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Old 06-28-2018, 04:26 PM
 
167 posts, read 166,997 times
Reputation: 377

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bp25 View Post
It was the middle of housing meltdown with builders going bankrupt and no builder starting a new build. How many homes do you actually see from that timeframe?
You’re 100% wrong.

There were builders in Austin at that time, plenty of them. All of their subs were the cream of the crop that survived the slowdown.


There were 3-4,000 homes built each of those years. That’s hardly “no builder”.
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Old 06-28-2018, 05:14 PM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,020,108 times
Reputation: 3914
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Senor View Post
You’re 100% wrong.

There were builders in Austin at that time, plenty of them. All of their subs were the cream of the crop that survived the slowdown.


There were 3-4,000 homes built each of those years. That’s hardly “no builder”.

We built a house just as the dot.com bust was starting in 2001, it was a dream! Got granite countertops without any price increase because suppliers were overwhelmed, the drywall was done by the subs' "million dollar house" crew because they keep those guys on as long as they can, same with the trim! And the GC and a significant amount of the subs survived the downturn -- framers however were going out of business left and right.
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Old 06-28-2018, 06:06 PM
 
Location: Avery Ranch, Austin, TX
8,977 posts, read 17,447,370 times
Reputation: 4000
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Senor View Post
You’re 100% wrong.

There were builders in Austin at that time, plenty of them. All of their subs were the cream of the crop that survived the slowdown.


There were 3-4,000 homes built each of those years. That’s hardly “no builder”.
I think it depends on where you look. Things came to a screeching halt in north-north Austin and the nearby burbs. Pearson Place took a good 2-year hiatus, Cold Springs went from a half-dozen builders to one/two who were very quiet, even Avery Ranch had whole sections that lay fallow for a couple of those years. Northwoods @ Avery Ranch was a good two years dormant before things started to recover ca 2012 and beyond. Highland Horizon took a snooze with only the original phase vs the 3/4 that eventually were built.

So, yes, there were homes being build during the early-mid downturn; but absolutely nothing like the explosion that started in '13 or so.

I'm not so sure that the subs who held on were necessarily the 'cream of the crop'. There were those craftsmen who left the industry or the area(or both) , rather than try to ride it out in a flat market. It's not like the builders were getting(or paying) top dollar during the "crisis".


The housing 'shortage' that was predicted for that time ended up being real, since not enough builders were able/willing to weather the storm...and "we" are still playing catch-up a half-decade later.
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Old 06-28-2018, 06:13 PM
 
7,987 posts, read 10,327,724 times
Reputation: 15000
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Senor View Post
Buy a house built in 2009-2011
We did.
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Old 06-28-2018, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,784,417 times
Reputation: 7256
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScoPro View Post
Pretty nice, cBach!
Thank you. I went with slate as you can see. The main reason for this was my parents visit and they can slip so having a walk in bathroom with slate which doesn't get slippery was a win-win for me. There is no shower door but water never splashes out by design.

Oh and if riaelise is watching there was a mirror pic of me as well!
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:45 PM
 
32 posts, read 53,502 times
Reputation: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texyn View Post
Were they potty trained?
LOL! So far the ones I have met, are not!
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:48 PM
 
32 posts, read 53,502 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mimmyu View Post
You can negotiate up until the contract is signed. We specified specific options/modifications we wanted and the price we wanted to pay for all of that (17k under list) before we signed the contract. Everything after that from the design center was list price.
I thought that was the process too. You have to sign the contract before going to design center..which I felt was ass backwards
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:50 PM
 
32 posts, read 53,502 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CarnivalGal View Post
Agreed. I came from the Northeast, and I found the quality of workmanship down here absolutely sucks. Even in new communities up there, the quality was much higher. I once asked about the possibility of not having textured walls and was told it was "impossible." As in it was physically impossible to build a home nowadays without textured walls because of the materials they use now, etc. When I mentioned that none of the new homes where I was from had textured walls, I heard crickets. It's just an example of how they aren't skilled enough to make a smooth wall.

In their defense, homes here are going up like wildfire, so they are just trying to build them as quickly as they can and don't really give a rat's behind about quality or workmanship. It also means that they will hire any warm body to do the construction, no matter is they really have the experience or not.
OMG HILLARIOUS! I ASKED about the ugly textured walls too! They told me their workers weren't skilled enough.

Then I got to thinking...isn't it just sheetrock? LOL! What is hard about that?
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:53 PM
 
32 posts, read 53,502 times
Reputation: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScoPro View Post
Pretty nice, cBach!
11 years ago we had our son redo our vanilla builder's grade master bathroom - he demo'd the cheap shower & hand built a nice tiled replacement, tiled the whole bathroom & separate potty room, put in all new plumbing & lighting fixtures, then painted. Of course he did it right.


But the wife thinks it's out of date now and wants him to do it over again. lol


Drees and the rest of the big builders here are nothing more than big volume tract house builders, with most of their concrete, brick, drywall, roofing, & framing crews being staffed from "South of the Border" (at least from my personal & family observations, which are numerous over the decades). Some are ok, but others not so much. The name of the game down here is quantity, not quality.

However, there are quite a few very good small volume custom builders who will build to your quality specifications at the appropriate price point. Be prepared to spend the $$$$.

There's a reason one of my sons has been making a very good living for 20+ years renovating & rectifying the mistakes made by "old Austin" builders.

But I'll agree that some builders are as Kitten described in the thread title. The one we dealt with when we built our new tract home 23 years ago was that type. In spite of the friction we finally got it built to our satisfaction.
I am starting to think maybe a Reno is a good option.

PS. get your wife the new bathroom! :P
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:59 PM
 
32 posts, read 53,502 times
Reputation: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by FalconheadWest View Post
Drees is definitely one of the better reputable builders in the area, especially in Rough Hollow. Builders in this are don't have to negotiate much because the demand is there. You CANNOT and will not buy below their base price plus lot premium. If they want to negotiate, it will be at design center for upgrades and/or use of their lender. No, you cannot control their cost.

Also, as for reading reviews online, just like with school reviews, it's typically the disgruntled ones that have something to say. Most happy people just live their lives and don't think, "Hmm, which sites should I post my awesome experience with?" Of course the negative reviews will be skewed.

For Drees to terminate your contract, if must have been bad!
HAHA! I don't think they were ready for my "big city britches"

And I agree, I knew there would be headache, I wasn't prepared for the incompetence.
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