This website is a simple chronicle of defects in new houses completed in the Pulte Summerlyn development northwest of Austin, Texas, beginning in July of 2006. Since that time, Pulte has made an effort to raise standards at Summerlyn and improve the quality of their product here, still, issues remain that are probably typical of many developments in central Texas. I'm inclined to believe the key issue in most home construction projects in this region is a failure to adequately monitor each phase of the assembly process. The primary builder's construction supervisors have no direct authority over their workforce and subcontractors are left to manage their employees, many of whom are poorly paid and have low skill levels. As everyone is under pressure to compete houses as quickly as possible there is little incentive to work carefully. It's left to local inspectors to insure that reasonable standards are met, however many new developments exist outside boundaries of incorporation and are not subject to municipal building inspection. In this case developers hire their own inspectors, who have even less incentive than the subs to find fault and slow everything down. This means you need to be your own inspector. It's important that you closely monitor every aspect of your new home's construction. You may wish to engage a professional to do this, although you don't need specialized training or experience to see crumbling concrete or crooked lines or masonry that isn't fully supported by the foundation or roof trusses that aren't supported by walls. You don't need to be an expert to identify boards with gaps between them that are supposed to be nailed together or bricks that aren't laid in a straight line or evenly spaced. Tell your builder you intend to monitor every phase of the construction of your house and make your expectations clear and unambiguous. Maybe you'll be able to avoid problems like these: 11.07 Foundation pictures HERE Framing pictures HERE Masonry pictures HERE 04.07 Foundation pictures HERE Framing pictures HERE Masonry pictures HERE 09.06 Foundation pictures HERE Framing pictures HERE Masonry pictures HERE 08.06 Foundation pictures HERE Framing pictures HERE Masonry pictures HERE 07.06 Foundation pictures HERE Framing pictures HERE Masonry pictures HERE
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