Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldwingnut
Having watched, in great detail, several dozen homes being built here in The Villages I can tell you that mistakes are few and the quality of work is very good. The men and women building these homes have honed their skills and know their trades. I've talked to some of the workers in many of the trades and to a person everyone is glad for the success of the development because it means guaranteed work for years to come, something rare in the construction trades. When asked about the quality of work they all say the same thing, their foremen are very tough on them and demand quality, the screwups don't last long and don't get passed from one contractor to another. Too many screwups leads to poor quality work which leads to lost contracts and there are 4 or 5 more companies that will do the same job. They seem to take great pride in their work.
Yes, in some of the spec homes builder's grade fixtures and finishes are used, just like everywhere else, this is adequate for the desires of most, many want to upgrade. I replace all the appliances within the first 2 years because I didn't like the noise, they made or the configuration (side-by-side frig), it was a choice, but not one everyone makes. Looking at the newer spec homes, most come with many upgrades that were previously found in the custom-built homes in response to mark demand.
CYV's used to be built with poured concrete exterior walls, that changed shortly after moving south of SR44 to CMU walls. The CMU give greater ease of flexibility in the design and layout of the homes plus it cut the construction methods from three to two being used.
I've heard some people complain that they take shortcut and that's how they build so fast. This is a false statement. The speed of the building is a testament to the high level of coordination that is going on to build the new communities. You wouldn't call a Mercedes or a BMW poor constructed just because it comes off the assembly line in a few hours, of course not, it's a refined and well organized manufacturing process, the same can be said about homes built here in The Villages.
Yes, there will be some complaints because sometimes there will be errors that were overlooked. I expect to see some of those complaints on this thread over the next few days. Considering this will be only a couple of people out of the 2500-4000 homes they are building every year and the percentage is very small.
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The only question I have regarding the time to build a house is the concrete issue. I am no expert, but isn't it supposed to cure for 30 days before being built upon? Or is that old news.
We had cracks in our lanai in our designer, and when we ripped up the carpet in the living and dining room, we found serious cracks in the slab that had to be addressed. You could tell the house had shifted by looking at the door from the laundry room into the garage, which used to be shut tighter than a drum, but eventually you could see through to the garage at one point. And I watched a tile in the entrance to the master bedroom slowly crack right to left.
I think they're decent houses, but expect some issues. In our CYV, when you flip the light switch to the lanai, the television goes off briefly! But I'm a happy camper.