Talk me in to .. or out of .. building a house?

[dotgirl]

We've decided to buy a house, hopefully with a move-in date of Summer 2007. DH is pretty sure he'd like to go for a planned community and do new home construction.

At this point, I'm interested in the idea, but would like to hear from people who have done this (or considered it). What things do you wish you'd known in advance? What issues have you encountered? How long did it take? And if you live in the Pacific NorthWest, what builder did you use?

Thanks!

[lilycat88]

DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT!
Make sure you write down every question and answer and who you spoke with as well as what date and time.

We love the fact that we have a "new" house but probably won't build again. We'll probably go with a "newer" home with some of the kinks worked out. We didn't have any major "construction" issues other than having to constantly remind the construction manager of promises he made to fix something. They eventually got done but I HATED having to keep my finger on every little issue.

Also, the biggest thing I hated about new construction is the yard issue. Most new home developers put sod in the front and seed the back yard. That SUCKS! Our grading was horrible and they didn't put any topsoil down so our "yard" consists of a thin layer of dirt over construction debris. We've been in our house almost 4 years and last summer was the first time we had decent grass in the back yard. That was only because we gave up and called in a yard company to aerate, overseed, and treat the weeds. So, unless you are planning on sodding the entire lot, don't count on having a decent back yard for quite some time. Even then, if you're moving in during the heat of the summer, keeping sod alive is going to be a lot of work and watering.

[dotgirl]

This is good to know. I told DH that I'm planning to have the entire front yard landscaped to my liking after we move in, but he has some things he wants for the backyard.

Thank you!

[almostamom]

We had our home built in a planned community. It went increcibly well. Our builder has a website where you can check the daily status of your home. We were told it would take 6 months and it did (to the day!) We had one glitch - we had ordered Silestone counters but they were stuck in CA somewhere due to the dock workers' strike (this was 3 years ago). The builder offered to give us granite slab instead -- ummm, OKAY! :) We were given access to the house whenever we wanted. My biggest regret is that we didn't upgrade our carpet enough and we really should replace it now. I wish we had either not upgraded at all, ripped it out when we closed and put in something much better or upgraded a lot with the builder. Other than that, there are little things I wish we had done - ceiling fan on the patio, a few more under-cabinet lights, etc. but nothing major. Our builder gives the buyer/owner a walk through before we closed, 90 days after we closed, and 1 year after we closed.

~Linda~
DS 11/9/04

[dotgirl]

Would you mind telling me (you can PM if you want) what builder you went through?

[goodnightmoon]

I would love to know the builder name, too, if you don't mind. :)

Thank you!

Laura
mommy to Eva Marie 2/16/05

[almostamom]

We used Del Webb. We actually were thinking about building a larger home and would absolutely build with Del Webb again.


~Linda~
DS 11/9/04

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Checkout Thathomesite.com under the building a home category. More
info there than you would ever want to know. I think one of the biggest most devastating mistakes people make when building a home is not knowing how to flash a window properly. Many builders take short cuts on this and the results can be disasterous. It is good to have knowledge of housewrap and flashing installation so you can see that the builder has done it correctly. Also, I would absolutely hire an independent building inspector to check the house at certain critical times, framing, electrical at the least. City inspectors will usually do a bare minimum and they are obviously not liable for anything they miss. We had one inspection on the house I was the general contractor on where the inspector just drove by, did not even come into the house. I would absolutely talk to the people living in the existing neighborhood that you are considering and ask them about the experience with the builder. Do not trust the BBB info, builders change names all the time so people will not have ready access to complaints. Good luck to you.


#1 Nick 11-18-04
#2 ETA 05-22-06

[jasabo]

We're just finishing having our third house built, so we're getting to be experts. I'm hoping we stay here for a while though, b/c I'm "built out" ;) This will be our fourth move since 2001.

Anyway, it's a really fun process initially when you're picking out your design center stuff, but the wait is hard. At least it is for me b/c I have no patience. It's so hard to go see it every weekend and find that nothing has changed since the weekend before. So prepare yourself for that.

Other things that we've learned:
1. Find a good independent home inspector and have him inspect a few times. We usually do pre-drywall and pre-final punch. It's WELL worth the money. I've known people who's inspectors have found MAJOR problems.

2. You'll hear good and bad stories about every builder out there. Our last house was Pulte. We had no major problems with our house, but other people in our neighborhood had lots of problems, some pretty bad. When we bought this house (Shea is our builder), I'd have people tell me horrible stories about what friends, or friends of friends went through with Shea homes. However, I've talked to tons of people in this development of a couple thousand homes (it's a big development), and have yet to meet anyone who's had major problems. They've all been very happy with the building process and their home. I'm sure there are people who aren't, but I haven't met any yet. My point is - don't let people's horror stories sway you from a builder. I'd talk to people in the development you're considering b/c the builder is probably using the same subcontractors for your house, but take it all with a grain of salt.

3. Factor +/- a few months into your finish date. Our last hous was finished the month we were told initially. This house has taken OVER a year - we were told around 8 months. Our first house was finished a little earlier then we were told initially. So have contingency plans if it's not done in time, plan ahead for selling your current house, etc. We sold our last house too soon to swing a direct move into this house, so we're now living in a rental house - 2 moves in a 4 month period is NOT fun!

