Tell me what home builders to avoid please!
Todd D. Haverkos
scene, I'm embarking upon my first house-shopping expedition. I notice
there are a wide variety of new homes available from many different
builders. Any advice or warnings would be most welcome. Which builders
cut corners which ones do it right?
BTW, my price range is around $110k-$120k and I'm looking in the
near-southwest (MLS area 10) and in the North (north of Wells Branch
Pkwy, but not so far as Round Rock).
Thanks in advance for your help!
--
** Todd D. Haverkos, * "That's right. You're not from Texas.... **
** Austin, TX Transplant * But Texas wants you anyway" -L. Lovett **
** ad...@bga.com * Unauthorized publication prohibited. **
Lisa Senner
]Having become thoroughly sick of listening to my neighbors in the apartment
]there are a wide variety of new homes available from many different
]builders. Any advice or warnings would be most welcome. Which builders
]cut corners which ones do it right?
I don't know if Copus builds in the areas your looking in, but if so,
STEAR CLEAR! We have had nothing but trouble with them since we bought
our home in August of this year. We've been very disappointed in the
workmanship, and they've been very slow in responding to our requests for
repairs. In some cases they've out and out lied about what standard repairs
should include.
WARNING: They also do business as Hampton Homes.
Steve Blair
]Having become thoroughly sick of listening to my neighbors in the apartment
]scene, I'm embarking upon my first house-shopping expedition. I notice
]there are a wide variety of new homes available from many different
]builders. Any advice or warnings would be most welcome. Which builders
]cut corners which ones do it right?
I think that folks *may be having trouble with Wilshire* as there were
about a dozen Wilshire homeowners at Steiner Ranch picketing in front
of their model home over the last two weekends.
personal opinion
--
Steven C. Blair
tivoli systems inc
Rick Shank
I usually avoid the breathing ones.
Seriously though, the smaller the builder, the better your
chances of getting a decent home built. This does not mean
that all small builders are honest an all large builders are
dishonest. With a small builder you generally get better work
as the small builder is trying to make a reputation for their
work so they can grow. If they do screw up, you have the
advantage that when you have to take them to court, they
really aren't much bigger than you. Really large builders
generally have politicians, inspectors, etc. in their pockets
and when things go wrong, you will find yourself defenseless.
David Croley
Blair) wrote:
I am not that suprised to hear that. My sister-in-law bought a house in
Steiner Ranch about 6 months ago. We looked at all of the builders out
there. Of the three builders there (Doyle Wilson, Wilshire, and Newmark),
Wilshire was the least impressive. It appeared to me that they were
skimping on the little things like fixtures. Their cabinets were also of
a lesser quality. My sister-in-law went with a Newmark. They made the
right choice IMHO.
Oh, BTW, I seem to recall seeing a bunch of angry-looking homeowners
meeting at the community park out there 3 months ago, so this could have
been brewing for a while.
--
David Croley David_...@email.mot.com
Motorola - ACAL cro...@mcc.com
"Apple is going to openly license its operating system to anyone who builds hardware reference platform systems. Period." - Don Strickland, Apple VP of Mac OS Licensing
ref
Yes, Clyde Copus is of the old "NPC" company, "Nash Phillips Copus," that went
bankrupt about 9 years back. The above information is correct, and you should
also know that Nash Phillips is doing business as "Wilshire Homes."
I'd also stay away from Bill Milburn and those mass-produced boxes he makes.
I heard from one former B.M. laborer that their framing was so crummy, they
had to turn down the power on their naildrivers: they were shooting the
nails completely through the wood. Keep in mind that these guys are just
names on a letterhead. Bill Milburn himself doesn't even live in Austin. It's
just a company that contracts jobs out to the lowest bidders.
Your best bet is a small, independent builder with a good reputation. My new
house out at Lake Travis was built by Keystone Builders, run by a guy named
Greg Turrichi. Greg *himself* likes to come in and do some of the fancy
tile work and whatnot, and I've been extrememly pleased with the quality of
this house. Last week, my commode developed a little drip, and Greg came
out and fixed it: twice. That impressed the hell out of me.
A lot of your results depend on what price level you're looking at, too. If
you're in the market for an $85,000 tract home, you're going to have a *very*
hard time finding something decent. They make very little profit off of homes
under $100K, and you end up with ultra-plain-vanilla junk. Like, single-pane
windows you can put a finger through, or paper-thin water pipes you don't
discover until 5 years later when you wake up and find your carpet flooded.
Most of your really good builders don't build in that price range, to begin
with.
I would also reccommend hiring a good real estate attorney to keep an eye on
all the paperwork. Whatever real estate agent you latch to will convince you
that you're as close to his heart as his mother - until he gets your money
and then you'll never see him again. Some of these people are vultures, and
an attorney will review the paperwork as it emerges and catch little things
that you'd never notice.
Good luck.
=======================================================================
.... \ ................................................................
..... \ ..........................................RON MORGAN...........
...... \ .............|...........................ref@bga.com..........
