ki7hy
Posts:17
 | | 07/17/2007 5:45 AM |
 Alert | | I have a Lennar home (Graystone originally). They have been pretty good. The everything included is definately nice, the stainless appliances are no joke. They are the GE profile appliances and the microwave they throw in is pretty cool. We even saw it on a "gotta have it" show a couple months after we moved in so it was kind of cool knowing we had the latest and greatest. The Mowhawk carpet is nice, along with the 18" tile. The only downside to everything included is these are spec homes so you can't add extra outlets or choose where cable outlets are. Other than that we are super pleased for the price. We have been here for 7 or 8 months now. | | | |
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kjgreifer
Posts:0
| | 07/17/2007 6:42 PM |
Alert | We live in the Villages at Glennwilde. Standard Pacific is our home builder and they did an excellent job. Everything went smoothly. We have had a few warranty issues. Just paint touch up, adjust the toilets...etc. I made one call to my warranty rep and she scheduled all 4 contractors to come out on the same day between 8-12. To my amazement all 4 contractors showed up and the work was completed.
I didn't have to haggle, call back or fight for the warranty work. You can go to JD power and associates to see how the builders rank as far as customer service within the metro area.
There are some builders way at the bottom that we stayed away from. I did not want to spend $275,000 and have to fight with my builder to get warranty work done. You can also do a search on google to find consumer complaints. Just type in KB home complaints, Beazer complaints, etc
Sorry to be so long winded but I know there are so many builders out there and it becomes a lot of work sorting them all out. | | | |
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garden glow
Posts:688
| | 07/17/2007 8:34 PM |
Alert | | Our dream the Standard Pacific 1822 sq ft...deciding whether or not to make the front bed and bath into a suite..has anyone chosen that option? The sales rep Parker is a great guy...my husband and I have been to the model at least a dozen times and when he see's us..he still smiles..never any pressure just a howdy! | |
ANYONE HOME?
Residential Yard Clean-ups and Maintenance
for more info go to the
Business Section under Landscaping-Maintenance
Click Here for our website. | |
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kjgreifer
Posts:0
| | 07/17/2007 8:38 PM |
Alert | | Parker is great! So is Dave (the other sales guy) We have the 3523 two story model. Everything went smooth and we couldn't be happier. | | | |
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garden glow
Posts:688
| | 07/18/2007 12:24 AM |
Alert | | Yes..Dave,,sweet guy..we're holding out for phase two...got our eye on a specific lot...they build a sound home... don't you think? | |
ANYONE HOME?
Residential Yard Clean-ups and Maintenance
for more info go to the
Business Section under Landscaping-Maintenance
Click Here for our website. | |
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garden glow
Posts:688
| | 07/18/2007 12:28 AM |
Alert | Yes..Dave,,sweet guy..we're holding out for phase two...got our eye on a specific lot...they build a sound home... don't you think?
Heck kj.. if it doesn't work out for our 1822 ...surely you 'll have room for us in your 3523 home....LOL..congrats on your new home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
okay..I'm not editing anymore posts of mine...this new revamp is messed up! | |
ANYONE HOME?
Residential Yard Clean-ups and Maintenance
for more info go to the
Business Section under Landscaping-Maintenance
Click Here for our website. | |
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kjgreifer
Posts:0
| | 07/18/2007 11:50 AM |
Alert | Sure we can find room garden glow! Ok so here are a few pointers....think about your backyard landscaping now. If you don't have the extra cash a lot of the landscape companies will let you add it to your mortgage. Also, as you know the water is very hard down here so plan on getting a water softner and reverse osmosis. I didn't puchase the softwater and R/O through the builder but probably should have. I am probably going to go with Arizona Wholesale. This is the company Standard Pacific uses for their appliances and water softeners. I think Standard Pacific charges and little over $2,000 for the softener and R/O. Arizona Wholesale quoted me a price of $1400 for the same exact model.
If you don't get it through Standard Pacific you should still pay the extra to get your house preplumbed. | | | |
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heat sprite
Posts:334
| | 07/18/2007 1:33 PM |
Alert | Definitely get pre-plumbed... There are a lot of options for install from Home Depot to Lowes to many specialty stores. But the pre-plumbing makes all the difference. Just think, no skum on glasses, ice you don't have to make with store bought water...
We don't move in until Sep, but are getting landscaping bids for the back yard now. We are considering rolling it into the mortgage and don't want any suprises later. | |
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Heat beats snow!!!
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bitterbeard
Posts:207
| | 07/19/2007 3:21 AM |
Alert | We kicked around the idea of building our back yard into our mortgage but decided against it and I'm glad we did, don't want to be paying something off for 30 years we'll probably want changed in 5.
We ended up doing 2,000 sq ft of grass, 20 tons of rock, trees and shrubs for $2,700 and the most I did was roll out the grass and dig some holes for the trees/shrubs.
I'm by no means a landscaper, but with a little time and energy spent on the project it came out great and wasn't real expensive. Took about two months total. | | | |
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RoyalPITA
Posts:0
| | 07/19/2007 12:40 PM |
Alert | <div class='NTForums_Quote'>Posted By bitterbeard on 07/19/2007 3:21 AM
We kicked around the idea of building our back yard into our mortgage but decided against it and I'm glad we did, don't want to be paying something off for 30 years we'll probably want changed in 5.</div>
Hubby and I just finished having this talk! We bought a completed spec that had fallen out, so couldn't change much on it, and we weren't picking up a mortgage to "roll stuff into" anyway. =/ Instead, we'd started looking at doing a HELOC or a small mortgage after the purchase and then using that to fund landscaping the backyard and do a few micellaneous projects throughout the house that the original buyers smartly did not spec into it (eg., stone tiling and similar things which are fairly cheap and easy to DIY later). We ultimately decided against taking on any of this as credit debt since the numbers just didn't make sense. I mean, it looked like it would end up costing us roughly 3x the money versus just saving up. Instant gratification would be nice, but not to the tune of 3x the price. =( Heck, like you said, we'd want to change that stuff all over again in 5 years, but we'd still be paying on the first remodel!
