Homeowner advice: how to avoid a "horror story"

[dominog]

Built two houses now with two different builders (production builders), done a lot of research on many builders and construction and the advice I have is pretty straightforwarded if you want to have a good experience. Here are my top 5 tips.

1. Do you research on your builder, check references, check complaints online and with your builder liscensing dept of your home state, lastly, go talk to the neighbors that have built with that builder before and see what they have to say before signing the contract
2. Be as involved in the construction process as you possibly can be. Review the drawings ahead of time to look for issues, go to the homesite at a minimum 2 times a week. Take a lot of photos during construction, review them and check them for accuracy regularly.
3. Over-communicate with your GC and be polite and cordial with your builder, a little ass-kissing goes a long way.
4. Notify your builder of issues in writing along the construction process, do not wait, because tomorrow it may be too late to fix it.
5. Recognize that it's not going to be "perfect" and you're shooting just to have most of your issues fixed.

[David]

Here's a rock solid way to avoid a horror story:

Don't buy a home.
:rolleyes:

A helpful link: http://www.rateyourbuilder.info/ :!:

[CSchnack]

That's a great link and the ratings on builders there has really taken off since the site went "national" a year or two ago. Another good site is http://www.hadd.com This site has free downloadable documents, one of which is on researching contractors, and a lot of other info that should make home buyers more cautious, and take time to do better research.

There are lots of places to look for the information a buyer needs, unfortunately there's not a really comprehensive database of complaints as I think there should be in every state, maybe nationally. So many complaints are hidden in records that really aren't public, or are never filed in the first place. Also, any dispute that goes to arbitration is unlikely to be a public record, and many builders use arbitration clauses now. So do warranty companies. A truly public complaint database could help home buyers make more informed decisions instead of having to learn to practically be a detective before they can even expect to find the builder's track record.

Here is a link that shows letters from a state's attorney general and the same area's BBB, stating they don't make complaints public information: http://photobucket.com/albums/b371/CommonDefects/ It is public assumption that complaints are easily available that makes many buyers THINK they did adequate research. This happens to be from my state. I have talked to other homeowners in my state and other states who say complaints are either not available publicly to them either, or are inconsistently available.

[Cole]

Where are you from?

[CSchnack]

I'm in Oklahoma, been here about 6 yrs now. As you'll see on the one link I posted the letter from the attorney general's office is OK's. Despite this written statement that they don't allow complaints to be publicly divulged, in nearly every news article we see here about how to avoid bad contractors, they say, "call the BBB and the AG's consumer protection division." Other state agencies verbally confirmed they don't make complaints public either. The statute actually doesn't say complaints can't be public. It leaves it up to the elected officials or dept's. And they apparently choose not to reveal such info.

Of course, the BBB is a private entity, funded by businesses membership dues, not a state agency. Regardless, the fact that consumers aren't getting the whole picture, (or any picture in some cases), is misleading and counterproductive, and it allows bad businesses to keep getting away with it.

I recently attended "Consumer Protection Day" at the State Capitol and both the BBB and AG's people happily stated they make complaints available to the public. When questioned in regard to the AG's letter they backpeddaled and admitted not all are public. Consumers cannot rely on that to do their "homework."

[Cole]

Do you have any other pics of your completed house?

Also, what town in Oklahoma, I love a lot of the state.

[CSchnack]

I no longer own the house that was the subject of my own construction defect case, and the pic's on that link are from various houses in the state. All pics are typical of what is going on here. I'm in central OK, OKC area. I hear complaints from Tulsa, etc, too. Complaints about shoddy construction from other states sound pretty much the same as here. Roof leaks, windows leak, materials omitted or not installed right, bad grading, foundation failure, no weep holes in brick, etc. I get the picture that the same shortcuts are happening all over. Hopefully the bad taste my house case left in my mouth will fade and I can enjoy just living in the area. Do you live in OK or did you used to?

[Sweep]

Or you could just hire an architect. Having an experienced and trained professional, who only works for you, design the house and make sure it is built correctly should be the first option you consider. The money saved by letting the contractor design and supervise the construction is usually wasted in the end. You pay up front or you pay later.

[Dragon]

Yeah.

Now good luck finding an architect that actually knows anything about construction.

In 23 years I've run across 2.

[Sweep]

In 23 years I've run across 2.

In 40 years I've run across hundreds. You should get out more.

[Dragon]

Or import. :D

[tooltroll]

Parts for imports are harder to get and more expensive, though. And an imported architect might not eak spenglish. :)