To Anyone buidling a new home (Plantation: sales, real estate, custom home)

[ShakenStirred]

I have seen many, many posts on here asking about this builder or that builder. I have worked for just about every single builder in NE Florida, and I wanted to submit a list of the top ten that I believe are the best of the best in North Florida. If you are considering building a new home in Duval, Clay, Nassau or St. Johns County, these are the builders you need to consider first if you want a quality home (in no particular order):

1. Pulte Homes/Del Webb
2. David Weekley Homes
3. JDB Homes
4. JL Linder Group
5. Arthur Rutenburg - Plantation Housing Corp.
6. Arthur Rutenburg - Marcus Allen Homes
7. Artisan Homes
8. Castleton Builders
9. Bradley's Construction
10. Waugh Construction

This collection of builders do everything from entry level to high end custom, and if anyone needs a contact name and number for any of the above, by all means send me a message.

SS

[stevep]

Pulte's just an average builder. There's no way that they're in the same category as a Arthur Ruttenberg, etc... We had a house built by them and there were several things they missed that the other builders on your list would have easily have caught. They did fix everything, but it was only after I brought it to their attention.

[jsimms3]

If you want really high quality go local. I.E.:

Finley Knight Construction

Morales Construction

And if you want a really good architect who is friends with the above two builders and many other builders, then hire Richard Skinner.

In this economy these guys will probably tackle any project, but when the times are good you better be building a valuable home (at least 500K, maybe a mil, or more). I mention these guys and there are others because I like supporting local contractors/architects, and we do have some real quality here, and also because you mentioned a list that you specified as high quality and up to if not starting at high end.

[fsu813]

I'd go with SRG, personally.

Top notch.

SRG Homes & Neighborhoods : Home

They'll build anywhere.

Here's a pic of the inside of a home:



and the outside:



but they have variety of models.

Mac, the owner, is an interesting character (in a good way).

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by jsimms3

If you want really high quality go local. I.E.:

Finley Knight Construction

Morales Construction

And if you want a really good architect who is friends with the above two builders and many other builders, then hire Richard Skinner.

In this economy these guys will probably tackle any project, but when the times are good you better be building a valuable home (at least 500K, maybe a mil, or more). I mention these guys and there are others because I like supporting local contractors/architects, and we do have some real quality here, and also because you mentioned a list that you specified as high quality and up to if not starting at high end.

Ditto on Morales...they do very good quality, I didn't include them simply because of the majority of the work that I have done for them has been commercial stuff....office parks and the like, so I wasn't thinking "residential" but you are correct, they do also build very fine homes.

SS

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by stevep

Pulte's just an average builder. There's no way that they're in the same category as a Arthur Ruttenberg, etc... We had a house built by them and there were several things they missed that the other builders on your list would have easily have caught. They did fix everything, but it was only after I brought it to their attention.

I wasn't putting Pulte in the same category as Arthur Rutenburg. They build to completely different clientele. Pulte's concentration has been on multi-family and age restricted developments, while AR is an upper end single family builder. I was covering a wide range of builder types. Sorry for the confusion.

[JaxFlaGal]

I attempted to visit a Del Webb (Pulte) community in St. Johns County this summer, to examine what i call "age in place" designs as I looked for a builder for my next home, in the $400K to $600K range. The Del Webb sales staff at Riverwood was so snotty, rude, and had such a holier-than-thou attitude that it has turned me off their brand forever, regardless of my age. I can honestly say this was the first time I'd been patently and fully offended by a sales team. At the peak of my career I don't have time to waste on snotty real estate agents who judge a prospect by whether they're wearing weekend jeans or their business attire.

On a weekday afternoon this summer in Nocatee, I had great service from several brands' sales associates. By contrast, when I arrived at Del Webb I was barely given the time of day from Del Webb sales associates who had absolutely no active leads to pursue. I have a six-figure income, no debt, am in my late 40s (plus I have family in Del Webb's target market) and know my way around the real estate industry. I've had 3 custom homes built and am prospecting my fourth to be constructed Q4/2011 to Q1/2012, so I don't consider myself a neophyte to the new home sale process, either.

