Eichler vs Alliance Homes - how can I tell the difference?
This might be a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if there are any "telltale signs" that a home is an Eichler versus an Alliance Home? (ideally from street view). I'm asking because we are starting to look at homes in Marin County and have seen a few house that were initially marketed as Eichlers but we later came to find out that they were actually Alliance homes.
Please let me know:
- how to best tell the difference,
- any major drawbacks of Alliance homes versus Eichlers since there is very little I can find on the web regarding "Alliance",
- approximately how many Eichler or Alliance homes there even are in Marin
The Eichler books on this site will help you identify Eichler homes. Also, feel free to post up an image or email me and I'll tell it if it's an Eichler or not.
I live in Terra Linda and can help identify the house as an Eichler or Alliance home. Once you get a feel for the differences it is pretty easy to identify one or the other.
The Alliance and Eichler houses are not intermixed so that makes it a little easier.
To answer your numbers question, estimates are at about 1200 for Eicher houses in Terra Linda. I do not have numbers at hand for Lucas Valley and Upper Lucas Valley but I can come up with them given a little time.
Let me know if I can bo of additional help.
Dan
Thanks for your response. Can you tell me the geography (e.g. streets/location) that helps define an Alliance from an Eichler?
Also, do you know how many alliance homes there are? Are there any major design difference from the two types of homes?
Welcome to the Chatterbox Lounge.
One other way to authenticate an Eichler is too look in the garage for the builder's
permit and sign-off certificate. We found ours on a piece of heavy cardboard on top of the wood frame in the garage wall. Eichler Homes was typed in as the applicant. There was a 1958 dollar bill behind the certificate and the wood also.
The beams are not load bearing and they go in the opposite direction of the Eichler beams. The Alliance subdivision was built in 1954 and Eichlers in that area were made starting in 1955 (according to tax records) The Alliance home has little less square footage as well and most are in an L shape.
The Alliance homes run between Las Gallinas and Las Pavadas. No Eichlers are in that area The only area they run into eachother are on Wakerobin, Las Colindas,and Woodbine but the difference is pretty noticeable.
