Pulte Homes - Waterford Parks, Allen - TX (Frisco, Howe: attorneys, house)

[roseball123]

I am inclining towards purchasing a new Pulte home in Waterford Parks community in Allen.

Appreciate any feedback on Pulte and the location.

[skids929]

Nice neighborhood, crappy builder.

[roseball123]

I have got mixed reviews on Pulte. I know people who live in and love their Pulte home and I have also read tons of bad press online. If I plan to sign a contract on a to-be-built home, is there anything I can do to make sure that I am getting a quality home built (like hiring someone to do periodic checking on the house while its being built). I really like the neighborhood and the location and its well within our budget, but want to make sure I wont run into major issues with the house.

[nsumner]

Pulte can be very difficult to work with once you have a signed contract. I mean if you want to change anything, there is a cost involved and it's not cheap. You have to have your ducks in a row before you sign the contract. Get all the quotes for the upgrades beforehand and insist on a trip to the design center.

You can hire an inspector that will keep track of the construction at different stages. It usually runs about 1K. They attend the meetings with the builder too. These type of inspectors are not structural engineers so they won't be able to tell you if the slab was poored properly. Keep in mind that there are also city inspections too. Allen's inspectors are pretty good but not as strict as the city inspectors of Frisco.

Naima

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by roseball123

I have got mixed reviews on Pulte. I know people who live in and love their Pulte home and I have also read tons of bad press online. If I plan to sign a contract on a to-be-built home, is there anything I can do to make sure that I am getting a quality home built (like hiring someone to do periodic checking on the house while its being built). I really like the neighborhood and the location and its well within our budget, but want to make sure I wont run into major issues with the house.

Hello roseball123,

You can hire a professional Inspector to perform phase inspections on your home as it is built. These inspections can start at the foundation pre-pour stage and can encompass as many stages or points of inspection that you choose. The cost of these inspections will vary between Inspectors, and depending on how many stages or points will cost above $1000 when you hire a good Inspector. Be very careful about price shopping for Inspectors as that causes to many problems with buyers.

A licensed Professional Inspector can perform the pre-pour foundation inspection and can tell you as much as a licensed Professional Engineer can. However I do recommend that you consider having a licensed Professional Engineer perform the foundation pre-pour inspection, and then follow it up with an engineering report regarding the foundation levelness using a special type of altimeter to map the slabs surface. The licensed Professional Inspector can then perform the remaining inspections at a lesser cost than using a licensed Professional Engineer. Any good Professional Engineer is going to charge what they are worth and that is certainly not cheap. The remaining phase inspections, if performed properly, will take time and a good Engineer's fees can be very expensive to perform these.

The reason I recommend the Engineer for the pre and post pour inspections are previous experiences, with one very recent one that has not turned out well. In the recent case the buyer chose not to have any inspections until the framing was already completed and the home mostly "dried in" (the point where all windows/doors and exterior wall claddings installed). This is a very large home and the slab itself had been improperly formed and poured from the original foundation plan. The framer just framed over the error and the builder blessed it and the local Building Inspector did not even see it. Once the problem was found the builder brought in THEIR own Engineer who blessed the planned correction which is not an acceptable building practice. As long as the Engineer blesses the correction the local Building Inspections will take their word for it and bless the correction for the problem they did not even see.

The foundation is a highly important part of the building process with errors here that can significantly affect the remainder of the building. If there is an error here then it is better to have it corrected immediately before framing even starts! If there is going to be any difficulties working with the builder to correct errors at the foundation stage then let a licensed Professional Engineer, that you have hired, do the arguing for you! Since the local Building Inspections Department will take the word of the Engineer over the builder's then it is well worth hiring the Engineer for this stage of the process.

The local Building Inspections Department does not have the manpower to devote the time to perform the extensive reviews that a good Licensed Professional Inspector is being paid by you to perform. If the Inspector is good and finds only minor issues during the build process then good for you. However it only takes one significant error found for you to see how valuable their services can be. On the example I just provided the foundation pouring error was not the only significant error found!

