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Just purchased land in Mountain View, (Hickory), NC. I am looking for a local reputable builder. I live in New Jersey and am planning a visit in a few weeks to meet with some builders. Originally, my husband and I planned to use Timber Block and thought we had everything figured out, but the cost of a timber home seems to be out of our price range. We are now trying to find builders to set up appointments during our 3 day stay, but there does not seem to be many to choose from and the only reviews I can find are not very helpful. Angie's list keeps popping up, but I do not trust a site that requires payment for a review that I am not sure would be accurate or just a gimmick. Can anyone recommend a good builder who has recently built homes between Asheville and Charlotte? We are looking to stay around $2-300,000 max. and want this to be the home we will retire in so we are looking for something that will last and of course require low maintenance. Thank you very much for any help!
Just purchased land in Mountain View, (Hickory), NC. I am looking for a local reputable builder. I live in New Jersey and am planning a visit in a few weeks to meet with some builders. Originally, my husband and I planned to use Timber Block and thought we had everything figured out, but the cost of a timber home seems to be out of our price range. We are now trying to find builders to set up appointments during our 3 day stay, but there does not seem to be many to choose from and the only reviews I can find are not very helpful. Angie's list keeps popping up, but I do not trust a site that requires payment for a review that I am not sure would be accurate or just a gimmick. Can anyone recommend a good builder who has recently built homes between Asheville and Charlotte? We are looking to stay around $2-300,000 max. and want this to be the home we will retire in so we are looking for something that will last and of course require low maintenance. Thank you very much for any help!
It's quite a distance from Asheville or Charlotte to Hickory, builders aren't going to travel that far. Who did you buy the land from? and/or do you have a Realtor in Hickory? check with them. Also check with the County Building Inspector, he may be able to give you some advice. Sounds like you needed to do more homework before buying the land. Timber homes are very high dollar. Best of luck in your new venture.
I agree, builders, for the most part, stay local. My husband grew up in Mountain View but hasn't lived in Hickory for over 25 years. His daughter is there and I've asked her for recommendations. I'll let you know when I hear from her.
I assume you used a search function; here is a list of Hickory area builders: Builders List
Having built via 'long distance' before, a list of things to be aware of/concerned/focused on would be a term paper.
Interview several, demand to go visit previous 'builds' and speak with the homeowners, make sure the builder has the NC 'value limit', eg is licensed to build a certain cost level home, references are very important, and on and on and on...
Plan to make several trips before signing up/contracting, and lots of trips once building begins.
There are pages on the net of working via a 'contract' vs cost plus...
Building a house several states away is not for the faint of heart, impatient or...
Good Luck, mD
Thank you all very much! Yes we have used the above search and looked at all the builders listed. Many did not have a website to look at. So we took them off our list without hesitation. This is something we have been planning since 1998 and have visited NC probably 2 or 3 times every year visiting many, many areas and neighborhoods all over Western, NC. We have visited so often, we have favorite places to eat and stay and waitresses who remember us. Our dream was to build a log cabin and retire in NC. One of our vacations we stayed in a log home and found out how much work is involved with their upkeep. This home was fairly new and the walls that faced the afternoon sun had actually separated and were caulked together. The list of damage went on and on. We knew at that point we would not retire in a log cabin and did years of research on Timber Homes. We love their design and structure, and the ability to have one built while living in another state would be easier working with this type of construction. In the end, we probably will end up using Timber Block. We love their homes, the people who work there have gone over and beyond our expectations on helping us, without any pressure and they now have the office right in Hickory which will make things even easier.
We have done many years of research, are extremely happy with our land, our neighbors, our neighborhood and the realtor could not have been more helpful! She was exceptional. I used this site for input on Granite Falls from locals years ago, and the information was well received and helped us make a very important decision at the time. I am sure my realtor will help us find a builder that is reputable and I have emailed her, but I was hoping to hear from someone who may have recently used local builders that they were happy with because even if we go with Timber Block, we will still need a GC.
We are just trying to make final decisions on cost efficiency, longevity or quality of workmanship and want to get it right to the best of our ability. Word of mouth is always better than looking at websites.
So before we put all our eggs into one pot, we thought we would look at the cost and comparison of a stick built home with some local builders, make a final decision and begin ground breaking! This has been a long, difficult process, but God-willing, we are on our way and we can only pray that the rest will follow.
