Is StyleCraft Homes a custom homebuilder or a production homebuilder? What’s the difference?
StyleCraft Homes is a production homebuilder. A custom homebuilder usually works with a customer’s own floor plans or modifies a set of plans they own. While they provide unlimited structural modifications and customization, this comes at a much higher cost and longer building cycle. As a production homebuilder, StyleCraft Homes has developed a series of unique floor plans as well as a proven and reliable production schedule that makes it easier and faster to build your own home.
Where does StyleCraft Homes build?
StyleCraft Homes currently builds in Virginia in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas.
What types of homes does StyleCraft Homes build?
StyleCraft Homes builds a wide variety of single-family homes, townhomes and homes in active adult (age-qualified) communities.
What comes standard and what is an option in your homes?
Since we build a wide variety of types of homes in different communities, the standard items available in each home naturally vary by community. Our Sales Representatives will guide you through the standard items and options provided in each community and will give you a printed list of specifications.
Will I get an allowance for selections?
Some homebuilders provide an allowance (a set spending limit) requiring you to drive from vendor to vendor to choose your selections. At StyleCraft Homes, our Design Consultant will schedule a Selections Meeting with you that will take place within 15 days of signing your contract. You will have a one-on-one design session with our Design Consultant in our Design Studio.
What is the process for choosing design selections?
After signing a contract, our homebuyers choose the features that personalize their homes during a Selections Meeting at our Design Studio. During this private meeting, you will have undivided attention of our Design Consultant, who will guide you through choosing your options in a showroom with all of our design samples.
Do you offer incentives?
Homebuying incentives may vary by community. Please contact the Sales Representative at the community of your choice for the latest incentive information.
What quality control measures are in place during the building process?
StyleCraft Homes enforces strict quality control measures with specific inspections throughout the building process.
Who will oversee the construction of my home?
A StyleCraft Homes Project Manager will supervise the construction of your home on a daily basis. Our Project Managers are highly experienced and dedicated to their careers. At StyleCraft Homes, the Project Manager position is not treated as a mere steppingstone to other positions within the company.
How do you handle warranty service?
After closing, your home will be protected by a leading industry home warranty, and StyleCraft Homes is committed to honoring that warranty. We stand behind the quality of our construction, and we have invested in our in-house service team because we believe that our customers’ ownership experience should be as positive as their homebuying experience. Our homeowners have direct access to our very own StyleCraft Homes service team, who will address repairs quickly and professionally.
How is the crawl space finished?
Local building code requires a vapor barrier in the crawl space. Some homebuilders install the vapor barrier at the end of construction—right on top of construction debris and with little to secure it. StyleCraft Homes lays the vapor barrier prior to framing and secures it with a layer of gravel. This keeps the crawl space clean and protects the vapor barrier from construction debris.
How do you treat the house for termites?
During the building process, some homebuilders treat the soil and lumber for termites with poison. However, we treat the frame with a natural chemical substance called borate, which is toxic to termites but completely safe for your family and pets.
How do you ensure long-term pest control?
StyleCraft Homes installs a pest control system called Taexx®, a series of narrow, perforated tubes that are inserted into the framing near the foundation during construction. Also known as tubes-in-the-wall, this system allows pest-control technicians to spray pesticides behind the walls—away from pets and children—without having to enter your home.
Do you use dimensional lumber or engineered flooring for all of your flooring systems?
StyleCraft Homes uses engineered flooring systems. These multiple-ply planks do not change shape or split, limiting squeaks and improving stability. StyleCraft Homes does not build with dimensional lumber flooring systems, which are more likely to crown, shrink, or squeak.
Do you build roof trusses using engineered or stick-framed lumber?
StyleCraft Homes installs engineered lumber trusses, which are precision-built in a factory with a high-grade wood fiber that resists shrinking, crowning, twisting and warping. Every piece of engineered lumber is virtually defect-free and is consistent in size and weight, providing greater support to the roof. We do not build with stick-framed roofs, which are measured and built on-site and are susceptible to shrinking, lumber defects and other issues that can impact the long-term integrity of the roof.
How close do you space studs when framing walls?
We space studs 16 inches apart, which provides stability, reduces warped walls and limits nail pops. In some non-load bearing walls, many homebuilders space studs 24 inches apart to cut down on their lumber costs.
What type of structured wiring do you offer?
Our homes are wired with Cat5E and GP6, a structured wiring panel and conduit to provide flexibility to expand and upgrade to accommodate rapidly changing technologies in media and home computer networks and energy management systems. To ensure optimum performance, we test all of our structured wiring cables guarantee performance with a warranty.
Are your homes wired for the future?
Homes that use structured wiring networks to manage energy efficiency are just around the corner. To prepare our homes for future wiring needs, we build an accessible and expandable network box to store structured wiring with conduit to make future growth easy.
Will the third floor have its own HVAC system?
If your home has a third floor, we add a third zone and thermostat to provide year-round comfort. To cut costs, some homebuilders “piggyback” the ducts off the HVAC unit dedicated to the second floor. With the thermostat on the second floor, the third floor will always be too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.
What brand and grade of paint do you use?
We spray high-quality Duron Supreme primer and roll the final coat, which provides a smoother, more consistent finish that is guaranteed to match after warranty repairs are completed. Many homebuilders that use standard builder-grade paint will not touch up painted walls after performing warranty repairs because the paint varies so much in consistency that it will not match.
Do you use poly fibers in all of your concrete?
We use poly-fiber reinforced concrete to control cracks and increase the strength of our concrete slabs.
Are your fireplaces vented to the exterior of the house?
We only build fireplaces vented to the exterior of your home. Non-vented fireplaces require leaving a window open slightly during operation to prevent the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning. Although some homebuilders will install non-vented fireplaces to cut costs, we think the extra cost of a vented fireplace is worthwhile for safety reasons.
