New Home Builders in Atlanta (Douglas, Woodstock: hardwood floor, lease, countertops) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

FLMommy07 · 01-01-2014, 08:47 PM

Do you guys recommend any new home builders with house prices $200,000 and under? Any opinions on Smith Douglas communities? Paran Homes? Any others? We are getting ready to start looking to buy a house here when our lease is up but we don't want to end up with a "lemon"! Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

plucas001 · 01-05-2014, 04:39 AM

We moved into our new home built by Smith Douglas off of exit 14 of GA 400. This is one of the Cumming subdivisions. I don't know where you are looking to buy but if you check out one of the Smith Douglas communities, check out the model called "Carrington". It has a nice 1st floor layout, spacious living area and kitchen with plenty of closets as well as a third level "bonus room" that is the size of the two bedrooms below put together. The bonus room can also be converted to a fourth bedroom. Total Square footage = 2,613.

Our experience was pretty smooth with this builder. I had somewhat direct access to the head contractor when it came to some of my concerns. They are very accommodating throughout the walkthrough and will work with you to make sure that everything lines up to your liking. Here are a few tips that I have regarding this builder:

1) Be careful to be 100% sure about the options you pick, there is no fancy "design center". Once you sign the
contract, you are locked in.

2) Work with an agent, this will most likely translate to a more reasonable earnest commitment and better customer
service.

3) Element Funding/Fidelity are their preferred lender,, they will likely give an incentive if you use one of these two
lending institutions. In our case, fidelity was requiring too much inconvenience, so we went with Element Funding.

4) One of our neighbors used NACA financing and have an insanely cheap mortgage, this was not possible for us, but
if you have patience, then this might work out nicely for you. I wouldn't even mention NACA to this builder unless
you have a green light on funding from them.

FLMommy07 · 01-06-2014, 12:50 PM

Plucas001 - Thanks for commenting and all of your advice. We are actually looking in Cherokee and Paulding county. Have you had any problems with your house? I just didn't know what kind of quality Smith Douglas was. The floorplans in Cherokee and Paulding do not inclue Carrington but they have some similar. They are in our price range and look nice but you just never know.

plucas001 · 01-07-2014, 08:24 AM

About the Carrington, the model that we used as a reference was in Cherokee County. Have you looked at
Woodstock Village by any chance?

Although we are very satisfied with our purchase there is something that has been very annoying about the paint on the bottom baseboards on the staircase, they are going to have to re-paint it. Although this is covered under warranty, if you decide to go with them, make sure to mention that these types of things are unacceptable before you sign the contract. Other than that, all is well. The folks in my neighborhood all seem very satisfied with their purchase.

This is our first home, I have to be honest, we made sure to check up on every little thing. And there were little things here and there that needed correction. One window needed adjustment (made a little too much noise when opening/closing) we made them clean up the finish at the bottom of the garage walls (they left it rough as if that was going to be ok).... I'm going to make them re-paint our front door, for some reason the painter did a very shoddy job on that.

In a nutshell, the overall design will be good, but in my opinion, you must be very picky and "anal" to get that fine tune finish that everyone should have when purchasing a $200,000 home....

I'm not trying to make excuses for them, but it seemed like they were closing on about 7 homes all in one week in my neighborhood. I think they over-extended themselves and this kinda made its way into the quality of the cosmetics of our home.

FLMommy07 · 01-13-2014, 08:23 PM

How long have you lived in your new house for? Any major issues? The two neighborhoods that we are looking at do not offer the Carrington floorplan. Smith & Douglas seem to be one of the cheaper builders, so I didn't know how they were for quality. Its good to know that everyone in your neighborhood is pretty happy with their homes. Are the cabinets/countertops good quality? Any other info you have would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

plucas001 · 01-14-2014, 03:56 AM

Cabinets and countertops are beautiful and durable. Hardwood floor is nice quality. Industry standard practice, well insulated, double paned windows. We have a thermostat on all three floors which works out very nicely. Our plan has one of the most accommodating bathrooms I have seen at our price point, very large for a couple. The appliances are frigidaire, although we opted to purchase our own fridge. The garage door is dead quiet, this is extremely pleasant if your spouse is sleep upstairs. The carpet is higher quality than average, and we looked at a great deal of other builder's models.

Also, if u decide to go for a fireplace, they will establish a tube to run wires through wall (don't know how common this is). We bought a 50 inch but the area is sized to well exceed this.

We moved in on Dec 23rd of last year.
Smith Douglas is worth a look.

Ellyana2 · 11-14-2014, 09:31 AM

Smith Douglas are nice homes. But once the closing is over it is almost impossible to get them to repair or do anything. We had a list of things to be worked on before the closing for the builder. We cannot get them to come for the 11 month walk-thru either. Even the agents at the model homes will not respond. We have nail pops all over the house and a cracked bathroom door that was there during the initial walk thru. I have neighbors that call everyday in order to get their attention. Good Luck!

AmerBamer · 11-28-2014, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellyana2

Smith Douglas are nice homes. But once the closing is over it is almost impossible to get them to repair or do anything. We had a list of things to be worked on before the closing for the builder. We cannot get them to come for the 11 month walk-thru either. Even the agents at the model homes will not respond. We have nail pops all over the house and a cracked bathroom door that was there during the initial walk thru. I have neighbors that call everyday in order to get their attention. Good Luck!

Ellyana2, which community do you live in, and when did you move in? Are all of your problems (and your neighbors) all cosmetic or have you had major issues. We are considering a Smith Douglas home and don't want to make a mistake!

plucas001 · 11-29-2014, 02:33 AM

Hmmmm, we got them to come out to our 3rd month warranty walk through. It went well. I guess we'll have to wait and see about the 11th month.

Electrician & Plummer came out for some minor fixes, all under warranty. Sorry to hear about your experience Ellyana 2.

AmerBamer · 11-29-2014, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plucas001

Hmmmm, we got them to come out to our 3rd month warranty walk through. It went well. I guess we'll have to wait and see about the 11th month.

Electrician & Plummer came out for some minor fixes, all under warranty. Sorry to hear about your experience Ellyana 2.

Plucas001, if I may ask, what sort of fixes from the electrician/plumber?