in it w/ not a single lick of issues.

HomeOwners for Better Building - KBHome Complaints

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by jobert

oh, please.. There is nothing wrong with Standard Pacific. The few items I had were fixed promptly by the one year warranty - I don't even remember what they were outside of touch-up paint - they were that minor, seriously. As for options and aethetics, our neighborhood has about 10 floor plans, 3-4 elevation options, 12 types of stone, 15 types of brick. Give the option to mirror plans as well, so do the math: 10x3x27x2 - you have a 1:1620 odds of having a house in your neighborhood look like yours. That's nothing to blush at. What's considered "standard" on their houses aren't even offered by the companies mentioned below. Our house took 18 months to build, as we worked closely with the superintendant on the job, and never heard "no" or were brushed off. They did a lot more than they should have or could have. We even submitted our own drawings to them (civil) to be used on our lot, and they accepted them!

If you want complete shoddy construction, and you neighbor two doors down to have the identical house as yours, try KB, Newmark or Meritage.

Pfft. Standard Pacific is just another higher priced tract builder, I've seen their neighborhoods in Pflugerville and Round Rock. Just because there are ten different floorplans and different masonry, doesn't make it less cookie cutter.

And my neighbor two doors down does NOT have the same house as I do. In fact, there's only one of MY house in my neighborhood since we've modified the exterior. And you can't control who else happens to like your floorplan. Some are very popular.

Seriously, it's like some folks just want to bash other builders to make themselves feel good about their own. Funny thing is, people lump all new home subdivisions together as 'cookie cutter' be it Standard Pacific or anything else.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by Mike78613

This is good to know. I know KB came a long way for lots of horror.
I never even knew Chandler Creek in Round Rock had issues w/ the KB homes there. From what I know.... they are stopped protest's there. I am NOT sure if they got KB to work with them or the residents bailed on their properties over there.

I know my grandma had a KB and she enjoyed it for the 6 years living in it w/ not a single lick of issues.

HomeOwners for Better Building - KBHome Complaints

Settlements, I think. None of those people are still living in the homes. Can't comment about others, but I'm happy with my house. I'd never buy another new home again, but it isn't because my home is crap. I've been here 5 years and overall, I have pride in our house...especially given all the love we put into it.

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by riaelise

Settlements, I think. None of those people are still living in the homes. Can't comment about others, but I'm happy with my house. I'd never buy another new home again, but it isn't because my home is crap. I've been here 5 years and overall, I have pride in our house...especially given all the love we put into it.

So did you live in Chandlier Creek? Any idea on what kind / main issues they had? Just interesting b/c my cousin is looking @ one in S. Austin.
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[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Our neighborhood is a combination of builders. I was able to watch my house be built at the same time as my neighbors. Mine is a Drees, his is a Meritage.


What I noticed between the two were:

• The Meritage was built about 1.5 months faster.
• The Drees seemed to include a lot of fit and finish features that Meritage charged for. (example, automatic sprinkler system) They had a very high price for this.
• Our house appeared to have the exterior walls insulated and sealed better. (note: our house is an energy star house, his isn't)

I can't comment on warranty issues, we have had great service on the warranty so far. I'm unsure about my neighbors experience with warranty.

My other neighbor had Fredrick Harris (Newmark) build their house. That house was slapped together and the contruction material was just ground up and placed as fill under their 4" of dirt under their sod.

Hmm...very interesting. The other homes on our street are built by Drees and Highland homes as well as other custom builders (Tom Pitt, I believe). It would've been nice to have a reference point to compare against. Meritage is the last builder in Lake Forest, so we'll hope for the best. So far, so good...we think. We noticed a few conduits and things that were missing, but the construction supervisor said he'd take care of it. Thanks for the information....

[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Appendix to my post: I think Meritage can build a good house it all depends on the sub contractors and the building supervisor. I would hire an inspector that speciallizes in new construction that will inspect the house several times through the process.

I agree. Our construction supervisor seems to be pretty decent. He actually replaced another construction sup, and I think it worked out in our favor. The first construction supervisor denied a lot of change order requests, but our new construction sup pushed them through. He also addresses all of our concerns. So far, so good.

[Mrs.JT]

Originally Posted by Mike78613

Don't do that and loose your $$$

There are interesting websites that even knock DREES and some of the best builders out there. People honesty just plain out cry babies!
With the housing crash that happened a lot that had lot into their homes were drawn from the house crash and so they complain online and even some dared the Home Builders to buy back their homes for what they paid.

My personal opionion is to HIRE A PRIVATE INSPECTOR and have him walk through the building process from the ground up!

A home builder is just the name, but its the contractors THEY (HB's use) that are the problem. Now you can depend on the HB's foreman, but I would not. I say "HIRE A PRIVATE INSPECTOR ".

Good luck on your dream home.

True, true...but it seems like there are 100 Meritage complaints to every 1 Drees complaint. But all is good. We thought this would be our last house, butttt...we might have room for one more move if we aren't 100% happy. Nevertheless, the neighborhood is great...