Ranking the Jacksonville Community Area Builders (quality)

[pthunell]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Interesting. Although not exactly the aesthetic most people in Florida are looking for . And where are the rebar and roof tie-downs and the like (did see a little in the second video - but the exact building technique wasn't clear)? FWIW - I don't think that building a CBS house is all that difficult. Although it can take more time than throwing up a stick house. OTOH - builders seem to take lots of short cuts these days. For example - they don't give slabs (which are common to both stick and CBS houses) time to cure. I recall that after our slab was poured (near the start of a hot summer weekend) - we water cured it ourselves (bought some sprinklers and kept it wet for 4-5 days):

Allow Proper Time to Water Cure - Increase the Strength of Concrete Slabs - The Concrete Network

I don't think our builder was planning to do that (can't remember).

We saw a couple of slabs poured here where the builder poured the slab - walked away for a few days - and the slabs cracked in two. In one case - the builder just built the house over the cracked slab.

One thing we learned when we were building is that builders - even a decent one like ours - don't like to spend money on things like utilities when they're building. We had our water hooked up ASAP and used it/told our builder to use it whenever appropriate. We also had the A/C hooked up ASAP after the house was "closed in". We didn't want things like cabinets - drywall - baseboards - doors - and the like sitting there for weeks in high heat/humidity (and possibly warping). No problem - because we paid the utility bills. Robyn

Robyn,

I was not aware of the water technique to properly cure concrete and will definitely use that when we have a house built. That's also a smart move to turn on the water and get the A/C system going ASAP. We had warped oak wood floors on our brand new house outside of Raleigh that we bought back in 2005 due to them being installed during the middle of the hot/humid summer before the A/C system was turned on.

Cracked concrete has been one of the most frustrating issues with home ownership over the years. My first house in Boynton Beach that was 20 years old when we bought it ended up having a cracked slab at one corner of the house that was so bad that that corner of the house had sunken and opened the crack in the slab to about 2" wide. The previous owner had covered up the evidence of the cracks in the block wall that resulted from the cracked slab by caulking and painting the large jagged cracks in the block wall from the settling. We only discovered 2" crack in the slab when we replaced the carpet which then led me to inspect the exterior block wall of that corner where I discovered the covered up cracks there too.

My current house has numerous cracks in the driveway and a large crack in the garage floor that was completely missed by the home inspector. I hope to have the slab and driveway poured and cured properly to avoid cracks.

Or I may just rent for the rest of my life to not have to deal with these issues. I kid for the most part, but home ownership feels more like I'm the one owned by the home when I have to spend so much time and money maintaining them.

My only hope at this point is that I can find a competent builder that will build us a quality house to last. Finding that builder seems to be the biggest challenge.

Thank you all for the continued tips and advice.

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by beer234

I'm surprised at the 9 given for Dostie. I'm curious, is that ranking based on experience pre-Toll buy out or within the past two years? From the perspective of being a customer post Toll when they got the name back, if my home represents the top of the pile then i'd hate to see what the quality is like 8 and below.

Every builder cycles depending on who's running the show, and who's supervising the jobs. Dostie has recently upgraded the quality of their subs, and their supervision, so the 9 ranking is very recent. Prior to just the last few weeks, I would've said a 5.


These rankings could go up and down at anytime based on a change in construction practices, and are only current as of the date I posted them.


Hope this helps.


SS

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by pthunell

Good point beer234. Can I ask what issues you've experienced with your Dostie home?

I'm curious as to the Dostie ranking too as I've never heard good things about them either. I saw new homes being built by them in Palencia this past Sunday. Every home was using the Zip System and the tape joints were not good. I can't say for sure that they don't plan to add a normal weatherization wrap on top of that, but I doubt it.

The company that does their Zip Taping installation has been replaced recently. You will see improvements on future houses going forward.


SS

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by rwbil

Regarding wood frame homes. I have bought many wood frame homes in several states and a lot of the problems come from not being maintained by the home owner. Make sure your gutter are not clogged and make sure the water runs away from the house. Also make sure you have kickout flashing to direct water from the roof away from your siding. If your house is in a bowl do not buy it! Make sure you do not pile wood or mulch against the siding it is like putting a sign out, "Termites Welcome". Also you want one where the siding is not close to the ground. I think the min. by code is 6", but I would recommend more. Also you need to maintain your siding even if it is hardi board, but especially if it is wood. Caulk and paint.

As for wall thickness, if you are building you can go with 2x6 or / and you could add a thicker rigid foam to the outside or better insulation and gives you a thermal break.

Even on stucco houses you can get leaks.

I will give you one last piece of advice. I replace siding quite a bit and I have yet to come across one where everything is properly flashed. Flashing is critical and from what I have seen few people do it right. I even see people installing hardi over T1-11 and look at the flashing job and seldom is it done right. I could go on and on, but one simple example is I am the only person I have seen that puts end dams on my header flashing. I am amazed some the places I have seen did not rot out sooner.

