The rib and I hired a small custom home builder and after a lot of heartache, we've decided to part ways. They cut a few corners and were dismissive and defensive whenever I would bring defects to their attention.

The straw that broke the camel's back is that the builder told us one of their subs wouldn't install the exterior facade per the manufacturer's recommendations, which would ultimately void the 10-year warranty. We protested to have it installed in a manner that would keep the warranty intact. The builder told us that the subs worked for them and we had zero say in how things were installed.

Specifically, the builder said, "You hired me to build you a house. You don't get to tell me how to do it."



Anybody ever fire their home builder sometime during the process?

Just wondering what some of your experiences have been.

Remind me, is this on land you currently own?

Never had to fire a builder myself, but I probably know the guy you hired and can probably get you in touch with a guy that can help you.

Shoot me a message and we can get you some help.

It sure is on our own property.

Our attorney is already engaged.

Y'all mentioned workmanship and that's pretty much the issue. We're even seeing it in the commercial side of construction these days. Sub-par work by unskilled workers who generally don't give a crap with a side of bad customer service.

You can get it fast, cheap, and good; but you only get two out of three. Most these days are only interested in fast and cheap.

magnumtmp said:

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I tried to fire my builder several times, but the sumbeech would never leave and kept drinking all my beer.

I did build my own house, though.

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I hope your builder and my new builder have a lot in common - like drinking beer and the TA OB.

If the bank will allow it, we plan to GC the rest. Should have done it in the first place.

Gotta love that Aggie Network.

My Dad was a shop teacher for 48 years and I grew up helping him remodel houses and such. I'm lucky enough to still have him around and plan to get him involved.

I work for an A/E firm. "Building stuff" is why I studied engineering and became a PE. I've got a good network to find subs.

It all depends on the bank as to whether we can do it ourselves. I also have a woodworking business if it comes to that. I'm no agrams, he's an artist, but I can hold my own.

You being GC will be determined by type of bank loan you have. Local bank not a national one is more likely to work with you.

Any national or conforming loan product such as a one time close loan I really doubt they would approve. The local bank can just tuck the loan in its portfolio and keep it. Big boys will want to sell the paper and that could be a big question mark on resale.

It's Capital Farm Credit. They're an awesome sponsor here and I'm a longtime fan and customer.

I would guess they will work with you. Pretty sure other posters have done this with them.

Building a house with a local custom homebuilder. It has been the absolute worst experience of my life. I am actually calling a lawyer today to see if anything can be done. I will tell stories and name names one day, but not until I can get everything cleared up.

We had a bad experience building a custom home as well. We ended up requesting that our builder's paint sub not step foot in our house again, and eventually found our own painter and paid out of pocket a second time for paint. Brutal brutal experience. By the time we were done not a single contractor liked coming to our house. The builder is not your friend. My builder's response to some of the paint work was, "take 5 steps back and tell me if you can see it". Unbelievable. But we are in the house and are happy now after a year long build process.

Anyone have any experience with OurCountryHomes?

Thinking about using them for a build in the Celina area.

I work for a bank heavily involved in custom home financing and I very, very seldom get a call from a client unhappy with their builder. Sorry to hear so many have had bad experiences.

I'd be willing to bet that your only recourse is arbitration based on the contract language. That's pretty standard. In that case, the arbitrator would be someone with experience in the field of home construction which could be good or bad. They would be more likely to side with the builder unless it is a clear issue of negligence.

Man, good luck. Oh, and I will now never build a custom home.

We just finished building a home in a new development in Burnet County. We went with Partners in Building and I would give them a 98. Their process, planning, and execution were excellent. I was heavily involved in the entire process and they actually welcomed that. They were very attentive and responsive to my questions and observations. The only subs I would give a "B" to were the painters but we stayed on them and they finally got it right. Several of my neighbors have gone with small local builders and most of them have some horror stories to tell. No doubt we paid more for the finished product, but it is finished, everything works, and we're very happy with the house. In this case, it appears that the old saying was true - you get what you pay for.

We have hundreds of photos, emails, texts messages, product specs, etc as documentation.

At this point, the contractor effectively quit (i.e. Asked if we had considered parting ways and then told my wife "we're done." It should be fairly mutual at this point. They were miserable also.

The remaining difficulty is they installed the wrong windows and we are refusing to pay. We chose to go with twin casement windows with the contract verbiage of "all windows open". They installed single casement windows where only one side opens and the other is fixed glass. Builder claims that one side of the "window unit" opens so that meets the contract language.

As for the contract, it's pretty flimsy. Builder insisted on using a TREC New Construction contract. No addendums. Other signed contract documents include itemized budget with notations on products, colors, etc, plans, and change orders. They neglected to provide disclosures as required by the Texas Property Code. They also refused to provide a list of subs and suppliers, again as required by the Texas Property Code. We didn't sign any waivers.

I was ashamed to discover that we hired an amateur. They interviewed well and had good references. We've slowly learned that many of their references are friends. I believe they're not taking the home builder profession seriously.

maddiedou said:

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Todd. I have good subs that I used and can guide you in the right direction. If you want my help no charge just want to help. I bulit two houses both quite large and I can take pictures and show uou the workmanship Here is my cell 979-8two o l97o. No big deal if you already have people lined up

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This is why the Aggie Network is so awesome, and why the OB is a great place to post.

We built a custom home in 2010-11 in B/CS. Because of threads like these we interviewed a ton of builders, checked references, BBB, etc. We had a great experience with our builder, couldn't be happier with our dream home and would recommend our builder to anyone. If you're in B/CS and looking for an excellent builder that provides outstanding quality and can meet your vision (is capable of building many "types" of homes not just one style), PM me I'll give you his info.

Call your loan officer and get him involved. New MML docs will need to be drawn up. Work will need to stop for 30-45 days to make sure no liens are filed by current subs that have done the work. New bid from new contractor will also be needed. You can't be your own GC. There are steps that need to be taken to make sure it is handled correctly.

Aggie Farmer said:

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Call your loan officer and get him involved. New MML docs will need to be drawn up. Work will need to stop for 30-45 days to make sure no liens are filed by current subs that have done the work. New bid from new contractor will also be needed. You can't be your own GC. There are steps that need to be taken to make sure it is handled correctly.

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He can do it by claiming his dad or FIL will be the GC even though he would really be the acting GC. I don't know what that requires from them, but I know people who have done that.

Mowdy Ag said:

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We just finished building a home in a new development in Burnet County. We went with Partners in Building and I would give them a 98. Their process, planning, and execution were excellent. I was heavily involved in the entire process and they actually welcomed that. They were very attentive and responsive to my questions and observations. The only subs I would give a "B" to were the painters but we stayed on them and they finally got it right. Several of my neighbors have gone with small local builders and most of them have some horror stories to tell. No doubt we paid more for the finished product, but it is finished, everything works, and we're very happy with the house. In this case, it appears that the old saying was true - you get what you pay for.

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A large reason for that is that Partners In Building is effectively a volume home builder which happens to have a successful custom/build-on-your-lot division. Because of their size they have the processes in place to effectively run these custom jobs and they also hire enough subs on a frequent enough basis that those subs are often solely dedicated to PiB and they usually don't want to piss off the source for the majority of their revenue.

Exactly

Great to hear! Communication is key. When the builder won't return your calls or meet you on site to discuss, it's time to round up everyone. I've gone through several as the lender, it can be done but takes a little time.

I'm curious - what were the manufacturer's installation instructions and how was the builder planning to install it? What kind of facade was it?