I am looking to build a custom home in the Indian Lakes Subdivision south of CS in about a year - retiring from Houston.... I am hoping to get some feedback on builders in the area and experiences that some of you may have had with particular builders, good or bad. Any information or advice you might be able to share would be appreciated. Thanks

there are several threads pertaining to home builders here. you can do a search and see them.

otherwise, it just depends on your budget. whats your per square foot budget?

You'll hear the same two names from just about everyone - Husfeld Homes and Marriot Homes. Both are outstanding builders, IMO. You won't go wrong with either. They've been in the area for a long time and have built a solid reputation.

Fleen, a poster on here, had Dennis Husfeld build his home a couple of months ago. Dennis is a good buy, but Fleen will be able to give you any specifics as to what he did and/or didn't like.

Another builder, Clay Kolby, is actually building my house right now. His quality and knowledge are right up there with Husfeld, in my opinion (he's Husfeld's son in law and worked for him during high school, while at A&M, and for a couple of years after graduation). He does mostly customs and is staying very busy.

[This message has been edited by Emeril (edited 10/12/2006 2:29p).]

I have heard good things about Borski homes. They have a few in Castlegate I know.

Some of the old threads:
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=35&topic_id=473646
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=35&topic_id=537386
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=35&topic_id=507665

Ellis Homes has a superior reputation.

make sure that you check out the Texas Residential Construction Commission...www.trcc.state.tx.us you can enter the local zip codes and all the registered builders will come up you can then see if any of these have had state complaints filed against them and if they have made that state recommened repairs....All builders must be registered.... I wish I had looked here first and asked a WHOLE lot more questions

Randall Pitcock

Shawn O'Donovan

Keith Ellis built Coach Fran's house. I walked through a few weeks before completion. It was pretty impressive.

Good Info - Thanks all

Orlando - my sq ft budget is in the $120/$125 range.

if thats your budget, then there are some great builders in CS that can accomodate you.

mariot is good for a solid home, but i've never really seen anything 'mindblowing' from him. the resale is awesome on his homes as though.

husfeld also is very solid, but not spectacular. he built my parents house in 1992, and they were very happy with the process, the final product, and he always took care of any post move in problems my parents had. he's very 'customer service' oriented. to this day, they are happy they went with him and always recommend him to others.

in that price range i would suggest Dale Christian. he built my cousins home between foxfire and emerald forest and did a pretty damn good job. the quality vastly exceeds that of mariot or husfeld imho.

good luck!

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Keith Ellis built Coach Fran's house. I walked through a few weeks before completion. It was pretty impressive.

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You could buy this house - it'll be up for sale soon.

Keith Ellis is great, built the home I used to live in before I had to move.

Old Ag-

Dale Christian is currently building another home out at Indian Lakes. His company name is Jefferson Christian Homes, I think, or at least something very close to that. Thought I'd mention it so you could drive by and check it out.

My folks live in a large home here in Aggieland and have said numerous times that if they decide to build, Dale will build their home.

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You could buy this house - it'll be up for sale soon.

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The TV/gameroom is awesome. Can't remember how many for sure, but there was a hole cut for a large screen TV, then 3 or 4 others above that one. Fireplace, wet bar, view of pool and golf course.

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Keith Ellis is great, built the home I used to live in before I had to move.

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Keith does great work and builds beautiful homes. However, he charges more than anyone else in BCS and will take much longer to build than anyone else as well.

Rule #76
"No excuses, play like a champion"

Check out Noble Handy of Handy Homes (might be related?). He's been building custom homes for 32 years-- 19 of them in Bryan/College Station. He currently only builds about two houses at a time, so he spends a lot of time on-site at each house, which ensures top-notch quality. Right now he has a house in Spring Meadows (off of Greens Prarie), and another going up in Traditions. I encourage you to check them out to get an idea of his quality.

Also- be SURE to check references of any builder you think about using!

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions. I did see the Jefferson Christian Southern Living Home in Traditions in June when they had their open house and it was quite impressive.

Child of Grace - thanks for the info - I'll look for the Jefferson Christian home in Indian Lakes when I'm up there this weekend.

Did they get all the lead shot cleaned out of the soil at Indian Lakes? There was a skeet and trap range just upill from the lake to the west for years. The bottom of that lake is probably covered with broken clay pigeons and shot that washed down the hill.

Ralph Morgan.

Oakwood is the cream of the crap.

get your pre-wire, security, and automation done somewhere OTHER than Audio Video... those guys are hack city unless you're dropping big bucks.

Oakwood built our house, and they are certainly not the "cream of the crop." I'd put them somewhere in the 3rd quartile. My wife would rank them lower.

I think he said 'cream of the CRAP'. And yes, I agree with that too.

Post an e-mail and I will reply with our experiences...we talked to Mariott, Pitcock, and Husfeld before going with Husfeld...I felt that Mariott had a lot of "irons in the fire" and Dennis was more my style (Laid back, open to any suggestion, etc.) Also his workers and contractors were top notch...Our build out came to about $125 and we couldn't be happier...

Bandera Homes is building our neighbor's house...

Randall Pitcock (Pitcock and Croix Custom Homes) built our home. They are easy to work with and will take time to listen to you and answer your questions. They seem very concerned with building your home exactly the way you want it.

Oops, too early in the morning for me to make out the crop/crap distinction. Sorry.

Fleen - my email address is pssmith74@hotmail.com - Would appreciate any info you can give me on your experience. Thanks

check mail...

We had our house build by KD Custom Homes, we could not be happier, Angel does a great job and you don't have the "cookie cutter" feel that you do with many of the others. He also owns the Kitchen Designs studio on Briarcrest next to Brazos Bingo. He has a strong emphasis on kitchens and bathrooms, obviously. We love our house and are constantly receiving compliments on it.

Glenn Thomas builds a good house, I think the rest are a little too proud of their work to be hitting buyers with 15-20% profit margins. Avoid R.C.'s kid John Harvey Slocum, unless you are an avid excedrin user.

The best part about this thread is that it makes it apparent that there are quite a few excellent builders in the area with very good reputations. Sounds to me like it is a matter of who you're most comfortable working with and whose style you like the best.

The only one I've personally had experience with is Mariott. I previously owned two different used Mariott homes (one was about five years old, and the other about ten years old). I was impressed enough with the quality of those two that I naturally gravitated toward Mariott when I got ready to build one. We have been very pleased (this home is now about six years old).