Any experience with Garman Homes? (Raleigh: new house, landscaping, neighborhood)

[SouthernInSeattle]

Did a search, couldn't find too much. New to the area and not overly familiar with the local builders. Any input would be much appreciated.

[MikeJaquish]

A search of the forum for "Garman" will bring up a lot of posts.

[SouthernInSeattle]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

A search of the forum for "Garman" will bring up a lot of posts.

I did a search and read all the threads from 2009+ (I've read he's only been a builder for the past 5 or so years), but only saw 3 or so posters specifically comment about his homes and build quality. Thought I would make a more recent thread, in the event there are others who may have recently purchased one. (Or, I guess I should just delete)

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by SouthernInSeattle

I did a search and read all the threads from 2009+ (I've read he's only been a builder for the past 5 or so years), but only saw 3 or so posters specifically comment about his homes and build quality. Thought I would make a more recent thread, in the event there are others who may have recently purchased one.

They have a neat social media page. A company that has a "Harry Potter" house series, and a "Glamazon" house has more than average imagination. They do some neat finishes like smoke grey cabinets, glass and subway tile backsplashes, etc. I'd look at them more seriously if I lived in the area.

[WeLuvNC]

yes. we bought a new garman home. got to pick the lot, floorplan, make minor changes, took advantage of some options, made more minor changes, saw it built, did walkthroughs had minor things fixed, had things taken care of immediately after pointing them out, and so on. I can no longer imagine building *ever* with another builder.

All for less than we could have bought for. Yes, this was during our recent slow housing market a year or so ago when new homes were cheaper than existing homes...which isn't now....but still - great experience!

Anytime anyone mentions a horror story with a builder, I think "we didn't run into that issue". We had done a major 3rd floor renovation at our house in North Raleigh but that was our only contracting/building experience....so we had that experience under our belt. but - we'd never built before and had no idea what to expect or ask for, so take my comments FWIW.

Things we were able to do: expand out the back of the house to give a bit more room, heated floor tile in bath, rinnai hot water heating, basement (choosing a basement lot), bonus room finished, move the upstairs bathroom to another location and expand two rooms, added a few windows, chose a screened-in porch (vs. open deck), added a 'grilling' deck area, designed the kitchen cabinetry and make specific appliance choices, picked out our granite slab and oriented what went where, chose all colors outside and inside, chose many locations of outlets & switches during an electrical walkthrough, chose where to put cable runs, added cable and electric where we thought we needed it, etc.

Very few things were 'extra', with a lot of extras included already.I really think we could have taken a no-option home and been perfectly happy.

Things that were included that I didn't choose that I enjoy: the quality of fixtures, molding, hard woods, quality of taping job and painting, quality of gutters outside, quality of siding, quality of carpet, the willingness to make it right for us...

In general, the flow and feel of every home I've been in our neighborhood works well, including our floor plan. e.g. there is nothing over our head in the MBR so we don't hear footsteps or banging from the kids at night or in the morning. The laundry is sufficiently far away from every bedroom to not be a bother during late night or early am laundry. The hose bibs and outdoor electrical outlets are exactly where I need them to be, the grass/sod they installed really only requires mowing every other week (it is water efficient and slow growing and looks nice). Turning the gas logs on is flipping a switch. They put a fan in the outside screened porch! woot! This house is so much more efficient than the house we had in North Raleigh built in the '80s that I no longer dread a cold winter! and it was blissful to cool this summer so the quality of the insulation must be decent...and we could have upgraded that as well but chose not to....

yes, I could go on and on - so feel free to DM me. I am sufficiently impressed that I'd buy a Garman home on resale over another builder.... :-) just my 2c.

now...with any builder it seems like the lots sizes are going to be teeny tiny. But with the growing season 10 mos of the year (!!!!) I am actually ready for a much much smaller yard. and we are landscaping to give a good amount of privacy in a few years....so that is all good. That was our one big adjustment -- having a neighborhood where folks are very close by.

[SouthernInSeattle]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

They have a neat social media page. A company that has a "Harry Potter" house series, and a "Glamazon" house has more than average imagination. They do some neat finishes like smoke grey cabinets, glass and subway tile backsplashes, etc. I'd look at them more seriously if I lived in the area.

I felt the same way. I used to be a kitchen designer (pre SAHM of two very littles) and could tell almost immediately that the Garman builders were very "up to date" with the current design market vs MANY of the new spec and tract homes we have toured. So, that was a big plus in our book. (Must agree, their marketing team is genius, from what I can tell so far.) At the end of the day, the former means nada if the homes are built poorly, bad follow up customer service, etc of course..

