jmcclain19
12-09-2006, 06:42 PM
Ok gang - so I've been relatively busy the last few months with a new project - my new home!
My wife and I were able to commandeer a new build home in a small community on the far south outskirts of the Phoenix Metro area. It's a really exciting time, we got a house with a huge backyard (not that common around here) in a quiet neighborhood we plan on being in for a long time.
This home was a quick turnaround home - that is, someone bought it with the hopes of flipping it quick to make a killing, except the market tanked. So we got a great deal out of someone who wanted to dump this house asap.
However - the new home plan has been nothing but a huge, huge pain.
Having a brand new home has allowed me to come to some of the following conclusion. The idea of "home builder quality" is a load of horse manure. Once the builder sells the home off, they could care less about you and your home.
I live in an entire neighborhood of DR Horton Homes. I know all three builders have a huge backlog for coming back to fix problem areas. Their customer service just doesn't seem to care - you're put on the list and they'll get back to you in a few weeks when a slot opens up. I don't know a single neighbor or friend who lives down here that doesn't have a laundry list of items that the builder screwed up.
Here's mine.
No 1 - My heater (which is amusing because we really don't use it but on a few nights a year) wasn't wired correctly. When the gas company came out to light all our pilot lights, the guy took one look at the furnace and said "Call DR Horton and have them come and re-wire that thing correctly, the job was done piss poor and it doesn't work"
No 2 -Our garage door installer was apparently asleep the day he was at our house - as the arm that connects the Door opener to the door itself wasn't attached correctly (or even faked all that well). Thank GOD my wife and I were inside of the Garage and not near the door when the arm broke and the door fell down shut. Turns out that the installer forgot to put backing nuts on the bolts that held the arm to the door, and after a few times opening it, all three came loose. I had a field day on that one.
No 3 - Apparently, the simple concept of using duct tape or plastic to cover things escaped the guys on Stucco day. As they sprayed the outside of my house, they forgot to take a simple piece or pieces of tape to put over our hose connections on the outside of the house in both the front and the backyard. So the result was - our hose was stucco’d with texture & paint. Sounds harmless, until you try to stick a hose on there. I spent who knows how much on chemicals trying to remove the texture & paint from the threads - at least enough to get a hose on there. I got barely enough on the back to use, and on the front - I had to have it redone with a new spigot.
No 4 - Our guest bathroom fan didn't work. I thought maybe something was wrong with the wires, so this wasn't a pressing issue when we moved in. I pried the fan out of the roof to take a look. And to my surprise - there were no wires leading up to it. The fan was put in the ceiling and left there - no one bothered to wire the rest.
No 5 - The home had surround sound speakers put in the entertainment area - built into the walls. Two of the five in the rear didn't work. This was something we didn't desire in a home - but since it was there it was going to be a cool perk, a really nice add on we were going to use to make a home theater out of our TV area. Instead, this has turned into a big pain in my rear. So much for the perk.
No 6 - While trying to figure out some of the speaker problems, I did some crawling around the attic checking out some of the wiring. Only then did I notice large sections of the attic that someone forgot to insulate. Oops.
I've put these in writing in a complaint to DR Horton - this doesn't count the other stupid things like light fixtures hung crooked in the entry way (from a 20 foot ceiling) and several spots where our "Ceiling fan ready" rooms were anything close to being wiring ready for ceiling fans - but it's come down to being darn near impossible to get them out and get action on some of the items. So you are stuck. Either fix it yourself, or wait for DR Horton to live up to their contract – and who knows when that will be so I've just started doing it myself. It's been a learning experience I'll tell you that.
Our problems seem miniscule compared to some of my neighbors. Down the street, a neighbor noticed that her floorboards were starting to come apart from the floor. So she had someone come out and look, and her living room floor is sinking. There is nearly 2 1/2 inch difference in some spots between the deepest spot is now and the walls. And it's growing. My next door neighbor across the street - had to have his floor ripped out because it was discovered way too late that one of the water pipes wasn't hooked up correctly and was leaking under the house.
