Comments on these builders?

Our house was built by Arbor. Hubby had it built not too long after he moved here. He had quite a few problems with them. They seemed to try to take advantage of younger or first time buyers. He had to have them come back several times to fix things. Our yard is still full of discarded building supplies. I just found a big nail the other day while I was walking the dogs. The house has flaws in terms of uneven countertops, etc. Our lot is the worst in the whole subdivision. He said that he wanted another one but they strongly encouraged him to take this one. My nephew just had one built by them and didn't seem to have any problems(although he is pretty mellow and probably wouldn't speak up anyway).

This seems to be an unfortunate trend with any contractor. My former workout buddy had the same issues and he's neither young (upper 40s at the time) or a first time buyer (his 4th home). They don't want to do it right, just done right now so that they can get their money and move on to the next job. I don't know who built my condo, but I would definitely NOT recommend them.

The drummer in my band has worked for Davis for over 25 years. All the builders are scrambling and fretting right now because of the housing slump, so they are doing a lot of things to entice new home buyers. I've never bought a brand new home, but have had mucho problems with existing ones, and there is NO guaranteed anything on those. Ask Bev and Minnie's mom who has just had to shell out big bucks for some repairs shortly after moving. I would think that having not only a guaranteed buy of your own existing home but guarantees on the new home itself would be a good thing. There will be problems with a new home, as there always are, but all of the builders have warranties for different periods of time. Good luck. You might try Davis.

Just thinking after reading CH's comment...since they don't have a lot of business right now, maybe they will take more time to do things right since they don't have many other projects to move onto.

Good point about the warrenty, Mama. Davis is/was my favorite, and their prices were low enough a few months ago to just squeak me in, but now they have priced me out. I'm thinking about emailing them to see if we can work anything out, but I don't want to be house poor.

You'd hope so, but the cynic in me thinks not... The builder my workout partner used was Esteridge (sp?). They tried to talk him into a different house, then he had issues with the one he bought for the 2.5yrs he lived here in Indy.

CP Morgan has had lawsuit after lawsuit. I don't know much about the others...Good Luck!

We have a CP Morgan home which we built five years ago. We didn't have any problems with the building process, etc - and love our home. The only issue we are having is all of the foreclosures in the neighborhood. Keep in mind that most builders are eager to offer people the world to get them to build. This is great at first -- but a year or so of living in their new home, people realize that they can't afford the house payments and foreclose. Our house was $160,000. Now homes similar to ours in our neighborhood are selling for #114,000.

It's a buyer's market -- you could get a lot of home for minimal money...make sure you check out existing homes.

The house I'll be moving into is old, built in 1921. All the important things are up to date though and the inside does need a lot of cosmetic things done to it. The sellers are mitigating a mold problem in the basement and waterproofing it (at a cost of about $4000 for them). Plus I will be getting a 1 year home warranty, which is a great thing to have when buying existing. Good luck in choosing, and do your homework on this and I'm sure you'll be fine.

My stepdad used to work as a commercial plumber and has had extensive experience with CP Morgan. I would never suggest using them. The reason you get so much square footage for so cheap is because they use to cheapest materials to construct their houses. A friend of mine also purchased a home in a CP Morgan neighborhood and was very disappointed in the craftsmanship.

My Pa says to try Thrine Construction. (http://thrineconstruction.com/index2.htm) He has been a painter for 15 years and has painted many Thrine homes. He said he is very impressed with the craftsmanship and especially the builder himself, Mike Thrine.

We built with Davis and we are extremely pleased overall. There were a few minor things, but overall it was a good house for the price.

We built with Arbor the first time and it was not a good experience at all. We would never build with them again.

Of hthe ones you listed I would go: Davis, Centex is okay.

I would not go with Arbor or CP Morgan- they use poorer materials and have much higher foreclosure rates.

I use to own a CP Morgan home and had few if any problems. I was told that I had one of the better built ones though. I now have an Arbor home. I WOULD NEVER BUY ONE AGAIN!!!! It has been a problem after problem since the first week I moved in. I have been here two years and there are still problems.

We had a CP Morgan. We often wondered why did didn't burn down after really digging into the wiring in the attic. We now have a Pulte that is twice as big, and it costs 1/3 as much in heating & cooling costs. Much better built home.

I don't have any experience with these companies, but I probably wouldn't buy from them either. I am not crazy about the "cookie cutter" homes they have. If I ever get around to buying, soon I hope, I will probably buy in Speedway or an area with older, more varied homes.

We totally agree with you! It seems like these new neighborhoods cropping up have no sense of soul or personality. We prefer older homes, those built with a sense of cratfsmanship and style, rather than a crackerjack version of one.

We're building w/ Arbor right now. We haven't had any problems. I think it honestly depends on the neighborhood, everyone seems to be really friendly in this neighborhood, and haven't had problems. Anyway, GOODLUCK!

We have a Davis home, it was built in 2000 and still love it. they are very good about coming out and taking care of things and fixing any concerns addressed, Mom says we save lots of money in heating cost our light/heating bill has never been over $90.00 because Davis insulates properly and we have lights on all night outside. Yeah Davis is great. We are even thinking about trading up with Davis, so Tucker can have his own room, that brat thinks he rules. But we know Sammi really rules here, so she thinks. Mom's friend has a Arbor home and hates it, she says it has issues they won't fix.

Wow, you all rock! Thanks so much for your comments; I'm definitely taking them all into consideration. I'm sure I'll be eager to post news if my house sells or a builder can suck me in. :)

I'd like to chime in with another positive comment about Davis Homes. They came highly recommended by some friends of ours. We ended up buying an existing home, but long story there. Good luck, the buying/selling process is never fun.