Drees Custom Home Builders (San Antonio, Frisco: mortgage, neighborhood, construction)

[kaykay]

Good to hear this stuff about Drees. My husband and I are not actively looking to move right now, but may in the future. We were very impressed with the exterior design of many of the Drees homes we saw and consequently, we wondered if the builder's reputation was good or not.

[galore]

Does Drees do custom homes (like the headline implies)?

I thought that Drees is a tract home builder.

[bricor]

They aren't custom in the sense that they are making one off designs but you can "customize" your home so I guess that justifies the "custom" in the name.

[galore]

Don't all tract home builders let you customize the home to a certain extent? I guess all tract home builders are also custom builders then...

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by galore

Don't all tract home builders let you customize the home to a certain extent? I guess all tract home builders are also custom builders then...

The level of options and upgrades available is but one difference between Drees and lower end tract home builders hence the term "custom" comes into play. Drees allows certain options, changes, etc that your typical run of the mill tract home builder will not. When I worked for one particular builder that used the name "custom" in their name in a pretty high end area I was told that to change the direction the tile went would be "too difficult" as it would not be on the stamped out plans for the contractors. Sure, some let you "customize the home to a certain extent" but that is it. They are pretty narrow on what they will allow and they also have very narrow choices when it comes to upgrades and options. Try asking one of the other tract builders to move walls, bathrooms, etc and see how they respond. LOL!!! Or that the brick you REALLY want is not on their sample board. These are pretty simple changes/requests that the lower end builders balk at but the higher end ones are used to dealing w/ buyers wanting something "different".

Drees is a pretty good builder and has a very good reputation. They don't build in huge numbers like other tract builders so there is more control in the building process. You also don't see them going in and building tons of spec homes in one development either. They will do a few just to give buyers on a tighter schedule options. I know of one high end remodeling contractor that had a Drees home built because as he said, "they did just as good of a job as I could have personally and they let me do things I wanted done."

[scyogi]

My neighbor did a 'custom' build with Drees. They picked a floor plan and did a ton of changes. Everything from taking out rooms to an extra bay garage door. IMO, they seem very willing to listen to consumer input.

[galore]

Oh, ok. I was just wondering. When I went through the process with Standard Pacific, which is a tract builder, they also were receptive to move walls, remove rooms, add different brick, etc.

I thought a custom builder is somebody like Sharif-Munir, who works with you from the ground up.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by galore

Oh, ok. I was just wondering. When I went through the process with Standard Pacific, which is a tract builder, they also were receptive to move walls, remove rooms, add different brick, etc.

I thought a custom builder is somebody like Sharif-Munir, who works with you from the ground up.

Standard Pacific is along the same lines as Drees and they have and will build in the same neighborhoods.

[ExCali]

We built the Franklin II V with the juliet balcony and media room. Great open floor plan. They have a model home in Garland at the Provence Firewheel and Frisco at Cypress Creek.

Good luck!

[tashina]

In Austin, they call Drees "semi-custom" which is as good a name as any. They customize far more than a regular tract builder like KB, but not as much as a true custom builder.