Huntsville Area Builders (Taylor, Benton: sales, credit, new home)

[LCTMadison]

Barry Phillips is a good builder, IMO, and he is financially sound. He is also a good man. BUT, Heritage Plantation (which was Ensminger) was not always as strong as it is now. When the developer turned HP(the original, not Cambridge or Waterford, which have different architectural standards but are under HP HOA) over to the homeowners, it was bankrupt. Those homeowners pulled it together, got a great attorney and management company, and they now are regarded as the strongest and most sound HOA in Madison County (and yes, that included HC).
Heritage Plantation is an example of how the homeowners can make a difference and turn a not so great situation into a success.

[Mawoods]

Interesting how in every development we have been in, the developer left the homeowners with headaches when it was finally turned over. Most of our experience has been int he Atlanta area and Wisconsin. The last one we the homeowners had to go in and repair and redo most of the amenities which were not holding up to time. Looked great but cheap. And these were very nice developements which are well known in the Atlanta area. Not a very good reputation/record for developers in general is it?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Mawoods

The last one we the homeowners had to go in and repair and redo most of the amenities which were not holding up to time. Looked great but cheap.

Could be timing. During building booms, these guys are hiring any Tom, Dick, or Harry off the street.

You might have heard this on the jobsite:

"It's good enough"
"The customer will never know"
"Looks close"
"That's probably right"
"We'll use this instead"
"Sure, I'll have another beer - it's after 11AM isn't it?"
"We don't need this extra truss"
"Hopefully it doesn't leak"
"18 gauge wire must be better than 14 gauge wire because it's probably thicker and can hold more 'tricity"
"It's a one story house, why do we need a stinking ground (wire)?"
"It's level if you close one eye"
"I got the worst hangover dude"

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Charles

Could be timing. During building booms, these guys are hiring any Tom, Dick, or Harry off the street.

You might have heard this on the jobsite:

"It's good enough"
"The customer will never know"
"Looks close"
"That's probably right"
"We'll use this instead"
"Sure, I'll have another beer - it's after 11AM isn't it?"
"We don't need this extra truss"
"Hopefully it doesn't leak"
"18 gauge wire must be better than 14 gauge wire because it's probably thicker and can hold more 'tricity"
"It's a one story house, why do we need a stinking ground (wire)?"
"It's level if you close one eye"
"I got the worst hangover dude"

It's a good job, pays the bills...

[Diffy Q]

True story - In 2003, we were doing a final walk on our recently built custom house. The building superintendent told us that his standard was that if you couldn't see something from 4 feet away, then he didn't have to fix it. We sold that house in 2005 and never looked back.

Does anyone know anything about Lake Forest? The homes and grounds look really nice in the pictures. And it's very close to Redstone Arsenal. But I don't hear much about it on this forum? Thanks.

[Mawoods]

Just want to make sure that everyone understands that our developer who so far is ok with us and our builder are two different guys. LCT MADISON glad to hear that you agree that Barry Phillips is a good builder. After all, our home is a huge investment.

We lived in the Atlanta area during the 80s and 90s when you built it fast and sold it fast and made big bucks. The same contractors worked on the 2 million dollar home as they did on the starter home. It comes down to the builder making sure the work is done well and up to the standards he wants his name associated with.

[TxAUWin]

I am also interested in the Lake Forest neighborhood. Does anyone have any information?

[Seth Parker]

I'm not a fan of 2 of the 4 builders on the list. One of those two is terrible about warranty work. Their "official" stance is "Once they buy the home, it's theirs. I'm not coming back to fix anything." <- Was told this in person from the builder himself.

Always check the online complaints at the BBB. Almost every builder that has built quite a few homes will have at least one or two complaints, but dig a little deeper into the severity of the complaints.

>>Lake Forest

Lake Forest in an interesting place. It's very well located for military/defense personnel being right off Martin Rd. Homes are all over the place as far as price and size. In one section, you have HPH homes starting around $200K, and also doing some townhomes at $120K, you have Ken McDaniel stuff in the $300K-$400K range on the other side, and then there are some other guys doing some larger stuff spaced throughout. There's quite a few homes for sale out there, though.

The clubhouse is very nice, as well as the grounds. Sometimes, the Lake doesn't look that hot, but overall, pretty nice.

>>Diffy

Ha! A builder once told me the same thing, except I think he said 6 feet!

>>Charles

A couple more that I've heard...all true new construction stories I've heard in person....

-It's only a big deal if you make it one
-So what it's the wrong color, it's close enough, isn't it? (after a room was painted green that was supposed to be brown)
-Oh, they wanted stainless appliances? Well, black was cheaper. Is it in the contract? Oh, it was? Well would you see if they'd rather have black? Oh, they were pretty adamant about stainless? Will you double check? I'm not making that much money on this house.
-You think they'll care that we forgot to plumb for the bathroom upstairs?
-Uh oh. We forgot that these lots were in the city. We built all of these houses with the minimum building line for county property instead of city property. Hope no one ever wants a survey. Dammit, someone wanted a survey? I guess we have to request a variance...

And the winner is.....

-Oh, you noticed that, huh? Yeah, I guess the framing of house coming out 3' past the slab for an entire wall is pretty hard to miss (about 30 sqft of missing slab). Oh yeah, we'll take care of that, good thing we're this early in the process and no one has bought it yet.

Two weeks later.....

-Oh, did they not take care of that? But they've already bricked the whole house. Oh, that's why you're calling, huh? I'll take care of it ASAP.

Three more weeks later....

-Hey, we got that little issue taken care of. What did we do? Oh, we just took a few bags of concrete in a wheel barrel and mixed it, then poured it in the hole. It'll be fine. Don't worry.

[vakinderegg]

If you have children check out the schools that feeder into Lake Forest. www.greatschools.com . Lake Forest does have some beautiful homes, but if you are not interested in the schools then you might consider Lake Forest. It is close to RSA.We looked LF when we were looking for homes (husband works on RSA),but decided on a different area based on the the elementary, middle school, and high school that feedered into Lake Forest vs the schools that feedered into the area where we decided to build.

[rmepilot]

vakinderegg-

Yes, schools are a priority.

Seth Parker-

Could you DM me the names of two builders that you're not fond of (I thinks i know which ones and yes I've looked at the BBB). Thanks.

Dramamama, Diffy Q and LTCMadison-

Thanks for the info.