Are you telling me that most of this build was done without the electricity---and HVAC being on? The electricity should be on throughout the latter half of the build, and the HVAC should be on before the interior finishes start going in. There's a lot of moisture in a new build from green lumber to drywall mud and you've got to have the HVAC on to draw it out of there.

I wouldn't count on closing, and if the above is true, I would want to have a home inspection before I'd close. And have the contractor give me longer than a single one year wall to wall warranty.

The norm here is the water/electricity aren't really turned on until the house is like 99.9% ready b/c the builders don't want to pay for it.

I don't imagine mine will at all. They have guaranteed me that I will be Able to close on October 23rd. I have to be able to have the house inspected on October 9th when I'll make the final punch list. This is all guarnteed with money. If they are late to close its $150 per day but if for some reason my bank messed something up its $150 per day for me. At the stage where they are at they are super confident of meeting the date. There aren't a lot of delays once all the exterior work is done and I think builders are/should be able to plan out the close date fairly accurately.

Wow, people actually close somewhere near their estimated completion date? Our house was suppose to be done by the Fourth of July, they still aren't done with drywall. Our relocation package expires at the end of the month and I don't think we will even be done by then. We really should have had a penalty clause in our contract. First custom build - lesson learned (the hard way)

well, the closing date has only come in the last month! Before that, there was just a "Oh, 6-8 months, usually. depends on weather." plan. No penalties here either. They didn't even break ground for like 2 mos.

Apparently we are waiting on the power company to come out but they are way behind.

Man, the waiting sucks. Especially when you see your house sitting around not getting worked on. I get that there are millions of different pieces and people have other jobs to work on first...but it is still annoying when you are waiting and homeless and no one is working. Or working at such a slow pace. I'm pretty over building a house.

Nope, I had to extend my interest rate lock and spend an extra 630$ doing it. All in all it was worth it though.

A "9-month build" took two years. Partly weather, partly add-ons, partly god-only-knows what.

I'm surprised about no electricity... do you have any hardwood floors, they didn't need to climate control the space to install them?

Any interior finishes should have been done after the HVAC was on or you very well have major issues.

We're on time to close in 8 months. Could have done it in six if we had a more experienced/organized manager, and those two months cost us in interest rate hikes. But still quick, compared to some stories I hear.

We do not have HVAC, but are building in high desert. Hot and dry dry dry. Is that a problem?

In a dry climate, you still need an air circulation system, with fresh air input and humidity control. You can't get away from having some type of air handler system that will perform those tasks with today's much tighter homes. A home's finish carpentry and other wood products need a humidification system. Wood floors and trimwork can actually crack if the home has too little humidity in it.

Just as the floors will swell and cup or even buckle if there is too much humidity in the home, like with a new build that hasn't had the HVAC turned on to dry it out and remove that humidity. A home that didn't have the HVAC on and the humidity under control will experience all kinds of problems related to that humidity. And most products that are affected will not honor a warranty claim under those circumstances because it is a requirement for the moisture to be controlled before they are installed.

We were supposed to be in for August. We are keeping our fingers crossed for January at this point.

We were suppose to close on July 31st and we did not close until August 29th. Very frustrating!