u/Gtbsgtmajor

Thank you everybody for all the feedback, I'm glad to hear this is not the normal. I wanted to show pictures of some of the stuff in the attic to get y'all's thoughts as well. I should premise that I am very handy, I have pretty good mechanic and troubleshooting skills. And my dad is currently GC'ing his own house build, so any work I'd have to do he likely has to tools already.

I also should give some perspective on why I am considering the house. What I want in a house is very particular, as least to me and in my price range:

• It has to be within an hour of a certain location
• At least 2ac of land
• Not have mold or foundation issues
• Under $300k
• 3bd 2ba with a bath attached to the master. I also want the bath to be big enough for a couple to use comfortably like dual sink vanity, which is rare in an old house. Or even room to add one.
• Not on a main or busy road, mostly because of road noise and privacy.
• I want woods, my gf and I want to make a dog trail in them.
• Don't want to be in the city

I think that pretty much covers it, my biggest restriction is budget and location.

The things I like about this house compared to other ones I've seen:

• It has a modern open floor plan. Very nice size master bath, large kitchen with an island. Appropriately located second bath and nice size spare bedrooms. Separate laundry room as well.
• Attached garage as well as a 20x25 detached garage with an 8ft door and 10ft ceilings. I work on cars and other stuff so this is very nice.
• Everything is new but especially the big ticket items like HVAC, septic, roof, WH. I know new doesn't necessarily mean good by any means, but a new HVAC system on an old house is expensive.
• It has 2.6ac and 75% of it is wooded. It is a very narrow lot, max width 156', 960' long.
• It looks a hell of a lot better then the old houses I've been looking at at least on the inside as I do prefer a brick house. Those usually had some kind of water damage and mold.
• This is in my budget and "should" have a low cost of ownership. Especially if it is just cosmetic issues. I'm more worried owning a used house will make me house poor.
• Granite countertops
• It's on county water so no well to deal with, and has fiber internet available.

TLDR: This house is pretty cheap at $299k with 2.6ac, and to my untrained eye, the framing, insulation, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical look pretty decent to me. Should be cheaper cost of ownership vs a user house.

Sorry for the block of words and thank you for the responses!

Hello I am looking at a new build home built by a small builder in South Carolina. This will also be my first home. I have never liked new builds because of the obvious sloppiness subcontractors tend to build them with. This house isn’t bad but did not escape cosmetic issues.

The first thing I don’t like about this builder is they offer absolutely 0 express warranty. They give you a vendor list for you to call the vendors, not sure how normal that is for small builders but I didn’t like it.

Overall from my untrained eye the framing, electrical, insulation, and HVAC look pretty good. The house is on county water and septic.

Some big things that stuck out to me as issues are: paint in corners cracking, almost like a chemical reaction. It happens most often it seems when switching paints, like going from ceiling to wall. Or in the corners or the window. The vinyl siding on the garage has a wave/hump in it. There is overspray on a couple of things. The flooring is coming up in two spots, looks to be from not being cut properly. Some cabinet shelves are not flush and rock back and forth. A drawer is blocked by the dishwasher handle.
Is all of this normal? The builder seems to not care about cosmetic stuff that much.

The biggest issue is I can see like tape lines in the ceiling in all the bedrooms. Mostly the smaller bedrooms. How hard would this be to fix, does it need drywall work or just more paint?

I normally wouldn’t consider something like this especially with no warranty. But it’s in my budget with 2.6ac. Used houses at this price are just in pretty bad condition or need to be modernized, plus just overall bad floor plans.

TLDR: Paint cracking in corners/seams. Drywall lines/tape visible in ceiling. Sloppy masking on paint work. Some waves on exterior trim.

Thank you for the responses!!

EDIT: I made another post going into more detail on my situation and lots more pictures of framing and such. The biggest reason I'm considering this house is it has 2.6 wooded acres and it's priced at $299k, so within the price of used homes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebuilding/comments/1tuhh66/new_construction_defects_2/

I drive a 2001 Mustang Bullitt and have no other experience besides the two autocross events. Just posting this here because I'm curious for any pointers. I think I improved quite a lot from my first run and I'm very excited to get back out there!

Obviously, the biggest thing I need is seat time, I wish I got more at both events, especially with how fun it is.

First Event: https://youtu.be/_2g0Vd20JpU

Second Event: https://youtu.be/BbrueesYEWo

Mods:

• Koni SA Struts and Shocks
• H&R Race Springs
• MM Extreme Duty RLCA
• MM CC Plates
  • ~-1.5deg negative camber, I can and will go more.
• T56 swap
• 255/40/17 Continental ExtremeContact DWS06+
• Dynamic Friction Active Performance front and rear pads
• Stainless braided brake hoses
• Stifflers front crossmember brace