Any experience with CastleRock Home Builders?

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The difference in finishes between a $450K DR Horton home and a $160K DR Horton entry level home is obvious to anyone that looks at one. A lot of people won't look at all after they walk an entry level model/neighborhood. Same for KB, Lennar, etc. They CAN build a good product, but also know how to save a buck to hit a price point.

Even with custom/semi custom builds, the finished product is only as good as the guy/gal following up behind the trades and fixing problems before they get covered up. Getting things put right after the fact is another story. Plenty of DR Horton, KB, Lennar, etc. 'customer service' nightmares out there for the reading.

[10scoachrick]

Or as I explained to one home shopper, "DRHorton is still building plenty of $200K homes...but you have to pay $360K to get one".

I can't believe there are DRHorton homes pushing $400K(well out of the central city) and the so-called two-car garage is ONE foot wider than the garage door. Forget about Texas pick-up trucks, you can't open doors on both sides of a Honda Accord!!! This can't be fixed by proper construction quality, this is an idiotic design flaw. Once the slab is poured, it's over for any potential home buyer who doesn't want to park in the extremely short driveway approach or on the street.

And I guess a new trend is the wavy pattern in the HardiPlank siding as it follows the mis-alignment of the exterior walls...quite the artistic element !! Try getting THAT fixed on a call-back.

[SymmetryX]

[quote=sheaday;29447711]We've been looking at a couple communities with CastleRock homes. I'm not finding many reviews (good or bad) about the builder and homeowner experiences in Austin. Does anyone have any feedback or currently under contract with them?


Worst experience!!!! We bought our CR home in Buda, Texas. Customer service was great, up until my husband and I noticed some discrepancies with the home. When we'd come to see the home from time to time, the workers treated the surroundings of the home and inside of the home like a trash dump! Beer cans, food, water bottles etc all over the place! I get that it's a construction site but come on! It's about to be someone's home! Pick up after yourselves! The worst thing is to see your jacuzzi tub be used as a trash can and toilet. Came by the home and picked up the trash out of the tub to find my fingers wet smelled a funny odor from the trash, ended up being urine!!!!!! Somebody urinated in the tub! I was furious! Let the sales person know about it, and told her that it was unacceptable! When there are portables outside! Why pee in my tub! I am paying a lot of money. I wanted them to replace the tub, But they would not accommodate me at all about that. The salesperson just told me all they would do was give it a good cleaning. Seriously? It's about the principle here! You guys sell a bunch of homes, and you can't just appease the customer and make them happy for there big investment? If a consumer is not happy with thier purchase, a great company will do thier best to accommodate them by replacement, or refund. But of course not! It's all about greed, and nickels and dimes here!

The other male salesperson tells me it's a construction site, you aren't the first and won't be the last. These things happen all the time. We can't babysit these workers 24-7. It must have been the painters they were too lazy and used your tub as a toilet, Umm wrong answer! It's all up to you guys as a whole company to oversee what is going on with your customer on any concern or complaint that has arisen! The contractor at the time, was supposed to be the one responsible for the crews and making sure they are doing what they are supposed to. It was like one ear out the other with this guy! Nothing was done about any concerns we had, and it was taking forever to complete our home in time for closing. We get a hold of his supervisor who was unhelpful, rude and lacked any sort of customer service skills, and had gotten nowhere with him!

Ends up the original contractor gets let go in the process of our closing with issues still in our home not yet fixed or completed. Our closing kept on getting set back, and it took two extra months! Called corporate office, and it fizzles from there! Everyone seems schooled to give you excuses, not taking any responsibility for any action! Spoke to the district manager over the contractors and told
Him that we had already told our apartment complex we were moving on this date, and we had a specific time to move out. So now the delay of the closing will have our family needing to stay at a motel until they are done with closing, so money out of our pocket for thier screw up! He would not reimburse us at all!!! He seemed to have every answer and excuse in the book to give to me! Like he has heard this all before! Terrible customer Service! No satisfaction for consumer with
This builder! It seems they have all thier ducks in a row when it comes to customer complaint

The communication or lack there of with everyone in this company was terrible! They finally got this other contractor who managed to get things done quickly for our close, but wasn't much help afterwards either when we needed our keys and door knob replaced so we could get into our home from the front door. We were trying to hunt this guy down to find out, he left for vacation! Finally we see him back on site, but only concerned about the damn house next to us that they needed to sell to get thier money back!
So again, we end up waiting for our locks and keys to be done. Again on thier time! I wanted to kick myself to have left a good review for this guy! I was hoping atleast one person in this company would have been legit! I personally work in the customer service retail industry and would NEVER treat my customers with disservice, disrespect, and just leave them hanging in hopelessness and aggravation!

Please!! Any home buyers about to purchase a home from the ground up, need to know if they're closing is a "flexible closing" if so, be wary of this! This means the builders have the ball in thier court, and have the power legally to tell you when they are ready to close. The buyer cannot do anything about it! Which sucks to no end! Home Buyers Beware! Do your research on new home build companies!
Make your home buying experience a happy one! By choosing wisely!