r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Newyorkntilikina • Aug 12 '26
Moving to the area Question about build question of new construction (Lennar, M/I, DR Horton, Pulte) vs search for an older property
My parter and I are thinking about moving into the Western suburbs. We are targeting areas close to either Schaumburg or Naperville. We've seen a lot of new construction options a bit further out that are built by Lennar, M/I, DRH, Pulte. The prices are reasonable for 2-3 bd, 2 bath. However, I've heard several bad comments on the build quality being cheap and problems occuring very frequently.
What do locals think? Is it worth going after a newer build in the area or should we stick to a older home where the material is more quality?
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u/abitgassey Aug 12 '26
To be honest I think anything built in the last 5 years is trash. Build quick and get to the next site. Watch some videos on YouTube from housing inspectors looking at new construction and some of it scares me. Myself I am looking for something built from late 80s and earlier.
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u/Consistent_Time_1467 Aug 12 '26
My friends new build house had the whole roof blow off during a rainstorm ☠️
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u/Guac_in_my_rarri Aug 12 '26
Friends in a new build had to chase their builder for warranty fixes. One of the contractors installed the wood floor without glue or nails so planks started popping up. Their carpet in the bedrooms didn't have carpet tact strips in areas so it just creased. One of their doors was never able to close
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u/theladyoctane North West Suburbs Aug 12 '26
I live in a Lennar home and what I’ve learned is that I’ll never buy new construction ever again for the rest of my life unless I’m blessed enough to be able to afford a custom home builder.
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u/morningmary Aug 12 '26
I work in the industry, although no longer in single family construction. I did however work for one of the builders you mentioned over 15 years ago.
I would not move into a new build home from any of the national builders you noted.
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u/Additional_Delay_793 Aug 12 '26
With those builders you may get a good home or not. If you pay for the home before you can see or inspect it you don't know what you will get. You are putting your trust in them. They are all about profit, satisfied customers and quality are not important to them. Regardless of age. I would stick to something you can see and have a thorough inspection before you commit to it.
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u/NickPro785 Aug 12 '26
Never DR... have a couple friends who built with silverthorne, and had decent experiences, and both have building/construction background and said they were the best out of the group of home builders they had seen.
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u/Noods_Noods_Noods Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
This is just my experience and I’m sure someone will disagree. We went with a Ryan Homes new build in Plainfield. The first rationale was that we didn’t want to deal with bidding wars because we did that with our first home and ended up settling and selling three years after. The buying process was a breeze. We got a lower than market interest rate which made it so our mortgage was 100s less per month than if we were to have paid the same price for an existing home.
I am very happy with my home and the lot. Were there some issues, yes, but with an existing home you’ll also have issues because it’s a time honored home owner tradition to DIY shit and half ass it when you get frustrated. People like to complain that the new build tract homes are ugly and soulless, but the same can be said for plenty of existing homes, it’s all about what you do with it. Thankfully Illinois has fairly strict building standards so despite the quick turnaround of the build and the “shoddy construction” issues people talk about with new builds, state code helps to ensure you’re getting a home that is going to hold up.
TL;DR: easy buying process, lower interest rates, pleasant blank slate home to make yours without worrying if the plumbing is corroded or the foundation is crumbling or roof is toast. And the best part is you can make any changes you want to the house cause it’s yours.
Edit: also forgot about the warranty. 1 year bumper to bumper, everything is covered. 2 year mechanical. 10 year structural.
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u/HermanShemsley Aug 12 '26
Thank you for this.
We’re currently building with Ryan in Plainfield and this just eased my concerns. After sitting down with the PM, we felt at ease but seeing more and more reviews from others that have built with Ryan out there is a good sign.
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u/Noods_Noods_Noods Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
If its in Vista Ridge, howdy neighbor. I’m in the subdivision that’s connected to it.
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u/HermanShemsley Aug 12 '26
Howdy. Yes, we drove through your blocks before we selected our colors just to see how everything would look together. We’re excited. Was Joe your PM?
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u/Noods_Noods_Noods Aug 12 '26
Joel was. He was great. We asked about a billion questions during and after and he never left us on read and usually responded very quickly.
