Building a KB Home (Arlington, The Colony: hotels, townhomes, neighborhoods)
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We are building a KB Home in The Cascades in The Colony. I have done my research and seen the nightmare stories. Before making a final decision we went door to door in Phase 1 and asked their opinions on working with KB and received no negative feedback. I know KB Homes works like a franchise so you cant judge the whole business based on a few bad seeds. With that being said, I'm still nervous! The neighborhood is surrounded by the large corporate headquarters and not far from the million dollar neighborhoods so my thinking is they arent going to risk screwing up in an area like this. Has anyone had any experiences with KB Home in The Cascades in The Colony they could share? Good or bad? Thanks!
KB Homes was sued by a subdivision in Arlington, TX in 2001 because the homes were built on a WWII bombing site. Home buyers were not informed of this at the time of contract.
KB seems to have cleaned up its act and I think you are safe in The Colony with a KB home.
We are building a KB Home in The Cascades in The Colony. I have done my research and seen the nightmare stories. Before making a final decision we went door to door in Phase 1 and asked their opinions on working with KB and received no negative feedback. I know KB Homes works like a franchise so you cant judge the whole business based on a few bad seeds. With that being said, I'm still nervous! The neighborhood is surrounded by the large corporate headquarters and not far from the million dollar neighborhoods so my thinking is they arent going to risk screwing up in an area like this. Has anyone had any experiences with KB Home in The Cascades in The Colony they could share? Good or bad? Thanks!
I'm not particularly fond of the project. Townhomes and garden homes in the middle of office space and hotels. And they call that a master planned community? The price is right from the low 120s for new construction. Don't expect much, you get what you pay for. You will have to upgrade everything.
If you pursue, get yourself a good home inspector who uses a thermographic camera...
I suspect you did not do as much research as you claim. Sheesh just google KB Homes complaints and you get over 3 million hits. Far more then any other builder.
I know KB well as I do quite a few big builders. I work directly with them. With KB you do get more square footage then any other builder for your money but that is where the good news ends. You will find some of the cheapest Chinese made Walmart quality light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, carpeting, tile an so on. You hear people say cheap materials but that is not really true. Wood is wood is wood. There is no cheap wood unless you import it from China in which case your family will get cancer from the formaldehyde infested materials anyway. As far as I know, no one is using that dangerous sheeting, drywall and other Chinese deadly materials....yet. So when I say cheap I mean in the fixtures mostly.
I would not be so afraid of a KB home....in some ways. It's not going to fall apart on you. The good thing is like I said, you are getting more house. From there you have to buy a KB home with ZERO upgrades and then do the upgrades yourself or hire a good craftsman to do it. Now you are ahead of the game. One problem is and any honest Realtor will tell you this is that KB homes do not appreaciate as well as the other builders. Pulte always tops that bragging right as holding their value and appreaciating the best.
Another thing that bothers me about KB is they pay their Superintendents the worse of all builders. This attracts the rookies and others you really dont want in charge of your home. From here you will see more cheap unskilled labor on your home. Yes there is plenty of that around but not as badly as on a KB tract.
Go ahead and walk through some of the half completed homes on a sunday when no one is around. Look at the food and the food trash laying around. Look at the pee stains on the walls and the dried up crap in the toilet. It just seems no one cares around the KB sites. Im sorry but I just dont see this kind of uncaring idiots on any other builder sites.
But dont let me scare ya. Buy buy buy buy buy.....lets get this country out of it's depression. I dont see it happening but I hope I am wrong.
desertsun41,
Thanks for your post. Unfortunately when I was researching I did see all the websites dedicated to the negatives of KB Home, that is when I decided to go door to door in the neighborhood. You mentioned cheap fixtues/upgrades....this is how we were able to get a great deal. Last fall when the housing disaster sunk in...KB knocked about 50K off the base price of the houses in The Colony by offering the bare minimum in upgrades and the buyer could choose the upgrades important to their needs. For example....you can put more money into upgrading the kitchen while keeping the bathrooms simple...or if you have a handy husband, take the standard lighting fixtures and upgrade from Lowes. The good thing is the upgrades include tax and labor, so there arent any hidden costs.
Since we signed our contract for our home, the prices have gone back up in the neighborhood and our house isnt even done and we've made a substantial profit. The workers arent the cleanest but we havent seen any urine stains...yet. We did get a few X-rated drawings on our studs and sheetrock...but that was funny!
