New Home Builders (Colorado Springs, Gold Hill: neighborhood, buying, club)

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by abcdefg567

We currently have a 7 year old Challenger home, and previously had an new build Aspen View and a 2003 Classic. They're all more or less the same on the lower end. Century, Oakwood....take your pick.

All have had their own irritations/issues/quirks. Classic had some electrical thing going on and some other minor annoyances with HVAC and water pressure even after new pressure regulators and water heater, and all new faucets and some connector pvc pipes. Aspen View swayed in the wind and the siding would bang against the house. Challenger our porch had to be lifted due to drain placement, granite backing cracked, some other surprises.

In the Classic home, all of the light switches would crackle and flicker when you'd touch them. The garage light would turn on/off at will, and the garage might open on it's own. Lights would buzz while on too. We had it looked at by an electrician who said it was, "cheaply done." Probably by someone who didn't know what they were doing .....no real fix. Seemed odd for a 15 year old home.....I've lived in homes from 1950 that didn't have that affliction.


We live East of Powers and noticed some cracks in our slab after nearby blasting for new home sites. We had a foundation specialist out who measured and assured us they're just cosmetic, it would be almost impossible for real damage. He said avoid anything west of I-25 or around Palmer park (or at least be super careful.)

Banning Lewis Ranch has a new 55+ community you might be interested in. I believe it's exclusively being built by Oakwood.

There's lots of paired and patio homes bring built all over that I believe are geared towards the older/low maintenance crowd.

Wow. Isn't one of the selling points of a new house supposed to be that you "don't have to worry about it"?

I have a bias toward older homes, but even I wouldn't have guessed issues like this (swaying in the wind?!) were happening on new builds.

[Vision67]

Soaring material costs create sticker shock for Colorado Springs homeowners, builders and contractors

https://gazette.com/premium/soaring-...60a83cc0c.html

"Skyrocketing building material costs over the last year — particularly for lumber — have fueled price hikes of tens of thousands of dollars for houses, apartments, stores, office buildings and hotels, along with do-it-yourself projects for weekend warriors, Colorado Springs-area construction industry experts say.

At Vanguard Homes in the Springs, prices spiked an average of $80,000 per house from July 2020 to February of this year, said owner and president Mark Long.

Higher costs for land, labor and insurance are part of that figure, but lumber alone added $26,000 — nearly one-third of the $80,000 increase, Long said."

"The combination of a lack of supply and heightened demand sent lumber prices sky high, industry experts say. Meanwhile, prices for concrete, drywall, tile, shingles and wood-reliant doors, windows and cabinets have soared as well.

The result: sticker shock for builders, contractors and, ultimately, consumers.

"The homeowner takes a look at these new estimates and their jaws drop, rightfully so," said Greg Wickham, owner of Wickham's Workbench, a longtime Colorado Springs contractor and remodeler."

[Vision67]

El Paso County commissioners authorize addition of more than 1,200 homes near Security-Widefield

https://gazette.com/news/el-paso-cou...4a6aeb4f8.html

"Plans to add more than 1,200 homes in the Waterview North development near Security-Widefield are going forward.

The El Paso County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a request by owner CPR Entitlements LLC to reduce the amount of industrial land previously approved in the 681-acre development’s plan by about 53 acres and commercial land by 16 acres. The zoning change adds 1,260 more single-family and multi-family units on 74 acres within the development at the northeast corner of Bradley Road and Powers Boulevard, planning documents show."

[abcdefg567]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

Wow. Isn't one of the selling points of a new house supposed to be that you "don't have to worry about it"?

I have a bias toward older homes, but even I wouldn't have guessed issues like this (swaying in the wind?!) were happening on new builds.

Haha, right? It was only noticeable on the second floor, but it was akin to being at the top of Sears Tower. They said it was, "normal," and just because the houses were long and close together. No thanks. Supposedly they were going to send someone to look at the siding, but that never happened either. It was funny, one of our Spanish speaking neighbors came outside after a windy day and was like, "I guess they didn't build the houses too good, no?"



More recently the stone veneer began to fall off our current house...obviously we'll put it back up, but really?

[Vision67]

Residents say newly built luxury neighborhood in Briargate is sinking

https://krdo.com/news/2021/07/21/res...te-is-sinking/

"After the emergence of a sinkhole earlier this week in the Briargate neighborhood of Colorado Springs, multiple residents in a nearby recently-built subdivision tell 13 Investigates the sinkhole wasn't the only problem.

“We loved the neighborhood,” said Jason Duffy Langeland, who moved into the Cordera neighborhood in December 2018. “We thought it was the place to build in Colorado Springs, the aesthetic of the homes and how beautiful they were. It was really exciting.”

However, as soon as he moved into his new home, Langeland says problems began to emerge, including the sinking of sidewalks, roads and even parts of his own home that began dipping into the earth. Langeland also tells 13 Investigates repairs from the developers, La Plata Communities, have been inconsistent.

“The streets are randomly repaired and it looks like a bunch of patchwork," the Cordera homeowner said.

Uneven sidewalks can be seen all over the Cordera neighborhood as the concrete slabs have started sinking into the ground. "

[Hebrews12]

Originally Posted by abcdefg567

We had a foundation specialist out who measured and assured us they're just cosmetic, it would be almost impossible for real damage. He said avoid anything west of I-25 or around Palmer park (or at least be super careful.)

Avoid anything west of I-25? Wow, that's a pretty strong statement by the foundation specialist and quite worrisome to me as someone looking to buy a house in COS next year. That eliminates a whole lotta property. Could you elaborate?

[orngkat]

After a horrible experience with a new build, we switched to carefully evaluating and buying older homes whose issues, if any, have been discovered along the way. I was told by a neighbor that there are several older neighborhoods that were built atop landfills. She mentioned Village Seven.

[pej7445]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Here is a mapping site that shows the risky areas for landslides, subsidence and other hazards.

This website is GOLD!! Thank you for sharing!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by pej7445

This website is GOLD!! Thank you for sharing!

Glad to. I think I found one of the old coal mines located on Pirate Heights just off of Hancock Ave. Zoom in on that odd round concrete cap and the metal poles surrounding it. Then there are the short white pipes projecting out of the ground which might be vents for methane gas that mines often leak. Not sure what that's all about but the mapping shows a coal mine was there years ago.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

. . . I have a bias toward older homes, but even I wouldn't have guessed issues like this (swaying in the wind?!) were happening on new builds.

That brings back a memory . . . I had an acquaintance who lived in or near Northgate Highlands (Voyager Pkwy and North Gate Blvd). She told me the windows were so poorly installed that on at least one home the window simply fell out in a high wind and many homes had awful air leaks from loosely fitted windows. She told me the builder had to replace all the windows in the community as well as reshingle the roofs since they only used 3 nails per shingle whereas the code calls for 5 nails per shingle due to the heavy wind loads in the region. U.S.Home was one of the builders in there, not sure they are the builder my acquaintance was speaking of.