Comments on Hagood Builders? (St. James: custom home, landscaping, neighborhood)

[sandcastle16]

We are planning to build a home in St. James and we were wondering if anyone had any experience (positive or negative) with Hagood Homes?

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by sandcastle16

We are planning to build a home in St. James and we were wondering if anyone had any experience (positive or negative) with Hagood Homes?

Please search the forum, as I think they have been mention in the long thread of St. James. You might send a direct message to one of the folks who sounds knowledgeable about the builders. The Hagood web site sounds like they are a "custom builder". It also has some personal references, so you might contact them to see if any of the people would mind personal contact.

Sorry I can't comment, because true custom builders are out of my budget.

[Lisanevada]

My husband and I signed a contract with Hagood homes to build on our lot in SJP last summer. For us, it turned out to be a big mistake and we have since cancelled.

Reasons for our displeasure included Hagood's inability to provide accurate documentation, Hagood's painfully slow responses to our questions, random changes to our selections that we never requested, and Hagood's suppliers having very limited, very vanilla choices despite being promised an endless variety.

We tried desperately to make things work but finally decided to cut our losses.

Our takeaway from the process is that if you stick to one of the Hagood models that they build regularly and are ok with their standard fixtures and finishes, they will build you a beautiful home.

They were just not for us.

We have not selected a replacement builder yet.

I hope this is helpful.

[NJcali]

There doesn't appear to be a very robust discussion about Contractor experiences on City Data. Prior references do not seem current or fruitful

Ive had a few preliminary discussions with Hagood but i dont think they can do what i want and I dont find them to get my questions so i will probably pass. Their models are very nice and assume they build a good house but not sure they do alot of custom work in SJP. Since Im thinking more custom (or modified custom at this point) will talk to custom builders firts and then if price is too high meet with some ot the turnkey folks. Generally Im undecided if i want to put alot of dollars into a "dream home" knowing on resale you wont recoup the premium spent as resales hover between 140 or so a sq foot.

Although im very early in the process Im planning a trip next month to interview a few builders including Crane, South Shore development ( Barry Martin) , Barker Canady and a few others.

One concern i have is how the Architecture Committee reviews plans and where people have gone astray or had issues. Some contractors might be more agile at dealing with the review process and avoiding pitfalls or dead ends on design, landscaping,etc. Is there focus diversity and character of the elevation/appearance or other matters? Have folks met with committee members early in process to get advice before the start interviewing builders?

I know each neighborhood has a fix percentage of total permeable vs Nonpermeable surface? If your property is adjacent to a pond ( or your plot includes pond) do they consider that in the equation.

Sorry for diverting the topic but thought i try to raise some other questions as I start the process

[Stonecreek67]

I don't find any big problems with the architectural review committee... I just built three 100% custom homes here in St James.... they basically are only concerned with not having the same colors, brick, stone on houses next to or across from each other.... other that that you can pretty much build any house you can design that fits on your lot.