I'd foolishly expected Pulte/Del Webb to at least tolerate my presence and to be gracious about my desire to look at both their Pulte and their Del Webb home designs and learn more on how they address "age in place" concepts. Instead, I learned that the St. Johns County Del Webb sales agents are a bunch of short-sighted saleswomen who have no clue about how to cross sell a home on the value of its brand name. I don't select a builder based on their sales staff, but I can certainly be turned away from a builder based on poor sales staff. That happened for me with Del Webb this year.

I suspect I'll be much happier with a custom home from one of the recommended builders who actually gives a crap about their customers and their reputations, and I appreciate Shaken's suggestions in that regard. I had a better opinion of Pulte until I met some of their idiotic sales staff in Riverwood this summer. Now I lean toward Rutenberg franchises or one of the other small local builders who has actually survived the housing bust. All I can say is that from my personal experience, nothing Pulte's construction team could do would change my horribly negative impression from dealing with their sales team earlier in 2010. I thought a builer's sales force's job was to bring in sales, not alienate prospects. What a shame.

[floridabirdlover]

After a few bad experiences with builders in St. John's county, my family and I are very happy with our new home built by David Weekley in Nocatee. We found DW to be fair, upfront and honest. In contrast, a few other builders we visited were sneaky and dishonest. My husband and I don't like sales agents that play games!

I feel like David Weekley cares about our business, they are more friendly and do what they say they are going to do. This added to their solid reputation as being a quality builder was what helped us make our final decision to purchase a new home with them.

Good luck to those considering a new home purchase!

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by JaxFlaGal

I attempted to visit a Del Webb (Pulte) community in St. Johns County this summer, to examine what i call "age in place" designs as I looked for a builder for my next home, in the $400K to $600K range. The Del Webb sales staff at Riverwood was so snotty, rude, and had such a holier-than-thou attitude that it has turned me off their brand forever, regardless of my age. I can honestly say this was the first time I'd been patently and fully offended by a sales team. At the peak of my career I don't have time to waste on snotty real estate agents who judge a prospect by whether they're wearing weekend jeans or their business attire.

On a weekday afternoon this summer in Nocatee, I had great service from several brands' sales associates. By contrast, when I arrived at Del Webb I was barely given the time of day from Del Webb sales associates who had absolutely no active leads to pursue. I have a six-figure income, no debt, am in my late 40s (plus I have family in Del Webb's target market) and know my way around the real estate industry. I've had 3 custom homes built and am prospecting my fourth to be constructed Q4/2011 to Q1/2012, so I don't consider myself a neophyte to the new home sale process, either.

I'd foolishly expected Pulte/Del Webb to at least tolerate my presence and to be gracious about my desire to look at both their Pulte and their Del Webb home designs and learn more on how they address "age in place" concepts. Instead, I learned that the St. Johns County Del Webb sales agents are a bunch of short-sighted saleswomen who have no clue about how to cross sell a home on the value of its brand name. I don't select a builder based on their sales staff, but I can certainly be turned away from a builder based on poor sales staff. That happened for me with Del Webb this year.

I suspect I'll be much happier with a custom home from one of the recommended builders who actually gives a crap about their customers and their reputations, and I appreciate Shaken's suggestions in that regard. I had a better opinion of Pulte until I met some of their idiotic sales staff in Riverwood this summer. Now I lean toward Rutenberg franchises or one of the other small local builders who has actually survived the housing bust. All I can say is that from my personal experience, nothing Pulte's construction team could do would change my horribly negative impression from dealing with their sales team earlier in 2010. I thought a builer's sales force's job was to bring in sales, not alienate prospects. What a shame.

Now that is a shame! I can't say any of my recommendations come with any knowledge whatsoever of the sales staff, but I am glad you had good experiences with others. One other builder I should have mentioned that is in the price range you put out there is The Pineapple Corporation. They build an outstanding home!

[Jax32256]

Are there any builders you would add to this list, Shakenstirred, as this post is a year & a half old? TIA