Central PAs Best Builders. And The Winner Is…

Are you planning to build a home in Central Pennsylvania? Or perhaps planning for a large renovation or addition? Just Add Paint is in and out of dozens of new homes every year and decided to put our 2 cents into the conversation about Central PAs Best Builders. We are generally the first contractors involved once the keys are handed over.  This provides a front row seat to the good, the bad, and the ugly of how people REALLY feel about their builders. In an effort to keep things positive, we will limit this list to “The Good” and tell you who we feel is Simply The Best (as seen from the eyes and ears of you local fly on the wall painting contractors)…

DRUM ROLL PLEASE…

Best Overall Builder: GARMAN BUILDERS (https://www.garmanbuilders.com)

Central PAs Best Builders Just Add Paint
GARMAN, Central PAs Best Builders
Orchard Glenn, Just Add Paint
Orchard Glen, Central PAs Best Builders, Garman Builders

Garman Builders build all over Central PA.  Neighborhoods include Orchard Glen, Meadow Brook, Millfording Preserve, Netherby, and Peninsula (among others) in our neck of the woods. The bulk of the houses we have been in are in the Orchard Glen development in Mechanicsburg. We have done custom paint jobs in 12 of those houses immediately after completion by the builder, and a handful of others within a few years of completion. We have noticed several qualities that make new owners of these houses some of the most satisfied we come across.

  1. Communication: It appears to us that Garman Builders pays careful attention to detail from start to finish. And when an issue does arise, it gets dealt with immediately, which means…

  2. No hidden costs: We regularly hear about hidden costs form builders getting passed on to customers.  Things “they assumed would be included” ended up with a huge change order costing thousands. Garman is the exception to this, and  their customers know exactly what to expect.

  3. Staying on schedule: No builder can control the weather, but Garman does a great job of making up rainy days and keeping deadlines.

  4. High quality craftsmanship: The attention to detail in these houses is some of the finest we have seen. The seams are tight, the molding is cut and joined properly, and the floors don’t creek. Even the paint jobs from the builder are clean and require minimal prep to apply our custom colors over. It is incredibly rare to find a builder that will allot for time and budget to do things correctly in this area, and we haven’t seen finer than Garman.

  5. Great floor plans: These houses are unique for our area. Garman gets creative with open space, and  homes often feel much more spacious that the actual square footage.

Best Custom Builder (small): CDS CONSTRUCTION (717-226-5885)

CDS Construction, Central PAs Best Builders, Just Add Paint
Central PAs Best Builders, CDS Construction
CSD Construction, Central PAs Best Builders with Just Add Paint
CSD Construction, Central PAs Best Builders, Just Add Paint Black and White Stairs

Chris Shabala and CDS Construction are based out of Carlisle, PA, and work throughout South Central PA. Their company is much smaller than the others on this list, and typically build 2-3 custom homes per year along with various remodels of all sizes.  We have painted many projects for CDS construction over the years, sometimes as part of the building team that primes the drywall and sprays the first coats, and sometimes after the builders paint has been applied and it is time for custom colors. In all cases, we tend to find satisfied customers and the great craftsmanship that goes into that. The one thing we are MOST impressed with about CDS is the lack of issues the houses/additions have at their one-year touch up. There is usually very little, and in one case literally nothing, that needs to be addressed by painters and other contractors. Scheduling touch ups is typically a nightmare for painters since we never know what we are walking into, and I can honestly say that CDS is the only company that has ever sent us home without having to wet a brush. Kudos gentlemen.

Best Floor Plan: CHARTER HOMES (https://charterhomes.com)

Charter Homes, Just Add Paint
Charter Homes, Central PAs Best Builders
Just Add Paint, Walden Homes
Central PAs Best Builders, Charter Homes

Charter Homes can be found all over Central PA, and specifically in Walden, Arcona, and Woodbridge in the Mechanicsburg area. We have painted in both Arcona and Walden extensively, and are always amazed at the flow of these homes and the amount of natural light that they get. This gives way to loads of creative paint combinations and opportunities for accents in the most unusual places. In fact the layout of the neighborhoods these houses are found in are also incredible.  They feature a common park area in the middle and strips of stores on the way in that have just about everything one needs. Crossroads in Walden contains restaurants, a gym, a hair salon, a childcare center, and even a micro brewery. Homeowners in Charter Homes developments rave about their layouts and communities, and we love them as well.

We hope you have enjoyed this article on Central PAs Best Builders. For more information on all things painting, please check out our website and facebook pages at:

www.justaddpaint.net 

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