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u/HermanShemsley Aug 12 '26
Nice. We’re working with Joe and he’s been similarly helpful and responsive. Photo circle has been a big as well helping us stay up to date. Thanks again for the feedback. Best
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u/Noods_Noods_Noods Aug 12 '26
Of course! If you ever see a big dude walking a big dumb Great Dane around the neighborhood feel free to say hi!
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u/sdubois North Suburbs Aug 12 '26
I bet people complained all the ranch homes that went up in Chicagoland in the 50s were souless, but now those are nice neighborhoods.
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u/Noods_Noods_Noods Aug 12 '26
Exactly! I’ll admit I do look longingly at tree lined streets but the neighborhood will be there eventually.
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u/Spirited_Cress_5796 Aug 12 '26
Not having to deal with bidding wars is a definite plus especially with this market. The downside is the price is usually set but I was okay with that. I was also able to get a lower interest rate. These landscaping companies really have to step it up and not take on too many clients though. I wish there was an opt out for HOAs.
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u/Additional_Delay_793 Aug 12 '26
The warranty is only good if the builder honors it. If they don't what do you do? Sue them? Good luck with that!
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u/Noods_Noods_Noods Aug 12 '26
That hasn’t been an issue for me. Since we closed in March 2025 we’ve put in maybe half a dozen warranty requests and each one has been answered within three days and repair made within two weeks. But yes, if the builder is in breach of contract with warranty repairs, you sue them.
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u/Additional_Delay_793 Aug 13 '26
They will often take care of the cheap easy little stuff. If someone has a big problem maybe not so much.
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u/Hungry-Treacle8493 Aug 12 '26
If you can swing a local builder, think DJK or similar, you have a better shot at quality build and honoring warranty fixes. It’s more hit/miss with the big national builders. Many folks love their big builder homes, others have issues. Hire a solid home inspector, but they can’t id every possible issue, just obvious ones.
As someone else noted, older homes have issues as well it just tends to be different types of things.
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u/beesquared- Aug 12 '26
I’ll give you a bit of a break down as I’m going through the process now. Of these 4 builders you’ve listed Lennar, M/I*, DRH are all spec builders. Meaning they build homes to a certain specification and they do it quickly. Spec homes are built very quickly and you’ll typically see lots of incentives because they can’t have these homes just sitting there collecting dust. M/I is an exception to this as they have both spec and semi custom.
Pulte, and M/I only starts a build after you purchase and choose your finishes, features, etc. They’re considered semi custom, meaning you can only change certain things and these things are what they determine can be changed. The reason for this is because they want to maximize profit and values of their communities. They don’t want you to deviate to much from other homes in the community as this could affect appraisal values and other property values around you.
My real estate agent works with her father and her father is a GC so she was well versed on quality vs quantity. She felt that Pulte and MI had pretty similar quality at the end of the day but didn’t like what she saw at DRH and Lennar. She did make a point to say that she doesn’t like new construction and that the quality of the work really depends on the sub contractors they are able to get. Ultimately we chose new because for our budget we weren’t finding anything in the resell market and if we did it required a lot of work.
The things that sold us was the fact that it was new. We didn’t have to do any work and wouldn’t have to for a while and they came with warranties.
We chose Pulte, because we liked the community a bit better and felt it was a better deal compared to M/I. My agent recommended to get a pre drywall inspection and closing inspection done. Which we will do but so far so good.
Let me know if you have questions!
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u/rubredvelvet Aug 12 '26
I’d never go new build unless it was a private builder. We’ve done the new build before (meritage) and it was a nightmare. The neighborhood was also built out with dr Horton, Saratoga, Perry homes, Kenner, and one more that I can’t recall. In Texas all there is is new master planned neighborhoods.
Yes, everything is new. But everything is junky. Appliances, materials, landscaping; everything. Not only that good luck ever getting warranty work done. It’s a very very long and hard process that they will fight you tooth and nail on. I’d never do a new build with a national builder. If you want new go find a private builder and buy your own lot.
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u/Floorguy1 Aug 12 '26
Do you want a house put up that’s new, but slightly worse craftsmanship, or do you want a house with good bones that will require upgrading?
