House Delivery/Closing - early, on-time, late?

You'll either laugh or fall over in shock when I tell you that VanMetre is 6-7 weeks ahead of schedule (going by the delivery estimate in my contract) on our house in Southern Walk. Has anyone actually closed early on a house?

I had been warned by so many that builders are always late that I am in awe myself of the possibility of being early. Our problem is that we didn't have the house we are in now ready to sell yet and are frantically rushing around to get it on the market now.

I just wondered if anyone ever had or heard of a significantly early delivery (weeks not just days) or if I should be prepared for two months worth of slip along the way. They have broken ground, but it's still plenty early and I'd hate to rush around and close on our current place with no where to live, though I'm sure many have had to do it.

Thoughts, comments, laughter, please share!

 

I'm surprised that they are 6 to 7 weeks ahead of schedule. They told us that our house would be delivered approx. 120 days from breaking ground. They broke ground a couple of weeks ago on our place in Southern Walk. The supervisor told us that the 120-day estimate is still planned.

In your case, are they coming in faster than 120 days? Or, did they specify a certain date in the contract that wasn't necessarily based on a 120-day period?

I haven't heard of other early delivers with Van Metre. However, some friends of ours built a house a couple of years ago (in the Chicago area). They were originally told to expect a mid-December/January delivery. Well, the builder was a bit quicker...they closed on Halloween, about two months early. So, it actually does happen.

 

Back in 1997 Van Metre finished my house 2 months earlier than the date in the contract, and a month before I moved to Virginia. They tried to force me to close when they wanted to, or else pay an $80/day "fine" each day I didn't close. After battling that one to the VP, they agreed to close on a date we both agreed to.
Cliff

 

Wick - In reference to your ?
"In your case, are they coming in faster than 120 days? Or, did they specify a certain date in the contract that wasn't necessarily based on a 120-day period?"

They had allowed for about 7 months from contract date to estimate on delivery in my contract which I knew had some padding in it. The "projected" early finish is allowing for the full 120 days from ground breaking to delivery.

I know a soon to be neighbor of mine signed a contract one and a half weeks earlier than I did which stated a delivery 4-6 weeks before mine, so I wondered if either I would be arly or they would be late.

The earlier delivery works better so potential buyers of our current place can get moved in before the school year starts and of course I would rather it be early than late, it just caught us off guard.

 

I bought my house 5 years ago from Washington Homes. They finished 6 weeks earlier than expected, mainly due to the mild winter we had that year. I'm very surprised that anyone has finished early given the winter we've just had.

Just because they're going to finish early doesn't mean that they didn't rush on your construction. There will still be flaws. I suggest that all new homeowners employ a home inspector for their pre-drywall walk through and their pre-settlement walk through. A good inspector can find the majority of problems that exist in production houses such as ours.

We didn't get an inspector until we had our 6-month follow-up. He found a host of problems, the list was six pages long and included a broken truss in the attic that the county inspectors should have caught.

Good luck!
--- John B.

 

Hey Twriter I too had a cracked trust that the home inspector caught during my 1 year walkthrough. Best $300 I spent. Home is a Miller and Smith townhouse.

-Teak

 

Since you brought up inspectors....any one have a good one they could recomend? Particularly one who can accomodate the late breaking dates of pre-drywall and pre-closing walk throughs. Also, any thoughts on when the best time is to hire the inspector - pre-drywall, closing, 12 months after closing?

 

[}]Haste makes waste!! Good ol' VM!! Let us know when they get ALL the things corrected on your end of the year inspection; that is corrected and recorrected and ...!! We've been in our's nearly 4 years and it looks like an A-bomb went off in it today with all their re-repairing - siding, leaks, sidewalk, wall board