Builder problems- Dallas Morning News (Frisco, Huntington: buying a home, neighborhood, buying)

[bdlee73]

For those of you thinking about buying a home in Dallas, you may want to read "State-sought home fixes rarely made" in the 12 October edition of the Dallas Morning News. To my surprise, the large volume builders have a better track record on resolving compaints and fixing problems vs. a small builder. I suppose a "cookie cutter tract home" may not be a bad option after all.

From the story:

"Most cases with defects found were in homes built by custom or smaller-scale builders. The region's top 20 large-volume builders, such as D.R. Horton, accounted for fewer than 10 percent of cases with recommended repairs, according to a Morning News analysis of two years of TRCC records."

[momof2dfw]

I just posted the list of builders w/ problems under the main Texas page but here it is. You can also go to the Dallas Morning News website at dallasnews.com and get the whole story. You also have to remember these are just the cases that the owners actually went after the builder. There are MANY that have some major issues that are not willing to go after them or do not recognize the problem


DEFECTS BY LARGE BUILDERS

The Texas Residential Construction Commission investigated and found defects in 27 homes built by the area's 20 largest-volume builders, listed here. That represents less than 10 percent of the houses found to have defects in the last two years. Custom and smaller-scale builders account for the rest.
Builder Homes found to have defects
Newmark Homes 5
D.R. Horton 4
Lennar (NuHome and Village Builders) 3
Meritage Homes (Legacy Homes, Monterey Homes) 3
McGuyer Homebuilders, Inc. (Pioneer Homes, Plantation Homes, Coventry Homes) 3
Grand Homes 3
Ashton Woods Homes 2
Centex Homes (Fox & Jacobs Homes) 1
K. Hovnanian Homes (Four Seasons) 1
Drees Homes (Expression Homes) 1
Standard Pacific Homes 1
Pulte Homes 0
Highland Homes (Horizon Homes, Huntington Homes) 0
Choice Homes 0
David Weekley Homes 0
First Texas Homes (Gallery Custom Homes) 0
KB Home 0
Ryland Homes 0
History Maker Homes 0
Beazer Homes 0
SOURCES: Residential Strategies, Texas Residential Construction Commission

[southaustingal]

Interesting that Ryland has zero. HI know of a Ryland neighborhood that has quite a few foundation problems, and the builder has bought back homes. I have several friends in the area waiting for that last 1/4 inch or so when Ryland will total their home and buy it back.

[momof2dfw]

These are ONLY the "complaints" that have been brought before THIS state agency that is fairly new. Then there are ALWAYS going to be people that have a home that has major issues that will never do anything about it.

[socketz]

I'm not a big DR Horton fan, but is it fair to them to say put them with a David Weekly ? DR builds a ton of homes all over DFW and DW builds just a handful. To be honest, those stats all seem resonable for the total number of new homes you see going up here.

[LOK222]

what do you pros think of Grand homes?

I have been out here a week, (Frisco) and looking at all the builders, I like their floorplans and they seem priced well.

[Guingirl]

Do a search here on Grand Homes..there have been quite a few posts about Grand Homes and people trying to get their deposits back.

[jacob]

grand homes is horrible !

a friend recently bought. after 2 weeks, he decided to change the floor plan. and they said we wont do it. finally they agreed....but they had given him 20k discount when he bought the earlier floor plan; with the new bigger floorplan which he chose, they took away 10k of that discount.

very unprofessional in dealings.

another friend has a 4 yr old house, with huge glass windows in living room. There is leakage from windows, he needs to use space heaters, his faucets are leaking , and his fence came off when it was windy. Bad construction quality.

[socketz]

I'd stay away from Grand for the simple reason they have a bad rep in the area. Just do a search and there is alot of info in this board and many others on the web.

[stargazer]

I am surprised that no one has complained about First Texas Homes.