which builders I should avoid? Which builders are good ones?

[cmist]

Originally Posted by Home_Kid

asufan,

my idea of quality is to install home products to manufacturers recommendations/specs and install correctly, and to use products that dont fail within the 1st 12 months of installation. its not terriby hard to do unless the subs are incompetent. in my case Pulte had to fix my water heater 5 times, idrive garage door opener broke 6 times and then replaced with a overhead, my AC expander in attic was leaking and had to be replaced, i had bathroom cabinets replaced, on and on i can go.

if inspectors are catching lots of things wrong then the sub is basically incompetent to do the work, which is what leads to shiat quality end product.

so i respectfully disagree that all builders have about the same home quality.

I agree with ASUFAN. If you drive any new neighborhood under construction, you will see the same exact trucks from the same exact contractors.

The valley is huge and these builders are building everywhere in pretty much the exact same fashion. Its likely that someone else has rave reviews of their Pulte home.

Each subdivision might be managed by different superintendants. So maybe your subdivision itself had a real lazy or overworked sup that let alot of things slide while the Pulte community on the other side of town had an incredible nazi type superintendent that didnt let anything get past him.

When we built our home, we had to make almost daily trips to catch things ourselves because we figured we couldnt depend on the builders to pay much attention to individual details. You should expect a bit of an uphill battle as their interest lie in getting built as quickly and cheaply as possible while your interests are the exact opposite.

Every builder here does indeed use the same contractors, but the way they manage those contractors is the only real difference. And I have heard good and bad about all of them. So NONE stick out in my mind as "the best".

As with all business decisions, personal recommendations are usually better than the company's own hype. In the case of builders however, the good recommendations would come quite awhile after its built. Anyones positive experience in this regard might not be duplicated in a totally different part of town even with same builder if it had a different superintendent. Same goes for the negatives.

[Home_Kid]

Originally Posted by cmist

As with all business decisions, personal recommendations are usually better than the company's own hype. In the case of builders however, the good recommendations would come quite awhile after its built. Anyones positive experience in this regard might not be duplicated in a totally different part of town even with same builder if it had a different superintendent. Same goes for the negatives.

this is exactly what makes a HB a good or bad one. i dont look at a HB on a community basis, i look at a HB as a whole. if the HB cannot properly manage their supe's then the HB is not doing their job and it will reflect in the quality of the home.

[Borus]

Originally Posted by Home_Kid

this is exactly what makes a HB a good or bad one. i dont look at a HB on a community basis, i look at a HB as a whole. if the HB cannot properly manage their supe's then the HB is not doing their job and it will reflect in the quality of the home.

Many people report different experiences with the same builder and problems are not obvious until after the home is completed. Many home builders are nationwide and have completely different reputations in different states so its not practical to evaluate as a whole. They can't monitor their operation in multiple cities throughout 50 states from headquarters. By the time the homes are built and complaints come into corporate its too late. They get a new supe and hope for the best but again, they wont know how good he really is until after the homes are done. What you are saying here sounds ideal but not realistic.

[Home_Kid]

Originally Posted by Borus

Many people report different experiences with the same builder and problems are not obvious until after the home is completed. Many home builders are nationwide and have completely different reputations in different states so its not practical to evaluate as a whole. They can't monitor their operation in multiple cities throughout 50 states from headquarters. By the time the homes are built and complaints come into corporate its too late. They get a new supe and hope for the best but again, they wont know how good he really is until after the homes are done. What you are saying here sounds ideal but not realistic.

my development (approx 100 homes in 4 years) went through 5 supes! thats more than 1 per year!! when would corporate realize they needed to pay attention??

[Borus]

Originally Posted by Home_Kid

my development (approx 100 homes in 4 years) went through 5 supes! thats more than 1 per year!! when would corporate realize they needed to pay attention??

Ya that sounds like a small builder, 25 homes per year?

I'm talking about larger builders where its inconsistent because the experiences are different in different states. A small builder with minimal construction history can probably be taken at face value.

[Home_Kid]

Originally Posted by Borus

Ya that sounds like a small builder, 25 homes per year?

I'm talking about larger builders where its inconsistent because the experiences are different in different states. A small builder with minimal construction history can probably be taken at face value.

PHM is not a small builder. i'm in just a smaller PHM development, its somewhat secluded here nestled at the base of a small mtn backed up againt national park. it just took PHM about 4 years to complete this development. they only built homes after customers signed and left deposit, etc.