Any thoughts on homebuilders? Fishhawk Starling - Arthur Rutenburg vs WestBay? (insurance, new home)

[gulfer]

Great stuff!!

[SarasotaBound1]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Yes, if you consider Valrico the Tampa Bay area. Most would.

And yes, we got exactly what we contracted for on that house. Sadly, it caused Morrison to change a number of their contract and construction practices as a result. However, we did not ask for nor did we expect anything above and beyond what was stated in the contract.

I want to emphasize that as I don't want to come across as being an unreasonable jerk. We merely held them to the letter of the contract, that's all.

RM

Very nice, did drive around the area on my trip down earlier this year. No worries, as you said on your first post, it's up to the owner to be on top of your build. Good luck and enjoy the home.

I'm hoping to be there mid 2013.

[bavariantransplant]

Very informative post RM and its leading me to believe my possible "plan" to beginning building prior to my arrival in Florida so we can move seemlessly into our new home to be a flawed plan. Sounds like one needs to be very active in the build of a new home to ensure what is agreed upon / expected is actually done.

[MortonR]

If you don't want any surprises, I would strongly urge you to be present while it's taking place, or at least have some means of checking in on things frequently. Pretty tough to sort things out after the fact.

I would point out that this is not unique to Florida - it's true everywhere we have lived.

Something else to consider as well:

That extra 2-3 feet added to the lanai or the sliding door instead of a window may add a thousand (or two) to the price, but think about what it would cost to do it after the fact - if it would be possible at all. Sure, it adds to the final price, but it's far cheaper to do it - AND - amortizing that cost over the term of the mortgage makes that extra feature a *lot* cheaper.

In other words, if you want to change something or "customize" the plan, do it when you build - it will be far cheaper in the long run.

RM

[bavariantransplant]

Thanks for the info. If I build I will be very careful and deliberate when it comes to plan changes. I have yet to see a floorplan that I dont want to change a door or window or extend something.

I also am a big fan of prewiring home theater, etc but I would think nowadays this is sort of standard? We also like torch lights as a mean of energy efficient indirect lighting. Again, custom things that like you said are better tracked in person then from afar.

[MortonR]

Prewiring for audio/visual and data are BIG profit centers for builders these days.

To be quite honest, on the last house we built we snuck into the house the night before the drywallers started hanging drywall and roughed in additional cable TV and all of the ethernet (network) wiring. We had everything staged and ready to go, so it only took us a few hours. We borrowed a friend's truck and wore work clothes so no one questioned who we were or what we were doing.

The drywallers don't care - they just cut out around the boxes. When the electrician went through to install devices he just went ahead and did the cable TV drops - he didn't know the difference. We went in and terminated the network cabling before he was there.

This can be tricky, however - I ran "Monster" brand audio cable in the ceiling and walls for our home theater setup. When the insulation contractor came in, they stole the cable by simply pulling it out of the walls from the attic. Jerks. Since we did it ourselves there wasn't much we could do about it, since the builder certainly wouldn't have gone to bat for us.

Any house I built I would definitely have ethernet cabling (CAT6) installed to each room and terminated in a common spot, like a closet that has power and AC. Wireless is all well and good, but can be flaky and unreliable. As an IT security person I like the idea of my personal data running on copper in my walls and not out in the ether where others can grab it. Just a personal preference, that's all.

RM

[bavariantransplant]

Got to admit, pretty bold!

I cant believe one of the workers who built your home stole the wiring, I wouldve said something even though you werent supposed to be in there working.

How much profit can one generate from prewiring in an open home? It seems most of the new homes I see being built in Florida are concrete/block on the 1st floor, if so, where are the studs? Arent they channeling all wires, etc on the surface of the blocks?

[MortonR]

Exterior walls have furring strips (1"x 2") that are nailed to the block 16" on center, which in turn provide the point for anchoring the drywall. This also provides a chase for any utilities that have to be in the wall with the exception of water lines. If there are water lines in the exterior wall they are run inside the block in most, but not all, cases.

Interior walls are typically 2"x4" studs and would have conventional wiring and utilities in them.

Here is another anecdote from our homebuilding experiences:

The wall between our dining room and utility room had the dryer vent in it. This is typically a 4" vent that runs up through the roof and out for exhausting the dryer. The wall this vent was roughed in was framed in 2"x4" studs and bottom/top plates.

Needless to say, the 4" dryer vent wouldn't fit within the wall cavity. It was roughed in that way, with the (assumed) expectation that the drywall would cover it (with an obvious bulge!) and no one would be the wiser.

When I caught this I pointed it out to the job super and he mad the framing carpenters go back and rough that wall in with 2"x6" studs and top/bottom plates.

Oy.

RM

[bavariantransplant]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Needless to say, the 4" dryer vent wouldn't fit within the wall cavity. It was roughed in that way, with the (assumed) expectation that the drywall would cover it (with an obvious bulge!) and no one would be the wiser.

priceless

[customer1984]

What happened here? I was looking for true reviews of this company. I am currently building with West Bay and let's just say it has not been a pleasant experience. Most of the people have been correct when they said between the sales team and the design center nobody talks. the sales person who I originally spoke with seemed to know little about what came with the house and where things would be located if added on to the house. But yet still gave me an answer so to not look ignorant about the situation. I was looking at a lot that would have been the last house on a dead end street and was told that they would not be building the road through, well lets just say I'm glad I did not choose that lot because 2 weeks later they built the road through. It is very hard to get someone to call you back and to get someone to keep you informed of the progress of your house. Was told my start date for construction was the 28th of September and we are now on day 4 with nothing stated but hey I'm keeping faith that something will start by the end of the week.