Richmond Blues
 

Purchased a new home in Maxwell Villas all the way out on Monument Way. The closing is coming up real soon. Not very happy about the condition of the streets leading into Maxwell Villas. The streets leading up are littered with nails, sand completely covering the street, and construction debris.Not really safe to drive your car through construction debris. Also, if we find and point out problems with hanging lights and things like that in the house during the walk-through. Is the builder required to fix or replace them? Any idea why the brand new concrete driveways do not always look the same color throughout? Is this a quality control issue with the contractor?

This too shall pass………..

Has the concrete completely cured yet?
Expect construction debris until the village is completely built out. We were an early build in St Cats and bought tire insurance - we had at least a half dozen claims on it.
When you do your closing, you are just doing a 'how does the heating and airconditioning work' kind of discussion. In the weeks after closing, make a list. Submit that list to warranty and they will start to have the subs call you within 48 hours.
You can have an inspection done just after closing. Some do it just before the year is out too. We have enough building experience to feel comfortable doing our own inspection. Plus, we visited our build every single day (sometimes twice) until we were locked out. We had a lot of our list made before we even closed.

Nothing unusual for new development. Will clear when built out

As Bogie stated, this too shall pass. Any of us that built or bought a new house have had to endure the dust, the noise, the flat tires. You’re living in an active construction zone.

As far as defects with the house itself. None of that will be addressed during your walkthrough unless it’s of an urgent nature. You have a week(at least it was a week when we bought) to submit cosmetic flaws. A year for most other issues. Some systems have a greater than year warranty. It is strongly suggested that you get a professional home inspection done prior to your year anniversary. Book that early as the better inspectors book up months in advance. I recommend Frank D’Angelo. The Villages respect his reports. We had absolutely no pushback from Warranty on any of his findings.

If the concrete does not look the same color throughout, it probably is a quality control issue. But, unless it is really bad, you will most likely be stuck with it. The only solution would be to rip it out and replace it.

We designed our Designer home and moved into it 8 years ago. The quality was and is superb. We’ve made quite a few upgrades over the years and so satisfied.

Unless we come into tons of $$$ we would never consider moving especially into a new home in a new Village area.

To each their own. Hope it all works out for those with new in a new area. Those days are gone for us.

Good advice on prior posts.

First..............breath, breath.

You purchased a new home in a new division, so you are in a construction zone.

The Developer has an EXCELLENT history of fixing issues with new homes.
I have never met anyone who was not happy with issues being addressed.
(now that I posted this, you will see a couple posts)

We accumulated a list of issues and everything was fixed 100%.
There were issues (minor & marginal to me) that I asked a Sub about and the Sub said h^ll yes.

Home inspections.............if you are not comfortable doing your own, do hire.
Money will spent if you are not comfortable.

Welcome to TV & Enjoy the journey.

The concrete around here is poor quality. It'll crack too, don't worry.
TV usually does a pretty good job on the walk-through at closing and then your follow-up warranty.

I would hire an independent home inspector.

Anything you see on the walk through or even before they will fix. Then for a year they will take care of things. The day we put a deposit on our house there were 3 or so issues that we pointed out to our sales agent and they were fixed the next time we saw the house. We closed through the mail so we didn’t do a walk through. Our first time down our son who is a contractor made a list for us of things to be fixed and everything was taken care of.

We bought a spec home just south of 466A in 2013.
The Villages is great about fixing problems.

Welcome to your FIRST New Home in TV. Right now the streets in Richmond are at least drivable.. few months ago couldn’t tell where the road and property began. As everyone has said…all newly built villages have issues with dirt..nails and more Dirt. Is your drive different colors, or different from one house to another. Different houses will be poured from different trucks. As far as mix, it’s not like the old days where where experienced driver did a good mix. Now everything is automatic. Only difference is if company had multiple locations, than the water will be different, rarely will products be different at other locations, because the buyer is purchasing for all locations. Yep sitting on a truck can make some difference, in other places, however TV is pouring more Crete in a day than most pour in weeks. Trucks pull up unload, and two lots over and continue.

Your walk through is just to make sure everything is in place. You will have a sheet of things to fix right away. Simple process your agent can help. As builds on each street are completed roads will be cleaned up. Don’t worry your area should be done in about 4 months. The custom build roads will take little longer.