....... \ ........___/| _________________ ........rnmrgn@tenet.edu.....
..... ___\________|___|/__/__/__/__/__/...........Austin,Texas.........
.....|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - /.............NRA-LSBA-GCCA........
.....\ INNER CIRCLE--------------/...................................
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TrueTex
>Your best bet is a small, independent builder with a good reputation.
True, but try to find one who will build for a price competitive with the huge
tract developers like Coppus, Nash, Milburn, et al.
I have no interest in the development or its builders, but for those looking for
a smaller home very well constructed and 100 percent brick you might want to
check out the Collinwood Neighborhood just east of the Braker Lane//Dessau
Road intersection. Grade school a block away. Multiple churches surrounding.
Homes have been built slowly, individually over the past five-plus years.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
***** + TrueTex + *****
***** If LIFE is like a box of chocolates, *****
***** ART is manure for the mind. *****
***** *****
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Dottie Elliott
> Having become thoroughly sick of listening to my neighbors in the apartment
> scene, I'm embarking upon my first house-shopping expedition. I notice
> there are a wide variety of new homes available from many different
> builders. Any advice or warnings would be most welcome. Which builders
> cut corners which ones do it right?
>
> BTW, my price range is around $110k-$120k and I'm looking in the
> near-southwest (MLS area 10) and in the North (north of Wells Branch
> Pkwy, but not so far as Round Rock).
>
I went with a Buffington Home. We bought after visiting Austin in
December and looked at alot of homes. Buffington had the best design for
what we wanted and they had a subdivision that had a lot sized we wanted.
So...we closed in May although it only took them about 2.5 months to
build. We have been pleased with the workmanship very much and overall
they have been very willing to work with us. We DID have problems with
them fixing the 30 day list of items we turned in. It took over 3 months
to get it complete (mostly because they left it up to a summer hired
college student that didn't have a clue). I firmly suggest that you
endeavor to discover the majority of problems before closing and get it
repaired BEFORE closing. There are folks you can hire to help with a
closing walk through and I wish we had. We had never closed on a house
before and I think it would have been a great help to have someone go
through it with us who knew what they were doing. Most of our 30 day items
were piddly stuff and most of it was caused by damage from the poorly
trained cleaning crew. They had to replace 13 of our windows because of
scratches caused by cleaning paint off the windows. BUT they did it with
no arguments. In fact, no matter how picky or costly our request were for
the closing or 30 day list, they fixed it without argument. Since then, we
have wonderful and quick success at getting new things we discovered fixed
under the 1 year warranty (like getting the carpet restreched). The Clark
Wilson homes in the neighborhood take longer to build and seem to have
fewer problems to fix at closing and 30 day, but they have a harder
problem getting things fixed afterward from what I have heard. I would
buy a Buffington again because the house seems structurally very sound and
everything seems well built.
Dottie Elliott
Rick Shank
>In article <3b2bnk$i...@ivy.bga.com>, r...@bga.com (ref) says:
>
>>Your best bet is a small, independent builder with a good reputation.
>
>True, but try to find one who will build for a price competitive with the huge
>tract developers like Coppus, Nash, Milburn, et al.
>
Never save your money on construction quality. You cannot go back and
replace walls and foundations later. At least you can't without significant
expense. Save your money on interior upgrades. You can always upgrade later.
Spike White
: I'd also stay away from Bill Milburn and those mass-produced boxes he makes.
: had to turn down the power on their naildrivers: they were shooting the
: nails completely through the wood. Keep in mind that these guys are just
: names on a letterhead. Bill Milburn himself doesn't even live in Austin. It's
: just a company that contracts jobs out to the lowest bidders.
BM sold out about 6-9 months ago (to a CA firm, I believe). So while I've
heard all the complaints you've said about BM, that's the old BM. I've seen
good things from the new BM, but I'm reserving judgement.
: Your best bet is a small, independent builder with a good reputation.
So true!
: I would also reccommend hiring a good real estate attorney to keep an eye on
: all the paperwork. Whatever real estate agent you latch to will convince you
: that you're as close to his heart as his mother - until he gets your money
: and then you'll never see him again. Some of these people are vultures, and
: an attorney will review the paperwork as it emerges and catch little things
: that you'd never notice.
Ha! Real Estate agents a lower form of humanity than lawyers. Gotta love it.
1. Some agents are good, some unscrupuluous (just like lawyers).
2. Agents don't "get your money" until after final closing, after all the
paperwork is done. (When do r.e. lawyers get their money? Is it a
retainer, or is it "pay as you go"?)
--
Spike White | sp...@hal.com | Biker Nerds From
HaL Computer Corp | sp...@rider.cactus.org | HaL
Austin, TX | '87 BMW K75S, DoD #1347 |
Disclaimer: HaL, do you want me to speak for you? No, Dave...
Neil Feiereisel
good experience. We're pretty happy with the house, and have had good
cooperation in getting any problems resolved, both before and after.
Just another data point.
Neil Feiereisel