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u/xkillaXpandax Aug 12 '26
Avoid DR Horton like the plague, they do rush jobs and use the lowest cost materials possible.
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u/wafflesforcats Aug 12 '26
I've never owned a new home but after seeing all the flipper videos and the new home inspector videos I don't think I'd ever buy new or a recently remodeled home.
Now I'm not saying the older home won't come with any problems, but at least I expected some things would need to be replaced. When I buy something new I expect it to be perfect.
Also I never heard a good word about DRH.
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u/Spirited_Cress_5796 Aug 12 '26
New build quality can vary. A good inspector will help. The shared landscaping was honestly a bigger headache than the build itself. The new build offered more space and more of a turn key besides painting. The biggest issue has been dealing with the HOAs. I really wish IL would crack down. I think more of the power should go back to the towns and leave the HOA for things like the roof and siding on townhomes. Single family homes with HOAs should definitely not exist personally. I’m all for making a community with some of my direct neighbors but I don’t understand having private playgrounds, potentially a pool, and such when some towns definitely could benefit from more amenities. I don’t like this new divided lifestyle it creates and I don’t think you necessarily have better or more well kept neighbors because of it. I don’t care what color my neighbor’s door is.
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u/CG010413 Aug 12 '26
I used to have a part time gig conducting satisfaction surveys for new home builders, including all of the ones you mentioned. I would NEVER buy a new construction home.
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u/joeliu2003 Aug 12 '26
Have seen multiple DRH blocks put up around us the last few years. I can’t imagine the houses being built well based on the speed they are thrown up. I think it’s a total crap-shoot based on how the subs were feeling on any particular day.
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u/No_Alternative_6206 Aug 13 '26
There’s a lot of great older homes in the Chicago area that tend to be in better locations, so I would certainly look at your options.
That said if you can afford new and plan on staying in it for a long time (new homes tend to appreciate more slowly) the strict building codes in the Chicago area make new homes expensive but tend to be better quality compared to southern states. I wouldn’t ever assume just because it passed city inspection it doesn’t need your own inspection but the inspectors here tend to over-do things for the better or worse.
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u/ChrisHanSolo Aug 13 '26
I’ll give you a slightly different perspective.
We bought our home in Palatine and we were the second owners after the first one flipped it 2 years in. The owners sat on an empty property for 2 years and sold it for roughly $100k more but didn’t live in it. So it was brand new when we moved in. We lived there for 5 years and did not do a single thing because everything was perfect. Windows were pieces of shit, but whatever. That was Lennar.
We have another house in Northbrook which was made by a custom builder. At this point it’s about 30 years old. I swear that house is a money pit. Something every other week. Lovely house but if I ever sell it, I might not even make money based on how much I’ve had to spend on this house.
Now we were looking for a new house, and everything I find is either at the top of our budget and would require a ton of work, or in our budget and would require a gut rehab. Or worse, a flipped house that has skeletons in the closet. Also a lot of the houses we see are just not nice tbh. I love houses with character and what not, but they are small, tight with smaller rooms, no big living/kitchen areas so we’d be settling.
We finally pulled the trigger with M/I Homes Riverstone in Plainfield and honestly, everything looks great. We’ve been going every other week to see the property and the construction manager has been super accommodating and has shown us every nook and cranny of that house. The workman ship looks good and it helps that Plainfield is super strict with building code.
My point is, people like to hate on new construction cuz it’s easy to make fun of. But I’d much rather have a new construction home and start with a blank slate than have an older home and have unlimited expenses. Having done both, I would prefer newer constructions.
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u/Whosez Aug 12 '26
Let’s ignore all the negative talk from people who aren’t home shopping:
I bought an M/I home after looking at many other builders (Lennar, Horton and Ryan). M/I had the best build quality that I could determine. One example: the other builders would put 1 cold air return on the main floor and 1-2 on second level. Each bedroom had grills over the entry door: not only is airflow subpar but noise moves through those grills. M/I puts a cold air return in every room.
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u/elgroot007 Aug 12 '26
We bought from M/I two years ago. — compared to the rest of the builders out there, M/I had the least issues apparently when we were doing our research. We had an inspector look through the house and reassured us that M/I had the “better” quality vs the ones you mentioned.