Originally Posted by WeLuvNC

yes. we bought a new garman home. got to pick the lot, floorplan, make minor changes, took advantage of some options, made more minor changes, saw it built, did walkthroughs had minor things fixed, had things taken care of immediately after pointing them out, and so on. I can no longer imagine building *ever* with another builder.

All for less than we could have bought for. Yes, this was during our recent slow housing market a year or so ago when new homes were cheaper than existing homes...which isn't now....but still - great experience!

Anytime anyone mentions a horror story with a builder, I think "we didn't run into that issue". We had done a major 3rd floor renovation at our house in North Raleigh but that was our only contracting/building experience....so we had that experience under our belt. but - we'd never built before and had no idea what to expect or ask for, so take my comments FWIW.

Things we were able to do: expand out the back of the house to give a bit more room, heated floor tile in bath, rinnai hot water heating, basement (choosing a basement lot), bonus room finished, move the upstairs bathroom to another location and expand two rooms, added a few windows, chose a screened-in porch (vs. open deck), added a 'grilling' deck area, designed the kitchen cabinetry and make specific appliance choices, picked out our granite slab and oriented what went where, chose all colors outside and inside, chose many locations of outlets & switches during an electrical walkthrough, chose where to put cable runs, added cable and electric where we thought we needed it, etc.

Very few things were 'extra', with a lot of extras included already.I really think we could have taken a no-option home and been perfectly happy.

Things that were included that I didn't choose that I enjoy: the quality of fixtures, molding, hard woods, quality of taping job and painting, quality of gutters outside, quality of siding, quality of carpet, the willingness to make it right for us...

In general, the flow and feel of every home I've been in our neighborhood works well, including our floor plan. e.g. there is nothing over our head in the MBR so we don't hear footsteps or banging from the kids at night or in the morning. The laundry is sufficiently far away from every bedroom to not be a bother during late night or early am laundry. The hose bibs and outdoor electrical outlets are exactly where I need them to be, the grass/sod they installed really only requires mowing every other week (it is water efficient and slow growing and looks nice). Turning the gas logs on is flipping a switch. They put a fan in the outside screened porch! woot! This house is so much more efficient than the house we had in North Raleigh built in the '80s that I no longer dread a cold winter! and it was blissful to cool this summer so the quality of the insulation must be decent...and we could have upgraded that as well but chose not to....

yes, I could go on and on - so feel free to DM me. I am sufficiently impressed that I'd buy a Garman home on resale over another builder.... :-) just my 2c.

now...with any builder it seems like the lots sizes are going to be teeny tiny. But with the growing season 10 mos of the year (!!!!) I am actually ready for a much much smaller yard. and we are landscaping to give a good amount of privacy in a few years....so that is all good. That was our one big adjustment -- having a neighborhood where folks are very close by.

Thank you so much for the detailed response! Sent you a DM, as well.

[cncsmomndad]

We built a new house with them last year. We are happy with the design of our home, happy we got to make changes to the kitchen that other builders wouldn't let us do. This was the 4th house we've had built from the ground up so we have a basis for comparison. There are very certainly some issues we had with them specifically some of their staff. Quality of construction. Okay. Definitely need better job oversight by the super who was in our subdivision. Would we build with them again? 50-50 and I know others feel the same. You're welcome to DM me for more information if you'd like.

[SouthernInSeattle]

I'll take any info I can get! DM'd you cncsmomndad.

[iamdavid]

A few houses in my subdivision were built by Garman. I did not know the owner but I contacted him a few times and he replied quickly and kindly. I checked their house when there were building, it was great with good design and good material. But it was couple year ago when market was very bad. The smaller builder is usually easier to work with than BIG builder. And their listing price is more reasonable. Too bad, I paid much more than there house before 2008 so it made my house much harder to sell without a loss now.

Make sure you get a good agent. My realty agent can say anything to get a commission. She told me to get out of Green Hope HS area, drove me to a very bad remote area and said it was a very good investment because wake county would take over that area without any proof. But she got her new house close to Green Hope HS facing a nice water retention pond with a water fountain. New comer who does not know this area must be very careful of this type of agent.

Good luck.

[RedZin]

I must have visited a horrible Garman home, because the model home we saw had crooked walls. I rate them somewhere below Toll Brothers on quality. Above Toll Brothers on style.