Josh1234 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Let's hear about how bad they are! I've heard a million horror stories, and actually a few nice things, too. It's the cheapest new construction house you can get, though. Anyone have personal experience, or know someone with? Don't bother telling me not to do it... The wife and I did it last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 My kid had one built by them. He had it for about 5 years before he sold it. It wasn't bad at all for mass constructed cookie cutter houses. There were minor issues, Ryan took care of them without any hassles. My boss has had two of them, no major issues at all and he is picky about that kind of stuff. They are fine.....every builder has their horror stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedytriple Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I live in one going on ten years old. If you can go to the build site daily and look at everything. Have them fix it before they move on. This is what I did with every step. Yeah the quality sucks and you will be doing lots of mud work before you can paint. But overall value is good for what you pay for. Would I do it again? No way, I would spend a bit more and have to do a lot less to be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbot Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 they're not even that much cheaper. it's like buying an NX700 instead of buying something for a few hundred bucks more that didn't suc.... err... yeah, no they're fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad324 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 My Aunt's house is a Ryan home and its probably 30 years old now with not many issues. Granted things were a lot different back then. If it's anything like a Pulte home, you'll have minor hassles in the first 5 years, next 5 years see bigger issues and then after 15 you'll be the major maintenance type stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I've heard of them but no experience with them nor heard much about them. I don't care who the builder is, get your own home inspector and have it inspected pre-drywall stage (after plumbing, electric, etc) and again when finished. Don't rely on the builder to do the inspections. I did this with both of my homes...one with Fischer (cookie cutter homes) and one with a higher-end custom builder. The latter was a bit offended that we brought in an inspector but I didn't care and ultimately he understood why. The inspector identified things in each case that weren't "wrong" per se but not optimal which we were able to correct then and potentially save us $ in the future. Also, in pre-drywall stage go through the house with a video camera or take cell video of everything. Video every room and go slow to make sure you get video of all "walls". and what will be embedded in them. This is incredibly useful after the home is built if you need to know where plumbing or wiring is routed and where ducts, etc run behind the walls so you don't hit them when hanging things or if need to make changes later. Pre-wire ethernet in most rooms if it's in your budget. Wireless is great but not as fast as wired for streaming etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad324 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Premium prices for mediocre prefab houses. No thanks. The nice thing is they are easy to flip for a nice profit. Basically doubled my house, lot and garage size for the same mortgage payment I was paying on that prefab The taxes however are a different story 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedytriple Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Lol you're joking right bad? I lost $40000 the day I signed the papers on mine. Might be able to sell it ten years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad324 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Oh I meant buying used. I made $25k on mine and if it wasn't for my wife being afraid we were never going to sell it, it should have been $30k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh1234 Posted October 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I live in one going on ten years old. If you can go to the build site daily and look at everything. Have them fix it before they move on. This is what I did with every step. Yeah the quality sucks and you will be doing lots of mud work before you can paint. But overall value is good for what you pay for. Would I do it again? No way, I would spend a bit more and have to do a lot less to be happy. I heard something about how they come back after 1 year and do touchups after everything has settled, but I don't really know any details yet. It IS kinda crappy that the basic paint package means they do the whole house in 1 color, top to bottom, inside. I've heard of them but no experience with them nor heard much about them. I don't care who the builder is, get your own home inspector and have it inspected pre-drywall stage (after plumbing, electric, etc) and again when finished. Don't rely on the builder to do the inspections. I did this with both of my homes...one with Fischer (cookie cutter homes) and one with a higher-end custom builder. The latter was a bit offended that we brought in an inspector but I didn't care and ultimately he understood why. The inspector identified things in each case that weren't "wrong" per se but not optimal which we were able to correct then and potentially save us $ in the future. Also, in pre-drywall stage go through the house with a video camera or take cell video of everything. Video every room and go slow to make sure you get video of all "walls". and what will be embedded in them. This is incredibly useful after the home is built if you need to know where plumbing or wiring is routed and where ducts, etc run behind the walls so you don't hit them when hanging things or if need to make changes later. Pre-wire ethernet in most rooms if it's in your budget. Wireless is great but not as fast as wired for streaming etc. Great advice... Our realtor agreed about the multiple inspections... She called it a phase inspection, where they check 4 times through each step of framing, plumbing, electrical, etc. So that's hopefully covered... But the part about making a video for where each pipe or duct and electrical run is, that's a great idea. They contract out to Guardian for wiring, and I'm SURE we'd love wired internet and speakers in every room, but I have no clue how much all that will cost yet I wonder if I can get them to run conduit to each room for me so I can do it all myself, haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Just make sure the inspector is a non-biased third party. You can have them "pre-wire" for speakers out in (cost very little) so later on when you have the $, you can buy the speakers and hook them up to the wiring. That's what we did with out first house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpoppa Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 There are bad stories with every builder. Ryan is one of the biggest, so by sheer numbers you'll hear more bad stories about Ryan. Every mass builder has cheap models & they also have better built models that are more expensive. If you want something nicer contact a custom home builder, but it will cost more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket226 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 When the new owners of the company I work for take over, and I get to keep my job, I'm seriously considering building my own home.I like the home I own now, but I'd like to have something better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 My neighbor, Scott has worked for Pulte for sure, and possibly Ryan before that. He's still in the industry, but I've lost track of who he works for. I can contact him if you'd like, but I'm not sure his insight will be any better than those who have posted here. He's going to have a more educated opinion on construction quality in general, but I can't foresee him really providing much more information than the 'reputation issues' people are already throwing out there. Any builder is going to want to maximize profits. Showing up frequently so they can't sneak anything by you is probably the most important thing, but making the builders love you doesn't hurt either. Show up with coffee and doughnuts, or a 6' subway sandwich and some drinks, then chat it up with the fellas or foreman while they eat. Maybe you're just wasting $60, but maybe they remember how nice you were to them when they're about to cover up a mistake rather than fixing it. Every time I have held a labor job, I have had 2 types of coworkers - the type I would actually want doing the job if I were buying the product/service, and the guys he supervises or tolerates... The latter are just earning a check, and can typically be bought, literally, and/or metaphorically, with favors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Any builder is going to want to maximize profits. Showing up frequently so they can't sneak anything by you is probably the most important thing, but making the builders love you doesn't hurt either. Show up with coffee and doughnuts, or a 6' subway sandwich and some drinks, then chat it up with the fellas or foreman while they eat. Maybe you're just wasting $60, but maybe they remember how nice you were to them when they're about to cover up a mistake rather than fixing it.^^^this...we stopped by frequently and spoke with the workers including the subcontractors. Not only did we build a good relationship but they frequently offered up options and suggestions about things that could either save $ or would make it better for no extra cost. An example is the tile guy. He was chatty but nice and as he was about to lay the bathroom tile, he suggested we rotate the tile 45 degrees to the walls to make diamonds and he could use the leftover smaller tiles to put squares in the intersection of the tiles every other one. It turned out to look much better this way than they design we had originally asked for and cost us nothing even though it was probably a bit more work for him. Granted this was a custom home and we were already paying big bucks but I think it would apply with any builder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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