Good builders in the Orlando area? (Kissimmee, Century: sales, homeowners insurance, how much)

[sheena12]

We are looking for a good builder in central FL. We have heard so many bad things about builders.



Looking for a home in a community that has a pool.

[bUU]

What are your circumstances (i.e., your ages, family situation, stage of life situation, budget, timeframe)?

Since you say that you're looking for home "in a community", I assume that you are not looking for a builder to build a custom home on land you'll buy - you probably would get different answers if that was your aim. So it sounds rather than you are looking for a new development within which you can purchase a home pre-construction that you can customize.

We did a little research along those lines recently. What we found is that every builder (in our price range) has complaints, and you'll find online complaints about every builder that makes them sound like the devil incarnate. We ended up limiting our search to three builders for which we could find enough supportive backup: Hovnanian, Jones and Lennar.

Lennar is a regional brand, and perhaps one of the most well-respected builder (in our price range) in the region. Hovnanian is based in New Jersey, and they're very well-respected there. They have several developments in Florida now. Jones is a local builder. My spouse vetted them so I don't have much insight there.

I'm sure there are others, but those were the ones for which we were satisfied with their reputations.

We ended up going with Hovnanian, customizing a retirement home for ourselves in the Four Corners area southwest of Kissimmee.

[germanoricua]

According to our previous realtor, all builders have complaints, like bUU already mentioned. The key is how they take care of their customers. Does the builder live up to their promises? Do they fix what goes wrong or do they give you, the customer, a hard time?

We focused more on local builders as they seemed to have less complaints. This might be due to the fact that they build less homes and do not do business nationwide, though.

We noticed that you also get a little bit more house for the money with a local builder, e. g. more incentives (we got $12,700 in upgrades plus $10,000 in closing costs, plus the initial $10,000 extra for the lot because it had a lake in front were waived). In the end we went with Century Homes. A few things needed to be fixed in the first year after we closed and Century took care of it every single time.

[bmw335xi]

Pulte is really great, friend’s home is exactly on schedule, no problems at all.

Lennar is really bad, friend’s home is very delayed and had issues with a stucco staircase instead of open railing, wrong kitchen cabinets, wrong outlets, tons of promises to make the situation better followed by almost none of them being kept.

[crumik]

This is what I got from my manager at previous job, when asking for advice about builders in Orlando. This is based on his research, before he got his own home.

Builders to avoid: Dr Horton, KB Homes
Safe / good builders: Pulte, Lennar, Meritage, MI Homes, Beazer, Ryland, Park Square, Tyler Morrison, Toll Brothers


My home was built by Ryland and everything is OK.

[Army_Guy]

They are not really that much different from one another. They all draw from the same labor pool. The difference is in the materials they use, some will have upgraded kitchens or door bell chimes, etc.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Army_Guy

They are not really that much different from one another. They all draw from the same labor pool. The difference is in the materials they use, some will have upgraded kitchens or door bell chimes, etc.

Management is the biggest difference and it seems to vary project to project. The ones managed well, everything matches the order sheets from the design center and the building manager is on time and honest. As I mentioned before, one of my friends they made so many mistakes from not matching cabinets, staircases, etc that were chosen in the design center to having material sitting numerous weeks exposed to the elements because they were short handed to install them to the sales manager promising there would be monetary compensation for all the mistakes and delays to being told, no you won't be compensated at all for any mistakes, then after showing screen shots of text messages, they finally corrected mistakes, though still didn't give any compensation. Meanwhile my other friend with a different builder and project had zero issues, everything on time, everything installed correctly.

[germanoricua]

Well, I read this about Taylor Morrison the other day: https://www.firstcoastnews.com/artic...g/77-123507383

A home owner's absolute nightmare!

[Phaint]

Checking consumeraffairs, BBB, Google reviews, etc show almost all of them with horrible reviews so choosing one is definitely the most frustrating aspect of buying a new home. KB Homes on consumeraffairs is the only one with a super high rating which is actually a bit suspicious to be honest given that everywhere else people say to stay away from them.

I'm so far leaning towards Ryan Homes still as it's the lesser of all evils in my price range but I'm still unsure whether to go with a new home or just try to find one built within the last ten years (which will soon be in need of a ton of repairs too no doubt)

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Phaint

Checking consumeraffairs, BBB, Google reviews, etc show almost all of them with horrible reviews so choosing one is definitely the most frustrating aspect of buying a new home. KB Homes on consumeraffairs is the only one with a super high rating which is actually a bit suspicious to be honest given that everywhere else people say to stay away from them.

I'm so far leaning towards Ryan Homes still as it's the lesser of all evils in my price range but I'm still unsure whether to go with a new home or just try to find one built within the last ten years (which will soon be in need of a ton of repairs too no doubt)

To be honest, the decision should be more about whether you want the more desirable floor plans and updated-ness from a new build at the expense of a tiny lot or an existing home that needs to be updated, but has a nicer lot in a neighborhood with mature trees.



I wouldn't be worried about a ton of repairs with existing homes. The main things to check for are HVAC, roof, water heater and how much it would cost to remodel the home to your liking. Generally speaking, you are paying a premium for a new build, so you just have to decide what you value more... I would consider both options, but like I mentioned, don't worry about tons of repairs, first you will have homeowners insurance plus many older homes are actually better built than these new homes.