Builders in the Indy Area and building new

[alegnasue]

I was looking over the initial response and agree with most of your comments. You left out M/I Homes as a builder though. They built our first home and we will never go to another builder. The customer service was incredible! The Vice President of the company signed off on our home before we closed. They also have a 30 year structural warranty. We stayed with them becasue our last home had a higher than average amount of appreciation as well. Apparently their homes resell very well since the warranty is transferrable. Which was great for us as we did not have to offer and additional one. I am not sure about their loations right now, but know that they did buy a couple Davis communities after they went belly up. I think a good measure of a builder ould be to call their local office and tell them you are interested. Ask them if you can talk to the president or vice president of sales to help you make your decision. Buy with the company that picks up because they are probably more interested in making you happy than anyone else.

[Indy4Me]

Originally Posted by Happy Home

Beazer isn't bad but I agree that a good sales person and great construction supervisor make all the difference in the world. We have friends that are building with Westport on the westside (Avon) and have had a great experience. They have come a long way since 2002. They didn't have to upgrade much at all and they let them make custom changes that no one else would. I'd put them up there as one of the better builders in the city. We've been through the home several times and it looks great.

It looks like the salesperson for Westport Homes is at it again...LOL.

[mddg]

Well... I know this post has been "dead" for more than a year now but I feel like I have something to add, so here I go.

A couple of months ago I was looking to buy my first and new home in the Fishers / Noblesville area with a price tag of up to 200K. I’ve been to multiple builders and here is what I found on each one:

Arbor Homes – they brag their selves of being one of the last stick builders, which can be good or bad. Their floor plans are decent but a little outdated and everything is an upgrade. They don’t have much upgrades available and a lot of stuff that is pretty common such as granite, requires special pricing request. Their houses don’t look to carry a lot of quality. No concerns at all as far as the home being energy efficient. Sales person was okay. This was the first builder I crossed out on my list.

Centex Homes – nice floor plans and overall good quality. Pricier than the others, especially on the upgrades. I know a couple of people who built with them and they are satisfied although I found tons of complains on the internet. On the community side, they have a nice community in Fishers but they are absolutely crazy about home site premiums. Also, not much concern about energy efficiency. Sales person was okay but not really willing to make an extra effort to show me floor plants other than the model home. I couldn’t find a reason to buy the home with them, but I also couldn’t find a reason why not to build with them.

Ryan Homes – I really liked their floor plans and the overall quality of the construction, sales person is very nice and helpful. They have lots of available upgrades, colors and materials and the houses are Energy Star certificate. I really liked their homes and the price is not too bad at all. The downside, and for me is a deal breaker was the community. They took over this community not a long time ago from a builder that went out of business. About 30-40% of the houses on the subdivision are on the 90’s-110’s, back loaded garages (nothing against it, but it makes the house look cheap), and a high foreclosure rate. That was a deal breaker for me, although the new homes are being built on a new area, one still has to drive through the old area to get to the new. Couldn’t find much on the internet about the builder.

Pulte Homes – Great location, fantastic home sites and the overall quality seems to be pretty good. On the complex all floor plans would come with an unfinished basement. A lot of things that are upgrades on other builders are standard on this one and the homes are Energy Star certificate. The floor plans though, are pretty small on the second floor and the homes are pricy, especially if you consider the price per square footage. Sales person is fantastic. I did not buy the home here because of the price, but definitively I can see why it is more expensive. Still… out of my budget. Found a lot of good stuff and bad stuff about them on the internet, but I talked to a couple of people on the community I was looking for and they were very pleased with their homes

Westport Homes – Very nice floor plans. The sales person was very helpful without pushing me to buy the home. They have tons of upgrades available at a pretty good price and lots of options in terms of colors and material. Although they are not a national builder, their homes looks very nice in terms of quality and they seem to pay attention to the details. On the energy efficiency side, they don’t build Energy Star homes but they use a nice insulation system called “Zip” and they use high quality windows and doors. You get a lot of brick by default on most of the floor plans. Also, they are very flexible with customizations. I tried to find reviews on the internet and just found a few, but they were all positive. On the BBB they have A+ rating as of today. Also, something that I found that was pretty nice is the fact that they have a pretty nice show room so you can select the colors and materials there, with the help of a home designer, most of the other builders don’t have that! I had a chance to meet a home owner that had their first home built with Westport, a ranch. They had children and were looking to build a new more spacious house and guess what? They were building again with Westport, that tells me a lot about the builder. I ended up buying a house with them, that is under construction right now and so far I am very pleased with it.

[Ravekid]

I couldn't even begin to think about having a home built. Look at what these things read like: Shopping for an appliance at Sears...seriously...extras, updates, etc.. Yuck. It's sad that we have these vinyl villages pop up with three or four homes to an acre. I guess no one values elbow space anymore. I purchased a solid limestone home built in the late 60s. While it has its issues, for the price I paid for it, my land, no statist, anti-freedom HOA...I wouldn't have it any other way. I still need to toss about $5K into it to make it a little above average. If we ever do move to the HC (Hamilton County), I won't be buying anything with vinyl unless it is just eaves. Even the recent all stone homes have issues, given the "Give us a check, pick a home plan" type approch to home building. Really sucks in my opinion. I don't care to build a brand new home, which may or may not last two decades for all I know. I would rather go with older construction and a very good home inspection.