Builders aren't the problem ... trust me
I had an interesting interchange with a reader here on this site and on Active Rain today. He was trying to attack a local home builder, Harvest Homes, here in Northwest Indiana.
The truth is, he's mad, not sure why, but he's mad at the wrong people. No one builder can keep prices and costs creeping upward by themselves. No one builder over-developed lots. No one builder raised prices even when the market was slowing. No one builder caused 100's or even 1000's of jobs to be lost in the construction industry.
Don't blame that builder, blame foolish policy and a lack of leadership at the local level. In Porter County Indiana we actually have a commissioner that thinks that slowing down construction and the job losses related are good for the county! What a ridiculous proposition.
Update: A lot of shots were taken at a lot of home builders in 2007, funny how now finally in 2008 we see that it wasn't the home builders, it was the banks and title companies who destroyed the home builders and real estate market by turning off all lending, even on houses under construction. I'm glad some builders in Porter County have been willing to keep moving and building great houses. Here's to hoping more builders step up and take risks and create the jobs we lost last year!
As for the commissioners and leaders in Porter County willing to lean on builders to gain votes, that bad policy has now come to roost. Vote Jim Murphy in 2008 is you want better leadership and return to jobs in Porter County.
10 comments:
It'll be interesting to see what happens to the no growth commissioner's philosophy once the I-65 & 109th Street interchange opens up and Porter County residents start traveling on CR 100 in large numbers to avoid traffic on US 30.
I know you've got a great post and I thank you for sharing it. It would be too selfish on my part if I don't share this link to you: http://homes.relatedlistings.com
Chris, I worry that Porter County residents won't figure that out till it's too late. We seem so short sighted.
That's pretty messed up that the person got mad at the builder for home prices. Prices for things are always going up, blame inflation.
prices for things are always going up. Its just a shame when you pay for things and don't get the product you paid for. I feel for those people in that situation.
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The finger can't be pointed at anyone except for the general contractor. It is their responsibility to control costs and maintain quality in contruction (even during the harshest market conditions). Builders need to stop putting so much in their own pockets and start building quality homes.
HH didn't care about their own employees - terrible pay (except for the few at the top), no health insurance, no respect - so why would they care about their homeowners? They didn't care. I believe they used to care, but 3 years ago, they started to get greedy. They started to take shortcuts, screwed their subs, lied to their homeowners. I'm glad they've fallen apart; unfortunatly, it is the homowners that paid the price for DS, SY, and MP lies and greed.
Mr. Anonymous,
What a big talker you want to be without saying who you really are!! Lets see how far that will get you!! Until you know the FACTS about Havest Homes, I suggest you watch what you say. Did your toes get stepped on? Or were you one of the trades who overcharged a struggling business and are now crying from YOUR own selfishness?
All this frivolous talk of Harvest Homes, or Signature Homes, or even Synergy Homes is getting us nowhere. What we need are builders willing to take risks to create jobs so that we can pump this economy back up.
If you got burned by the 2007 bank inspired construction recession, I'm sorry and hope that we can all dig out of it together. But digging out will mean taking risks, working together, and a whole lot less attorneys. I have to believe they are the only ones that made any money in construction in 2007.
To the person who responded to anonymous said...... ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? I agree 110% with what anonymous said, Harvest Homes did exactly what is said here. I am a HH owner, and let me tell you I have had to repair more damage this builder did and deal with more subs coming to my door looking for a dollar than any new home owner should ever have to deal with. I am a big talker, because I have had big problems, where would you like for me to start? How about my flooded basement due to HH not properly backfilling my yard. Or the rotted wood we found in our bathroom due to HH not putting a wax ring on the toilet as any intelligent person knows you do. What else, oh my concrete patio that is completely cracked at the rebar where it meets the house, causing it to pull away from the house, and actually pulling on the foundation. What about my air conditioning unit that was never properly attached to the home, hence no A/C...mind you I purchased in May. I had to purchase a window unit on my brand new $300k home in the middle of May because HH wouldn't respond to my many calls about the A/C unit. Then they had the balls to tell me they wouldn't reimburse me for the cost of the window unit. It wasn't until I called my lawyer that they responded. Oh and the inspector that came to my home the day after we moved in and said "oh you live here, well we never inspected this house yet". Is that enough major problems for you to shut your defensive mouth?? Oh let me guess your next comment is "that isn't HH that is their subs"...well let me tell you something brainiac, HH is the builder they are ultimately responsible for all of the work done by anyone. As in any good business you are only as good as your employees that do the work, and HH employees and subs you hire. Now HH is in bankruptcy and my best option is to file a claim with the courts and hope for a few dollars to pay for all of the repairs I myself have had to do and pay for.
So why so defensive of HH, are you really Steve, the sorry owner of Harvest Crap Homes?
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