Finally bought a house!!!

[Brandon]

As said before, watch your progress, keep an eye on the contractors.

If armor Ir or airtron is doing the work, expect your outside a/c to lean in a couple months.

We looked at building an arbor home. We walked away when we saw the cracks in the slabs and the sales guy says its normal and ok.


Which to a point he was right. 2 types of concrete. Concrete that is cracked and yet to have cracked.


Best of luck.

 

[stocknup]

Document every wall in detail before drywall goes up. Use pictures and your own drawings. These things come in handy when planning changes down the road.

Still in the process of completing a new pole barn house for my son .........Cannot tell you how many times we have referred back to all of the photos that we took during construction .........Framing , underslab , wiring runs , blocking , plumbing , etc .
The photos have been invaluable and will be a nice add to a photo album later on .

Also , waiting to read about the safe room and gun vault ........

 

[WebSnyper]

Still in the process of completing a new pole barn house for my son .........Cannot tell you how many times we have referred back to all of the photos that we took during construction .........Framing , underslab , wiring runs , blocking , plumbing , etc .
The photos have been invaluable and will be a nice add to a photo album later on .

Also , waiting to read about the safe room and gun vault ........

Definitely also highly recommend taking photos and also email trail of any questions/concerns along the way. Be as organized as you can dealing with the builder. I did a significant amount of this during my last build. Very helpful.

Many great comments and recommendations already in this thread.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Congratulations.

 

[Expat]

Congrats and best of luck. One comment I have heard a few times is make sure the wife understands the choices made are made, changing options on the fly are more expensive.

make sure you have good drainage, yard is graded away from the house, how high is the water table.

 

[DocIndy]

Arbor Homes is a crap builder. They build to industry standard. I had one built in Franklin about 10 years ago. Never again. All interior walls were framed 24” on center. When I asked about it, “it’s industry standard” and in the specs for the house. BS. Their walk throughs were a joke. They used Airtron for the HVAC and wouldn’t let me do my own. I made them fix multiple issues. Airtron uses subcontractors to do all their duct installs. Plan on seeing a lot of ductboard and flex duct. They also won’t register your hvac equipment for you… make sure you do as it will extend your parts warranty. We went through 4 superintendents during construction. One was ok, the rest were dumber than a sack of hammers. We had issues with the “upgraded” carpet too. Someone had spilled some sort of solvent in the middle of the living room and it dissolved the glue in the carpet backing. Their solution was to cut out a square and “patch” it back together. I told them to replace the carpet as it was in a high traffic area. They didn’t want to… until I told them I wouldn’t sign off on the final inspection and would bring my lawyer into the mix. Getting their drywall finishers back to do touch ups won’t happen either. All of my neighbors said the same thing…. We should have sued Arbor for their ****** work and lack of follow through. If I had it to do over again, I’d go in with a flood light and a pencil (or Sharpie) and circle every blemish on the walls for them to fix.

I could go on but Arbor isn’t worth the time.

 

[dieselrealtor]

I haven't read each post, if it hasn't been covered;

Set aside a fair amount of cash for any escrow deficiencies for when taxes are assessed. This situation has contributed significantly to many foreclosures.

I have seen many of these after the fact, I have listed/sold many foreclosures.

edit/add; Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WebSnyper]

Also, don't "over build" for a neighborhood, meaning don't be the most expensive house in a given neighborhood. It will cause issues with resale.

And I think someone else mentioned a little of this, but ask every question you have, especially about pricing on options as some you think would be inexpensive will be high $ and others you think will be expensive may not be.

Many upgrades just aren't worth it and can be done later, but some will be much easier during build.

Congratulations. It will definitely be a learning experience.

