Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Jacksonville
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 12-23-2019, 10:18 PM
 
52 posts, read 252,610 times
Reputation: 23

Advertisements

I have looked online for reviews of Seda Homes. There are few. The few I have read are mostly negative. I am considering a community in St John's County.
I would like to know if they do quality workmanship? Or they on the level of dreamfinders, Pulte, Lennar, Richmond or closer to kb homes?

Any thoughts, opinions are greatly appreciated.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 12-27-2019, 01:02 AM
 
2,414 posts, read 4,210,956 times
Reputation: 3791
Quote:
Originally Posted by sax33 View Post
I have looked online for reviews of Seda Homes. There are few. The few I have read are mostly negative. I am considering a community in St John's County.
I would like to know if they do quality workmanship? Or they on the level of dreamfinders, Pulte, Lennar, Richmond or closer to kb homes?

Any thoughts, opinions are greatly appreciated.
What you have to understand is that with the labor shortage these days, most builders are all pulling from the exact same limited pool of subcontractors. Some builders use the quality subs (of which there are fewer and fewer), others use the cheapest guys possible. It's that simple.

High Quality Builders:

1. Coast Homes, LLC
2. Cottage Home Company
3. DF Luxury Homes by Marcus Meide (a division of Dream Finders, but completely separate)
4. Dostie Homes
5. Dream Finders (some communities, not all)
6. Drees Homes (#1 in production builder quality)
7. Hilbert Properties
8. Infinity Builders
9. John Merrill Homes
10. KBM Builders
11. MB Builders
12. Pillar Construction
13. Piper Homes
14. Pulte Homes
15. Trademark Homes
16. UniFlorida IV

I wish the list were longer, and it used to be, but the labor shortage has really taken its toll on the construction industry, and with less available subcontractors, prices have increased. Some builders have been willing to absorb these increases to keep their quality up, others unfortunately don't follow that business model.

If you go with a lower end builder, chances are high you'll be involved in a large and lengthy construction defect lawsuit at some point because that is the money maker for attorneys these days, and it's costing in the billions in Florida. Even the better builders are starting to get hit with these frivolous lawsuits, because they know the insurance companies will eventually settle and never fight it in court. In many cases it's due to a lack of homeowner maintenance, but there are also a lot of cases involving faulty stucco and window installation, which is why many builders have gone away from stucco these days.

It's extremely important you hire your own 3rd party inspection company now, but if you stick with the builders I named above, you'll increase your odds considerably of getting a good, quality home built.

SS
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-30-2019, 01:01 PM
 
25,403 posts, read 9,673,011 times
Reputation: 15224
We had a SEDA home built on our lot 20 years ago. It was very well done. Maybe they've changed though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-31-2019, 09:50 AM
 
2,414 posts, read 4,210,956 times
Reputation: 3791
Quote:
Originally Posted by trobesmom View Post
We had a SEDA home built on our lot 20 years ago. It was very well done. Maybe they've changed though.
Nothing is the same as 20 years ago with any builder. In fact nothing is the same as 10, or even 5 years ago.

SS
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-03-2020, 07:10 AM
 
Location: Ponte Vedra
110 posts, read 144,765 times
Reputation: 222
I agree with Shaken! The building here is suffering - even the production builders that used to be fanatstic (Toll, ICI, Dostie) are now suffering with finish work! I have not heard many things about SEDA but honesty they build more in the Amelia/Fernandina area than here in St. Johns where I live.

They do claim to be the largest independent builder in north FL and that may be true because they are not in Nocatee and it makes me think that maybe they care about growing too big too fast. I know a lot of builders jumped on that train for growth and exposure and ended up suffering because of the trade shortages!

For example, Dostie is a small company that did great in Nocatee in 2015-2018, but since they have grown into two neighborhoods now and are building more than ever, I feel that their finish work has suffered. This is not the Dostie family fault, as they do pride themselves on making it right, but rather it is the fault of the lower quality tradesman available in our area.

So I think that if SEDA is staying away from the mass production hype, maybe, just maybe they are more concerned with quality than quantity. This would be a good thing! Again, I am not positive and I am not one to ask for first hand experience, but in the midst of St. Johns county boom, SEDA only built a few dozen homes down here in one small area of Sandy Creek. That either says they are great and have integrity or they are awful and have issues, but I could not find anything awful online, so my gut says maybe they are stand-up guys! Good Luck.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-05-2020, 02:10 PM
 
16 posts, read 18,141 times
Reputation: 25
"For example, Dostie is a small company that did great in Nocatee in 2015-2018, but since they have grown into two neighborhoods now and are building more than ever, I feel that their finish work has suffered. This is not the Dostie family fault, as they do pride themselves on making it right, but rather it is the fault of the lower quality tradesman available in our area."

I have to disagree. I have a 2015 Dostie and it had horrible finish work. We struggled for an entire year trying to fix this and that and finally got it to a point we could live with the finish issues and just not have construction going on in our home.

I disagree that it's not their fault. They are the builder, they hire and manage the subs the buck should stop with the builder. They basically play a numbers game taking what outcome they get from the subs and then fixing what they have to until you finally get worn down and just accept whatever you end up with. We finally just started fixing things outselves as that was the only way to ensure it was done correctly.

They were willing to drag the sub back over and over because it cost them nothing. It cost us an entire year of aggravation and having people working in the home making a mess and still not fixing things and sometimes making things worse.

Builders should not get a pass for shoddy work.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2020, 11:38 AM
 
2,414 posts, read 4,210,956 times
Reputation: 3791
Quote:
Originally Posted by MNEscapee View Post
"For example, Dostie is a small company that did great in Nocatee in 2015-2018, but since they have grown into two neighborhoods now and are building more than ever, I feel that their finish work has suffered. This is not the Dostie family fault, as they do pride themselves on making it right, but rather it is the fault of the lower quality tradesman available in our area."

I have to disagree. I have a 2015 Dostie and it had horrible finish work. We struggled for an entire year trying to fix this and that and finally got it to a point we could live with the finish issues and just not have construction going on in our home.

I disagree that it's not their fault. They are the builder, they hire and manage the subs the buck should stop with the builder. They basically play a numbers game taking what outcome they get from the subs and then fixing what they have to until you finally get worn down and just accept whatever you end up with. We finally just started fixing things outselves as that was the only way to ensure it was done correctly.

They were willing to drag the sub back over and over because it cost them nothing. It cost us an entire year of aggravation and having people working in the home making a mess and still not fixing things and sometimes making things worse.

Builders should not get a pass for shoddy work.
I agree with this. In their defense, Dostie did upgrade their subcontractor base around 2016-2017. All your other points are spot on though.

SS
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Jacksonville

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top