Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building in Canberra 21Mar 31, 2011 2:41 pm I am building a house in Wright and have chosen Masterton Canberra, As my land doesnt settle for a while I don't have much to comment on. if anyone is building with Masterton Canberra please share your experiences For me, they have been quite good. Re: Building in Canberra 24Apr 07, 2011 4:04 pm Masterton sales guy is taking abit time to come up with pricing for variations!! . this is to early to coment on Masterton's experience for me .... Hv been talking to other builders such as Metro and Av jennings but doesn't look good as Masterton. The only drawback Masterton is they are not that flexible in changing plans !!. Lets see how it goes. Re: Building in Canberra 25Apr 07, 2011 6:07 pm my mum is looking into building in harrison 4. she was drawn early in the ballot and got some fantastic piece of land for a good price. she is looking to build a very basic 3/4 bedroom place, basic inclusions etc. and is very sold on metro homes due to their attractive price point and straight talking sales team. they also have their display homes marketed at her price range, rahter than some lavish palace. Is anyone here considering/taking part in the land rental scheme? Re: Building in Canberra 26Sep 13, 2011 11:31 am I am new to Canberra and I found this website useful for finding builders. I am building my first home in Forde with my partner and it was so simple to get quotes from all builders that were registered with this company. I was able to get a quality quote from many builders within a couple of days. I hope this can help you out with finding a quality builder www.newplace.com.au Re: Building in Canberra 27Feb 16, 2012 8:58 pm In order to build a custom built home in Franklin, Canberra, I went through the extensive exercise of meeting various builders and talking to various people who had built a home through a builder. As getting a home built is a complex and expensive task, some of the key things we were looking in the builder were affordable pricing, flexibility to make changes even at later stages and most important of all the builder being approachable. After doing our extensive research, we decided to go with Matthew Smith of Goldruby homes. I am glad that we made that decision as we have heard some disaster stories from other people around. We changed our minds on a few things even after construction had commenced and Matthew was very approachable and accomodative throughout the construction period, there were times where he offered very genuine advice. He did not charge anything extra where we deviated from standard inclusions, the house was completed on time and there were no hidden surprises in the final settlement. We were so encouraged by our first experience that we decided to build our first investment home a few months after we moved into our own home. This home was also completed as per contract and due to the quality finish, we have had no trouble in renting it immediately at a premium rent. I highly recommend meeting with Matthew Smith (0408622288) once before finalising your builder and he will be happy to meet you and show you a few of his recently finished homes. Wish you all the best !!!!! Re: Building in Canberra 28Feb 23, 2012 7:51 pm We built our home through GOLDRUBY homes in 2008. The good thing about Matthew Smith is that he is quite flexible. He is always happy to give you best advice and I find him he is not greedy. He works in the interest of his customers. One recent example of his great service was when I got Foxtel installed the guys reported water on our roof sarking. They advised us to contact the builder. I contacted Mat and he arranged roof people and got it inspected in 2 days. I understand that roof tiles sometimes weather and crack in the conditions over the years. The roof tile company are coming back with replacement roof tiles and claimed that they will replace it free of cost. I was surprised and quite happy to see this level of service even after building the house for almost 4 years. I would highly recommend building with Matthew to anyone who is considering building the quality, finish and service goes above and beyond! Re: Building in Canberra 29Feb 27, 2012 12:05 pm Hi guys, We are hoping to build our home in Harrison4. Contemplating between 2 builders - Goldruby or Blackett. Still haven't finalized yet. Have heard some wonderful stories about Goldruby. Wondering if anyone would be able to give suggestions on the two. Haven't heard much about Blackett, but they seem to quote a good price. Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with Blackett or Goldruby... Your suggestions would be much appreciated Re: Building in Canberra 30Feb 27, 2012 1:36 pm Eagertobuild Hi guys, We are hoping to build our home in Harrison4. Contemplating between 2 builders - Goldruby or Blackett. Still haven't finalized yet. Have heard some wonderful stories about Goldruby. Wondering if anyone would be able to give suggestions on the two. Haven't heard much about Blackett, but they seem to quote a good price. Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with Blackett or Goldruby... Your suggestions would be much appreciated I built with one of the above and I wouldn't recommend them, nor another builder starting with P ending in n. I've heard good things about Renaissance from several colleagues. Re: Building in Canberra 31Feb 27, 2012 3:47 pm A lot of display home builders have set designs and on these set designs they quote cheap as long as you stay with the set plans they provide, but as soon as you want to change the plans the cheap price goes out the window. What I recall is when I came with my custom designed plan I had drawn up ,The quotes blew out with Blackett and many other builders in the display village. I did the rounds as you do when you first think of building a new home.
