Will be interviewing homebuilders in 2020. Any recommendations of why one is better than another? Looking at 2800-3500 square foot house.
ALSO, on your lot in BFE or in a tight development?dallasiteinsa02 said:
Price range would help.
Ridgewood built ours. One word of caution, while we're mostly pleased with the construction process and home, concrete work is substandard.selk said:
Willis Custom Homes
or Ridgewood Custom Homes
You can also get an idea of your soil based on the USDA's soil survey. It's not a replacement for getting a soil test done, but it would be good to look at this BEFORE you buy a lot.ajolly said:
Make sure you get a soil test done wherever you build in BCS. My builder, Gerard Construction, highly recommended me to get one. Come to find out there was 13 feet of sand below my property. Unfortunately, for a lot of my neighbors, their builder didnt have a soil test done and their foundations are already shifting in their new homes. Dont be cheap when building.
A good builder will lead you to take the most precautions so that you do not waste your money on a house that won't last.
aggiemommy said:
We also are looking to start building next year - on our land a bit outside the city limits. We met with a few builders when we bought our land and have had a builder in mind for several years. Now that we are ready to build, we have been very disappointed with the level of service we have gotten with this particular builder after meeting with them to discuss our plans.
So, while we thought we were past this hurdle, we're back to square one. Several that we have talked to recently are too busy building in all of the new subdivisions that they won't take on building on land elsewhere.
We are looking at 2700-3000 sq ft in the $125-$150/sq ft price range.
Given the soil here, this is an absolute must IMO.waltonag05 said:
I would also add do you research on post-tension vs rebar slab.
aggiepaintrain said:
some builders are much better salesmen then others
one of the "best" ones built a house I bought that was only 6 months old and I wore them out fixing issues that were quality control problems that they should have fixed before the first owner even took possession. This was a $500k home
ran into the same. met with several local, "reputable" builders who weren't interested in building outside on of the south CS/Millican developments. Really disappointing, but I guess they are making their money....aggiemommy said:
We also are looking to start building next year - on our land a bit outside the city limits. We met with a few builders when we bought our land and have had a builder in mind for several years. Now that we are ready to build, we have been very disappointed with the level of service we have gotten with this particular builder after meeting with them to discuss our plans.
So, while we thought we were past this hurdle, we're back to square one. Several that we have talked to recently are too busy building in all of the new subdivisions that they won't take on building on land elsewhere.
We are looking at 2700-3000 sq ft in the $125-$150/sq ft price range.
or my favorite... "semi-custom...." whatever that really means.skipster said:
I don't log on to Tex Ans except on holidays. Boy there are many people that chime in here that don't know their facts. There are not many of these builders listed that build quality homes. I think quality should be mentioned. Most if not all are tract builders no custom.
did you get a firm fixed price when bid, or did the project get started and then... "oh, by the way, all that stuff you wanted added/changed from the spec house, it's $$$ extra." ?thann07 said:
Soil test. And architect (and I say that as an engineer).
I'm building with one builder mentioned right now, and I'm wishing I had done both given the overall cost. I'm enjoying working with them, but drafting took a long time, and I still didn't get everything in the contract the way I would've liked. Then, we finally got costs in and it wound up way higher than the originally discussed budgetand no warning was given during the drafting development.