experiences with Lennar builders? (Broomfield: crime, broker, how much)

[coloshell]

We are moving into a new home we purchased from Lennar that is due to close in June. I have read some interesting stuff on the internet that is frankly making me a bit nervous about Lennar. Are there any other Lennar homeowners who would share their experiences with Lennar in CO?

[TinajaCo]

We just had a recent experience, and we were very impressed with Lennar.
The house we live in was built in 1998 by a Colorado-based builder (not Lennar). Although we liked the house there were some issues we had (such as quality of craftsmanship) that we felt the builder should fix. And the builder of our house was very difficult to work with-- they dragged their feet every time we had an issue. And sometimes the issues weren't small-- for instance we had to have our entire banister to the second floor replaced because it looked horrible (long story there), and it took over a year for them to finally replace it. So that was always a headache. Anyway a few years ago, Lennar bought out the builder of our house.
Well, recently we noticed a couple divots in the floor that had developed under our carpet. We pulled the carpet back and found that, when they built the house, small holes had been drilled to put in wiring, plumbing, etc when finishing things up before we closed. But instead of properly supporting and patching the holes, they simply glued the wood back into place, and over the years the pieces came out, leading to the divots in the floor. We felt this was a construction issue that should be fixed by the builder. Since our original builder had bought out by Lennar, we called Lennar about the problem. Within three days they sent a person to our house-- that was last Thursday. He said he would have that fixed as soon as possible. Today they came and repaired the floor, no questions asked. So I don't know about Lennar's construction, since our house was not built by them (although the same floorplan is now being built by Lennar) but as far as follow-up and customer services goes we were very impressed. I hope that service is indicative of their building quality

[coloshell]

thanks for the positive feedback. It is a bit nerve wracking signing all those pages in the builder's intent to purchase contract and i started to get a small case of cold feet.

[froggin4colorado]

I am finding that A LOT of new home builders are not building quality homes these days, despite the price of your home. One of my friends' home didn't have the roof sealed to the home. When the first snow storm hit, they had clumps of snow sliding down the walls of their home- seriously. Another friend- their backyard started looking like teletubbie land because of the poor compaction of the dirt. Another friend- her basement cracked, the whole foundation! Another friend- her foundation cracked under part of her house. They had to dig under the house, prop it up, and redo the foundation. Another friend- the builder failed to hook up the laundry vent (dryer) properly and for a long time, it vented into the attic. At this moment, they are having to vacate their home so the roof can be torn off, have some wood scrubbed for mold issues, and then a new roof/attic will be laid. Another friend- 2 of her windows fell out (not broke) when we had some high winds.
Good luck!! With all prayers, GOOD LUCK!!

[2bindenver]

get your new house inspected by a ASHI certified inspetor or call in the big guns...a licensed (by the state) building engineer.

[Mike from back east]

There are some homes up off North Gate Road, near Voyager Pkwy, where the roofer used by the builder(s) only applied roofing shingles with 3 nails, not the 5 nails required by CO Code, due to the winds here. Most of those roofs had to be redone. Same subdivision had big issues with the windows and many homes have had their windows replaced. Not uncommon to see homes with scaffolding up as the windows are replaced.

We built a new home from scratch, up here in the Pine Creek HS area off of Ranch Road. Used a buyer's broker who also specializes in new homes. She knows all the builders, has for years. Made sure we knew who the better builders were and that we saw many model homes. Warned us about which builders had so-so reputations. Stayed with us every step of the way, almost a full year's effort on her part (Jan-Nov 2005). Cost us nothing extra to use her. I came by each week and took tons of pix, too. After 18 months, not a single problem beyond a tiny paint scratch or dent.

Home shoppers: All model homes look great, fully tricked out and staged. Get a good realtor, they cost nothing extra. Check the facts about the builders carefully, about the area, about the soils. There are postings here in the CO forums on all these, use the Search this Forum tool with single or multiple keywords such as: expansive bentonite soil soils builder builders choosing selecting realtor realtors walkable school schools crime weather snow wind pizza mexican italian bison buffalo horse horses land .........

s/Mike from back east

[tfox]

Originally Posted by coloshell

thanks for the positive feedback. It is a bit nerve wracking signing all those pages in the builder's intent to purchase contract and i started to get a small case of cold feet.

FYI... there is a bill H.B. 1338 on Governor Ritter's desk today making it illegal for the builder to force you to sign all your rights away -- however I don't know that the the bill is retroactive to to documents already signed. If it passes, you may want to re-negotiate what you are signing.

It has apparently been standard practice for builders to force you to sign away your rights to seek compensation for faulty or shoddy building practices. This bill, if passed, would take that away, as well as make it easier to sue for damages for construction defects.

In many ways, the bill is a bit strong in this area against the builders, possibly too much so. However, I think the general consensus is that the builders have been abusing the current system, so the state is forced to put the hammer down on them so to speak.

[Vision67]

I used to work with a building inspector and we inspected many new homes with defects. Too many builders just go with the lowest bidding sub. Too many workers have little or no training, and the quality suffers.

My advice: Hire an ASHE certified building inspector. Make sure he gets there before sheetrock so he can see what's in the walls.

The $300 or so will be money well spent.

[mo1416]

My wife and I are closing on a new Lennar home in Broomfield in 2 weeks. We wanted new construction so we did more research than I know what to do with on individual builders and different neighborhoods and we were comfortable with them.

[New England Yankee]

I just was reading how much money Lennar has lost,the article said he is telling his contractors to lower their fees or he won't work with them.
Also a couple wrote a non flattering piece in Ripoff about their Texas Lennar home,with a cracked slab,which they said Lennar knew about when they sold them the house.
The had an awful time resolving the issue.

I have always thought Lennar was an excellent company,been in business since 1956.
Yet in these times of the Building slump who knows what goes.

We have just bought a new home in Florida,not Lennar,though he was on our list.

Anyway fingers croseed