DRHorton Home Construction Experience (Virginia)

Most builders will either require or offer to hold a pre-construction (PRE-CON) meeting before they begin construction. DR Horton apparently does not require these meetings, but they will conduct them if requested by a buyer. So we asked for a meeting. After waiting so long for a permit, the folks at DRH were chomping at the bit to start construction. They started digging the day the permit was issued. The foundation was poured within a few days and the well was dug at the same time. We happened to be out of town, so the pre-construction meeting needed to wait until we were back. That was OK with us since it gave us more to talk about when the meeting did happen. It's About Communications The reason to have a pre-construction meeting is to ensure buyer and builder are completely in sync. This is important since virtually every project has unique aspects that must be accommodated (location of drains or pipes, etc) and every buyer has certain things they want to request. Another reas

We visited our home site today to find that the foundation walls are complete! Things certainly happen fast. It took only a week to go from untouched land to a foundation. It's always exciting to see progress, especially after waiting so long. We were especially surprised and happy to see that our side-positioned stairs from the basement will have a double-wide staircase. this is so useful when trying to get oversized furniture into or out of the house. I suppose the right-hand turn required for a side garage would make it very difficult to move large items in or out of the basement if it was only a single-wide. So thank you to DR Horton for being so thoughtful! We had asked for 3 hopper windows along the back wall and there are absolutely there - right where we wanted them. Phew! Unfortunately, we did notice an area inside the basement where the foundation is not perfectly positioned above the footers. It looks like the footers were placed a little carelessly. We will discuss this

 I stopped by the site on my bicycle (it was a gorgeous and unseasonably warm January day) to see that the metal forms for pouring the foundation are almost all in place. It looks like they will be ready to pour the cement for the foundation walls either later today or tomorrow.    With our areaway on the side of the house, we wanted to be sure there would be enough ambient light entering the basement from outside. The home comes with a mostly finished basement including a bedroom. The model and the other homes we been inside have two 'hopper' windows, plus the door to the areaway on the back side. We'll have the door on the side, so we asked for one additional hopper window across the back wall, for a total of 3. Rich was able to make this happen.  Things seem to move so quickly once the permit is issued.  My advice is to think of everything you can before they start construction. Once the wheels start turning it is especially difficult to make any changes.  We also notice

Hello Everyone. Thanks for checking out our blog!  Laurie and I want to share our experience building a new home with DR Horton with this blow-by-blow blog. We are building a new home in Catharpin, VA, which is is located between the towns of Gainseville, Manasas, and Haymarket, in Prince William County. The neighborhood is called Logmill Estates, though that's really just builder marketing. When all the homes are finished there will be no HOA, no community entryway or signage, and no amenities. There is no 'development' other than the construction of the homes themselves.  We've been adding to the blog over the past few months, but haven't been ready to announce that we're moving until now. So the first entry covers a lot of ground! Why Move? We currently live in a high-end HOA community called Willowsford in Loudoun County. Consistently ranked among the top communities in the USA, Willowsford is awesome. With 2,300 homes, the community offers residents more th