Holder Johnson vs. Providence homes (Jacksonville: appointed, new house, neighborhoods) - Florida (FL) - City-Data Forum

beaming323i · 02-02-2010, 11:46 AM

Hi everyone!

We are relocating to the St.Johns area this summer and have decided to build a new house. We think we have narrowed the builders to Holder Johnson and Providence Homes in Durbin Crossing North. I was wondering if any locals could give us an idea of their reputations. We are driving down on Friday(2/5) to visit both of these builders but just wanted an opinion on the quality of their homes.

Thanks!

JamesV187 · 02-02-2010, 12:48 PM

I can say from experience that Providence Homes has great customer service...right up until the time that you sign over a check to them. We had a house built with them last year, and it seemed like the builder would never return our calls. Construction that was estimated to run 90 days actually took more than 4 months, and of course you can't hold them liable for being behind schedule.

Our builder really tried to rush us through the final walkthrough, so make sure to take your time there. The builders left laods of trash in the yard too, and never did return to pick it all up. 6 months after closing, we've finally gotten most of the major electrical and HVAC problems fixed, but for a while there we had subcontractors through the house almost every day. The company is still trying to dodge our smaller concerns such as painting. We never did receive the customer satisfaction survey that the company promised after everything was completed...

In all, I'm pretty disappointed with Providence. I'd recommend trying to find a reputable local builder if you can afford to pay a little more, maybe some smaller company that puts more of an emphasis on supervising their subcontractors. Oh, and definitely avoid using Prime Lending, Providence's "preferred" business partner. Lost paperwork made our closing and move a nightmare, we had to file a BBB complaint on them.

beaming323i · 02-02-2010, 01:14 PM

Where did you build? Four months doesn't seem like a long time to build a house, so for me that isn't a problem...this is house #4 that we have built and they have all taken between 4-6 months to build, as for the other issues I will address them with the rep. Do you like the house and it's overall quailty? Thanks for your imput.

fsquid · 02-02-2010, 02:10 PM

I think Providence Homes is one of those "build in 90 days" companies. I have not heard of the other company in your post.

beaming323i · 02-02-2010, 02:28 PM

We were told about 6 months total time from contrct to close...the house is 4000sqft, so that may have something to do with the length of time. Maybe a smaller home can be finished in 3 months, but that time frame is after all permits have been pulled, so 1-2 months has to be added that time.

R1v3rRat · 02-02-2010, 02:51 PM

Well, our experiance with Providence was completely opposite. I can not say enough good things about our Construction Superintendent. We had our home built from out of state. JT our Supr. did a great job IMO. We are very happy with the entire process from start to present day in purchasing our home with Providence. We have been in our house now since Aug 08. I know my neighbors all have had similar experiances to mine as well as we are all very pleased with our decision to build with Providence. I think your bad experiance is definately the exception and not the norm hopefully. My neighbor is actually here right now and he is telling me he would not hesitate to recommend Providence... neither would I.

As far as 90 build and close promises... kind of ridiculous IMO. There's no way to predict how long it will take to get permits and inspections from the city.

We wrote our contract in Feb 08 and closed on schedule in Aug 08. which is completely reasonable to me.

just my .02

RR

beaming323i · 02-02-2010, 02:59 PM

I agree, 6-7 months is reasonable and that will be our same time frame Feb-Aug. We are also building from out of state, so I'm happy to hear it went smoothly for you. I love their layouts and the kitchen, I am looking forward to seeing it in person this weekend.

EricBoyd · 02-02-2010, 03:31 PM

One of my homebuyer's last year bought with Providence in Greenland Chase. They were first-timers and had a pleasant experience throughout. They were probably a challenging buyer for the superintendent, because they had a lot of questions about every little thing they saw during the construction process. But, he was patient and took great care to answer all their questions. I was present during a few of their mid-build walkthru's, and didn't notice anything that would lead me to believe they were rushed. Yeah, the super's phone was ringing off the hook, but he never took the call and gave much attention to the customer on-site. I forget the total build time, but it wasn't unreasonable. Perhaps 3-4 months? We're talking with a few build-on-your-lot builders right now, and they're all saying to expect between 3-5 months build time, once the permits are done.

JamesV187 · 02-03-2010, 06:31 PM

Our house was on the Northside, in Victoria Lakes. I think they use the same floorplans and subs for all of their neighborhoods, though. Our superintendent's name was Jimmy, hopefully you'll be working with a more responsive person. I can't say I'm real impressed with their warranty department either, but who knows, maybe our house is just "that one in a million".

Good luck with your move, though. Jacksonville is a very nice place.

beaming323i · 02-10-2010, 09:54 PM

Well, we met with Providence Homes last weekend and loved the house, absolutely gorgeous! The problem is we are not comfortable with the way they work their down payment...they want 100% of "custom" options and 25% of options at the design center upfront plus your down payment and they do not put the money in a separate account, they use it to build(which makes us nervous...what if they go bankrupt?) They keep saying it's because they don't want us to "walk away" and they need to see that we are "serious" which is insulting, we are relo buyers(we need a house!), preapproved and willing to put down $20K until closing but I guess it is not enough good faith money in their eyes! I just don't get a good vibe, I'm afraid it's a foreshadowing of things to come. It's a shame I feel this way because the house is perfect for our family. This is the 4th house we have built(1st house was with a small local builder, 2nd KB Homes, present with John Weiland and whoever is next), we are seasoned buyers and we have never run into this...is it a Florida thing or just a Providence thing because Holder Johnson is not requiring anything like that?

Disappointed.