1650 E. River Road
How to Know if a Homebuilder is Building Quality
When deciding to buy a new home from a builder, everyone wants to buy the highest quality home that they can afford. I’d like to share some of the ways I determine the quality of the homes that are being built. Now these tips are not foolproof, and there is definitely no guarantee that your home may not have problems, BUT I would be willing to say that these tips will assist those who want to try to locate the highest quality they can afford for their family.
Tip 1: Do Research
The first tip is to do a significant amount of research regarding the builders in your area. Since I do this professionally and am in the industry every day, I have the benefit of years of my own and my clients’ experiences that have shaped my opinions. I have a clear sense of who is building quality and who is just pumping out homes to move on to the next one. Since you will not have the experience and industry knowledge required to make your $100,000 - $2,000,000 decision, you must either hire someone with this knowledge or do the homework yourself. Better yet, do the homework yourself and then hire someone who seems to know even more than you could ever know. This way, you are fully covered. To begin your own research, you should request the number of complaints for each builder you are considering from the Registrar of Contractors. This is an important step because all builders (anyone with a building license, really) are governed by this agency. If government assistance is needed to get a builder to respond to a complaint, people sometimes file a claim against that builder with the Registrar of Contractors. The Registrar keeps track of how many complaints each contractor has, so this is a great tool to use to see what you might be getting into prior to committing to a builder. The only problem is that very, very few consumers know anything about this government agency, so I know many 100% legit complaints are never addressed. This is especially true for builders that build at the lower price points, such as KB Home, DR Horton, etc. These builders primarily sell to first-time buyers who are uneducated about the process, and their complaint numbers seem to be a little too low compared to other builders. I attribute this to the fact that first-time buyers don’t know where to turn when they have serious issues with a new home.
Tip 2: Look at the Site
My second tip is a common sense one that I know very few people even consider. LOOK AT THE JOB SITE! Take a walk through homes under construction. Are the homes dirty? All homes under construction are “dirty,” but is trash lying around like no one cares what the place looks like? If so, I would say there is a 100% chance that, in fact, no one really does cares about the homes. They just want to get the job done. This is not a good sign when you want a high quality home. A good builder will have the construction workers sweep the homes EVERY DAY after the work for the day is done. Items will still be lying around, but it will not be trash and a collage of other stuff. Those items should be neatly stacked and out of the way. Seems simple, and if you read any of my other posts about this, cleanliness usually equals quality or at least the effort to do better than the next guy. This, in my mind, goes a long way towards what you want to see when spending hundreds of thousands on a new home.
Tip 3: Talk to Other Buyers
When you’re out spending time at a new home site or community, you are bound to see other buyers looking at their homes and watching how they are being built. This is especially true on any Saturday or Sunday afternoon. When you see other homebuyers looking at their home, seek them out and ask what they think of the homebuilder. This is huge! One hundred percent of the time, they will give you the no-holds-barred, true story regarding how well or badly that builder is doing. Now, keep in mind that just because someone you meet had a good or bad experience does not necessarily mean the builder is good or bad. Everyone is different and has different standards and expectation. This advice is only meant to help you get the full story on the builder you are considering. You could rely solely on Tip 3 ONLY if you were able to get a sample of 100 different buyers all buying from the same builder in the same neighborhood. This is not going to happen, so take this tip with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, it is helpful in gaining an understanding of the whole picture.
Every builder is going to have nice sales brochures and models, etc. It’s your job as a consumer to break through that and see what the real story is. Hopefully this helps those who want ways to see a little further than all the glitz that most builders put on with their models, promotions, sales staff, etc.