4. Upgrade kitchen and bathrooms as much as you can afford, but don't overdue it (ie, don't get marble floors in a $200K townhouse). We always try to have a great house, but not the best house in the neighborhood. But we always consider resale when buying b/c we move so often. Also, with resale, we always go with more neutral colors. I know beige is cliche, but if you think you may move anytime before your carpet wears out and needs to be replaced, go with neutrals. When looking at resales before we bought this new place, I saw some completely horrid carpet and tile colors. I'm as big a fan of lavender as the next guy, but I do NOT want lavendar carpet in my family room :)

5. We build as much as we can into our mortgage. I know your first inclination is to do as much yourself as you can b/c the design center overprices everything. But when you factor in time and effort, and the fact that you have to pay cash for eveyrthing you do yourself, it balances out IMO. We get all our window coverings through the design center, have everything pre-wired for security, lots of phone and cable hook-ups, etc., and if they do interior paint, we do that too. Pulte let us chose from a few different colors in our last house, which was great. In the house we're building now, they'll only do white which means we have to have painters come after we close and I'm not looking forward to that.

6. The biggest thing - have fun and keep your sense of humor. It can be stressful, but it's a great experience and so exciting to pick out your new cabinets, flooring, etc., then see it all come together.

Also, another great thing about a new build is that you're moving into a new neighborhood where no one knows each other so it's really easy to meet people.

Sorry to long :) Have fun!

Lisa - mom to 2 1/2 yr old twin boys

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

"My point is - don't let people's horror stories sway you from a builder. I'd talk to people in the development you're considering b/c the builder is probably using the same subcontractors for your house, but take it all with a grain of salt."

Respectfully, I could not disagree with this more. IMHO the best insight you have to a builder are people who have lived in his finished homes and been through the process with him.



Susan

#1 Nick 11-18-04
#2 ETA 05-22-06

[dotgirl]

That was a great site! Thank you very much for the input.

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

You are most welcome dotgirl.

Susan

#1 Nick 11-18-04
#2 ETA 05-22-06

[jasabo]

>"My point is - don't let people's horror stories sway you
>from a builder. I'd talk to people in the development you're
>considering b/c the builder is probably using the same
>subcontractors for your house, but take it all with a grain of
>salt."
>
>Respectfully, I could not disagree with this more. IMHO the
>best insight you have to a builder are people who have lived
>in his finished homes and been through the process with him.
>


That's exactly my point. Perhaps I didn't word it correctly. I did suggest that she talk to people in the development, who've lived in their finished homes and been through the process with him. That's why I said "talk to people in the development you're considering b/c the builder is probably using the same subcontractors for your house..."

What I may not have conveyed clearly was that, for every horror story you hear, you may hear a very successful story. Likewise, you're only hearing THEIR side of the story - often times, people will not be completely forthcoming with all the facts or they'll exaggerate them so you're not getting the big picture, hence my comment "take it all with a grain of salt."

I'm very good friends with someone who worked for the building company who built our old development. I've talked to people who'd complained of "major" issues with their house, then heard his side of the story only to learn the story was more involved. Of course I don't know which story is completely true, is why I take both stories with a grain of salt.

Also, a lot depends on the subcontractors, who are different in every development. Likewise, companies vary within themselves. Pulte owns Del Webb. Del Webb built a large development in this area and so many people had problems with their houses that a class action suit was being considered. However, I have a friend in that same development who hasn't had a single problem with her house. Likewise, we owned a Pulte house and had no problems with it. However, if I'd have made my decision based solely on the fact that people were unhappy with Del Webb, we'd never have bought a fabulous house b/c it was being built by the company that owns Del Webb. You'd be hard pressed to find a builder who's had no complaints about their houses. Which makes it even more important to hire your own inspectors and stay involved in the building process, no matter who you use.

I think that we both agree that you should talk to people who have lived in the homes. However, I don't think it's wise to judge a builder solely on a few anecdotes from a few people you've talked to....IMHO.

Lisa - mom to 2 1/2 yr old twin boys

[urquie]

we love living in our planned community! we have a quadrant home in the seattle area. i don't "love" quadrant, but i have to admit they are doing a great job of taking care of some big leaking problems we are having right now... even though our home warranty expired almost four years ago.

my advice -
- document EVERYTHING!!!! (i never use caps!)

- check out any and all model homes you can and drive through the neighborhoods. we went to all the model homes that quadrant had in the puget sound area. it is great to see all the different options in real life - you just can't get a good feel for some of the options when the sample size is so small. we even found bricks on a house that was not displayed at the home design center. we would have never known to request them for our house!

- talk to the people living in the neighborhoods and ask them if they would do it all over again and what they would do differently. we learned from other residents that it would be much cheaper to hirer our own people to do the fencing.

- do NOT sign off on your house until they have done every finishing touch and fixed every single little problem. we thought we were so careful with this. spent hours in the house before closing and made notes on everything that needed a bit of fixing. as we did the final walk through they made notes of the last minute fixes and one of the guys started sealing some cracks. so he was fixing while we were signing off. soon i realized that he "finished" his job right after we signed off, however he did not fix all the cracks! as a side note- throughout the whole process i used blue painters tape to mark areas that i thought needed more attention/repair (the same stuff they used for the same reason :))

i would definitely do it all over again... and if i could afford a higher-end builder i would go with them.

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

ITA, however you originally said to take horror stories with a grain of salt, not "don't judge a builder based on a few anecdotes."That was what I was responding to.

Of course there are two sides to every story, always are, but consumers are notoriously unaware of what goes into the building process. I am speaking of what it takes to make a house structurally sound, energy efficient, the important things, not the choosing of granite, paint and other fun things.

A bad builder will most likely go on his merry way to build many more homes while the homeowner may be stuck with thousands of dollars in legal cost to remedy the builders mistakes, if he even has the money left to begin litigation.




Susan

#1 Nick 11-18-04
#2 ETA 05-22-06