Anyone have a home built by Kurk Homes or Design Tech Homes? (Howe: custom home, neighborhood)

[Koshka2]

I don't think I'm defensive. However, some of your comments weren't helpful. Stating that extras are, well, extra falls within stating the obvious. It also fairly well obvious to me that it costs more to build a house with 6" studs than one with 4" studs. To me, those comments just don't give me much feedback. The one thing that you said that could be relevant is whether Kurk charges too much for upgrades. Even that, however, has to be looked at as a whole.

That is, I've talked to/looked at various builders. Some include in their base price a lot of what would be "upgrades" for other builders. Some builders start with a really low base price and charge a lot for upgrades (and most everything is an upgrade). Some builders start with a higher base price and upgrades are less. What really matters in the end is the final price for the house with the upgrades one wants as a homeowner. If Builder A charges $250,000 base price and $50,000 for the upgrades you want and then Builder A charges $200,000 base price and $100,000 for the upgrades you want then neither has a price advantage.

FWIW, the most helpful feedback for me would be feedback from people who actually built with Kurk Homes. If someone had a bad experience then that is important to me. If someone had a good experience that is also important to me.

However, having read this thread from the beginning there is often a lot of what seems to be competitiveness between people who like a particular builder and want to criticize the competitor of that builder. It looks like that is done here a lot by those who are proponents of Design Tech and those who are proponents of Kurk Homes. That is, actually, not very interesting to me. I know nothing about Design Tech and have no opinion regarding it.

I did read here the allegation that Kurk Homes charges for septic/driveway even if you don't need it. I asked them about that and they were clear that you get a credit if you don't need those things.

You say that you could "on and on" and that people are warned. But, you haven't specified anything negative really except that you think their upgrades are high. If you have personal experience with them building your home or otherwise I certainly am interested in the specifics. Vaguely saying you could go on and on doesn't tell me much.

On the other hand, if you just prefer their competitor and somehow think you need to tear down the competition then that isn't very helpful. It is fine if you like Design Tech, but just preferring that company doesn't really tell me anything about Kurk. It is entirely possible that both are fine companies.

[MsTexV]

Both have good reputations and build high quality homes. It's the fly by night builders that will rip you off and leave you holding the bag. Brooks custom homes is also in the area. Now that guy, Quattro Brooks has more lawsuits and complaints than I could count. Almost had him build my home. Thank God a realtor told me he was a straight up crook. Ive now narrowed it down to Kurk Homes and am so glad I actually checked references.

[CorJan]

I just looked back at mosts of the posts praising Design Tech and criticizing Kurk Homes. Note that the author of the posts registered, made 1 negative post against Kurk, then never posted in this forum again. This happened several times in this thread.

IMO, this is more than enough reason to avoid Design Tech. The last thing you want in a builder are these types of practices.

[nguyenhh]

I am in the process of researching for a good builder to build my new house, so far I have not sign a contract with any of them yet, but from my experience with Kurk Homes and DTH from the basis of customer services, Kurk is far more better in handling customer calls, they seems to be very responsive and helpful so far.

DTH on the other hand, I called 3 times noone pick up, I left messages, not a signle person return my calls and when I actually got a hold of one of the rept named "Ashley" and then "Brian" the experience has been pain in the balls, they are just horibble in customer care as far as I can see...these folks made me feel like they don't really want to help, they do just because they have to. That is exactly how I feel about Brian at this point. anyway, if time permits, I will post again with more updates....Goodluck!

[CorJan]

^ Hopefully you have removed DTH from your list of potential builders?

[JimRose]

I know many people who are having bad experiences as most builders are taking on more work than they can do correctly. Kurk Homes falls in that category. [mod edit - discussing moderation]

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by CorJan

I just looked back at mosts of the posts praising Design Tech and criticizing Kurk Homes. Note that the author of the posts registered, made 1 negative post against Kurk, then never posted in this forum again. This happened several times in this thread.

IMO, this is more than enough reason to avoid Design Tech. The last thing you want in a builder are these types of practices.

Moderator cut: orphaned quote

[NathanL]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

Bunch of 1 post accounts praising and attacking Kurk and DT lol.

I'm currently planning to have a custom home built. I actually toured the Mainstreet America complex (runs by DTH and charges $15/person entry fee) a couple of months ago but none of the model homes suited our taste. The plans on DTH website weren't appealing either.

I like a plan on Kurk Homes website and planning to talk to them about it. Is there anyone on this forum who actually had a home built by Kurk Homes? Did you have any complications working with them and how effective were they at resolving issues?

Thanks in advance for you inputs.

[fordlover]

I don't have any personal experience with either builder, I would prefer to go with a custom home builder who does fewer homes a year (I want them focused on my build, not on 20 homes at the same time)

One thing to keep in mind is building a house is a long process, and even the best planning and best builder will run into issues, it's the nature of the beast. Bringing your patience, and communicating your expectations and requirements to your builder will help prevent issues during the build.

[NathanL]

Thanks for the advices Failed Engineer and fordlover!