Nah!
The original buyers did spec in a soft water loop, though. Whew. We had the softener and the RO put in aftermarket for just under $800. Some of the wisest money we've spent. You know, somewhere while hubby was researching, he ran into test numbers for our local water. Apparently, the standard for "very hard water" is 10, and we come in at 26-30! Yowsa! | | | |
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umtech
Posts:137
| | 07/19/2007 4:09 PM |
Alert | | We are in VRED and it took after year of hassles finally getting the Registar of Contractors involved. DO NOT hesitate to get them going. They will come out with the builder and inspect all the issues, even during this walk through the builder tried to pull some stuff, this just ticked off the ROC inspector and he stuck it to them to fix it all within the week or else. Glad we finally took that approach and we know of a few others that did too | | | |
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kjgreifer
Posts:0
| | 07/19/2007 8:08 PM |
Alert | I just had some more work done today. Again they showed up on time and were done in about 15 minutes. You can call Global water and they will tell you the water here is 19-25 depending on where in Maricopa you are. You definitely need a water softener out here.
As far as upgrading through the builder it comes down to $$ and time. We upgraded our appliences with the builder just because it was easier to have everything in place when we moved in. I know I would be spending about 30% more than what I could get at Best Buy. At least that is what they told me. But when I moved in and checked the model numbers...I saved over $1200 plus tax compared to Best Buy and Lowes. I was only charge $469 for my stove but at Best Buy it was $740. Our fridge was a lot cheaper too than retail.
I am going through the same company that my builder uses for the water softener and am saving over $800 by doing it after market. | | | |
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cdpedro
Posts:117
| | 07/21/2007 12:18 AM |
Alert | | Garden Glove, we loved the 1822. I feel the same way you do too. It is our dream home, I walked in and just knew "this is it!" We choose a spec and it came with the standard seperate bed/bath, it would have been nice to have it as a suite. Can't wait to move in. | |
--Cheryl-- | |
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byantis
Posts:36
| | 07/22/2007 7:22 AM |
Alert | | We own a house a Hawthorne at Glennwilde, Morrison Homes as well. The house is GREAT but trying to get the little things fixed is like pulling teeth with the contractors. They are lazy and STUPID. We have been here for alittle over 4 months and we have had to call the main boss at Morrison Homes because we cannot get anything done. They do not return calls adn they send people out without letting you know anyone is coming. We totally love our house tho. It is beautiful and quiet and we have some nice people in the area. | | | |
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garden glow
Posts:688
| | 07/24/2007 9:28 PM |
Alert | HOLY CRAPPOLA....we were servicing a couple properties today in Centex div. @glennwilde due to rain..we had a couple mins. sooooo........
I noticed the front porch on the Teirra 2206sq ft...and we popped in (looking like I don't know what in our "dirty" work clothes)
WOW...what a great house...great layout...and a PORCH!
Coming from the east coast I LOVE a front porch..we're going to go back a take a closer look when we have more time....compare $ value to the 1822 S.P.
And we thought we were done looking.........geez!
Thanks for all the suggestions ...especially the pre-plumbing~! | |
ANYONE HOME?
Residential Yard Clean-ups and Maintenance
for more info go to the
Business Section under Landscaping-Maintenance
Click Here for our website. | |
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kjgreifer
Posts:0
| | 07/25/2007 7:59 PM |
Alert | One other thing to look at is the size of the drive way. It may not be important to some but the Standard Pacific homes have a longer drive way than the smaller Morrison and Centex homes. So when you park you car in the drive way it is not sticking out on the sidewalk.
We looked at Centex before we purchased an SP home and comparing all the features, we got more house and upgrades for the money with the SP home. Three things we did not like about the Centex homes...small drive way, the porch was only 10X10! (2 story home) and if you notice the stucco siding on the Centex homes, you will see lines in the stucco. Where as SP and most other builders stucco their homes without the lines.
It is very important to compare the homes with the price of the upgrades. I know DR Horton has great prices per square foot but when you add the upgrades the price isn't so great anymore. Our sales person gave us an "unofficial" price sheet just before we signed so we could see how much upgrades were.
One other thing, I can't stress how important the warranty is and the builders customer service. I guarantee you will have many minor problems with any builder so you want a builder that you don't have to fight with to get work done. I can honestly say SP has been great.
We damaged our counter tops and the contractors wouldn't pay because they said it was water damage. SP didn't blink an eye and ordered us new countertops. They scheduled the plumber for the early morning to take out the kitchen sink. Then the countertop contractors took out the old and installed new countertops. About an hour later the plumber showed up to reinstall the sink onto the new counter.
I have not heard of any problems with warranty work with Centex. But I have heard about problems with DR Horton, Beazer and a few others.
Hope this helps and sorry for the long drawn out post!! | | | |
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Laydeebug
Posts:4
| | 07/29/2007 7:01 PM |
Alert | | We live in Hawthorne in Glennwilde (Morrison). We have been out here almost a year and LOVE it!! | |
The Ortiz's | |
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