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watertraveler, are you only considering west Cary? did you check in Greyhawk Landing, which is on the border of Cary and Apex I think. They have basement lots available, builder is Upton. But we are not sure whether to go with that neighborhood since it's pretty far from RTP, Durham etc. And of course, the price of the remaining houses/lots are probably high now!
I don't think the future 540 extension will affect Greyhawk Landing. Although the west Cary neighborhoods have the perfect balance of being close to the highway also (for getting on the road and avoiding traffic lights in the morning!) Besides those line of lots near Cameron Pond.
540 Extension will be well South of Greyhawk Landing regardless of any route options on the table at this point.
I will add that Upton, Dave Baron, or any other builder in Greyhawk Landing builds a home that is in another GALAXY as far as quality and customer service goes compared to Saxonbury, Braemore, Toll, or any tract builder's offerings in 27519.
Hi OP, we were in exact same boat as you are few months ago. After lot of reading and research we finally ended up building a basement home in Sedgefield. House is still under construction and I'm loosing my sleep almost every night over it. They do have couple of basement homes in Sedgefiled and some "good" builders, but from my experience of building with "custom" builder mentioned here is not great so far. You see all builders use same construction material and in many cases same crew to make construction. I feel I paid a lot in deciding to build vs. buying an inventory home.
If you are not that particular about a house plan then I recommend you buy one of the inventory homes. They all have good options and upgrades. Or be ready to pay for those as your builder nickel and dime you for almost every thing that comes out of your mouth. Don't even get me started of their construction quality and supervision of process.
Hi OP, we were in exact same boat as you are few months ago. After lot of reading and research we finally ended up building a basement home in Sedgefield. House is still under construction and I'm loosing my sleep almost every night over it. They do have couple of basement homes in Sedgefiled and some "good" builders, but from my experience of building with "custom" builder mentioned here is not great so far. You see all builders use same construction material and in many cases same crew to make construction. I feel I paid a lot in deciding to build vs. buying an inventory home.
If you are not that particular about a house plan then I recommend you buy one of the inventory homes. They all have good options and upgrades. Or be ready to pay for those as your builder nickel and dime you for almost every thing that comes out of your mouth. Don't even get me started of their construction quality and supervision of process.
Did you use a realtor?
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Hi OP, we were in exact same boat as you are few months ago. After lot of reading and research we finally ended up building a basement home in Sedgefield. House is still under construction and I'm loosing my sleep almost every night over it. They do have couple of basement homes in Sedgefiled and some "good" builders, but from my experience of building with "custom" builder mentioned here is not great so far. You see all builders use same construction material and in many cases same crew to make construction. I feel I paid a lot in deciding to build vs. buying an inventory home.
If you are not that particular about a house plan then I recommend you buy one of the inventory homes. They all have good options and upgrades. Or be ready to pay for those as your builder nickel and dime you for almost every thing that comes out of your mouth. Don't even get me started of their construction quality and supervision of process.
I have to agree with some of your comments on "custom" builders. My brother-in-law and his wife just bought in Sedgefield, and I got to see the process along with them. I didn't see much difference between the custom builders over there and any "upscale" national builder like Ashton Woods or John Wieland. First of all, not all of the builders are that "custom." They have severe limitations on what kinds of floor plans they will build, and sometimes you just choose from a set number just like say.....Ashton Woods. My brother in law even sent Robuck Design Build and Futurehomes over in Copperleaf some floorplan suggestions, and they just came back with their usual designs that they've already built elsewhere, and it looked like they didn't even look at his floorplan suggestions.
National builders charge you for every little thing to upgrade. The custom builders had more standard things (with a higher base price of course). But every little thing you want to change, they charged crazy $$$ just like the national builders. The construction crews were the same in Copperleaf Glen and Sedgefield that I saw, sometimes doing work as fast as they can and leaving a mess and sloppy -they were nothing special and I didn't see anything different that Ashton Woods, JW or national builders would do, except maybe the bargain ones like ForeverHome.
I think it all depends on the construction supervisor on site for construction quality, and how closely the homeowner looks at everything within that 1 year warranty period. I think one should see what kind of floorplans and type of neighborhood and location you like, rather than just picking a builder and ONLY seeing where they build.
I have to agree with some of your comments on "custom" builders. My brother-in-law and his wife just bought in Sedgefield, and I got to see the process along with them. I didn't see much difference between the custom builders over there and any "upscale" national builder like Ashton Woods or John Wieland. First of all, not all of the builders are that "custom." They have severe limitations on what kinds of floor plans they will build, and sometimes you just choose from a set number just like say.....Ashton Woods. My brother in law even sent Robuck Design Build and Futurehomes over in Copperleaf some floorplan suggestions, and they just came back with their usual designs that they've already built elsewhere, and it looked like they didn't even look at his floorplan suggestions.
National builders charge you for every little thing to upgrade. The custom builders had more standard things (with a higher base price of course). But every little thing you want to change, they charged crazy $$$ just like the national builders. The construction crews were the same in Copperleaf Glen and Sedgefield that I saw, sometimes doing work as fast as they can and leaving a mess and sloppy -they were nothing special and I didn't see anything different that Ashton Woods, JW or national builders would do, except maybe the bargain ones like ForeverHome.
