DR Horton homes?
- Thread starter Cashishift
- Start date
FryingPan
Certified Thread Killer
Standard tract style builder, only as good as their local subs
I've sold maybe a half dozen of their homes, no real complaints
I've sold maybe a half dozen of their homes, no real complaints
Scrooge McDuck
Well-Known Member
Platinum_Thunder
Reliability for life and liberty
- Jun 28, 2001
- 114,721
Platinum_Thunder
Reliability for life and liberty
- Jun 28, 2001
- 114,721
TS
TS
Cashishift
Well-Known Member
Yeah I am not interested, my next one will be likely full custom or on the high end of semi custom.
Sp33dealer
Bully Troll Crew
This is exactly it. Our entire new neighborhood was dr horton and it's fine.
My cousin lives 25 miles away and bought 3 years later than us from dr horton and has had nothing but problems.
Hmm I wonder why.
Scoob_13
Hello Nice FBI Lady
Then you are choosing correctly.
I've watched a few different builders around town for the semi-custom homes, and tract homes, and Horton are definitely the worst ones. Calling them the Walmart of builders is a compliment to them.
It's like they try to hunt down the shadiest and corner-cutting subs possible, and then challenge them to do worse.
Sp33dealer
Bully Troll Crew
Hopefully the OTer(s) who have Horton homes don’t see this thread imho
FryingPan
Certified Thread Killer
Tough question. I've been involved with a few national builders over the years and they're all more or less the same in most ways. Their business models all demand efficiency, repeatability, and maximizing the number of units sold- to the customer that generally means lower or more competitive pricing at the expense of personalization and craftsmanship.
Smaller national companies like Ashton Woods and Drees, however come to mind as being a bit more quality minded than the big five (Lennar, KB, Horton, Pulte, NVR).
I wouldn’t know because I’d never buy one of those miserable new construction prefab trailer park style houses but I’ve heard bad things
TS
TS
Cashishift
Well-Known Member
I’m basically gonna go to the builders with @whatever ‘s list (which is similar to mine) and say “fuck me up fam”
hoody
OT Supporter
- Oct 26, 2020
- 3,446
Isn’t that what El Beaner has? The one who called wife after causing an car accident intentionally?
Scoob_13
Hello Nice FBI Lady
Basically the reference I give folks now is if it's anything like how Risinger builds his homes, then it's probably fine.
Gotta wait for the next house before I can drop that much coin on a project like his, though. Or pull a Demo Ranch and find an abandoned mansion and have a YouTube channel pay for it
whatever
OT Supporter
- Feb 18, 2004
- 213,557
FryingPan
Certified Thread Killer
Basically the reference I give folks now is if it's anything like how Risinger builds his homes, then it's probably fine.
Gotta wait for the next house before I can drop that much coin on a project like his, though. Or pull a Demo Ranch and find an abandoned mansion and have a YouTube channel pay for it
My builder friend and I are always nerding out over Risinger's builds. He and I already planned out my next house and were set to start construction earlier this year but then Big 'Rona had different plans for me.
Lol didn’t you just finish building your house like six months ago?My builder friend and I are always nerding out over Risinger's builds. He and I already planned out my next house and were set to start construction earlier this year but then Big 'Rona had different plans for me.
FryingPan
Certified Thread Killer
Scoob_13
Hello Nice FBI Lady
I'm not even a fucking builder and I nerd out on that shit.My builder friend and I are always nerding out over Risinger's builds. He and I already planned out my next house and were set to start construction earlier this year but then Big 'Rona had different plans for me.
Back in 2019, when we were trying to buy a semi-custom and it had just been sheetrocked, I watched them daily after we put a deposit down, and weekly I'd write up a list of questions for the builder rep and discuss problem spots. In short, I was "that guy".
We ended up not buying the house because of 3 major problems and a crap load of minor ones:
- Their ability to make a flat, straight, and perpicular wall was nearly impressive at how inexistent that it was.
- Prime example was a wall where we'd deleted a built-in desk (in the dining room of all places) when we signed the deposit, confirmed a few times, and they put the desk in anyway. When we had them pull the desk we realized they put it in and trimmed the back of the top to a curve to hit the 3/4" deep bow in the wall in an attempt to hide it.
- Their inability to create a joint between 2 pieces of trim that didn't need a fuckload of caulk and paint to hide (poorly). Not to mention any built-in shelf that was literally particle board cut about 1/4" short at least on EVERY shelf in every closet/pantry/etc. including the "mud room" shelf.
- Their financing team, who they talked us into using, tried to change terms on us at closing and we walked 3 days before closing.
- Minor ones included fit and finish, entire walls that had gouges in them in the middle of the wall, electrical switches that didn't work, network jacks that didn't work, inability to properly insulate walls, insufficient insulation in the attic (in Texas...I mean wtf), etc.
