Chesmar vs Westin-Homes in Spring(Spring-Cypress/FM2920) (Houston, Katy: sales, new house) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

a_guerrajr · 02-07-2011, 08:04 AM

Hey fellas,

Wondering if anyone has built a home out in Villages of Senterra Lakes or Northcrest Village.

We are comparing a
Chesmar (3200 sq. ft. @ $220K ) vs a Westin-Homes (3700 sq. ft @ $236K)

Chesmar offers more features like
15 seer a/c , CFL lighting, garage door opener, ceiling fans, sprinkler system, 5" base board, refrigerator, washer, dryer, 2" faux blinds, EFL, pex plumbing, and full sod.

Westin-Homes
14 seer a/c, only front sod, no garage door opener, no ceiling fans, no sprinkler system, no faux blinds, no refri.., no washer, no dryer, not EFL certified because it cost money but stated their homes over energy star rated. not sure on CFL or pex being standard.

the dilemma is we like the westin floor plan more and the space is awesome. However we don't' want to purchase a home that isn't efficient

does anyone own a westin or chesmar home and can input on their utilities?

I'm more concerned with the PEX and efficient features, are they worth it?

all the other stuff i can negotiate with the builder.

Thanks for your input.

chris_ut · 02-07-2011, 08:23 AM

You should price those items Westin is not making standard and see if the deal is good. For example, switching all your lighting to CFL should cost less than $200. A garage door opener is in the $200 range depending on how many doors you have. Ceiling fans are about $100 each for a good one that will last awhile. sprinklers maybe 2k. Blinds vary but maybe 2k there as well with install. Washer and dryer in 1k for what they would likely give you. back sod is a few hundred. So Chesmar is throwing in around 6k in upgrades for their base price or roughly and extra $1.90 per sq. ft. The Chesmar house is $68.75 sq.ft versus $63.78 sq. ft. for Westin so Chesmar is charging an extra $4.97 a sq. ft so about double the extra expense of the upgrades. I would go with the Westin as you can easily add all that Chesmar stuff except the AC and plumbing but 1 seer on your ac for a house that size is not going to make much difference at all and PEX plumbing has been around since the 60s so I'm not sure what the big deal is there.

a_guerrajr · 02-07-2011, 09:24 AM

thanks!

yea the sod, garage door, cfl i'm sure i can get included from westin. takes a little negotiation.

i'm just curious if they are a green type builder.

then again Westin is giving me 8% of sales price in incentives which is roughly 19K and Chesmar is giving 10K flat

i can use about 7K for closing and still have roughly 12K to upgrade items in the house.

chris_ut · 02-07-2011, 10:14 AM

12k may seem like a lot but I think we spent 30k on upgrades for a similarly prices home so be prepared.

Houston321 · 02-07-2011, 10:22 AM

In my opinion Chesmar is a better quality builder..ESPECIALLY if you are building from the ground up. If you are looking for a steal on an inventory home, Westin might be your choice...but in all other scenarios it's Chesmar.

a_guerrajr · 02-07-2011, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Houston321

In my opinion Chesmar is a better quality builder..ESPECIALLY if you are building from the ground up. If you are looking for a steal on an inventory home, Westin might be your choice...but in all other scenarios it's Chesmar.

Any facts to back up your opinion? Just curious what makes you state that.

Houston321 · 02-07-2011, 03:54 PM

Chesmar build in the Environments for Living program, which blows Energy Star out of the water as far as energy efficiency requirements. As for other facts, just word of mouth and being in the new home business for several years. Again, just my opinion.

If you like the Westin, get the Westin.

a_guerrajr · 02-08-2011, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Houston321

Chesmar build in the Environments for Living program, which blows Energy Star out of the water as far as energy efficiency requirements. As for other facts, just word of mouth and being in the new home business for several years. Again, just my opinion.

If you like the Westin, get the Westin.

Sounds good Thanks for the info.

We also have to see who is willing to negotiate more.

honycombe · 02-18-2011, 01:46 PM

We are building a Westin home out in Katy. We fell in love with the floor plan and that was the deciding factor. We wanted a home whose floor plan would work for us for the next 15 years and that we would not outgrow. We will be putting in blinds, wrought iron ballusters and tile flooring in after we close...because we would save a lot by doing it ourselves. With the money they offered for upgrades, we took our time and weighed our options about what we really wanted vs. what we could do ourselves. If we had upgraded the flooring to tile all throughout, which is what we want, it would have cost us @$15k..when we divided it per sq ft, it came out to like $11 a sq ft for tile we didn't even really like. So we will put the tile flooring in...because it can be done later for a fraction of the price. We upgraded the insulation, ect. because that would be very difficult to change out later on. Basically though, I would put more emphasis on getting the floor plan you LIKE, not with one that will do...because you will be happier in the long run.

jvuek · 02-25-2011, 07:24 AM

Although I will add- it might all come down to the Building Supervisor- Chesmar may be outstanding and all other Chesmar owners may be completely 110% satisfied. I have noticed they are building 5 new houses and have seen the building supervisor just a few times- he visits some mornings, some mornings he doesn't. Same in the evening. That just seems wrong to me. Plus, we would walk our house while they were building and the guest bathtub would be filled with beer cans like there was a party at our house every day while being built. Like I said, Chesmar may be a fine builder, it just may be the building supervisor that really didn't watch out for our best interests.