 

[boogieman]

Having built a couple of houses the best advise i can suggest is, GET TO KNOW THE SITE SUPERVISOR. This is the one person that will be building your house that actually works for Arbor. Anyone else on that site will be a subcontractor. The concrete guys will be different from the framers and they will be different from the drywallers, plumbers, ETC. Those guys dont care if you are happy. They are doing their job as quick as they can so they can move to the next house which might be for a different builder completely. Do not be afraid to call the Site sup with any questions no matter how small and insignificant. I came by my current house everyday after work and anytime I could I would talk to our super.
Don't expect to be able to do anything yourself to the house until you have signed the papers and have the keys. None of the standard builders allow it. A custom builder might but not a company like arbor.
Get a private home inspector to do multiple inspections through out the building process. I used a company called WIN home inspection and it was like $400 for 3 inspections (but that was almost 3 years ago). Well worth it. Another safeguard is to have a realtor help you. They will help fight any disputes you have with the builder and will make sure the final paperwork is proper. Thats other money that is well worth it.
Enjoy the stressful build and I truly hope everything goes as planned.

 

[04FXSTS]

Make sure you design what will make you happy. Our house is a three year old modular so nothing like having a home built but there are some things similar. Someone already mentioned your house will be probably built on a general floor plan with many options to choose from. Same with a modular, we went over all the options available many times till we were sure we would be happy with the finished product. I must say it paid off because we are very happy with the finished product. One thing we did change about a year ago was the tub/shower in the smaller bathroom. Wife started thinking that one of these days it will start getting harder to get in and out of the tub/shower, she is 70 and I am 76. It would have cost nothing to have had a shower only put in during construction but the estimates ran from $4600. to $11,000.00. I did the job myself and put in a nice walk in shower for about $2000.00.
Had friends that lived about three blocks from us, this was in Illinois that moved just about the same time and went with a modular from a different dealer. Apparently they did not look at what the options were before having it built. They are talking about adding windows and sliding glass doors now and that will be a lot more expensive to do now. They also made a change to have two master bedrooms and ended up with a hallway that goes nowhere but a dead end. Do your research so you don't have to spend money later on what could have been done to start. Jim.

 

[Indyhd]

Two things to look at are you want to make sure you have plenty of electrical outlets. They are not hard or expensive to add before they start running wire.
The second is measure your vehicles, two people I work with bought houses and neither one has the garage deep enough to park a crew cab pick up inside. Both needed another 6" just to get their F150 in the garage and close the door. I have an 8' bed on my 2500 Ram crew cab so it wasn't ever going to make it even without my bikes.

 

[wtburnette]

Congrats!

As many have said, visit often and check on the work. I used to visit my build several times a week and still ended up with major surprises when I did my walk through before signing the final paperwork.

My build was back in 96, but I remember 2 big things. One is I had paid extra for one of those address bricks to go into the brickwork on the front of the house. Got it early and it sat next to the on site supervisors chair for weeks. When they finally got my brickwork done, lo and behold there was no address brick in it. I went to talk to the on site supervisor and he was adamant that there was nothing that could be done. I told him he could keep the house and I'd go buy something else, which forced him to get the brickwork guy back out to cut out a spot for it and rebrick it. Ended up looking fine, but certainly was a concern.

When I did the final walkthrough, there were some minor things. The one major thing is that in the laundry room, one wall was 12" out from the corners. The on site supervisor told me it was no big deal because my washer and dryer would be going there... . Once again I was forced to tell him I wouldn't sign the paperwork unless it was fixed.

Overall it was a huge PITA and I'll probably never have a home built again.

 

[Brandon]

Parents built a house back in early 90s. Suppose to be framed for full brick front, all brick on first level. They framed second story front for siding.

They had to tear off the top front and redo it.

They messed up the framing for the cathedral ceiling, the fireplace height, hvac supply ducts partially under walls.


Second house built went slightly better.
Plumber didnt read the prints so all the plumbing was off because dad had the outside walls framed with 2x6.
Also the garage was suppose to be 2x6. They came to an easy happy agreement and put 2 inch thick foam and covered that with peg board. I know there were a couple other little things but nothing as bad as the first.