Good luck on the build and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

[skids929]

Originally Posted by nsumner

Pulte can be very difficult to work with once you have a signed contract. I mean if you want to change anything, there is a cost involved and it's not cheap. You have to have your ducks in a row before you sign the contract. Get all the quotes for the upgrades beforehand and insist on a trip to the design center.

You can hire an inspector that will keep track of the construction at different stages. It usually runs about 1K. They attend the meetings with the builder too. These type of inspectors are not structural engineers so they won't be able to tell you if the slab was poored properly. Keep in mind that there are also city inspections too. Allen's inspectors are pretty good but not as strict as the city inspectors of Frisco.

Naima

great advice, I will keep this in mind if I ever build new with any builder.

[Moorhen3]

Originally Posted by escanlan

Hello roseball123,

You can hire a professional Inspector to perform phase inspections on your home as it is built. These inspections can start at the foundation pre-pour stage and can encompass as many stages or points of inspection that you choose. The cost of these inspections will vary between Inspectors, and depending on how many stages or points will cost above $1000 when you hire a good Inspector. Be very careful about price shopping for Inspectors as that causes to many problems with buyers.

A licensed Professional Inspector can perform the pre-pour foundation inspection and can tell you as much as a licensed Professional Engineer can. However I do recommend that you consider having a licensed Professional Engineer perform the foundation pre-pour inspection, and then follow it up with an engineering report regarding the foundation levelness using a special type of altimeter to map the slabs surface. The licensed Professional Inspector can then perform the remaining inspections at a lesser cost than using a licensed Professional Engineer. Any good Professional Engineer is going to charge what they are worth and that is certainly not cheap. The remaining phase inspections, if performed properly, will take time and a good Engineer's fees can be very expensive to perform these.

The reason I recommend the Engineer for the pre and post pour inspections are previous experiences, with one very recent one that has not turned out well. In the recent case the buyer chose not to have any inspections until the framing was already completed and the home mostly "dried in" (the point where all windows/doors and exterior wall claddings installed). This is a very large home and the slab itself had been improperly formed and poured from the original foundation plan. The framer just framed over the error and the builder blessed it and the local Building Inspector did not even see it. Once the problem was found the builder brought in THEIR own Engineer who blessed the planned correction which is not an acceptable building practice. As long as the Engineer blesses the correction the local Building Inspections will take their word for it and bless the correction for the problem they did not even see.

The foundation is a highly important part of the building process with errors here that can significantly affect the remainder of the building. If there is an error here then it is better to have it corrected immediately before framing even starts! If there is going to be any difficulties working with the builder to correct errors at the foundation stage then let a licensed Professional Engineer, that you have hired, do the arguing for you! Since the local Building Inspections Department will take the word of the Engineer over the builder's then it is well worth hiring the Engineer for this stage of the process.

The local Building Inspections Department does not have the manpower to devote the time to perform the extensive reviews that a good Licensed Professional Inspector is being paid by you to perform. If the Inspector is good and finds only minor issues during the build process then good for you. However it only takes one significant error found for you to see how valuable their services can be. On the example I just provided the foundation pouring error was not the only significant error found!

Good luck on the build and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Just wanted to say your information is extremely valuable and I wanted to thank you for taking the time to post it.

[roseball123]

Thank you so much for the valuable information. Really appreciate it.

Can you provide any recommendations on Engineers/Inspectors that I could hire?

[katefrisco]

Also before you sign any contract review it with an Attorney. Most HB will have it written entirely in their favor. If you submit an Addendum to the contract they may or may not accept it. I submitted one to another homebuilder and they just laughed. I walked. Know what you are getting into. Realtors are not Attorneys.

[nsumner]

Originally Posted by roseball123

Can you provide any recommendations on Engineers/Inspectors that I could hire?

Emmanuel Scanlan above as escanlan is very detailed and does a wonderful job as an inspector.

Naima