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Originally Posted by Packer Fan
Interesting read through this forum. I know a bit about building. I have been in charge of many commercial construction projects up to 10 Million dollars. I have owned about 10 homes in my life of various types and have an engineering degree. I know enough to be dangerous. I own 2 homes in the villages, one is 9 years old (stick built) and 1 is 6 years old (block and stucco). Let's be honest, these are mostly spec built homes that follow similar plans. they have about 30 plans or so they repeat over and over. These are NOT custom built homes with huge amounts of "craftsmanship" whatever that is. In manufacturing, we would call it "mass customization".
So that being said, would you rather buy a Toyota or a custom built car from a "craftsman". I will take the Toyota. That is what these houses are - because they build so many they have Quality control and they have perfected the process. Repitition and continuous improvement. My 2 houses, after 6 and 9 years and MANY renters, look like the day I bought them for the most part. No cracked concrete, no settling despite being built on sand. No window issues, leaks. NOTHING. If you look at the progression of the Jasmine for instance from North to South, they keep improving them but they are the same layout. Very consistent quality.
So my opinion is that the villages builds a quality house for a fair price. Each house IS unique, and you can even have one built just the way you like it, but it has to be one of their models. Mass customization. You are buying a Toyota, but one that comes with an amazing lifestyle. Sure, you can buy cheaper somewhere else and maybe get more "craftsmanship", but you KNOW what you are getting in TV - a good Quality home that will last. I do believe the houses south of 466 are better built than those closer to Spanish Springs - practice makes perfect and you can see it when you walk through the houses.
That's my opinion - take it for what it is worth.
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When Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1992, it revealed the shoddy construction methods that had been used for a generation down there. For example, roof sheathing that was inadequately attached to the roof trusses and roof trusses inadequately attached to the top plates and walls inadequately attached to foundations. So much of the damage could have been avoided if the houses were well made. Miami took this very seriously and put in place big changes that led to buildings with a good chance of surviving a similar storm. The state building code was also revised shortly thereafter to incorporate some of the Miami requirements. My home is one block from 466 and was built in 1998, shortly after the new codes went into place. The roof trusses are adequately strapped to the walls, and most of the nails in the roof sheathing actually entered the roof trusses. This “hurricane mitigation” saves me a LOT of money every year in home insurance. It’s not up to Miami standards, of course, because we don’t get Category 5 hurricanes here, but it’s much better than what was built before. Your explanation of how building methods mature with experience on building the same model hundreds of times is a good one. It’s not that the houses before that were poorly built, but that the code is now more stringent.