The Problem with SOME Spec Builders in El Paso Texas | 2022

The Problem with SOME Spec Builders in El Paso Texas | 2022

Welcome to Living in El Paso, Texas. My name is John Peña, and in this episode, this is not going to be our typical fun, lighthearted, everything is great episode. This is going to be a little bit more about the reality of purchasing a new home in El

Paso with certain builders. We are not going to say this builder's name because we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we would be sued, but you should know that the builder that we're going to be talking about today is a well-known builder here in El Paso.

So fortunate to have with me Andy and Amanda. They recently purchased this home in Horizon City about four or five months ago in April 2022. And so while we're ecstatic to have them in the community, they PCS'ed here recently.

We also feel pretty bad that we actually did play a part in facilitating the purchase of this home because as you're going to hear, they've had some problems and the builder has not been responsible at all in handling these problems. So we do know that a lot of people are interested in new builds in El Paso.

So I hope that this is useful information and you can decide for yourself if that's the direction that you want to go. So let's talk about you guys a little bit. So what essentially brought you to this home in particular?

Why did you end up purchasing this home? I think originally it was really the floor plan because where we were at before, the floor plans are really just kind of small and congested. So this open floor plan was everything that I really wanted in a house.

Ease of access to the I-10, 375 was nice. When we came and toured back in January, it was like a nice area where they're starting to build up more. And that was kind of like a nice area or a nice thing about this area.

Yeah, absolutely. And we were talking to the other thing that worked out well, kind of worked out is that, you know, back in January when you guys were looking for a home, if you wanted a new home, you had to wait like eight to 12 months.

But this particular home, the buyer was under contract, that original contract fell through. And then this one became available and it kind of just lined up with your timeline. It did. It did.

So time wise, it just kind of opened up. They said it'd be ready in April. That's when she would PCS. We went with this builder just because it was a lot nicer than on post living.

It's just you're making some sacrifices of comfort. So yeah, for sure. And you could have, of course, gone with a resale home. But of course, like a lot of times, honestly, people aren't that excited about moving into

somebody else's house, like in their dirty, grimy carpet and you know what I mean? And everything's kind of outdated and maybe it's not like a modern open concept, you know? So yeah.

So that makes sense about why, you know, and you were probably excited like, oh, great, I can get a new home and it's going to work with my timeline. Awesome. Right.

And then coming from, let's say, Colorado, of course, the cost of living is so much more. And so we were already expecting to, of course, put some money forward to like furnish the house here. And if we went with a previously owned house, then we knew about the fixes and stuff.

But coming into a new build, we didn't expect to also having to fund to provide our own fixes, not because they didn't do fixes. It's just that the fixes weren't really to standard and they're really just lackadaisical about it and just how long it took them to get the fixes done.

So can you guys for us, can you kind of break down the various problems that you've had so far? Initially, when we first came in, we drove straight down from Colorado Springs. So that's about a eight, nine hour drive.

So we're already tired with the road trip and everything and not expecting a clean, like spectacular model home to move into by at least a once over of just the area and everything like that. This isn't our first home and this isn't our first new build either.

So the fact that we came home essentially to sand dunes by the doors and stuff, because the doors are open while they are working, understandable, nails and just scraps still on the carpet. And we have a dog, so we didn't want her to eat anything, of course, and everything like

that. And then just walking in, knowing that our work isn't done yet, we immediately offloaded everything, went straight over to Home Depot, grabbed all the cleaning supplies, and we just went to work for another two hours.

And it was at that time, the sun was already down, so we're like, OK, now how are you going to sleep? Yeah. And initially, when we first got here, of course, we had to let the dog into the backyard.

So I used the side gate that's drilled into the rock wall and the entire thing actually separated from the rock wall. So I didn't even walk in the house first. I kind of knew, oh no, like this is how things are going to be.

