Best & Worst New Home Builders In The DC Metro Area
Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
District Invest Group545 Reviews
Best & Worst New Home Builders In The DC Metro Area
Most Popular Reply
Investor · Fairfax, VA · Member since 2015 · 239 posts · 90 votes
10yI've worked a TON with builders over the years and was a market research analyst for Stanley Martin homes from 2005-2009. In that role, I had a lot of interesting experiences walking hundreds of homes and did a lot of analysis of various builders. The information might be dated, but here are my general thoughts:
Stanley Martin- Generally a step up from a production builder, but some of the exterior design elements were not as good as other builders. I think the elevations for some designs were a bit weak. Good customer service.
Ryan Homes/ K. Hovnanian/ NV Homes/ Lennar/ Centex- Classic production builders. Quality was fine, but they are focused on doing volume, so there options for finishes might be a bit limited in some cases. Don't expect to get any "custom" work done. Not going to happen. They are all pretty much the same, from my perspective. Some might do more of one type of home than another, or specialize in a certain price point or age group, but they generally will have similar quality materials and designs.
KB- They are primarily southern state builders and this is reflected in their plans. When they first came to our market, they didn't design well for our climate at all. It was really, really bad. Stucco all over the place. They came in at the exact wrong time and gave up on our market for a few years. Once it strengthened, they came back. I haven't walked one in years, so I don't know if they still have their former design issues or not...
Merrick- Rules the roost in Southern MD. Generally good quality, very standard/ classic floor plans. Their designs were always less modern than that of builders closer to DC.
Miller & Smith/ Winchester Homes- Great designs, very innovative. Quality of construction might be a bit weaker (Miller & Smith more than Winchester), but they do interesting designs and very nice elevations.
Pulte- VERY focused on customer satisfaction. Production builder but they do a very good job w/ JD Power surveys and they stress that a lot with their clients. Designs are similar to other production builders, but they generally avoid some of the more stupid design flaws that other builders might have in a plan.
Toll Brothers- Pricing/ negotiation for them is harder to get competitive, since they are in Planned Unit Developments and generally they won't advertise incentives/ discounts as much as the other builders. It's hard to get a sense of a good deal w/ them. During the downturn, they didn't lower prices, unlike every other builder around. Toll Brothers plans tend to be traditional and they are not super innovative. I have a few folks that live in their PUDs and the HOA rules are really difficult.... read that carefully if you consider a PUD.
Smaller local builders- These generally were all pretty similar. You'll pay a price premium, because they can't get the same prices from suppliers as the big guys... however, they frequently will offer more interesting plans/ elevations than a production builder. They are much more likely to be doing small lot, in-fill jobs. The larger builders won't bother with sites below a certain size.
12 Replies
- Rental Property Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2015 · 278 posts · 156 votes10y
In DC Ditto produces some interesting stuff. I was walking past their 5/Q project and thought how they reconfigured things was a clever use of space as I remember what was on that lot before. They managed to put in some million dollar condos, all which get parking and individual roof decks.
- Investor · Fairfax, VA · Member since 2015 · 239 posts · 90 votes10y
I've worked a TON with builders over the years and was a market research analyst for Stanley Martin homes from 2005-2009. In that role, I had a lot of interesting experiences walking hundreds of homes and did a lot of analysis of various builders. The information might be dated, but here are my general thoughts:
Stanley Martin- Generally a step up from a production builder, but some of the exterior design elements were not as good as other builders. I think the elevations for some designs were a bit weak. Good customer service.
Ryan Homes/ K. Hovnanian/ NV Homes/ Lennar/ Centex- Classic production builders. Quality was fine, but they are focused on doing volume, so there options for finishes might be a bit limited in some cases. Don't expect to get any "custom" work done. Not going to happen. They are all pretty much the same, from my perspective. Some might do more of one type of home than another, or specialize in a certain price point or age group, but they generally will have similar quality materials and designs.
KB- They are primarily southern state builders and this is reflected in their plans. When they first came to our market, they didn't design well for our climate at all. It was really, really bad. Stucco all over the place. They came in at the exact wrong time and gave up on our market for a few years. Once it strengthened, they came back. I haven't walked one in years, so I don't know if they still have their former design issues or not...
Merrick- Rules the roost in Southern MD. Generally good quality, very standard/ classic floor plans. Their designs were always less modern than that of builders closer to DC.
Miller & Smith/ Winchester Homes- Great designs, very innovative. Quality of construction might be a bit weaker (Miller & Smith more than Winchester), but they do interesting designs and very nice elevations.
Pulte- VERY focused on customer satisfaction. Production builder but they do a very good job w/ JD Power surveys and they stress that a lot with their clients. Designs are similar to other production builders, but they generally avoid some of the more stupid design flaws that other builders might have in a plan.
