New House Update

M

MikeeH

Active member
Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2001
RO Number
6342
Messages
2,297
The architect sent us the finalized blueprints this week and she seems to have captured everything we wanted. We had several face-to-face meetings with her as well as many long phone conversations. The Admiral and I have also made a hobby out of visiting home shows, home centers, design centers and open houses to gather ideas for the new house which we used to build the picture that we shared with the architech. The result is a 2400 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2 story cape with an open floor plan and master suite on the 1st floor, partial wrap around porch, rear screened porch, basement and an oversized 2 car garage.

We've sent one set of prints and some specs we developed to one builder so far for comments and (hopefully) a bid. Now we are ready and would appreciate any recommendations you folks may have for other builders of custom homes of the Upper Eastern Shore. Rich, I know you liked your guy. Who was he? Anyone else have one??
 
Hi Mike, Good to hear that you are close to building the new house. We had Scott Mackie Custom Homes build our house from our plans last year in Shorewood Estates outside of Galena. Consider using Superior Walls for the basement with a 9' ceiling. Also we joined Direct Buy and we bought our kitchen cabinets,granite counter tops,6' Jacuzzi tub,Moen fixtures, Hunter ceiling fans,Kohler bathroom fixtures, Kitchler light fixtures and Baldwin Brass hardware and saved lots of money. Let me know if you need more info.
Greg Reed
BayBum38ftrb2@gr5tgmail.com
 
Greg,

Thanks for the input!

I'll probably give your builder a call. The builder we'd like to use is Hans Bitter (CH&J, LLC) because he's our neighbor there and we've come to know him, his family and his work. However, we'd be stupid not to get other bids and input.

I'd like to hear more about your Direct Buy experience. I understand its quite expensive to join and I've heard there are shipping limitations so I was curious about the actual savings and the selection available. Where is the Direct Buy Warehouse down that way?

Thanks again.
 
Mike:

Tom Walters in Galena. He and his partner literally built our home themselves. We met Hans, and got a bid from him. Seemed like a very nice guy and very professional. He was 15-20% higher than Tom. Only concern others relayed about Hans was that he would take on too many jobs and you would not know when he would continue with yours. But that may have changed with the economy.

Rich

p.s If you consider a builder Larry Jones (house is up the side street where Vonnie's is located) call or email me first.
 
Thanks Rich. I'll give Tom a call. One of our specs is that this needs to be an Energy Star house and independent testing may be conducted. That scares some builders off. I've done a bit of research on Hans & Henry and they only build ES homes which may account for the increased costs. I'm really looking forward to getting the competitive bids. BTW, we are meeting with Hans next weekend to go over the prints and get his input.
 
Direct Buy is expensive to join but we more than saved the fee on just our kitchen cabinets, there is a huge mark up on cabinets. It costs $3995 to join and that covers the first 3 years of membership, the next 7 years are only $157 per year and you can continue membership by only paying the same low annual fee that new members pay, it may jump to $165 per year. The only showroom is in Concordville PA on Rt 322 between Rt1 and I95. There are several showrooms around Baltimore. They have a full time certified kitchen designer on staff. WWW.DirectBuy.Com
Greg
410-648-5158
 
Shipping is not a problem with Direct Buy. Some items are shipped to your house and all the other items are shipped to the showroom which also has a large warehouse behind it. Every order is opened and inspected for any damage and then resealed. Each manufacturer has their own rules for shipping, some will only ship to the showroom and you have to pick-up the item or they can arrange for delivery for a charge. The showroom is full of manufacturer catalogs that you page through and pick your items, most things take 5-6 weeks to arrive.

Greg
 
Greg,

Thanks for the info. BTW, my office is right off of Rte 322 in Concordville just 1/2 mile off Route 1 but I only get there once a week at most. I guess I'll be signing up for one of DB's free passes so we can check the place out.

Also, I called your builder. We are going to make an appointment to meet and go over the prints.

Rich,
I couldn't find a listing for your builder. Please email me a phone number if you still have it.
 
Mike:

Will do. We are on Cape Cod at the moment, for Thanksgiving. Will get when I get back on Sunday, unless I can find in the rolling filing cabinet which is my Explorer!
 
Rich,

Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving on the Cape. Fresh cranberries should be readily available (or do you have to take the ferry to Nantucket and get your own out of the bogs??? ;))
 
Mike
Here's another builder who advertises in the Kent County Times. Ad says 25 years in Kent,Queens Anne and Cecil County. I do not know anything about their work.

www.baysidedevelopers.com

410-275-6000

Greg Reed
 
Greg,

Thanks.

BTW, we have an appointment at the Direct Buy in Newtown, PA (closest to current home) for next Saturday.
 
You can check out Lee Hutton. The site is www.huttonbuildersinc.com, I know he was backed up (and therefore his bids were high), but you never know. Definitely has skilled long term employees. That's what I worry about the most, because they are going to be doing the work.

Another one that I see driving to and from work is www.autumnbuilders.com. They put up a home fast, I don't mean that in a negative way, I've just seen two projects and they just geterdone....I mean no messing about, there's a ton of guys on the site, and bam, from digging the foundation to getting final landscaping in about 4 to 6 weeks.
 
My son just moved into his custom built 4400 sq ft home in the Sierra Gold Country. His builder over extended himself during the housing boom. In trying to rob Peter to pay Paul, he took the money my son gave to him to "pay the subcontractors" and went underground. So all the subs stopped work on his house and some of them filed a lien against my son's house.

The whole mess is in the courts right now. My son took over as "general contractor" and found other subs to complete the work. Of course he had to pay them up front to get them to agree to do the work. All of this delayed the completion by 12 months! Now he has a beautiful new home, but he can't do any refinancing due to the liens. And with the housing market so depressed, he has not been able to sell his "old" house. Some lookers, but NO offers! So he's paying on two different mortgages and still needs to have the landscaping around his new home completed as well as the basement recreation room.......

MikeeH, I sure hope you are able to avoid these kinds of problems!
 
Mike
I'm also getting a guest house built on my waterfront lot.
In my research I would not even consider Superior Walls. These walls are pre fabricated and just set on top of a stone foundation. This is not a option for waterfront property go with a poured foundation.
I having mine stick built rather then the pre fabs and saving over 30,000.
Don't forget to save a couple of dollars for you new boat lift and new Silverton.
"SOC" says good luck with your new house.

As far as Direct Buy just Goggle them.
http://infomercialscams.com/scams/direct_buy_scams
 
I with steamer123 on Direct Buy. I've been in the furniture retail and wholesale business for over 20 years... if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
 
Mike:

Thomas A. Walter Carpentry. P.O. Box 167, Galena, MD 21635. (410) 648-5190. I will add that Tom just built himself a new house and I assume took # with him, but if for any reason it doesn't work that may be why. We also met with and got a quote from Hutton. He seemed like a nice guy, and well qualified. The only caution I would add is that he is in Cecil County and there are some advantages to a builder who operates primarily in the county where the work is happening. Doesn't seem it should be that way but we found it was.
 
4roys....I should have pointed that out as I live in Cecil. I think you are right about the advantage....i.e. you know the regulators.

As to DirectBuy....the one huge red flag I have with them is they don't explain what the deal is on their website.

If they said look here is the deal. You are going to pay a substantial membership fee and that ends up being our profit. Then you can buy a ton of stuff at cost. They very carefully never mention the membership fee. Its obvious they want to get you into their place and have a very commissioned sales person put the pressure to you.

Wow that website that is the number two hit on google after DirectBuy must just kill them. That is a TRAIN WRECK
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top