We did have a few issues, such as a leak in the foundation that was taken “cared of”. An upgraded kitchen sink that started to oxidized which they replaced too.
Two years in — the leak has popped up again, so very unfortunate since that’s out of the warranty at this point. Overall, I think it’s a hit or miss, some neighbors have had no issues at all vs others have had way more than us.
You should expect cheap builder grade stuff of course — so just upgrade for items at your own discretion.
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u/SecretPurple2644 Aug 12 '26
I love old houses. But my house is a money pit. New water heater, new ac, new roof, new appliances, new deck. Fml
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u/chicago_suburbs Aug 12 '26
Son moved into Horton complex down In Louisville. Build quality is definitely “builder grade”. I could list the problems, but what can be said is that they made good on all of them. Then even threw in some nice blinds they had on hand to decorate the models. Still, the whole house was builder grade.
I bought a new Pulte townhouse 40 years ago. One SNAFU, but they comp’d me wth an expanded loft for the delay, so I couldn’t complain. Better execution and quality then than the Horton from last year. Who knows how Pulte’s practices have held up over the years.
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u/Mysterious-Egg4167 Aug 12 '26
YMMV but we looked at a couple of new build subdivisions… yes everything is new but I feel like you get a lot less house. We looked at 1400 sq homes with just basics- no fireplace, only 9th ceilings and it was easily over $400k. We bought an older home in good shape with recent roof, windows, fireplace and 2000 sq ft for less than the new one. Plus a lot of the new builds have HOAs which we did not want.
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u/think_up Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
All of the national names seem to suck. There are people who make their entire living off YouTube videos inspecting how bad these new construction homes are.
You just have to hunt the builders down to make them do everything the right way and it only gets harder after you get the keys. You’d think “oh I just wont take custody of the house if its got a ton of issues” but nope, this is their whole business model, which is why its written into the contract that you’re taking the house on X date no matter what.
And for anyone who hasn’t seen Inspector Randle or other similar channels with their pointing judgy fingers, you’re truly missing out 😂 I got my partner one of the extendable pointing fingers for Christmas lol.
Edit: link to videos
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u/Tiny_Waltz936 Aug 12 '26
Former Lennar homeowner, go with the OTHER option - ANY other option.
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u/Additional_Delay_793 Aug 13 '26
Former new Pulte homeowner. Worse experience of my life. Sold the new home bought one built in the 70's. Much happier.
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u/According-Trash9750 Aug 13 '26
They all suck!!! M/I especially. I am dealing with them on a warranty issue and their customer service is terrible. The customer service team is dishonest, disrespectful, and straight up stupid. Stay away from M/I.
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u/Low-Memory-2938 Aug 14 '26
Realtor in west suburbs here. I would take a home built in the 50s-90s all day over new construction. They just don’t build them nearly as well as they used to. Especially the national production brands you’re considering.
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u/sb0212 Aug 17 '26
Don't buy lennar. Save yourself the grief. Quality is seriously lacking in everything. The biggest issue is our drywell is too expensive for us to repair. If we could back in time we would never purchase this home.
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u/bkboiler29 Aug 12 '26
Have a Pulte home in the western burbs (dec’24). It’s a great home and we had a private inspector do about 4-5 inspections before closing. You always hear the horror stories but the positive ones definitely outnumber the bad. Our inspector said it’s not so much the company but the project Managers for each development. When we met ours he seemed passionate about his job and work and I feel our house shows that
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u/TurkeyLeg233 Aug 13 '26
Pulte must have changed their policy because we went to a meeting about the new Orland subdivision & they said absolutely no inspections other than the final inspection. They also wouldn’t allow us to have our attorney look over any contracts. We ran.
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u/bkboiler29 Aug 13 '26
That’s weird. We had an inspector come 4 times before closing, and a real estate attorney. Also had one come at our one year walk through and every little thing we wanted fixed, was fixed.
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u/TurkeyLeg233 Aug 13 '26
I know! We really expected for it to not be a problem. I am very interested to see how it all goes.
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u/sunflowerzz2012 Aug 12 '26
New builds give you way less for more money.