- Also minor are major crime issues in the area...so maybe don't build communities smack dab between section 8 housing and low income areas without working to improve the lives of everyone around it?
- Oh and they undersized the gas line coming from the provider, it was 1/2" and needed to be 3/4" for the amount of gas the stove, tankless water heaters, and furnace would have required. They argued with me, and I literally had the guy that JUST finished upgrading ours at our house the previous year go talk to them, plus the gas company, and oddly it was then brought up to 3/4".
It caused us to just back out, go rent an apartment, and try to ignore buying a house for the better part of a year until we ended up finding one newly built but sitting on the market since it's a 1 story 3br in a community of majority 1.5+ story 4+ bedroom houses, with a big backyard, 3 car garage, and decent commutes for both of us...and we closed at the end of January and a month later I worked from home full time with no end in sight
I find things now and then with it (like network jacks with bad jacks...easy fix since I know how to run drops but just fucking annoying that they couldn't test them out), dings and stuff in the wall, but the builder has been relatively decent so far. I've got a lot of work to do on the landscaping (go look for pics of the fields of Verdun for a similar topographical idea of how flat/smooth the yards are) and about 15 network drops to get around to doing for cameras/access points/hardlines, but so far so good.
This one is a Drees. It's not bad. They cut some corners and played it safe on a few things that are just annoying and stupid, but they're not major (garage lighting for example...2 fucking can lights for a 3 car garage, fuck you).
Next one will be a custom home on acreage somewhere...because fuck neighbors. Miss my original 1955 ranch style on 1/3 acre 15 minutes from downtown
FryingPan
Certified Thread Killer
I'm not even a fucking builder and I nerd out on that shit.
Back in 2019, when we were trying to buy a semi-custom and it had just been sheetrocked, I watched them daily after we put a deposit down, and weekly I'd write up a list of questions for the builder rep and discuss problem spots. In short, I was "that guy".
We ended up not buying the house because of 3 major problems and a crap load of minor ones:
The builder was David Weekly. We had some friends refer us and they didn't have issues, some colleagues of my wifes brought up a fuckload of issues AFTER we'd dropped the deposit
- Their ability to make a flat, straight, and perpicular wall was nearly impressive at how inexistent that it was.
- Prime example was a wall where we'd deleted a built-in desk (in the dining room of all places) when we signed the deposit, confirmed a few times, and they put the desk in anyway. When we had them pull the desk we realized they put it in and trimmed the back of the top to a curve to hit the 3/4" deep bow in the wall in an attempt to hide it.
- Their inability to create a joint between 2 pieces of trim that didn't need a fuckload of caulk and paint to hide (poorly). Not to mention any built-in shelf that was literally particle board cut about 1/4" short at least on EVERY shelf in every closet/pantry/etc. including the "mud room" shelf.
- Their financing team, who they talked us into using, tried to change terms on us at closing and we walked 3 days before closing.
- Minor ones included fit and finish, entire walls that had gouges in them in the middle of the wall, electrical switches that didn't work, network jacks that didn't work, inability to properly insulate walls, insufficient insulation in the attic (in Texas...I mean wtf), etc.
- Also minor are major crime issues in the area...so maybe don't build communities smack dab between section 8 housing and low income areas without working to improve the lives of everyone around it?
- Oh and they undersized the gas line coming from the provider, it was 1/2" and needed to be 3/4" for the amount of gas the stove, tankless water heaters, and furnace would have required. They argued with me, and I literally had the guy that JUST finished upgrading ours at our house the previous year go talk to them, plus the gas company, and oddly it was then brought up to 3/4".
It caused us to just back out, go rent an apartment, and try to ignore buying a house for the better part of a year until we ended up finding one newly built but sitting on the market since it's a 1 story 3br in a community of majority 1.5+ story 4+ bedroom houses, with a big backyard, 3 car garage, and decent commutes for both of us...and we closed at the end of January and a month later I worked from home full time with no end in sight
I find things now and then with it (like network jacks with bad jacks...easy fix since I know how to run drops but just fucking annoying that they couldn't test them out), dings and stuff in the wall, but the builder has been relatively decent so far. I've got a lot of work to do on the landscaping (go look for pics of the fields of Verdun for a similar topographical idea of how flat/smooth the yards are) and about 15 network drops to get around to doing for cameras/access points/hardlines, but so far so good.
This one is a Drees. It's not bad. They cut some corners and played it safe on a few things that are just annoying and stupid, but they're not major (garage lighting for example...2 fucking can lights for a 3 car garage, fuck you).
Next one will be a custom home on acreage somewhere...because fuck neighbors. Miss my original 1955 ranch style on 1/3 acre 15 minutes from downtown
Every division is different, but around here Weekley builds a pretty solid house and uses decent trades. They're nothing truly cutting edge- especially in the architecture and design aspect- but they do tend to do good work.
Then again, we've built a few "haunted houses" over the years as well.