OT: Texas New Home Concerns??
 

Looking to get any info regarding several home builders here in Houston, Texas. We are considering a couple different builders, but would like to get some opinions related to quality / workmanship / defects of any newer home purchased w/in the last couple of years.

Trying to get any info prior to possibly getting HADD

www.hadd.com

any input appreciated

Not sure what you're looking to build, but if it's a larger "high end" type home, PM me and I'll get you some contact info on someone I know. He's an independant builder that is doing awesome work now. But what he's bulding now are pretty high dollar homes; at least in my book $1mil range homes are high $$$.

pulte is a big national name. i see them in houston quite a bit. mr. pulte and his family have summer homes in MI in the same neighborhood i do. i know the family and their work. they perform a lot of warranty work. they build in bulk... entire subdivisions.

Tryed to E-mail you to no avail.
 

We lived in Cypress, (near 249 & FM1960)
Our house was $250k 5 years ago, builder
was great, also know others in that area.:cool:
Where in Houston area?? Watch the MUDDs!

I was sentenced to, sorry, I meant to say that I lived in Houston a few years ago. Some friends had a home built by David Weekley (sp?). They liked it and never had any problems in the time they owned it...

We are considering Kimball Hill, Legacy & David Weekly at this time. Legacy & Weekly will build out a garage for our boat $8k vs $12k (legacy). But there's a lot of bad press @ Weekly & Kimball HIll (no garage). Was hoping someone had or knew someone that purchased from one of these builders, could give inside info.

dockrocker-I hear that Weekly cuts around a lot of corners. See HADD @ the richardson family, but they'll build the garage for $8k.

DREDGEKING-haven't looked at pulte homes yet, b/c they can't custom build anything. At least in the 'hood we're looking their biggest plan in like 2500-2800 sq ft. I'd like something a little bit bigger.

KITTEN-what are MUDDS??

All of the builders listed are going to cut a few corners, if you want a nice product, I would look for a small independant custom builder,that the owner will actually be working directly with you. You will spend more money this way, but your happiness and resale value will make it worth while P.S. to bad I am so far from you guys, we do a lot of 1- 4 acre lots with custom shops and other stuff

I live in a home built by David Weekly here in Austin.

I was going to suggest them but then I noticed they had some complaints listed on the site you posted (HADD). But if you have them on your short list as one of the builders you would consider then I can say that I have not experienced any of the issues listed on that site. I have personally found David Weekly Homes to be very high quality with excellent attention to detail and interesting architectural details that set them apart from other builders (at least in our area).

I for one would look at a DW home again in the future and would use DW as the standard for others to compare against.

Oh yeah, the MUD advise is good. Check into it, because there is nothing quite like getting taxed for your water twice.

I am not a DW fan but if you look at how many homes they build you are going to find someone having a problem. In construction there is no such thing as NO problems. It is how the problem is handled what is inportant. DW would not still be around today or as big as they are if they build bad houses.

I've done my research on the BBB, every builder has complaints. I have looked at what issues they were regarding & how many were resolved. It's still kind of a toss up.

By the way Jack, do you have any friends that I could hire for subcontract work to build me a garage??????:D

PM me direct.

Got some questions first. What part of town are you leaning towards? If you are getting a new house built it will be cheaper to have the garage done when the house is being done by the same person/builder. If you are buying an existing house in a subdivision that has a homeowners association you will have to get them to sign off on what you want to do before you do it. Are you wanting a turn key job? Metal garage or just like the house? I am assumming you are going to put an alarm in it.

We looked at Glennloch Farms, but a little out of our way. It's a gorgeous master planned community. I love the entrance to the equestrian center, etc...

We're currently looking at Stone Gate & Canyon Lakes @ Stone Gate. Altho, it is a golf community & we don't really golf-just miniature:p It sounds like Flair will prob be way out of our range. We'd like to cap out @ $200k, absolutely no more!!!!!


TURBOJACK! Hey there!!!
We're looking @ Barker Cypress/290. Legacy will build the garage for $12k in Stone Gate. David Weekly will do it for $7500 in Coles Crossing. And Kimball Hill won't do it at all. Unfortuantely, we like tthat floorplan a lot better:rolleyes: That's why we're looking for subcontractors. I already spoke to the HOA, it needs to look like it belongs to the house. No metal bldgs/sheds, etc..And yes, Alan will do the alarm himself.
As far as turn key job, for a sketch for approval-sure. We need to offset the house to make sure we have enough room w/out easements for the garage.

My advice, based on personal experience is to stay away from Kimball Hill. In 1997 I contracted with them to build a home. It was a nightmare experience and the build quality was terrible. I was so sick from the ordeal that I sold the house at a loss just after it was finished. I couldn't stand it. My next house was built by a small custom builder, and it is OK.

There have been really big class action suits in Houston agains Kimball Hill homes.

Even though the floor plans are nice and the model homes seem OK, and the prices are low, stay away!

HUDSON-I know Kimball Hill had some probs a few years ago, but "supposedly" that's all changed. 97-02 that's 5 years worth of changes. But then again, several builders have had some probs that have been "fixed"

I was unable to find anything under class action suits w/ Kimball. Do you have a link to any info?

What kinds of problems did you go thru w/your home? Plumbing, foundation, etc.....I'd be interested in your .02 if you have a moment. What community are you talking about, also.

Feel free to email me direct [email protected]

I've sent you a private email with more details. Good luck with your decision.

We live in a Kimball home here in Austin. We built it during the problem times of 98. About the only major problem was the delays it took 9 months to build. We had one or two very minor warranty issues and they were Johnny on the spot to fix. I can't even remember what they were. All of my neighbors in the cove haven't had any major issues I'm aware of. We went through 3 differnt project managers before and 2 plumbers before the home was finsihed. I think the key to our success was that I walked the house a least once a week and communicated with the foremans. They say you are suppose to take all concerns to the sales office but we didn't follow that rule.

I wired 3 rooms in my house for surround during constructioin. I told the foreman I was going to do it. No problem as long as he didn't see me and I didn't slow them down. Like that was really going to be a problem.

At that time Kimball was still doing small re-designs and additions. They stopped doing that in our area right after we purchased, the foreman said.

I deal with customer in a service business every day. I think in some of the unresolved causes has to do with the customers expectations. They are expecting a $500,000 house for $250,000. They also nit pit every little thing. You are going to have some sheet rock and text imprefections, know doubt. You will have a tile some where that is miss alligned or not as level as the others.

I have down work for several of the buildings in the area and you can always find these same flaws. My wife and I were walking through some of the Toll Brothers $750+ homes and they didn't look any better.

The question is... would I build another one? Yes, if they had the plan and location that I wanted again.

I'm not from TX but my advice from being in the business is stay away from high volume builders. You will get much better quality andservice from smaller builders. Look closely at finish carpentry, drywall, and paint quality will tell you immediatly about their quality. Same goes for boats, fit and finish usually reflects overall quality.

THanks for the heads up. Yeah, Alan does Alarm work & they won't let him do the work. He wants to do the security prewire, cables & phone, which he's licensed to do. Guess, we'll try & sneak by as well.

We did altho, speak with some inspectors this morning. We'll see what Kimball has to say tomorrow:rolleyes:

Thanks for everyone's input. It's helped us out a lot, as usual.....
BOATERS ARE THE BEST!!!!

From a fellow boater that lives in a 52 year old house.

Welcome to Texas, you will love it.

Curtis