Buying toll brother home in northern virginia (Winchester: appointed, sales)

[rhea2005]

We are planning to buy a toll brother built home in Loudon county and would like to hear from someone who owns or owned a tollbrother home about the quality of their construction. We have been receiving mixed feedback from people we know and the various websites, and little to say that we are confused. Does anyone know of a reputable site that would list the pluses and minuses of going with tollbrothers in comparison to similar builders in Loudon county.

[Teebyrd86]

Are you buying in the Overlook neighborhood? My aunt and unlce just purchased the "chesterfield" home design built by toll brothers. They enjoyed working with them and have a pleasurable experience. As with any home you have bult just check up on them frequently. They chose toll brothers because they loved this unique style home no other local builder offered anything close. -Good Luck!

Originally Posted by rhea2005

We are planning to buy a toll brother built home in Loudon county and would like to hear from someone who owns or owned a tollbrother home about the quality of their construction. We have been receiving mixed feedback from people we know and the various websites, and little to say that we are confused. Does anyone know of a reputable site that would list the pluses and minuses of going with tollbrothers in comparison to similar builders in Loudon county.

[twinmma]

I have never owned a Toll Brother but a friend has and I could not belive for the price ($750K new construction a few years ago) the poor quality. The tile in the bathroom was crooked and falling off in some places, doors didn't latch, carpet was coming up...but that was in Philly so maybe the installers are better here.
Good luck

[msjack]

I agree with the previous poster.

My grandparents live in Dominion Valley(built by Toll) right now. I couldn't believe the time they had with toll. Their house was not even ready when they went for their walk thru. They had 4 pages of stuff that had to be fixed (e.g. no floor under the sink only sub floor, one of the cabinets was missing the glass panes, mouldings cracked/broken). It just seemed like they totally skipped the last step of building the house-Quality Check. They totally rushed through the job. My GP asked if someone had done a walk thru before them, and they said no. The guy actually told him he was embarrassed for them to even see the house. Although, they did fix a lot of the things, but the rest my GP just gave up on.

Saying that, my GP do say now that the quality is much better. I, however, don't know if I believe that. They say they bought during the housing "boom" and they were trying to get them up as fast as they can. But I think if your going to call yourself "America's Luxury Homebuilder" you should be building QUALITY homes ALL of the time.

That being said, the community is BEAUTIFUL. They have everything they need right there. The houses look beautiful, I just wish the quality was better.

[udr]

We are currently building our house with Toll. Schedule to comple in a couple of weeks. As for the experience, I have mixed feelings. Contruction-wise, I think they do OK job. But the whole experience could be alot better.

[shoboo75]

We were home shopping a couple of months back and Toll Brothers was on the top of our list for Loudon county. We loved their homes but our sales experience was so bad that we decided for sure not to go with Toll. We were looking for a 3 level bump out extension on one of their lots (empty at that time and no contruction had begun) and they wouldnt agree to it because they had already ordered the lumber. Our take was that if they are so rigid and uncooperative at the sales level their customer service had to be worse off.

In all, we weren't comfortable with their attitude at all and our realtor also cited some quality concerns that his other clients had experienced. In the end, we went with Winchester Homes and love what is being built for us.

Good Luck with your search!!

[DavidS827]

I'm surprised to see the negative feedback on Toll. I have sold a couple of their homes in the last few months and have nothing but positive things to say about their quality, customer service and communities. Everything I have ever asked of them has been well received and completed to a level that far exceeded my expectations.

[kevinm]

I am living in my third Toll Brothers home in Loudoun County. It is not the quality of the house that is of issue, it is the crews that put them together. All of these houses are constructed at the factory and all the crews have to do is put the pieces together. My project manager John Boyd and construction managar Jim Robinson are GREAT at handliing issues and concerns. You MUST BE INVOLVED with the construction of your home. If you are passive, most builders will roll over you and try to issue "credits" at closing to compensate for features that were missed. The housing boom is OVER. You will get what you paid for as long as you keep and honest relationship with the builder.

[hrb]

Agree w/ Kevin M. Still, despite out work w/ the PM, there was only so much he could do-- he still had to build our toll home w/ the crappy construction materials and the low-end items toll specifies. We're very disappointed w/ the craftmanship and quality of our house, and will never use Toll again or recommend them. Oh, and there was such a delay in construction in our neighborhood that people actually had a chance to add new members to their families between signing the contract and moving in! (2-3 yr construction delays!)

[Fairfax Mom]

I am orginally form NJ - and Toll Brothers has been building there for years - people are always complaining what crappy houses they build - but I think a lot of builders cut corners these days

Ask about Toll Bros in the NJ forum and see what gets posted