San Marcos KB homes (Kyle, Hays: sales, house, neighborhoods)

[Littlbit12]

I know I have heard different things about KB homes in general, but my husband and I were thinking of buying a KB home in San marcos East of I35. Does anyone have any opinions on this?? I like the area, but heard they are having foundation problems. Is this true???

[achtungpv]

I would never buy anything east of I-35 in Hays County.

[Mike78613]

Run away from KB

HomeOwners for Better Building - KBHomeSucks is not forgotten

[HarmonyMarotz]

Unfortunately KB homes has developed a bad reputation. Do you have a realtor? You should a they can help you with info on the big builders and the builder will pay their commission. I agree with the previous post, you need to be careful when you build/buy anything east of I-35 due to the topography.

[Chris2000]

We are building a home a little north of San Marcos in the town of Kyle. We had stopped at some KB homes and they looked nice. The problem we found is that the prices on the house aren't accurate whatsoever. We saw one that was around 2700 sf and it was selling for around $180. We went threw the model and it looked really nice. One thing that we thought was strange was that in the model the whole first floor had linoleum, But we thought whatever for $180 we just upgrade it no big deal. We then sat down with the sales agent and asked the price of the model. I almost died when she said it was $240. That $180 buys you an empty shell with basically nothing at all inside the home. And all the energy kudos they give themselves are considered big money upgrades.
So we ended up going with Pulte as a builder (who we've built with before and been very very happy) And got a larger house on a larger lot with twice as much stuff for Ten Thousand dollars less the the empty Shell cost.
That is my only experience with KB. I cant say the construction quality isn't great, Cause I just don't know. I can say that they Nickel and Dime you to DEATH.
Chris2000

[Camisis]

I'm in Florida building a KB Home but found this thread when I ran a search. I did a lot of research and it looks like in the years past, KB had a lot of things happen with their homes. It appears that things have improved over the past 18 months with them. I can't say for sure, of course.

But I do agree with the PP, they DEFINITELY nickel and dime you to death. But I love the home that we're building. KB's look is completely different from the traditional Florida home and I'm really excited about it. We got a nice lot, especially compared to the amount of land you get around here, it's one of the few neighborhoods that actually preserved the gorgeous, original trees.

So I would go with the overall feel of everything combined. And decide what is more important to you. Definitely expect to pay a chunk more if you want any upgrades at all. Nothing is included.

[IC_deLight]

Construction Defect Help - Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings

[Chris2000]

You know all builders have issues. They subcontract out all the work on the homes, So its bound to happen. They key is getting YOUR OWN inspector. The builder may tell you that they have their own RD party inspector, and of course the city inspector. Fact is if you don't bring in your own inspector threw the entire process of the home being built you are asking for real trouble.
We brought out an inspector every Two weeks from the first day they started pouring the foundation. I can say for sure he found some problems along the way, But because we caught them right away we sent the report to the builder and they were taken care of right away. Then just to be safe, we would send the inspector back out to make sure the problems really were fixed. It sounds like alot of trouble, but its actually very easy. It did cost us about $1500 dollars total and I think it was BEYOND worth it to know our home is the best built home it possibly could be.
Chris2000