Anyone else have any sort of these stories to pass along?
My wife and I were able to commandeer a new build home in a small community on the far south outskirts of the Phoenix Metro area. It's a really exciting time, we got a house with a huge backyard (not that common around here) in a quiet neighborhood we plan on being in for a long time.
This home was a quick turnaround home - that is, someone bought it with the hopes of flipping it quick to make a killing, except the market tanked. So we got a great deal out of someone who wanted to dump this house asap.
However - the new home plan has been nothing but a huge, huge pain.
Having a brand new home has allowed me to come to some of the following conclusion. The idea of "home builder quality" is a load of horse manure. Once the builder sells the home off, they could care less about you and your home.
I live in an entire neighborhood of DR Horton Homes. I know all three builders have a huge backlog for coming back to fix problem areas. Their customer service just doesn't seem to care - you're put on the list and they'll get back to you in a few weeks when a slot opens up. I don't know a single neighbor or friend who lives down here that doesn't have a laundry list of items that the builder screwed up.
Here's mine.
No 1 - My heater (which is amusing because we really don't use it but on a few nights a year) wasn't wired correctly. When the gas company came out to light all our pilot lights, the guy took one look at the furnace and said "Call DR Horton and have them come and re-wire that thing correctly, the job was done piss poor and it doesn't work"
No 2 -Our garage door installer was apparently asleep the day he was at our house - as the arm that connects the Door opener to the door itself wasn't attached correctly (or even faked all that well). Thank GOD my wife and I were inside of the Garage and not near the door when the arm broke and the door fell down shut. Turns out that the installer forgot to put backing nuts on the bolts that held the arm to the door, and after a few times opening it, all three came loose. I had a field day on that one.
No 3 - Apparently, the simple concept of using duct tape or plastic to cover things escaped the guys on Stucco day. As they sprayed the outside of my house, they forgot to take a simple piece or pieces of tape to put over our hose connections on the outside of the house in both the front and the backyard. So the result was - our hose was stucco’d with texture & paint. Sounds harmless, until you try to stick a hose on there. I spent who knows how much on chemicals trying to remove the texture & paint from the threads - at least enough to get a hose on there. I got barely enough on the back to use, and on the front - I had to have it redone with a new spigot.
No 4 - Our guest bathroom fan didn't work. I thought maybe something was wrong with the wires, so this wasn't a pressing issue when we moved in. I pried the fan out of the roof to take a look. And to my surprise - there were no wires leading up to it. The fan was put in the ceiling and left there - no one bothered to wire the rest.
No 5 - The home had surround sound speakers put in the entertainment area - built into the walls. Two of the five in the rear didn't work. This was something we didn't desire in a home - but since it was there it was going to be a cool perk, a really nice add on we were going to use to make a home theater out of our TV area. Instead, this has turned into a big pain in my rear. So much for the perk.
No 6 - While trying to figure out some of the speaker problems, I did some crawling around the attic checking out some of the wiring. Only then did I notice large sections of the attic that someone forgot to insulate. Oops.
I've put these in writing in a complaint to DR Horton - this doesn't count the other stupid things like light fixtures hung crooked in the entry way (from a 20 foot ceiling) and several spots where our "Ceiling fan ready" rooms were anything close to being wiring ready for ceiling fans - but it's come down to being darn near impossible to get them out and get action on some of the items. So you are stuck. Either fix it yourself, or wait for DR Horton to live up to their contract – and who knows when that will be so I've just started doing it myself. It's been a learning experience I'll tell you that.
Our problems seem miniscule compared to some of my neighbors. Down the street, a neighbor noticed that her floorboards were starting to come apart from the floor. So she had someone come out and look, and her living room floor is sinking. There is nearly 2 1/2 inch difference in some spots between the deepest spot is now and the walls. And it's growing. My next door neighbor across the street - had to have his floor ripped out because it was discovered way too late that one of the water pipes wasn't hooked up correctly and was leaking under the house.
Anyone else have any sort of these stories to pass along?