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What can you tell me about builders in Charleston? Not being from the area we are uncertain who has "bad reps". We are looking to either build or move into a quick delivery home in Summerville/Goose Creek area. Lennar seems to have an incredible value-- the Isabel floorplan is close to 4000 sq ft, 6br, 5.5ba starting at $271k in Wentworth Hall community with Dorchester 2 school district. How is that even feasible?! Haha. And then we are looking at a home built by Sabal in Carnes Crossroads (Beaufain model) that is 4BR 3.5 BA for $400k in the Berkeley School District. I just am wondering why Lennar is so much cheaper? We are pretty clueless on best builders in the area so welcome any input you have! We want the best bang for our buck but also don't want to be lacking on quality or options as well. Thank you!
What can you tell me about builders in Charleston? Not being from the area we are uncertain who has "bad reps". We are looking to either build or move into a quick delivery home in Summerville/Goose Creek area. Lennar seems to have an incredible value-- the Isabel floorplan is close to 4000 sq ft, 6br, 5.5ba starting at $271k in Wentworth Hall community with Dorchester 2 school district. How is that even feasible?! Haha. And then we are looking at a home built by Sabal in Carnes Crossroads (Beaufain model) that is 4BR 3.5 BA for $400k in the Berkeley School District. I just am wondering why Lennar is so much cheaper? We are pretty clueless on best builders in the area so welcome any input you have! We want the best bang for our buck but also don't want to be lacking on quality or options as well. Thank you!
Lennar is a national builder, they are in quite a few states and have are headquartered in Miami, FL.
They have an A- rating with the BBB.
They've had 30 complaints in the past 12 months, 22 of which were product related.
There's no significant government actions against them at this time.
The main reason they are less expensive is two fold, 1) quality of materials, they buy in mass bulk and don't allow for upgrades 2) you cannot, and I mean cannot change a single thing to their floorplans. If you want an extra outlet put in for a TV, won't happen. Because they are strict with their build policies and the materials they use, they are able to come in at a lower price point.
Sabal Homes is a Canadian builder based out of Edmonton.
They have an A+ rating with the BBB.
They've had 0 complaints in the past 12 months.
There's no significant goverment actions against them at this time.
If you're looking at Carnes Crossroads, I'd consider looking at the David Weekely and Ashton Woods homes as well. I owned an Ashton Woods Home in TX and from experience, I thought the home was well built, well thought out, and of high quality. David Weekely Homes are known for their energy savings. Always best to do your homework and go visit the home sites if you can. There's nothing like getting up close and personal with the home so you can see the quality (or lack thereof) for yourselves.
They are all great builders and each have something unique to bring to the table. There is a Sabal Homes from Canada however that is NOT the Sabal Homes building in Carnes Crossroads. The Sabal Homes building in Carnes Crossroads is a local builder headquartered out of Charleston, SC. In fact it is the only local builder currently building homes in Carnes Crossroads. Sabal is known for its ability to truly customize to the manner that best fits the needs of each buyer. Sabal is also know for its customer service as they have over a 98% recommendation rating over all time.
Last edited by ltyler29412; 05-02-2014 at 09:37 AM..
Yeah Sabal in Chaarleston is not the Sabal Homes from Edmonton. I love a Sabal Home. Lenmar not so much. David Weekly and Ashton Woods are pretty good too. Go visit some models of each of them if you can. Be aware that a model will usually be packed with upgrades but it will show you what each builder can do.
Sabal Homes is building in Carnes Crossroads and other communities in Summerville. Sabal Homes is a local builder in Charleston that offers quality home building. It is not affiliated to the Sabal Homes in Canada (totally two different companies). Sabal Homes (Charleston) allows customers to customize/personalize their home to best suit their family's needs. If you have not walked through one...you must! The Sabal model homes at Carnes Crossroads is called the Radcliffe and its absolutely gorgeous!
Yeah Sabal in Chaarleston is not the Sabal Homes from Edmonton. I love a Sabal Home. Lenmar not so much. David Weekly and Ashton Woods are pretty good too. Go visit some models of each of them if you can. Be aware that a model will usually be packed with upgrades but it will show you what each builder can do.
May I ask what you don't like about Lennar? We definitely plan on visiting the models and communities to get a sense of where we belong. We just built a home a year ago with M/I Homes (Columbus, Ohio) so it definitely feels a bit like groundhog day! Excited for the opportunity to live somewhere warm now!
walk the Lennar model and then go walk the Sabal model and you'll see alot of differences... Carnes is a completely different community then Wentworth. Big amenities, commercial components, parks, etc. Make suer when you're at carnes you check out the Eastwood model next door to Sabal
OP you mentioned that you were looking at a rather large home, another floor plan that comes to mind up there is built by Mungo homes over in the Barony at Spring Grove, the have a 4K sq footer listed at $281K. The floorplan is call the Worthing.
walk the Lennar model and then go walk the Sabal model and you'll see alot of differences... Carnes is a completely different community then Wentworth. Big amenities, commercial components, parks, etc. Make suer when you're at carnes you check out the Eastwood model next door to Sabal
Sabal has a good reputation around Charleston as far as one of the "tract home builders" goes. Lennar, maybe not as much. As jesposito said, go check them out for yourself. If you don't have an experienced eye for house construction, take someone with you who does. It's pretty competitive and to some degree, you get what you pay for in a tract house. The quality of materials and workmanship will suffer when the builder has to meet a lower price point and there's no way around that. And of course location plays a big part in the final price.
BTW, I don't mean to use the term "tract home builder" in a disparaging way. I'm only using the term to differentiate from custom builders. There are plenty of well built tract homes and they represent the level of build quality that most of us live in. Often the difference between tract and custom isn't so much in quality but just in customizations, some special finishes, etc.
Lennar and Sabal are two different kinds of builders. As someone said -- go through and you will see it immediately.
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Carnes Crossroads Sabal Homes is not from Canada
