Best new home builder (Tucson: sales, rent, home builders)

[Chowhound]

Just curious what people's opinions of the various home builders in the Tucson area. I've read that Dr Horton is supposed to be good. Their floor plans look pretty good, at least online anyway. So I was wondering if you guys had some suggestions. I was trying to makei t out there this summer to take a look around. I might not be able to because of a couple of projects at work but I'll get out there sooner or later. Was hoping to go in the worst time of the year weather wise.

[Chowhound]

Sierra you out there... maybe bar be que'in

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

Sierra you out there... maybe bar be que'in

I don't know much about the custom builders. Pepper Viner is good if it's in your price range. Of the mass builders, Pulte has the best reputation in town and also has the most standard features included in the base price. DR Horton is OK, I guess, depending on what deal you get. I found their sales people sleazy and they have 5 legal pages of upgrades... read, the house will cost you a lot more than you initially thought. Same goes for KB. I'd stay away from KB altogether.

If you have a specific question, feel free to DM me.

[desertsun41]

The truth is they are all the same. I know because I work with them all. Correct that Pulte has the best reputation and there is no doubt KB is the worst.

But here is the inside scoop. Bill Pulte did not build your house. He dont even know you exist. Same goes for all the builders. The subcontractors built your house supervised by yet another human being just working for a scab wage. No matter who your builder is, they ALL use the same subcontractors. Eficient Electric wired your house, Anytime Plumbing plumbed your house and ABC framers framed them and so on.

The small difference is in the warrenty and Pulte has the best. Well it is just about the same as the other builders but they are more likely to make good on it, even after the warrenty expires. What is common these days is if there is an expensive repair to be done, lets say the driveway developed several bad cracks, the builder might offer you $10,000 to shut up. It would cost them more to fix it but the hush money is a win win for everyone. Afterall, most customer complaints are just hogwash anyway and what human would not accept 10 grand to have a few cracks. I see it every day.

But even Pulte is no angel. The now famous case of the melting plastic water pipes has been in the courts now for 5 years. Dispite court order Pulte is not making good on many of the claims.

KB homes is trash. They offer a lot of square footage for the money but what goes inside is the cheapest products money can find. I wont name product names here. If one buys a KB home the idea will to be to get the low price and customize it themselves. Then you have KB now fighting in every zoning court of appeals in the country trying to squeeze 8 - 10 homes per acre. Which means these communities are so squeezed together that if you open the side door on your house you will hit the house next to you. Many of their homes, the driveway is not long enough to park a car in. That's no way to live. Maybe now that the we are in a deep recession and nothing is selling they will stop building those communities which will be tomorrows slum hood.

DR Horton is the one I am least familiar with because they are not loyal to any one product. They shop best price in the bidding process so every community uses different products. Their homes are not so bad at all.

William Lyons is pretty good but I hate the fact that they have very poor kitchen designs. Always large lots but they tend to build high priced.

Kimbel Hill is pretty cheapy too just like KB but a couple steps up. They do nicely designed homes.

Beezer is ok, they tend to do lower priced homes. I have no complaints about them either.

Christopher Homes is a very high end. They are the only builder who refuses to particapate in the JD Power Awards which by the way Pulte wins almost every single year for customer satisfaction. But Christopher does a very quality product even without those silly awards.


So your choice is 6 of one or half a dozen of the other.
I would lean towards Pulte.

[Clnconcpts]

I bought a pepper viner home,I wouldnt buy another one.Maybe im jaded cause i have seen how one house was built.Said wow, hope my wasnt built like this

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Clnconcpts

I bought a pepper viner home,I wouldnt buy another one.Maybe im jaded cause i have seen how one house was built.Said wow, hope my wasnt built like this

Really? I thought their houses were of pretty good quality. I guess there are always exceptions. Some people are happy with their KB homes, too.

[Clnconcpts]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

Really? I thought their houses were of pretty good quality. I guess there are always exceptions. Some people are happy with their KB homes, too.

I know they won builder of the year and stuff.Watching a house being built down the street from me,i wasnt very happy with the work.Now, i dont know if this stuff goes on with other builders since i havent watched one of theirs go up.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Clnconcpts

I know they won builder of the year and stuff.Watching a house being built down the street from me,i wasnt very happy with the work.Now, i dont know if this stuff goes on with other builders since i havent watched one of theirs go up.

Well, they all use the same unskilled labor obviously...

[Mugsy]

We bought with Richmond American Homes. We had a couple hiccups, but the house is now almost 3 and nothing major.


We had to have them put in a new A/C unit and it was under warranty. We had some paint/stucco issues in 1 bathroom.
They fixed it right away.

Other than that, nothing like the KB Home owner who had the home that was lopsided.

[tucsondesertdweller]

Most of these builders use the same workers as others pointed out the work is sub contracted out.
Our house was built by Meritage. We thought they had a good reputation.
Well we got the house from ----. I kid you not. Some suggest taking builders to court.
Not easy, they have deep endless pockets to defend their shoddy work, most of us don't. Also some say we have protection or recourse via the state Board or Registrar of Contractors. Sounded good to us. In reality it is not so good. If you have a problem
why would you want the same people who caused the problem to come back and try to fix it. We figured why bother, they would probably do more damage.
My suggestion would be to hire a really good house inspector or move here first and rent and look around. When you decide make sure you make frequent inspections of your own. We watched them build some of the homes in our neighborhood and were disgusted with what we saw. And not just the workmanship or I should say lack of it.
One house had human urine in the installed tub. After seeing that I have never used my tubs, I shower.