Thanks again!
desertsun41,
Thanks for your post. Unfortunately when I was researching I did see all the websites dedicated to the negatives of KB Home, that is when I decided to go door to door in the neighborhood. You mentioned cheap fixtues/upgrades....this is how we were able to get a great deal. Last fall when the housing disaster sunk in...KB knocked about 50K off the base price of the houses in The Colony by offering the bare minimum in upgrades and the buyer could choose the upgrades important to their needs. For example....you can put more money into upgrading the kitchen while keeping the bathrooms simple...or if you have a handy husband, take the standard lighting fixtures and upgrade from Lowes. The good thing is the upgrades include tax and labor, so there arent any hidden costs.
Since we signed our contract for our home, the prices have gone back up in the neighborhood and our house isnt even done and we've made a substantial profit. The workers arent the cleanest but we havent seen any urine stains...yet. We did get a few X-rated drawings on our studs and sheetrock...but that was funny!
Thanks again!
I agree with desertsun - keep the upgrades to the bare minimum. When I built with KB, I was able to semi custom the home by working with their subs and with the city to make sure there would be no issues with deviating from the plans. Not something that 99% of the buyers will be able to do...I just was lucky and had a good relationship with the site supt.
It was a lot of work, and something I wouldn't do again with another tract builder. 30 days in the home watching the subs during critical build phases, and paying for independent inspections, pre pour, concrete tested 15 30 days, and a strutural engineer prior to sheetrock.
However, in the end I got a great home with features you won't find in 500K homes. My home cost me 204+ 50K that I have spent during construction and after moving into the home -3266sf all brick home facing south at the end of a culdesac.
The only mistakes I made is I did pay KB 4K for tile, and I placed the darn backyard faucet on my patio. Although the price wasn't bad for the tile, I would have prefered to install a combination of slate/bamboo where the tile is now.
I moved the KB upgraded electrical fixtures to my closets. With the exception of KB upgraded faucets, upgraded cabinets, and floor tile everything else was bought by me. New flooring, towel racks, kitchen counters, door knobs, HVAC blower, bathtub tile accents installed during tile install, fresh air intake, light switches, skylight,...50K and I have another 5K to spend complete the home.
Desertsun is right on....find an excellent craftsman. I was lucky to come across a perfectionist carpenter. He installed crown thorughout the home and chair rail in select rooms, framed out the windows with door casing, and redid the kitchen cabinet crown molding. I bought the materials and helped him out during installation. He actually uses 2x4 blocks nailed to the studs to nail the crown to the walls. He didn't waste a single piece of crown during installation.
I have a couple of other projects he will work on - adding an arch between the nook and family room with PVC columns sized appropriately to the arch/space. Extending kitchen cabinets to the nooks space, raised panel wainscothing for the study, and adding a cedar ceiling to my patio. Then I am finished.
$55K worth of stuff that has taken a KB home to the next level. A great floor plan tweaked a little, 2 windows, skylight, trim work, electrical custom work, mechanical upgrades, and structural upgrades hurricane ties roof rafter, bearing plates, simpson connectors no toe nailing, 2x4 cross bracing for the rafters, ring shank nails for brick ties, brick ties spaced 16" versus 24" on the plans. Essentially took a 100% brick framed shell and spent a lot of money not skimping on the details that make a house is structurally sound, nice to live in and has character.
As long as you stay on top of your home when it is being constructed and followup like hell to make sure things are corrected during build phase, you should be fine. A good supt is also a must. The KB supt working in my community was highly regarded by the city inspectors. I was told me KB was one of the better builders in the city. The inspector told me anyone can make a home look nice on the inside. The inspector recommendation played an important part in my decision to build with KB. Additionally, a lot of SF for the price...but this does equate to more money necessary to upgrade the interior materials.
HVAC system, exterior siding, structured wiring, and electrical needs to be upgraded during construction. Everything else is icing on the cake.
Last edited by joe123456; 07-07-2009 at 02:57 AM..
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WWII bombing site??? 
Kb
. With the exception of KB upgraded faucets, upgraded cabinets, and floor tile everything else was bought by me. New flooring, towel racks, kitchen counters, door knobs, HVAC blower, bathtub tile accents installed during tile install, fresh air intake, light switches, skylight,...50K and I have another 5K to spend complete the home.
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