You have 30 days to fix any outside landscaping or it’s no longer covered. On our first home sprinkler control box was defective. I arrived Fourth of July, 3 weeks after closing and everything that should have been green was dead. Warranty department took care of it within 2 days.

In all three of our houses we had Frank D do the inspections. We contacted him at 10 1/2 months after closing on all of our new houses. He took our punch list, and made sure everything we noticed plus what additional things he found was emailed to the villages on the same day. We will be using Frank on our custom build, his reputation is stellar.

The the warranty department will take care of contacting appropriate companies.

Take a breath it’s just a house, like any other house you have bought new. Difference is the Warranty Department staff is here and happy to help.

I watched an area that I'm interested in go from garbage all over the place to showroom condition in a little over a week.

As far as the concrete color problem unless it is a drastically unbelievable situation then you get what you get. The reason for the difference in color can be due to many factors. Too much water per yard of concrete, and the concrete was on the truck for too long before it was placed. The biggest item that will affect the color is the sand that is used to mix the load. It could also be from two different brands of cement to make the load. Too much Slag or Flash can drastically change the color.

The rust marks on a driveway are usually because a landscaper threw down fertilizer without taking care to not apply it to the concrete.

Normally concrete cracks because it is not deep enough for the purpose it is being used for. A quality driveway should be at least 6 inches deep and uniformly excavated. If it's deeper in the middle and shallower on the sides then it's a matter of time before it snaps. A sidewalk of quality is 4 inches deep not 3inches as most contracts use to save a buck.

On the back of any concrete delivery receipt that I've ever seen from many different companies it clearly states that there is no responsibility for the finished color of the mix.

The contractors that they use for placing concrete in the new homes are artists with concrete as they are fighting with the biggest enemy of concrete and that would be the heat. They have a whole lot going against them and the work I've seen is top-drawer.

Good Luck and welcome to The Villages. You are going to be just fine.

Cannot speak to quality further south the concrete guys just north of 466A did a great job. Had no idea they have no responsibility for the finished color.

Renegotiate the selling price or walk it's a buyer market now. Housing sales has slower down a lot

Welcome to paradise.

king of beer, breathe deeply, take a lot of pictures of your neighborhood so you can belly laugh later.

New build quality is about the same across the country. As for construction debris, be a good neighbor. It’s easy to pick up nails and screws while walking the dog or just strolling and toss in the trash.

Checks in the mail
 

SOME ITEMS LIKE WINDOW SCREENS HAVE ONLY 30 DAY PUNCH LIST TO RECTIFY. MY INSPECTOR FOUND MISSING CAPS ON THE ROOF OF THE LANAI. THATS WATER HAS A ELEVATOR TO YOUR CONCRETE FLOOR. IF YOU HAVE A GAS STOVE KEEP EYES PEELED IF THE SAME LINE IS GOING TO REAR OF THE HOUSE. MY LINE WAS UNSECURED AND BUSTED THRU THE KITCHEN CEILING. WALK AROUND THE BASE OF THE HOUSE LOOKING FOR SMALL PEICES SIZE OF SOFTBALLLS MISSING BY THE GROUND WAllS. THEY BLAMED RAIN WATER FALL OFF. I HAD IT REPLASTERED AND WATER PROOFED IT MYSELF

The Developer’s warranty department will fix certain things within 30+/- days. of closing (at the walk through the builder may tell you fewer than 30) and a different set of things within one year of closing. We had a professional inspector do two inspections — one shortly after closing (for the 30-day window), sometimes known as a punch list inspection, and another inspection 11 months after closing (for the end of the one-year warranty). We received written reports each time. My inspector submitted his reports directly to the warranty department, which was one less burden for me.

The report for the punch list inspection identified a lot of items that required attention from the builder (e.g., insufficient attic insulation that I would not have detected), who addressed them.

Good inspectors in this area are very busy so I suggest that you make your appointment soon.

Quality control and attention to detail is not good here. My previous homes I have purchased by Pulte, Divosta and K. Havnanian all were much better in the quality control area and in attention to detail. We were actually told when we were looking to buy here that “we were not buying a house here, we were buying a lifestyle “. We do love the lifestyle here. I get it though, how much attention to detail and quality control can go into a house that goes from a dirt lot to completion in two months time? I can’t believe how fast homes are built here. Does not leave much time for quality control or detail work.