But then we went to the backyard and there was still just so much more and you could tell it wasn't just blown in, it was just left there. And again, thinking about, of course, the safety of my dog, like I can only imagine if somebody had kids and they want to like run around and do like the first exploration

of a new house and to see like all these things that kids get curious about to explore and stuff. So it was just not, it was stressful, it was stressful, essentially. So essentially, you show up and the house is a disaster, it's unclean, there's building

materials all over. You can definitely say there's some safety issues with nails and stuff inside, outside. Yeah. Yeah.

So the gate, so yeah, right off the bat, not a good sign. Yeah. But it certainly shows that the builder really wasn't very cognizant or respectful of the fact like, hey, let's make this homecoming an experience for these people.

They just left it as a mess. So that's the first sign. Yeah. Yeah.

Tell me about some of the repairs and or just kind of shoddy craftsmanship that you've noticed. So a lot of things are aesthetic things, texturing on walls, stuff like that, a random kind of like creases in the walls of like the drywall. They would come in and fix that.

We'd mark it off with blue tape. And on one instance, they actually painted over the fix it tape. I don't know if that was like a joke or something, but certain other things like just seals on windows, electrical things.

We actually moved into the house, garbage disposal didn't work. The dishwasher wasn't even wired to anything. It's just kind of like a pain. And with that, too, when we actually did our FaceTime walkthrough with you and with the

building manager, he went to go press on the garbage disposal to show it's working, appliances are working and everything. And it wasn't checked underneath. The electrical wasn't installed yet.

And so in that call, it was stated, yes, we'll get this fixed before you guys come down. That's that's an easy fix. Don't worry about it.

And the fact that when we get here and like it wasn't fixed, things weren't fixed. Then that was just kind of like, OK, so what did you guys actually fix? And was this home actually finished for the sale rather than actually, you know. And to your credit, too, you actually on the walkthrough went and marked things off.

Yeah. We did a thorough walkthrough. Yeah. And you were on video and we were putting blue tape here, blue tape here, blue tape

here. And yeah, they were all like, yes, we're going to fix that. Don't worry. We're going to fix that.

Don't worry. In some instances, I can tell that they just took your tape off and didn't fix the issues. Tons of nail pops and aesthetic, like I said, aesthetic things and then some things that are just kind of weird, like window sills not being level, the backsplash having permanent

marker on it for like when they were cutting it, they just didn't clean it off or they just used excess. Yeah. Yeah.

Little things. Yeah. Yeah. The can you talk about the island?

Oh, yeah. The island is actually very crooked. You can actually see the left wall of the island kind of like twist a little bit. It's just kind of awkward and strange.

I actually had a conversation with the building manager and construction manager, and he kind of was combative with me saying like, look, there's a lot of things wrong with the house. Look, this island is crooked. And he fought me on it and was like, no, it's not crooked.

Yeah. Oh, well, it could just be the lighting or something. Yeah. Yeah.

And then we again, aesthetic, but it's still something that shouldn't be a thing. Also, one side of the island where you see the wood paneling and then the wall, it's not flush. So if we decide that's the perfect place to put a trash can, yeah, like a lot of the cosmetic

fixes, like the textures on the wall, we just decided to hang things up with, which is fine because you don't want to empty house anyways. But it's unfortunate that we know behind these pictures and behind our decorations is something that's flawed.

And when you go to sell this home and take those pictures down, well, now you're still left in this situation where now you have to, you know, try to sell a home that has these cosmetic issues. Exactly.

And even like when they did come in to retexture those walls, they would put like the blue tape up. They'd retexture, repaint, rip the tape off. So now you have a completely different textured spot where the paint, where the tape was.

Yeah. It's. Yeah. It never ends.

All right. So let's talk about some of the issues that you've had on the exterior of the home. And don't be shy to talk about the neighbor's house, who was also built by the same builder. Okay.

So what I've noticed with my home is that the stucco is separating from the actual roof of the home. So you can actually get like quarter inch gaps from the walls to the, to the roof. And when it rains, that stucco absorbs the water and gets heavy.

And that gap actually gets bigger cracks throughout the outside of the house. That's kind of like hairline stuff. Not too bad. Window sills aren't caulked properly.