In fact I will give you a more common problem I see with every single house that has T1-11 Siding. You will hear people say T1-11 is horrible and yes today I would go with Hardi, but there are also issue with Hardi such as cracking when people bang their lawn mower against it, plus it was not around when many of these T1-11 siding houses where built. But here is the deal. I hear the complaint but then I see T1-11 siding put right on top of the Z flashing or even right on top of roofs with no gap and neither the bottom or back are painted, so of course water wicks up and damages the siding. Here is what I say; first leave a 1/4" above the z flashing and 2" gap above the roof and paint the bottom and 6" up the back. Then maintain your siding - painting and caulking as need. Not to mention to divert the water away and other things I talked about earlier. And you will see a world of difference. So once again 80% of the problem was with the installation and not the product.

Hardie products are mired in lawsuits now. Nichiha is a far superior fiber cement product to use. It is not constructed in layers like the Hardie products and it costs less.


James Hardie Siding Problems | Hardiboard Class Action Lawsuit


And I agree with your statement about most installers not using end dams on the header flashing. It's just asking the house to leak.


The only thing I would add is that most people, even the builders, don't know this, is that you have to prime the cut ends of every piece of siding that gets installed or the warranty is void. To date, I know of not one single builder that is enforcing this.


I have a great disdain for Hardie products and the company itself because of their business tactics. Buy American, buy Nichiha. (Yeah, I know, it's a Japanese company, but the product you see here is made in Macon, GA so your supporting American jobs by using it.)



SS

[Robyn55]

We used Hardie board for decorative purposes only - and haven't had any issues. I assume the lawsuits involve situations where it was used for more than decorative purposes. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by pthunell

Robyn,

I was not aware of the water technique to properly cure concrete and will definitely use that when we have a house built. That's also a smart move to turn on the water and get the A/C system going ASAP. We had warped oak wood floors on our brand new house outside of Raleigh that we bought back in 2005 due to them being installed during the middle of the hot/humid summer before the A/C system was turned on.

Cracked concrete has been one of the most frustrating issues with home ownership over the years. My first house in Boynton Beach that was 20 years old when we bought it ended up having a cracked slab at one corner of the house that was so bad that that corner of the house had sunken and opened the crack in the slab to about 2" wide. The previous owner had covered up the evidence of the cracks in the block wall that resulted from the cracked slab by caulking and painting the large jagged cracks in the block wall from the settling. We only discovered 2" crack in the slab when we replaced the carpet which then led me to inspect the exterior block wall of that corner where I discovered the covered up cracks there too.

My current house has numerous cracks in the driveway and a large crack in the garage floor that was completely missed by the home inspector. I hope to have the slab and driveway poured and cured properly to avoid cracks.

Or I may just rent for the rest of my life to not have to deal with these issues. I kid for the most part, but home ownership feels more like I'm the one owned by the home when I have to spend so much time and money maintaining them.

My only hope at this point is that I can find a competent builder that will build us a quality house to last. Finding that builder seems to be the biggest challenge.

Thank you all for the continued tips and advice.

I wasn't aware of watering slabs either until we built our house. Figured - at worst - it couldn't hurt.

A 2" crack is huge. I've been told that if you can't stick a dime in a crack - it's no big deal. Don't know whether or not that folk wisdom is true - but the width of a dime is a heck of a lot less than 2 inches. Robyn

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

We used Hardie board for decorative purposes only - and haven't had any issues. I assume the lawsuits involve situations where it was used for more than decorative purposes. Robyn

I'm not sure I understand you. What other purpose besides decorative would the Hardie product have? It's an exterior finish, just like brick, stucco and siding.


???


SS

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

I wasn't aware of watering slabs either until we built our house. Figured - at worst - it couldn't hurt.

A 2" crack is huge. I've been told that if you can't stick a dime in a crack - it's no big deal. Don't know whether or not that folk wisdom is true - but the width of a dime is a heck of a lot less than 2 inches. Robyn

When my father and I used to build restaurants, we would put a sprinkler on the slab overnight. The slower the concrete dries, the stronger it will be.


I've seen builders throw up wall on a slab that was poured the day before, which is a terrible construction practice that should not be allowed.


SS

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by ShakenStirred

I'm not sure I understand you. What other purpose besides decorative would the Hardie product have? It's an exterior finish, just like brick, stucco and siding.

???

SS

I thought that Hardie board might be used for other than decorative purposes. Guess it isn't. Ours has stood up very well over the years (judging from your messages - that isn't always the case). Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by ShakenStirred

When my father and I used to build restaurants, we would put a sprinkler on the slab overnight. The slower the concrete dries, the stronger it will be.

I've seen builders throw up wall on a slab that was poured the day before, which is a terrible construction practice that should not be allowed.

SS

I agree with you 100% about giving slabs time to cure. Our builder allowed the time - but we came up with the water idea after reading a bit (like you - we used a sprinkler). It's not exactly rocket science:

Spraying Water on New Concrete - Watering Concrete Driveway | Unlimited Concrete Concepts

Some builders are throwing up houses as fast as they can these days. When you see that some aren't allowing slabs time to cure - you start to wonder what other "shortcuts" they're taking. Robyn