I greatly appreciate everyone who has taken time to reply and will use the advise you have given!!
Hi
What did you decide on ?
Timber Block?
What GC did you go with?
Asking questions because I am in the same situation as you..Bought property and loved the Timber Block (want to stay in you price range also)
Waiting to hear from you
:-) Debbie
Hi Debbie,
I responded to this at the beginning of the month, but it does not look like it went through. I am sorry you have been waiting. We did not use Timber Block and are still not in NC. We went to the "Parade of Homes" in the fall of last year and it was very informative. It allows you to meet local builders, go into properties they have built and talk to the owners of the homes about the building process.
Timber Block was on this list. They were showing the lodge off Rt. 40 which is completed. If you go in and really look around you will get a good idea of what your home would be like. They were priced higher than we are able to afford and, while they are beautiful and well built, they would not accommodate all our needs for a home we want to retire in.
We found that a "HYBRID TIMBER FRAME HOME" is a better option. It looks very similar if you want it to, but there are many things that can be done to it inside and out to make it more like a stick built home. We like the fact that there is much more wall space and we can build to our specs, not use theirs or pay big bucks to change their specs. This is not saying we do not love Timber Block and respect them for their product, we just realized more and more that they are out of our price range to build what we want.
We found two builders that came to our lot and we like both very much. We will definitely be using one of the two and will build a Hybrid with a walk out basement.
Lane Harrell - phone number is 1-855-454-8075. He owns Synergy Modular Homes but he is a GC of custom homes as well. He is extremely knowledgeable, informative, personable and will look at your lot and what you want to do and give you an idea of turn key price. He will also give you places to visit and see his work if you ask.
Ben Higgins is the other GC. Found him in Parade of Homes. His homes are beautiful. His workmanship is top notch. The owners of his property had wonderful things to say about him. We visited 3 of his homes. He came to our lot and we told him what we wanted. He said let him know when we are ready.
The home we want to build is the Cattail Lodge by Riverbend Timber Framing, but we want to customize it a bit.
We just returned from a week of vacation in NC. Went to our lot. We have someone taking care of landscaping right now and we met our neighbors. We pray our time to be there will be soon!!
Hope this is helpful and best of luck to you!
We bought a lot on Lake Rhodhiss...Feel the same way on Timber Block.... To build is way expensive..not including the kit....We found Moss Marlo builders and another...Hope everything works out for you...and us...lol
Thanks again
[/quote]We found that a "HYBRID TIMBER FRAME HOME" is a better option. It looks very similar if you want it to, but there are many things that can be done to it inside and out to make it more like a stick built home. We like the fact that there is much more wall space and we can build to our specs, not use theirs or pay big bucks to change their specs. This is not saying we do not love Timber Block and respect them for their product, we just realized more and more that they are out of our price range to build what we want.
We found two builders that came to our lot and we like both very much. We will definitely be using one of the two and will build a Hybrid with a walk out basement.
Lane Harrell - phone number is 1-855-454-8075. He owns Synergy Modular Homes but he is a GC of custom homes as well. He is extremely knowledgeable, informative, personable and will look at your lot and what you want to do and give you an idea of turn key price. He will also give you places to visit and see his work if you ask.
Ben Higgins is the other GC. Found him in Parade of Homes. His homes are beautiful. His workmanship is top notch. The owners of his property had wonderful things to say about him. We visited 3 of his homes. He came to our lot and we told him what we wanted. He said let him know when we are ready.
The home we want to build is the Cattail Lodge by Riverbend Timber Framing, but we want to customize it a bit.
We just returned from a week of vacation in NC. Went to our lot. We have someone taking care of landscaping right now and we met our neighbors. We pray our time to be there will be soon!!
Hope this is helpful and best of luck to you![/quote]
We like Timberblock, too, and feel that the price is high and the completed price too vague. I like the Cattail Lodge by Riverbend also, but the price seems to be even higher per square foot than Timberblock. Their we site states that the starting price is $490,000. Would you mind giving us some insight on your decision?
We're also looking for a builder in the area, have property south of Linville that we're excited about and want to build on. Going down the path with Timber Block and really like their product.
Looking for a builder and hopefully someone that can share their Timber Block experience.
Thanks!!
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Timber Block
Timberblock vs. Riverbend Timber Framing