Good luck with that. If those are the two options, better make sure you have your shoes on.

The issues cited by the OP have been felt by anyone buying a new home in a new village. The pain is prolonged for those who are the early buyers. But, the streets will be cleaned up, and the construction traffic will subside once the Village is built out. However, one thing to keep in mind is that you will continue to see elevated levels of construction and trades traffic as all those new buyers "upgrade" their new homes. Pool builders, landscaping contractors, painters, driveway artists, you name it, will be in and out of the neighborhood on a daily basis. This will go on for probably close to two years, or at least that has been our experience. Once everyone has their home the way they want it, things will settle down.

No negotiation of price on new construction in TV. You pay the full listed price. You walk you lose your deposit.

Really bad advice.

Yes there's a quality control issue. When you throw up houses as fast as TV is doing, that's expected

As I understand it, the 30 day rule is flexible and only applies to cosmetic items that could have been caused by the owner. But, if you have a defect that was obviously caused by the builder, they will usually correct it under the one year warranty. The Villages is very generous regarding warranty items.

Most concrete cracks because it was poured to hot (wet) and it’s not cured properly!! Wet the concrete, cover it with plastic wet it down daily for four days so it cures slow. Not something contractors do now days!!

All cosmetic defects now must be reported with SEVEN (7) days to be guaranteed to be fixed under warranty. Anyone saying otherwise are not aware of the new policy.

Report your driveway concern now, at closing, and within first seven days. Get a receipt of your report to warranty.
Even better, also get an independent inspection conducted within the seven day window after closing. That would be an outside opinion on the driveway and other issues.

Yes on Frank D. Make your 1 - year walkthrough at 11-month mark and make it at least 6 months out as he is fully booked.

I was told concrete here is not as good quality as up north and in the past. Careful using using chemicals or pressure washing. It's why many have painted driveways or pavers installed.

"The Villages WAS great about fixing problems."

Or

"The Villages is great about fixing MOST problems"

Just past one year warranty here with major outstanding issues.

Our house was built in 2005. I just had carpet pulled up and replaced by tile. There were huge cracks in the concrete floor of every room. The flooring guy said that’s just what happens, he’s seen it in every house he’s done in the Villages. He knew how to deal with it.

What are your major outstanding issues, not covered by warranty department at your one year? Did you not report issues or use professional inspection prior to your one year anniversary?
Or is warranty department refusing to fix major issues, with in your anniversary date?

All new Home Owners need that information.

"White" Concrete
 

All concrete will vary in color from slab to slab unless it has been a continuous pour from one batch. If it is sound and is, otherwise, level and in good condition, your only remedy is to have it painted or topped with pavers

The real problem with concrete, which I can't believe will ever show up in TV given the skill and experience of the contractors, is when it has been improperly "cured". This happens in high heat. The surface of all concrete needs to be kept damp for several hours after it has been poured and floated. All this involves is having someone present with a garden hose and, lightly, mist the surface so as to prevent the surface from drying out until the entire slab has cured. Another cause, although less likely is that the concrete mix has sat in the delivery truck for too long a time before being poured and is well into being cured before has been poured.

It very easy to know when this step has not been done. The surface of the slab will appear as white as a new bedsheet. It will have no strength and will "spall", which means it chips or flakes. Invariably, this happens when the person(s) doing the work is unlicensed and inexperienced. We saw frequently saw this in the Southwest where a contractor, whether or not licensed, picked up his laborers in the front of Lowe's or Home Depot or at an interection.

Our front door had a crack on the bottom edge we reported on our walk through, the builder came out told me yes it is cracked but it has been replaced once already before we closed. Maybe it was maybe it wasn’t, I’m guessing it never was replaced. Regardless, it was a brand new house and should have had a brand new undamaged front door. He sent someone out to slap a little wood filler on it and some primer and called it a day. I still complained stating I should have a new undamaged door but they wouldn’t comply.
The crack is only getting worse. Looks like I’ll be replacing it myself in the very near future. I wish I could say the front door was our only issue.

Can you share your tile companies name? Thanks

Great post! Thanks Nucky!