THOUGHTS ON THE BUILDER

After looking at a lot of options over a period of nearly a year we opted to choose new build as opposed to an existing home.

We'd heard some snarky comments about our builder Maronda from a few people so we opted to do some research.

Maronda's homes are significantly less expensive than the major competition here. The reason, it turns out is that Maronda handles things in a more streamlined manner.

There aren't a lot of options. This reduces their costs and allows for much faster home delivery.

They use inexpensive fixtures. To me this isn't a problem since I can replace these over time with fixtures I enjoy.

They use the same carpet/vinyl in the entire house. See above. I can change this over time.

We found we were able to afford about 500-1000 additional square footage on our home as well as getting a layout we loved.

Our sales person, Steve Nixon has been outstanding. He worked with us in getting the options we wanted (including gas oven and dryer line which aren't common options in this neck of the woods)

I've been less impressed with the people at the sales offices. When leaving messages for the construction supervisor they have been more than a wee bit nasty. This seems to have been dealt with when it was brought to their attention, however. It's not always preventable.