Time frame for building a new home (Taylor, West: buyer, new construction)

[JimNY]

I am planning on having a new home built(approx 3500 s.f) by Ryland in the Falconhead area and wanted to know what was the total time from design center meeting till turnover/closing with new homeowner. I have heard six months from most of these developers, but reality says 8-9 months. Any thoughts.

[txlonghorn]

Hi JimNY

Ryland is also building our new home at Falconhead West. We are scheduled to close March of next year, so 8 to 9 months is a conservative estimate of how long it will take. I would imagine that since builders make their money at closing they have every incentive to get them completed sooner rather than later.

[MJinAustin]

Originally Posted by JimNY

I am planning on having a new home built(approx 3500 s.f) by Ryland in the Falconhead area and wanted to know what was the total time from design center meeting till turnover/closing with new homeowner. I have heard six months from most of these developers, but reality says 8-9 months. Any thoughts.

You are probably exactly correct. It's "possible" to build in 6 months, but it'll be more like 9 months. Both my best friend and I were told the same thing when we built new 10 years ago. It doesn't sound like things have changed. We signed in Jan and moved in Sept 15 and we had to push them to do that b/c we were getting married early Oct. They would have preferred to push it to Oct. This was with Newmark during the housing boom, so they were putting up houses as fast as they could. Friend built with Wilshire, signed in March, moved in Dec -also during the boom.

[woodinvilleguy]

They broke ground on our house in the first week in July and the finish date is Xmas eve.

Our builder is Drees. It will be interesting to see when they actually finish.

[jwb123]

Ryland is throwing up homes in less than 6 months in some areas.

[Claudette]

We had a home built by Taylor Morrison and they stuck to the 6 month time frame which they committed to when we signed the contract on the house. They broke ground in June and it was finished and in place by end of December. I guess it just depends on the builder.

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

A couple of points that I hope assists:

• Make sure you search on "home inspection" in the forum to get a good idea of the phases to inspect, and be aware of builder response/attitude
• We signed our contract 1/30, and moved in late August, so about 7 months.
• Go to the site as often as you can, take photos of everything, like wire runs, plumbing, etc. It is great to have photos, and you don't have to break any drywall to find something!
• Okay, this will sound bad, but we learned the hard way that our supervisor was not bi-lingual, make sure yours is.

[woodinvilleguy]

We are thinking of bringing cold drinks and cookies for the workers.... Did you do that? I was thinking that they might work a little harder and with more care if they are bribed. My wifes makes some pretty awesome cookies.

Or would breakfast tacos be better?

[jenkirk]

Ryland builds homes pretty fast. I would say 6 months from when you sign your contract. Some builders take longer, but Ryland (one of my favorite builders) does not mess around. Often they will move their estimated closing date up two months.

My parents just built a Ryland and it only took 5 months. They were supposed to close at the end of August, but they moved in June.

Good job on getting a Ryland. Everytime I get one inspected, the inspectors are always very impressed. On another note, it is a good idea to pay more for cable drops in their homes - they use so much insulation that the cable company often has to run lines outside of the home.

[austin-steve]

The last two (only two, actually) homes I built were completed from ground breaking to finsh in 4.5 and 9 months. The 9 month home should have been completed in 5 months, but we got delayed numerous times by all the rain we had summer of 2007.

Production builders should normally be able to hit 5-7 months with no problem, but 9 isn't unusual if there are any delays or if you create a bunch of change orders.

DO GET YOUR INSPECTIONS at minimum, right before sheetrock and insulation and again at final. I promise that things will be found that you don't want you future buyer using to negotiate the price down. I once sold an 8 year old house that had no insulation at all in half the attic. It simply never got finished and nobody ever noticed until it was sold. I can't think of anything more foolish that not getting phase inspections on new construction.

Steve