Water gets in there, infiltrates the stucco, and then it just starts to peel away. My neighbor's home actually has like PVC drainage pipes for the upstairs air conditioning, and there's no cover to them. So water just gets in and it's actually peeling away from their house as well.

And actually recently with the recent rain, thankfully, I mean, who doesn't love rain, right? We actually had to re-caulk one of our windows as well, and that's our bedroom window. So if there were to have repairs or somebody from the builder were to send somebody out,

I would only imagine that we wouldn't be able to sleep there because they would take one day to do one thing and another day to do another thing rather than showing up with all the supplies needed to go ahead and fix everything and have it squared away in just that one day.

So, I mean, thankfully we have another bedroom we can use, but I can't imagine that situation for somebody that has a different situation for us. And such like if they have kids and all the rooms are occupied, they don't have the space, they don't have essentially just the funds to just continue to deal with that, it's just

added stress. So I think we're just really lucky with what we have so far. Going back to the neighbor's house, like I was saying, they had a water leak that was due to when they were stapling the, I guess the exterior walls, it punctured one of the

like water spigots, which caused a leak for their dining room and they had to cut out like 15 foot sections of the wall and it's been four or five months and they're still not getting it repaired. And that's not just like aesthetically unpleasing, but you're using more AC to cool the house

because there's only, now there's only one layer separating you from the outside. It's just terrible. Yeah, it is terrible. And that also then kind of takes us then to the next section of, you know, like essentially

how would you characterize the builder's response to your requests for these issues to be resolved? Phone calls, I know my neighbor would try to call and they wouldn't really answer. So you'd have to catch them at the right time or if somebody else is already on the phone with them, just continuous follow-up emails as well is something that I've tried to keep

up on. I don't think they've replied to our latest email that we sent about the exterior of the house because we do know there is a point to where it's warrantied and such, especially with the water damage and then just the recent rain and everything.

So I know they're getting a lot, but again, it's something that if... At least acknowledge that you received it. Acknowledge it and expect it. So I think it's fair to say maybe that the response has been lackluster.

Absolutely. Communication has been spotty at best and some of these issues, you've essentially given up on them fixing, is that... Essentially.

I mean, you can either take the risk of fixing the issue yourself and voiding your warranty or waiting to a point that it exponentially gets worse and then your wall's falling off your house or window leaks or water infiltration and it just, it kind of puts you in a hard spot.

Or even just taking the chance of them not doing, making it worse, essentially. I mean, that too. You could warranty something, they could come in and the issue that they came in to fix is exponentially worse, retexturing, repainting, using the wrong paint, they use the wrong

paint. It's just stuff like that. It's even breaking things in the house on accident. Yeah.

Yeah. It's kind of strange. Yeah. Well, strange is a nice way to put it, yeah.

So I guess kind of to wrap up, I mean, if you guys either had to do it again, what would you maybe do differently? I imagine I can figure, I know what the answer would be, but maybe another way to phrase it would be, what might be your advice for other people that are, especially even military

people? Because obviously if you're PCSing here, you're not here to look at homes in person. You had the chance to come down for a little bit, but what advice would you have for people maybe in a situation where they're, you know, they're considering a spec builder in El Paso?

It's very easy to be disillusioned, like especially for military members. You see on post homes and you're like, oh man, those are pretty rough. And then you look for new constructions obviously, because sometimes they're cheaper option. And then when you go with certain companies, they'll sell you on certain amenities, advancements

in the homes, areas and stuff like that, and have great gallery pictures on their website. However, they don't match up in reality. Also with new builders, they'll pressure you into signing things because the market of course is very competitive right now.

So they will kind of, I don't want to say bully you into signing certain things, but they will make you feel guilty if you back out or don't give them the, you know, securing money, stuff like that. Another thing to be careful for is to like go on reviews, Google, Better Business Bureau,

stuff like that, and look at the reviews. You can see pictures of people's issues. And with our builder, a lot of the issues are the same. And they're backed up with pictures.

So yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good point. And for one, we now, this builder, you know, we will actively tell our clients, you know, we don't suggest, we don't recommend this builder, you know, and by the way, this builder

that we're talking about right now is not the only one. There are others that have come to my attention that I wouldn't recommend people to use. But I think to your guy's point too, yeah, I think if you really are committed to doing a new build, definitely look at the reviews, read the reviews, because if there are a number

of, if there are just so many bad reviews, well then that's pretty clear, you know, and it's not going to be any different for you. So yeah, but unfortunately I wasn't in a position to let you know about that beforehand because this was our kind of first experience with this builder and you're exactly right.

They tell you everything you want to hear. The pictures on the websites are great, you know, everybody's very pleasant. They assure you, oh, everything's going to be fine. Everything's going to be great.

You're going to love it. We do this. We do that. But that's because they want your money.

Absolutely. They just want to get you under contract and do it and then all of a sudden when, you know, you close on the home and you drive for eight, nine hours and you roll into a nightmare, well, where are they then?

Exactly. Now they're nowhere to be found. Yeah. The communication was on point until the close of the house.

And then once that was done, it was almost as if you were left in the wind. And that's really disheartening. I mean, even to the point of, you know, I would assume that the salesman would meet you at the home with your keys.

I just had to drive to the office and they're left in a lockbox thing. And then I came home and of course it was in disarray, but. And we were worried that we were going to be late and stuff too, because we were kind of taking it easy because things started shifting in our vehicle when we were driving

down and everything. And so I kept saying like, when we get service call, make sure they're not closed because I don't know when they close and everything like that. Like we just weren't really clear about the process and everything.

Not saying we wanted like a whole red carpet showing or anything like that, but I think that would be like a very, that would be a common courtesy for welcoming you to a home that you, a builder would be proud to show and to sell. And this isn't to tell anybody don't buy a new build or anything like that, but just

really there's a lot of research, unfortunately. Don't feel pressure to make a decision just because the market or your job or the timeline, a home pops up that's perfect for your timeline, which is kind of what happened and you're like, oh.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, just no rational, it's hard. You can tell people. Yeah, because you need a home and you expect, sometimes I think we expect, we expect businesses

to do a good job. We expect people to follow through with what they say they're going to do. Like we didn't have any reason to distrust this builder at the time. So you know, that's, but that's not, that's not on you.

That's on the builder, you know, and that's why we're talking about it. So yeah, I think definitely a tale of be cautious, you know, because yeah, the pictures look great, but you know, you better make sure that the builder is not going to leave you, you know, high and dry as soon as it closes.

Yeah, their interest isn't your happiness. It's to make money. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

All right. Well, thank you guys for that. Now let's, now let's at least end on a happy note. How are you guys, how are you guys feeling about just El Paso in general, the city?

I honestly, um, I enjoy it and such, especially being on this side of town, we really like the main thing we focus on is being away from the military and stuff because, right. Just really being able to separate that work and that home balance for us and stuff. And then, um, just where everything is placed, the convenience of getting to where we need

to get to if we, when we do go out, it's just really nice. That's for sure. And such, and you know, the weather isn't as bad as I chalked it up to be. You just got through your first summer, we're just talking about it, yes, it's hot.

Yeah, absolutely. I was thinking about that. I was like, you know what? It's not bad.

It's okay. We made it through and such. So now I'm looking forward to like the winter and seeing how the winter comes and stuff like that and everything.

And honestly, when we were shopping around to furnish the house, a nice lady offered us coupons. Like that's all your, she, she saw how much stuff we were getting and she's like, here, I'll help you, slide you a quick coupon.

It was the sweetest thing. People are really nice here for the most part. It's just, I'm originally from Las Vegas, so it kind of feels a little similar to home. But yeah, people are extremely nice for the most part.

And it's just, it's growing a lot of like, like arts and things are coming to El Paso. And yeah, the best thing is to not just be, you know, tourists, but to actually like be a part of the community and help our neighbors and stuff like that. Yeah.

Yeah. Which is awesome. Yeah. All right.

Well, thanks guys. Appreciate it. Thank you.