I think it all depends on the construction supervisor on site for construction quality, and how closely the homeowner looks at everything within that 1 year warranty period. I think one should see what kind of floorplans and type of neighborhood and location you like, rather than just picking a builder and ONLY seeing where they build.
Those "custom" builders are indeed custom builders.
Just because they would prefer to build homes that they can better price out, this does not mean that the good ones will refuse to build another home from a different plan.
I'm sitting in a house at this very moment that has numerous copies of it scattered throughout other neighborhoods such as Preston, Preston Village, Weston Estates, Carpenter Village, Cameron Pond, Weycroft, Westvale, Copperleaf, Hamptons at Umstead... the list goes on. Do they all look the same from the outside? Absolutely not! It'd take someone very familiar with this plan to know that it was the same from one neighborhood to the other as far as the inside layout. I think I was told there were around 50 versions of my house. So, yeah... it's custom... it's just not from a plan designed just for us by an architect who gave us the plans once he/she was done and isn't authorized to ever draw another just like it.
Across the street from me, there's a house in my neighborhood that isn't like any of the others as far as floorplan goes. The owners chose it independent of the plans the builder had already. And yanno what? The custom builder built them what they wanted.
The home fits in with the overall scheme of our neighborhood, but other than that, it's totally different.
Go ask Aston Woods, Toll, Wieland, or any other high-end tract and/or semi-custom builder to do that. They won't. Period.
Also, the basic finish level is much higher in custom neighborhoods than you'll find in a place like Saxonbury, Green Level Crossing, or Braemore. It just is.
Do they use some of the same building crews? I'm sure they have some overlap. But... let's be serious... how many of you can tell one crew of mostly Hispanic builders from another? I do not mean that with any degree at all of disrespect for those in the construction trades. I admire their work.
I do know that if you ask some guys to work for less building a home over in Green Level Crossing and they need the money, they'll slap that Toll Bros home together. If you give them more money and tell them you expect a higher level of finish work? That is what you'll get.
Tradesmen aren't any different from the rest of us. The people who employ us get from us exactly what they pay.
Pretend you're a web designer.
A company offers you X to design a web site. You design a site based on what they want coupled with what they're paying you.
Another comes along and offers you 2X to build a web site... will they get the same site you built for the company that offered you half that much? Not if you plan to continue being employed as a web designer.
You get what you pay for.
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540 Extension will be well South of Greyhawk Landing regardless of any route options on the table at this point.
I will add that Upton, Dave Baron, or any other builder in Greyhawk Landing builds a home that is in another GALAXY as far as quality and customer service goes compared to Saxonbury, Braemore, Toll, or any tract builder's offerings in 27519.
I love Upton. Great builder.
You'll never convince people who cannot see the difference between a Toll Brothers house and a house built by a builder like Upton that one is a higher-quality house than the other, though.
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Having recently done quite a bit of home shopping recently, I would have to agree that there is a significant difference between tract, semi-custom and custom builders in many areas. I even saw a significant difference between various custom builders in terms of quality. Not that I saw poor quality in any of the custom builders' houses we looked at, but that we saw an amazing attention to detail in this one builder's homes. We eventually chose a custom built home that was spec built. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time discussing what we might have done differently if we were to have them build a similar floor plan on a different lot - or even in a different neighborhood. Quite honestly, we could only come up with a few small changes that we would have made. We couldn't find a lot that we liked better and the builder agreed to make those small changes for us within the agreed to sale price. So far, I am VERY impressed...looking forward to settling on the house and spending Christmas in the new house!
Having recently done quite a bit of home shopping recently, I would have to agree that there is a significant difference between tract, semi-custom and custom builders in many areas. I even saw a significant difference between various custom builders in terms of quality. Not that I saw poor quality in any of the custom builders' houses we looked at, but that we saw an amazing attention to detail in this one builder's homes. We eventually chose a custom built home that was spec built. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time discussing what we might have done differently if we were to have them build a similar floor plan on a different lot - or even in a different neighborhood. Quite honestly, we could only come up with a few small changes that we would have made. We couldn't find a lot that we liked better and the builder agreed to make those small changes for us within the agreed to sale price. So far, I am VERY impressed...looking forward to settling on the house and spending Christmas in the new house!
Congratulations on your new home!
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When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
Having recently done quite a bit of home shopping recently, I would have to agree that there is a significant difference between tract, semi-custom and custom builders in many areas. I even saw a significant difference between various custom builders in terms of quality. Not that I saw poor quality in any of the custom builders' houses we looked at, but that we saw an amazing attention to detail in this one builder's homes. We eventually chose a custom built home that was spec built. My wife and I spent quite a bit of time discussing what we might have done differently if we were to have them build a similar floor plan on a different lot - or even in a different neighborhood. Quite honestly, we could only come up with a few small changes that we would have made. We couldn't find a lot that we liked better and the builder agreed to make those small changes for us within the agreed to sale price. So far, I am VERY impressed...looking forward to settling on the house and spending Christmas in the new house!
Mind telling us which builder you ended up with? I have a friend who is looking for a new home in Cary.
Escapenc - sent you a DM. I will be happy to provide via DM to others...not sure of policy and I'd at least rather wait until we are settled in the house so I can provide a more complete picture...
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