JD Power Home Builder Ratings 2005

http://www.jdpower.com/cc/homes/ratings/home_builders/index.jsp

 

Thanks for the link .. I see Van Metre improved compared to last year's result....

 

I didn't see Washington Homes listed. Are they out of business or did they just change their name?

--- John B.

 

I believe Washington Homes has changed its name to K. Hovnanian Homes (or KHOV bought them).

 

Thats crap. I live in a Centex and probably wont ever buy one again. I thought a lot of the other builders were better

 

I agree. Our old house was Centex. Oy what a mess it was.

 

Centex shows no result on the survey ...

 

In my opinion homebuilding ratings mean nothing as compared to car ratings or any thing that is manufactured under controlled conditions as you have in a factory.

There are so many uncontrollable variables. Labor is inconsistent, mostly immigrants and around here mostly from El Salvador but mostly always poorly trained Hispanics and actually many construction workers these days are unskilled. Of course there are many nationalities working in construction, but our Hispanic friends are the majority. I have many friends from El Salvador and all nationalities so try to hold off any unproductive negative comments. The labor force today is less skilled then years ago sometimes a framing crew you have one carpenter that may know something and a bunch of bodies to carry out the grunt work and not supervised very well. Yet if we did not have these immigrants the price of homes would be in the stratosphere, so when people complain about them, think how much they help to keep costs down, in spite many of them are unskilled. A better solution would be to train these people that you see hanging out at the seven 11. Then ignoring the problem or just building them a nicer place to waste their lives at. These people are an important part of our economy and need to make a decent living.

A code built home can be far from what people think is a quality built home even though it meets the counties MINIMUM standards. The code is for safety mainly not cosmetics.

A squeaky floor or a out of square room is generally not against the code and I can go on and on.

Back to ratings it is very difficult for a national or large local builder maintain the same high standards they want to, from home to home and usually don’t.

If you want a well built home find a quality custom builder and of course there is a price that goes with that.

Lee J Buividas

 

Lee,
I see your point but all local builders draw from the same labor pool. That leads me to think the reason some builders are rated higher than others is they have better management and strict quality control. In addition (and more importantly) some builders have a reputation of not standing behind their work. Just reading these forums you see many examples of that. Customer service and honoring warranties without making your customer jump through hoops makes all the difference in the world.

 

My remarks are more for the really large builders which is just about most of the builders these days in this area, as they own most of the land and also develop it. What I have read almost every builder seems to have customer problems one way or another. Our labor pool is so inconsistant these days and mostly un-skilled. We have a wonderful opportunity these days to accomplish two things. Train these people, most are very willing, not just learning to speak english, but real skills. That would give them self worth to feel good about themselves. I am not just talking about training in construction, but training in other things too. This would also help to get them off social services and start to pay their own way. Most of the Hispanics which the majority in construction that I have employed are extremely hard working, they just need solid skills and most are willing to learn. I wish I could do it, but the problem is enormous and growing everyday, it is going to take the goverment and big corporations to make it happen. Listen you big builders you are the ones that can working with our goverment that can take a negative and turn it postive.

Most homes somewhere in the future are going to have to be built in factories almost any kind of home can be built there and a much better chance of higher quality and less waste. Homes today are still built pretty much as a hundred years ago board by board brick by brick.
With all the advances in technology, homebuilding is still in the stone ages. Yes we have many technically advanced products that go into homes yet that has not done much to help the actual construction of the home. Tremendous waste in homebuilding in material and man power.

Having said all that eventually we will move into the modern age, but who knows when. Another secret even though they draw from the same labor pool they don't always pay the same price, hence less pay shoddier work by the same workers. Quality control is an on going battle with all builders almost overwhelming during the boom times. The better answer although not perfect is going to have to be manufactured homes, although we are a long long way from that.

The auto business has done a much better job in quality control then the home business has over the years.

To be honest I don't know any large builder that has consistant quality control it is an ever going on battle, I do know many small builders that do and a very large price tag comes with that. The quality problem is a moving target one home great next horrible.
The amount of time and work to go thru a home to check for defects throughout the building process is overwhelming at times especiallly because of the way homes are built these days. Not an excuse just the way it is.

Lee J Buividas

 

K. Hovnanian Homes was the national parent of Washington Homes, as I understand it. As with a lot of companies, they decided to drop all regional name differences and go with one 'brand' for all locales.