Stillwater Ranch, Chesmar homes, plasticity index, new home inspector (Houston: for sale, construction loan)

[Munchkin262]

We are in need of advice and suggestions. We are new to San Antonio and have been looking around for a new home. We have come to the new subdivision "Stillwater Ranch" off Culebra. There are quite a few builders, the one we really like is Chesmar Homes. We have been reading some of the posting on this site and learning about plasticity index, inspection and foundation problems that people have. Kind of scary of buying a home. We really need some suggestions.

1) Does any one have experience with Chesmar Homes? We really like their floor plan and their workmanship seems to be good but we did not see too many comments about them.
2) We would like to hear from someone who lives or know about Stillwater Ranch about the type of soil in their. We read a posting about problem in Kallison Ranch, Stillwater Ranch is right down the road from Kallison Ranch, this gets us worry.
3) We also learn about requesting a disclosure of plasticity index of the soil on the lot that we are to build the home from the builder (suggested by TrapperL), do we request this prior to signing any contract (or putting any earnest money/at the very beginning)? Who does the testing of the plasticity index? Can we also do this testing ourselves by hiring an inspector?
4) We see that this new part of Stillwater Ranch they just opened (which we are considering) a kind of close to the Culebra creek. We wonder about any risk of flood?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[TrapperL]

Chesmar is a Houston based company. Mr Don Klein is the President. Your area Construction Manager here is Blake Cunningham. Blake was with Ryland before he moved to Chesmar. He's been in the business probably 12-15 years. I don't have a clue about the subdivision superintendent. The super more reflects the house build you are going to get than anything.
Plasicity Index is derived from Army Corps drillings. Engineers use the info to design a foundation that will carry the load and not break. Keyword is break, flexing is allowed and that's where most of the cracked walls come from. Few actually break. Flexing is considered a natural part of the foundations life and any cracks in drywall are limited under the normal 1 year warranty.The engineers are the actual warranter of the foundation as their certification is on the plans. The builder just follows his designs.I've driven by Stillwater a hundred times at least but I've never stopped in or driven in the subdivision. I can't say anything that I think would be helpful. The PI should be available at the sales office. I'd avoid a lot with anything higher than 60. I know of no inspector that has the ability or credentials to test PI. It's an engineering thing. You could hire your own engineer who could go out to the lot you would like to build on and take core samples. But that's not a cheap date and frankly not worth the endeavor. It would require a coring truck which looks like an oil drilling rig on the back of a large diesel truck.
In regards to Culebra Creek, since you've been in the area you know it is being developed. Drainage issues are going to happen and change but as they come apparent or expected, there will be expanded drain plains installed as needed. Sometimes it takes a while for them to happen but at this time I don't think it would be an issue. Mostly because loan institutions have a hard time financing construction loans on flood plain property. It's not considered permanent. Any developer would already know what parts of the land are drain plains or flood areas and these lots/land would not be for sale. Areas in a subdivision like this are usually parks, playgrounds, etc.
I'd suggest walking the models and spending a lot of time in them. Look for repairs inside the models at doors and windows. If looking at a 2 story, walk upstairs. Any noises? Walk along the walls in any upstairs hallways listening for noises. Any popping and creaking is an indicator of a foundation that has moved- not meaning it has failed- just moved. Any movement of the foundation is amplified as the house gets higher, like a 2 story. It will exponentially effect the superstructure. You'll normally see that as noisy subfloor first. Are the doors still centered in the jambs or is the door sitting crooked in the opening? If crooked, the house has moved. It's really a matter of walking a model eyes wide open and not necessarily looking at the design. Walk the models with build quality in mind and not how you'll fit the furniture in it once you move in.

[Munchkin262]

Thanks TrapperL, we really appreciate your advice. We are going there again with our realtor today and will ask for the PI report and will check again the model we'll walk through it again and pay close attention on doors and windows, check upstair, any noises, popping, cracking, etc. as you suggested.
Ok, so, we would just rely on the PI report from the sales office and stay away from lot that higher than 60.
We'll see what we find out on the lot we have in mind.

One thing we notice here in SA and could not understand, people building houses like making hot cakes and people buying houses like buying consumable products in the store, yet we also heard so many problems with the homes foundations, etc. A lot of time we went to look at the houses and there were only one or two lots left. This new Stillwater ranch we are looking at is just opened, they don't even have a model on this part yet. But there were already sold the two corner lots. Wonder, is this the trick of the marketing or what?

[Rustybolt]

I would add that you can determine your flood hazard risk using an iphone app, if you happen to own an iphone. Go to the Apple App Store and search for flood map mobile. The app uses GPS and current flood maps to identify risk.

[Munchkin262]

Thank you RustyBolt. We got the flood map through our IPad. There are lots behind the one we took and behind those lots are the green area (0.2% chance/risk) and behind the green is the blue which show as 1% chance.

We checked the model again today and did not notice any repair, checked the wall ceiling, windows and doors, not notice any jambs or crooked, doors seem ok, windows are open and close ok. Not notice any cracks.

So, we signed a contract with pending of the PI report, we said that the PI level has to be to our satisfactory or we won't take that lot.

Now, we need to search a good construction inspector to be on our side throughout the building of the home. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Munchkin262]

TrapperL, we are now confused about the PI.

We asked the builder's sales office to give us the report on the PI and their response is that the potential PVR (Potential Vertical Rise) is 2 to 4 inches. Based on our research PI is the numerical difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit, but how PVR in relationship to PI. Could you please help us?

Or can someone help us please?