My parents did a custom home and went through a reputable builder. They took the cleaning contract and the painting, flooring, and random installation contracts. I like my parents house a lot.
SIL and MIL went through a cookie-cutter home builder.
My IL's building company went bankrupt while they were building the house. It sat half-built for over a year until they could get the contract transferred to another company...and then they discovered a sink hole. It took an insanely long time to finish.
My parents house took longer to build than it should have, they ended up having to withhold money to the builder because things weren't completed for up to a year after they moved in and the builder was really hard to get a hold of. The door frames weren't installed properly, so my mom had to take them out and redo them herself. The paint job was also bad. My mom was so frustrated she just redid that herself too.
My friend is building a house now, but had to pay an extra $10,000 for their lot. They picked a house with a walk out, but the builder sold them a non-walkout lot and then charged them the extra to dig it out. This of course should have been avoided had they asked what lots were walkout ready. Their house is also expected to take 3 months longer then first expected.
Another friend is building a house right now and she is having problems with people showing up. The framers, the electrician and their plumber.
We bought a new house that was already completed when we moved in. The only problem we had was the back door would stick, and the tap on the sink was loose. We also had a crack in the drywall under our front window (they checked and there was no leaking from the windows). However, we had an 18 month warranty, so they came and fixed everything! Oh and they had to replace our sump pump and a part on our water heater. No problems since.
MH and I are though building our next house in the next 2 years, so I am prepared for some problems.
Post by alabasterangel on Nov 30, 2012 11:35:03 GMT -5
We have been in cohab negotiations and the city we are considering living in is doing rrhab ib a previously shitty area. So all neighborig houses would also be new. Then they do grants to cover 25% of the cost.. si we would be able to stay in budget but get an extra 25k worth of house.. and it would be new and energy efficient.
Post by stingsharkruns on Nov 30, 2012 12:14:43 GMT -5
No horror stories. My Dad is a contractor; he & DH built our house. The only bad crap that happened was with the bank..
I will say, that we will probably never build another house. If I never have to choose tile, counter tops, cabinets, & sinks again it would be to soon. I did pretty good until we had to choose a kitchen sink, then I had a melt down in lowes. LOL.. poor DH.