 

[Dean C.]

Congrats and best of luck. One comment I have heard a few times is make sure the wife understands the choices made are made, changing options on the fly are more expensive.

make sure you have good drainage, yard is graded away from the house, how high is the water table.

So that is actually something we considered and when it rained heavily last week we went out to the lots to check drainage. The lot we picked had zero standing water.

Also it sounds like my ability to deal with union labor will come in handy here potentially

 

[Ingomike]

Congrats and best of luck. One comment I have heard a few times is make sure the wife understands the choices made are made, changing options on the fly are more expensive.

make sure you have good drainage, yard is graded away from the house, how high is the water table.

This is in an engineered subdivision the OP is buying. Rarely any drainage issues in them. They start by removing all topsoil then every lot and street are engineered for drainage and water retention.

Which reminds me builders rarely put any topsoil back, so might plan for that.

 

[WebSnyper]

Forgot this, and don't want to start a bunch of craziness on INGO, but read the HOA covenants now as well. They should be able to easily get you a copy. Pay attention to all the details, but especially if this is a new neighborhood and the developer still holds the HOA, read when the transition will occur (usually x% of lots sold, etc) and how that goes.

As someone else said as well, put back money to even up your escrow when the assessment comes in on the full value of the house a year or so down the road and your taxes go up. Can be a shocker for some.

 

[Nugget]

As someone else said as well, put back money to even up your escrow when the assessment comes in on the full value of the house a year or so down the road and your taxes go up. Can be a shocker for some.

Or don't escrow at all. It's your money, hang on to it and earn interest on it. Be responsible. Set aside the cash each month in a high yield savings account, earn some interest, and pay your taxes twice per year and HO insurance once per year. Then you don't have to worry about the bank screwing up the calculation, which they will... constantly. Plus, it's fun watching your banker squirm a little when you tell them you won't be escrowing.

 

[indykid]

Welcome to Westfield!


As others might have suggested, visit the worksite daily, take lots of pictures, especially when the electrical wires and outlets are installed because the drywallers might not always cut the drywall for all outlets any you wind up having to fish for one that was accidentally covered. This happened to me and I used a top flight builder and the dry wallers still screwed up in one room. Easy to find the hidden outlet with the pictures of the framing.

Yes our taxes are skyrocketing, but the schools remain among the best.

 

[Ingomike]

Or don't escrow at all. It's your money, hang on to it and earn interest on it. Be responsible. Set aside the cash each month in a high yield savings account, earn some interest, and pay your taxes twice per year and HO insurance once per year. Then you don't have to worry about the bank screwing up the calculation, which they will... constantly. Plus, it's fun watching your banker squirm a little when you tell them you won't be escrowing.

Very few, particularly first time buyers, qualify to not do escrow. I get the philosophy behind your post but what can one earn on an average balance of an escrow account? Then there is the headache of actually paying it. Not worth it to me…

 

[Mgderf]

My house burned going on three years ago now.
Destroyed the roof completely and fire department finished the job.
I hired a company that was recommended by my insurance company.
Less than halfway through the job I stopped by one day and found the front porch, front yard, and driveway littered with Corona bottle caps.

I called the contractor and told them if I saw anyone from that crew on my site again I would fire the company.

The next week I got a call during the day from the contractor.
He said they were setting the new trusses that day but they had a gas line in the way.
I told them I would be there in about an hour and remove the gas line.

When I arrived the truss in question was in place, and the gas line had not been moved.
The workers cut the bottom cord on my new truss to go around the gas line.
They spliced the truss together with a piece of 2x4 about a foot long on each side.
When I saw what they had done I fired the entire company and finished the rebuild on my own.
It took months, working after work, to get it finished but I made a lucrative profit on the sale.

My point from this ramblings is this.
I knew what to look for because I do this for a living.
Find someone who knows construction technics and practices.
Hire them to keep you informed about the progress, and LISTEN to him.