Toll Brothers- Pricing/ negotiation for them is harder to get competitive, since they are in Planned Unit Developments and generally they won't advertise incentives/ discounts as much as the other builders. It's hard to get a sense of a good deal w/ them. During the downturn, they didn't lower prices, unlike every other builder around. Toll Brothers plans tend to be traditional and they are not super innovative. I have a few folks that live in their PUDs and the HOA rules are really difficult.... read that carefully if you consider a PUD.
Smaller local builders- These generally were all pretty similar. You'll pay a price premium, because they can't get the same prices from suppliers as the big guys... however, they frequently will offer more interesting plans/ elevations than a production builder. They are much more likely to be doing small lot, in-fill jobs. The larger builders won't bother with sites below a certain size.
- Investor / Wholesaler · Nashville, TN · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 667 votes10y
Isn't DR Horton coming to that area now as well, or maybe they are already building there. Very prevalent down here in the panhandle of Florida.
- Investor · Fairfax, VA · Member since 2015 · 239 posts · 90 votes10y
@William Allen DR Horton is in our market as well. They aren't a big player though, I've walked their construction in Prince William County, Virginia. It wasn't anything special from what I've seen... I'd place them with the other production builders, and would probably say their quality is lower than some of the local firms. Our price point is considerably higher than what they do in many of their other markets, so they tend to be a bit cheap feeling. That's the biggest issue I've noticed with builders that are more national in scale.
- Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2014 · 12 posts · 0 votes10y
We're about to purchase a home from one of the builders listed above. I did an online review search and Ryan/Hovnanian come up very poorly compared to the other companies you listed. However the majority of reviews are from other parts of the country than my market. There's no mention of them on BP other than your review. Any thoughts? I don't know enough about construction to check the quality of products and workmanship.
- Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2014 · 12 posts · 0 votes10y
Oops. Forgot to mention that earlier post is directed at Elizabeth Nourse's response above though I welcome any input.
- Investor · Fairfax, VA · Member since 2015 · 239 posts · 90 votes10y
Sure- happy to help. If I had to pick between those two, I'd probably go with Ryan, but it's a close call. They are all production builders and aren't going to be using fantastic materials. Things like screwing the plywood under the floor, versus just nailing is just one example. The nicer builders will screw it, so it keeps the flooring more even and reduces squeaks. The production guys don't bother. There are many things like that- too much to list, but if you want to get more details feel free to reach out (only if you don't have an agent already- I don't want to take someone else's client! :) ).
The main thing is you want to make sure you understand the contract with the builder in a VERY high level of detail. If you have an agent, get them to really read it and explain every bit of it to you (if they don't do builder business a lot, buy an hour from an attorney if you can. It's cheap compared to the investment). There are things you can work into these deals which can protect you a bit more, but you have to ask and structure it right. Some builders will do more than others.....
There are also proprietary data services which provide stats on individual builders and their projects. I have access to those and they help figure out the pace the project has been selling at and how much the builder might try to discount/ offer other things not mentioned by the sales rep. The upgrades are generally quite marked up too. Try to find out which ones you can do cheaper yourself prior to making your selections to avoid paying 50% or event 100% more than you should! (I can help w/ this too if you want). Try to get a sense for the other businesses they are selling you too- the financing is incentives but can be marked up. It pays to be careful about mortgage/ title/ insurance services too if those are offered. :)
Hope that helps you!!!
- Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2014 · 12 posts · 0 votes10y
That was tremendously helpful. I do have an agent and I appreciate you being sensitive to that. Gives me lots of questions to ask both my agent in preparation as well as the sales rep. In your experience, do builders offer locations of developments they've done in the past. For instance, could I find a series of similar houses built 5 years ago by the same builder and go ask the owners about the quality and durability? Thanks again for responding.
- Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes10y
Michael It is a great idea to look at some of their workids from a few years ago. I just did this with a client looking to purchase a Miller & Smith home. We were able to see that their base laminate flooring after just a few years was already showing lots of signs of wear. My client still went with them, but chose to upgrade the flooring because of this. We were also able to point to the resale unit with the bad flooring to get the cost of the upgraded flooring at a much more reasonable price than their initial quote.
District Invest Group545 Reviews - Investor · Fairfax, VA · Member since 2015 · 239 posts · 90 votes10y
Glad to be able to help. When I worked in home building, we didn't offer anything like that but I can't speak for other builders. It's not a bad idea. Mostly though, just research the materials and finishes a bit online. Their design studio should be able to give you the specifics for them and you can read online reviews. For example, Stanley Martin switched from GE to Maytag appliances while I was there- and Maytag wasn't as reliable. I think they switched back not that long afterwards... so even reviews like that can help you decide what to upgrade.
On a side note, I walked a K Hov house built two years ago in Loudoun on Saturday. It was in great shape and looked very nice. The owners were very happy with it- but I should note that they put a LOT into it and upgraded everything. They didn't have any of the base finishes in the entire house I think.Good luck!
Liz
- Member since 2020 · 1 post · 0 votes6y
How good is Dan Ryan homes? Is it worth to get an Stanley Martin home? I am stuck between these two home to buy
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.