Does anyone have any opinions on these builders. We're looking to have a house built in a development in Frisco and these are the builders building in the development. I've heard horrible things and good things so I'm really confused. I would plan to have an independent inspector there every step of the way after some of the things I've read but would like some opinioins? Thanks!

We built a DR Horton home in McKinney last year. I think it depends a lot on the individual builder that is working in your neighborhood, but ours has been very responsive to warranty issues.

We didn't have any abnormal construction issues during the build, and what issues we had were taken care of.

Since it was our first build, I was the annoying homeowner that came by the house every few days and wrote down everything I saw that didn't look the way I wanted it. I sent a list of "issues" to the builder at the end of every few weeks. Most of the stuff was already on the builder's list but he took it really well and made sure that we were happy with how things were built, within reason.

I would build with them again.

That is good to hear. I've been scared by some of the stuff I've read, but then again most of the complaints seem to be from buyers who used the builder provided inspector and closed with issues still on the table. If they're that dumb I don't feel bad for them.

Yep, I think that's the biggest thing to remember with any builder. The builder will want to get you in the house as soon as possible so they stop losing money.

Which Horton neighborhood were you thinking of buying/building in?

Another thing that helped us with the process was the use of a Realtor. You could probably negotiate the same price (or better) without one, but it was a big help to have another person backing us up throughout the process.

Another thing - (information unload here) When we went to sign our building contract, our Realtor had us walk through both model homes and several houses in the neighborhood in various stages of construction and write down everything we saw that we wanted - Granite counters, wood floors, upgraded lights, fans, carpet, arches, brick mortar color (expensive upgrade), diagonal tile, upgraded appliances, etc. We even listed that we wanted a $1,000 design center allowance for things that we didn't know we wanted yet. We took that list to our contract and offered the "list" price on the house. I never would have thought to do that, but the builder accepted our offer - make sure you do the same thing!

Thanks, thats a great tip. The development is Hidden Cove. How long did the construction take from building contract til closing? We're hoping to move close to the middle of August when our townhome lease ends.

We signed our building contract sometime in November of 2009 and moved it at the end of April. I've seen some houses go up quicker in our neighborhood. A lot of it depends on the weather conditions when they're pouring the foundation. We had a lot of rain early in the process (and things they went too slow on as well) that held things up I think. They actually poured the foundation in early January.

I ended up having a structural engineer come out and look at our foundation to give me peace of mind so that held it up some as well.

I guess what I'm saying is to be flexible on your desired move in date. We timed our closing date with our original apartment lease end, but had to tack on another month and a half to our lease to close the gap. Luckily, the apt was nice enough to keep our rent the same.

If you're talking about moving in August you should have no problems if they started building in the next month or so.

EDIT: Our house is about 2k square feet, single story. Bigger = longer I suspect.

[This message has been edited by OldArmy07 (edited 1/13/2011 11:19a).]

Thanks for the info. My father is a structural engineer Aggie grad who will be right in the middle of it so I expect a little longer process.

I have a home build by a builder in the Lennar family and have been happy with their service and quality....for what it is, which is a starter type home.

Also, due to my work, I see quite a few homes and DR Horton and Lennar seem to both do pretty nice work in the entry level market. I also have seen some upper end Lennar Homes that were pretty nice for a non custom home.

I am not familiar with Holiday other than just seeing their signs.

quote:

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We're hoping to move close to the middle of August when our townhome lease ends.

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That gives them plenty of time. They can really speed it up if they need to get one finished.

Ag,

Of the three, I'd choose Horton over the other two as a high level answer. Horton is stable as a company right now, which matters. They are one of the few builders EXPANDING their land holdings in D/FW.

If you don't have a Realtor, get one. Horton WILL NOT give you a better deal without one (there are some builders that will, but Horton will not). More importantly, you will have someone on your side throughout the process, to help deal with their mortgage company, etc.

If you haven't hired a Realtor, I'd be glad to help....there are lots of good Ags on these boards that I've helped over the years, even a couple that bought with Horton.

Cody@MyRobinsonTeam.com

cell 972 365 0432

Not that this is a reason to work with me, but a bonus is that I'll give any Ag a $500 rebate.

Gig'em.

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Remember too when you are doing research on the internet that very few people will get on to post about how great or even just normal their experience was. People who have a bad experience get angry and get online. So you could have 5 people who post about problems, but there could be 5,000 people who had no problems, they just aren't out talking about not having a problem.

Elsie is right. It's easier to find negatives about any company. However, if you look long enough you can find good and bad about ANY builder on the internet.

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We bought a Lennar home in the Houston area about 2 years ago, and have been pretty happy. Horton started building in the same neighborhood recently. Others are right: look hard enough and you'll find horror stories about any builder. My opinion is that the community is more important than the builder.