Comparison of Builders (Garland, Richardson, Allen: home builder, transferring to, buyers)

[charlie44]

Originally Posted by TexasNewbie

I have visited many houses by different builders. The builders impressed me the most are Drees and Toll Brothers. Darling and K Hovnanian are good but Drees is great. The bigger the houses, the more differences you will feel and see about the amount of detailed work Drees and Toll Brothers have put in.

Texas Newbie you are on target. Both Drees and Toll Brothers are top tier. When we moved here in 96 we spent a year looking at various builder homes before buying a Goodman, with which we have been reasonably pleased. Goodman was later purchased by K Hovnanian and quality of their work still appears to be good. While we were seeking a builder in 1996 we visited many Weekley homes, and were also impressed with them, but this past year after visiting new and existing Weekley homes in Castle Hills I find the design layouts to be very poor. There has possibly been a change in management.

[loves2read]

from what I understand---most tract builders have an onsite construction manager and maybe couple of foremen depending on how many houses/grading/utilities are being done at one time in a development---their job is to sell houses and to bring them in on or under budget so that they meet quotas set by regional offices---
I do think that Drees and some of the others are more aware of safety precautions--we have gone into many homes under construction while we have been looking--the only one we say with a temp railing around a staircase was in a Drees home--most of them are just open when the stairs are the unfinished/basic knocked together steps and there is no finished railing at that stage...
But remember most of these builders have a tremendous overhead and profit margin to satisfy--the idea that they sell more so only need to make a little is just not right---they want to sell more and make as much as they can on each one--so the price breaks they get by mass orders of cabinet hardware and similar doors and drawer slides and every other thing that goes into their homes goes to the BUILDER'S profit--not the buyer's side...

[allovertheplace]

Anyone know Which builder was it that got a bad press for foundation problems in Castle Hills?

[TriumphOfTheSprint]

Originally Posted by allovertheplace

Anyone know Which builder was it that got a bad press for foundation problems in Castle Hills?

Marsolek Designer Homes - they were building in the custom area, but they are long gone now.

[allovertheplace]

Any opinions on Landstar Homes? about the quality of their homes, workmanship, energy efficiency, etc.

[LOK222]

Originally Posted by allovertheplace

Any opinions on Landstar Homes? about the quality of their homes, workmanship, energy efficiency, etc.

I only know one persone personally that owns one and they love it,

we looked at them as well, fit and finish looked nice

[Ilong2bN10aC]

Avoid Ashton Woods homes like the plague. Three words of advice - MOLD! MOLD! MOLD!

[usc619]

Just stay away from drhorton and kb homes

[allovertheplace]

Looks like Landstar built homes in Castlehills a few years ago, they no longer build there. Any reviews on Landstar in CH?

[ladtech]

I am looking at builders in fate (woodcreekfate.com). The builders include David Weekly, Plantation, Horizon, and Drees. How would you compare these builders to each other?