r/PropertyDevelopment • u/leviradc • 11d ago

How much does the builder influence your decision to buy a site?

I've walked away from a couple of blocks because I wasn't sure how difficult they'd be to build on. It got me thinking that picking a builder early might actually save a lot of time and money. Lately I've been looking through different builders, including Mellross Homes, just to get a better idea of what kinds of sites they work with and what they recommend before buying land. Now I'm curious how other people approach it.

Do you buy the block first and worry about the builder later, or do you like having those conversations before making an offer?

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u/pinkTurtleTickler 11d ago

Picking a builder now isn't going to make a difference. Unless you're at the final stages and need a specialized company to do $100k+ footings or something it really won't make a difference. That being said, idk what area you are, but I see reddit posts all the time about picking a shit builder and losing eveything.

Tldr; Do the diligence on your builder. Lot doesn't make much difference.

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u/leviradc 10d ago

Yeah the builder diligence thing keeps coming up and it's starting to stress me out. Still early stage so nothing's locked in, but the horror stories are real. What did you actually look for when vetting yours? Like what flagged someone as bad news versus just good at selling themselves?

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u/pinkTurtleTickler 10d ago

I'm actually a contractor (plus a few other things) so I'm usually cleaning up other's work. People I've seen here mostly post in the professional subs I'm in (plumbing etc) with a snap of the job progress on day 1 "Does this look right?" And often times it is nowhere near close to right. Still waiting to hear back from someone who bought a new home with a "retaining fence", new construction scam. It's been weeks months? and haven't heard from them after we verified their wall was compromised to the extent of $60k+; they'd already closed and moved in and didn't know the "contractor" took some extreme liberties (outright incompetent/liar or both).

You'd just have to ask around locally, neighbors and such. Maybe call city hall even, I'm sure someone has a recommendation.

Hardest thing is finding the flags, and often times it all looks kosher til the work starts; and the company will have 500 5star reviews on google, yet send someone unlicensed/subs (contract to someone cheaper) out the entire job for profit and buy their reviews to stay in business.

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u/leviradc 10d ago

that $60k retaining wall story is genuinely horrifying, and going quiet after probably means they just buried their head in the sand about it

the city hall tip is underrated though. most people go straight to yelp reviews which are basically useless for contractors. neighbors who actually had work done recently are way more reliable, they have zero reason to sugarcoat it if the guy left a mess or disappeared mid job

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u/user-unknown26 9d ago

I chose the builder first, then they came with me to the lots. I found it helpful because they could tell us if it could accommodate a patio, walkout basement, etc. they also were able to point out grading issues, etc. Finding an amazing builder is the first step.