No, I am not writing an article. I haven’t started building. We are waiting for our design to be completed. I thought I might learn some information going forward. I wasn’t seeking a builder recommendation.

Thank you, Virgil!

NEVER. We discovered partway through our build that he lacked the experience and cashflow to be 'on top of his game' during the build.

We tried to do our due diligence, we checked for claims against him, looked at his reference, but small contractors are difficult to fully investigate, and we had few builders to choose from due to our construction type, and area.

yes, in the end of the day, even though our remodel was very long and kinda traumatic endeavour-in the end of the day, I would. But only to folks who live in a certain location-we were a bit too far, that created a real problem as time went by, since we're in So Cal, and the traffic here is horrible.

I'm not sure my answer is helpful, but that because I'm probably guessing the "why" of the question..you're trying to see how many people end up being allover satisfied by their choice of their builder, when all said and done, or..?

Yes, but we have just broken ground so ask me again in 12+ months!

Our builder came highly recommended to us by two different sets of friends who used him to build their homes. One 3 years ago, and the other 7 years ago. I’m hoping we have as pleasant of an experience as they did. So far so good.

April- The why of my question is simply that I am curious about others' experiences with their builders. I feel like I might learn a little bit from reading these. Thanks for responding.

I would definitely interview several homeowners of any builder you’re interested in and look through their homes. Most homeowners are excited to let you tour their homes and love to talk about them as well. I would ask in-depth detailed questions. Talking only to the builder has limited value. Many present themselves very well, but they are only as good as the subs they hire. Even if a builder is conscientious and willing to fix the myriad of mistakes a sub might make, many times the fixes can be sub par and it’s a real headache to have to constantly check up and point out errors...believe me, it is very draining. Mistakes happen and problems arise, but better workers will have a lot less of them to deal with.

Do your homework. It’s a pain and time consuming initially, but truly worth it in the end.

Thank you, nidnay. BTW, I love your kitchen and all the windows.

Thanks mark1993....yes, lots of windows. I had to push my architect and builder repeatedly....more windows, with taller, wider, and bigger ones.... I kept having to tell them until they fully understood what I wanted :)

And you can do all the vetting in the world and still get screwed. Ask me how I know?

Yes we asked homeowners who had built with our builder, even taking surprise visits on weekends to one of his developments and then stopping people if we saw them outside. Most were only too happy to bring us in and talk about what a fabulous guy our builder was and how wonderful their homes were.

Fast forward almost 3 years later. The big difference was that when the last development was built, it was the only development our builder was working on. Now he's overextending himself. He's got 2 small developments going plus a number of single family homes.

He fired a supervisor and never hired another one, instead giving our supervisor 10 houses to oversee (these are all completely custom homes. No two are alike, so the supervisor should have at max 3 homes.) Too many mistakes were made by subs that have delayed our build by months. We lost a total of 6 months because of bad management and problems with work having to be redone 2 and sometimes 3x.

So the answer is no I will never recommend our builder. And he went from being highly recommended by RE agents in our area to no one being willing to put their reputation on the line for this guy.

cpartist is completely correct. There is no guarantee. The only thing you can do is your part and do all the investigating, and then hope it all works out. Sad but true.

CP- there wasn’t anything you could have done to prevent what happened to you. For that, I am sorry. Soon it will be in the past and you can enjoy your beautiful home. I hope you can forget about your builder. He is his own worst enemy.

Yes I would. We met with and got bids from numerous builders. At the end of the day, we went with the builder that made the best first impression. They are family owned, have a good business reputation and came off as though they genuinely cared about giving us the best result. They did not come off as sales driven or pushy and they have been more than patient with our questions. My husband and I are completing the interior ourselves and they have even offered their advice and experience with that. We are almost to the finish line with them and so far our gut instincts have proven to be true. We've had a few issues with mistakes and miscommunications but they have fixed every issue promptly and without us having to push. And their quality of work has been outstanding. We are very happy with them.

I would have to say Alyssa, that a lot of the problems arise with the finishing (although not all), and since you are doing the inside yourselves, you will be more able to avoid the potential issues that many of us are dealing with. Also, many times there are framing issues that don’t show up until much further along in the process.

Also, many times there are framing issues that don’t show up until much further along in the process.

