Builder ratings (homes, neighborhood, to buy)

[Echo]

Any thoughts on Centex Homes and Punte Homes?

[Brewboy]

Being I work for a home inspection company, I can tell you that they both build good homes. Pulte is actually a better structurally sound home as they use tie down bolts and straps in their framing and we haven't seen any other builder use those to date. As far as quality of the materials they use is a different story along with their architectural qualities. If you are looking for plain jane homes, Pulte is the way to go. If you are looking for a little better quality and architecture, Centex is the way to go. In my opinion, they are both pretty plain when it comes to looks from the outside and the quality of materials they use on the inside. But that depends on your budget and many other factors as well.

[mrdkb22]

Originally Posted by Brewboy

Being I work for a home inspection company, I can tell you that they both build good homes. Pulte is actually a better structurally sound home as they use tie down bolts and straps in their framing and we haven't seen any other builder use those to date. As far as quality of the materials they use is a different story along with their architectural qualities. If you are looking for plain jane homes, Pulte is the way to go. If you are looking for a little better quality and architecture, Centex is the way to go. In my opinion, they are both pretty plain when it comes to looks from the outside and the quality of materials they use on the inside. But that depends on your budget and many other factors as well.

How is Brayson Homes?

[bbuch]

what about Beazer?

B

[Brewboy]

Beazer is what I would consider a middle of the road builder. Not great, not terrible either....they get some good inspections and they get some bad inspections. Let me also make one thing clear on how builders that build in large numbers work. I will use DR Horton as the example here. Let's say the southside of the city has a Horton neighborhood and the northside has one as well. 2 different foremen at each of these sites. One might be a great foremen with tons of attention to detail and knows who the good framers and workmen are to hire. The other site the foremen might be horrible and hires crappy roofers and framers. Guess which neighborhood you don't want to buy in? You got it, the one with the horrible foremen. You if you like a neighborhood or builder, you need to make sure you get an ASHI certified inspector to inspect the property, and by all means the best way to find out about the neighborhood and the homes that were built is go through the neighborhood and ask current residents how they like it there and ask about their experience with the home and so forth.