You mean like my windows on the first floor being set 2" too low so that my hatband was 2" lower and then my 8' doors had to be cut down which made my door handles too low?

Don’t forget you can ask subs about good builders. I happen to know a couple different drywallers and HVAC folks. I’ve asked them all who is good in my area. Who keeps things neat (hahahaha my phone autocorrected that to thugs beat) and tidy. Who does very nice work. Etc etc.

Yes we would recommend our builder at this point. We have been officially with him since September 2016. He was involved in the design process and budgeting and now is building with us We are still in framing but we appreciate him greatly thus far and hope it continues this way.

I think your question is a great one and you should ignore snarky comments! I infer that you asked it to glean if at the end of a build people are happy with who they hired. Not so you could hire them too but in the hopes that people felt their choices were good and the result was good. It is a fair question.

I appreciate your words, Alison. You expressed exactly what I was hoping to learn.

we had a great builder would totally recommend him to anyone however, he's very picky and only builds the projects he wants to be involved in, a perfectionist too.

Our builder is really good. Best man at our wedding, dh's best friend since kindergarten. Builds banks, schools, clinics, etc. But agreed to build our home. We learned lots of things together and our architect helped him with a lot of things he had never done before that freaked him out a little. I.e.: the flair at the bottom of our siding.

Going pretty well with minor issues. Nice to have someone you know you can trust.

A good builder is worth their weight in gold.

cp.....sounds like you had a 'track' builder. IMO.....NEVER use a tract builder! Use local independent builders.

Robin once again you prove you have no clue what you are talking about.

I used a local independent CUSTOM builder. One where every ones house is different from one another based on what the architect or designer creates.

I would definitely recommend our builder, smart, responsive, creative and tries his best to stop my overspend. As I've stated in other threads, perfection comes at a price and it's not $$$ but the time I devote to keeping things perfect. Hardly a day goes by when I don't discover something just about to go wrong and provide proper direction, only because I can and that is the key. I studied my builder's properties, completed and under construction, got to know him for almost a year before siging the contract, have no regrets; he's concurrently building 10-12 homes, including high end homes; his build quaility is consistent, he has buying power but above all he's a very nice guy. I hope I get to say that even after it's all done and complete this summer.

(I wonder whether Haussmann's era buildings in Paris would be considered tract housing)

During our interview process with 3 architects, we asked them if they had builders they liked to work with. We contacted all the builders and had initial phone conversations. It was love "at first sight" with one builder but we continued the due diligence process with others just to say we did our best. We incorporated our builder into the design process with our architect after we had the floor plan 90% nailed down. Doing this added such value to the process. For instance, the architect drew my sunroom with my dream windows.....the builder pointed out the costs including complicated trim for the one arched window would be $6,000 versus $3,000 for a rectangular window. Valuable information when you are choosing where to spend your money.

He is a one-man operation, builds one house at a time, with a renovation or two at the same time. What sealed our decision to use this builder was his transparency. He gives us ALL the costs, all the invoices, and his fee is 15% on top of that. He builds homes in our price range so his estimates are based on experience. I don't call his estimates "allowances". In a true custom home, your "allowance" is whatever you spend. For instance, he put $3,500 in the budget for a front door because most of his clients go with wood. We want fiberglass with leaded glass - so we are over budget on that item by $2,000. I chuckle at the number of times I have thrown out an idea and he patiently says, yes, we can do that and then goes into how my idea will add "x" amount to what he has on that budget line item. But it is always our decision to make.

You never know how the best laid plans will turn out so you do your best, cover your bases, listen to your gut and take the plunge. (How many cliches can one pack into one sentence?)

"...(I wonder whether Haussmann's era buildings in Paris would be considered tract housing)..."

Not since the French Revolution. Have you priced residences in any of his buildings lately?

And since you brought it up, do you know the original purpose of all of the "traffic circles" that Van Haussmann designed for Paris?

-no, but one can imagine:)

-I did some reading on it, which wasn't nearly enough. It was a drop in an ocean. But since it fascinates me it'll lead me eventually to read more and more..as much as I know myself. If you're not against sharing a quick lesson for now..I'd read it very eagerly. I'm sure others would love reading about it too.