You have to be careful as some builders did not have clear allowances like with the kitchen allowance and stone bench top for example, how much is it?, no fences, no clothes line , no driveways, no flyscreens add at least $1,000 over a whole house for these and 4 wardrobes does that come with shelves in the cupboards and in some cases no eaves around the property! This all adds up to dollars along the way if its classed as a variation to the contract and if you add a builders margin for variations to the contract of 20% it’s going to really add to the base cheap price that sucks you in and makes you pay big time by the end. This is where builders get a bad name. Tiling heights in the main bathroom and ensuite and what if they are larger tiles 600mm by 600mm or polished porcelain is that going to cost more? Can you deal directly with the tiler for your main floors or does that attract a 20% builders variation above the tile supply and labour cost? This can work out to be a small fortune even without the builders margin applied. There are builders now in Canberra who charge you to meet you on site just to see your house per meeting! Who do they think they are and what are you paying them for in the contract price if you can’t even meet the builder on site as part of the standard contract! I would suggest you don’t go with one of those builders! You should give them a list of everything you want to be included and allowances for these items so you know the value of what is and is not included. If you think you can do any of these items for the same or cheaper than a builder can, think again as the builder has all the resources and the trade prices and an individual can’t get these things for the same price. It’s always more expensive for an individual. Site costs is a another place where the cheaper quotes usually grow in price. You should get the builder to have a look at your block and quote you a fixed price even before you give them any money. Make sure it is a fixed part of your contract before you part with any money. Don’t let a builder charge you money for estimated site costs just because they don’t know the soil classification yet. Get the soil classification and set a fixed site cost. There are clauses in builders contracts so they can keep your money if the builder pays their engineer to write them a letter to say that the site does not support the works and the construction will cost more than normal on an M class soil classification. I know this happened to 3 of my friends and they allowed $8,000 each in the contract being lead by the builder assuming it was 'H' class soil classification and when it came back as an 'M' class, they used the clause in the contract so they could keep the money. This happened with the same builder which is a major scam if you ask me. My brother went with another builder for his first home as the builder had the land so he had to. After all the problems and extra charges he said that next time if he ever built again, he would use Goldruby Homes after his first experience because he got caught in this way. All the best with your research !!!!! Re: Building in Canberra 32Feb 27, 2012 6:55 pm Hi , thanks for your prompt reply. Did u build with Blackett or Gold ruby? Re: Building in Canberra 33Feb 27, 2012 6:56 pm Pathline A lot of display home builders have set designs and on these set designs they quote cheap as long as you stay with the set plans they provide, but as soon as you want to change the plans the cheap price goes out the window. What I recall is when I came with my custom designed plan I had drawn up ,The quotes blew out with Blackett and many other builders in the display village. I did the rounds as you do when you first think of building a new home. You have to be careful as some builders did not have clear allowances like with the kitchen allowance and stone bench top for example, how much is it?, no fences, no clothes line , no driveways, no flyscreens add at least $1,000 over a whole house for these and 4 wardrobes does that come with shelves in the cupboards and in some cases no eaves around the property! This all adds up to dollars along the way if its classed as a variation to the contract and if you add a builders margin for variations to the contract of 20% it’s going to really add to the base cheap price that sucks you in and makes you pay big time by the end. This is where builders get a bad name. Tiling heights in the main bathroom and ensuite and what if they are larger tiles 600mm by 600mm or polished porcelain is that going to cost more? Can you deal directly with the tiler for your main floors or does that attract a 20% builders variation above the tile supply and labour cost? This can work out to be a small fortune even without the builders margin applied. There are builders now in Canberra who charge you to meet you on site just to see your house per meeting! Who do they think they are and what are you paying them for in the contract price if you can’t even meet the builder on site as part of the standard contract! I would suggest you don’t go with one of those builders! You should give them a list of everything you want to be included and allowances for these items so you know the value of what is and is not included. If you think you can do any of these items for the same or cheaper than a builder can, think again as the builder has all the resources and the trade prices and an individual can’t get these things for the same price. It’s always more expensive for an individual. Site costs is a another place where the cheaper quotes usually grow in price. You should get the builder to have a look at your block and quote you a fixed price even before you give them any money and make sure it is a fixed part of your contract before you part with any money. Don’t let a builder charge you money for estimated site costs just because they don’t know the soil classification yet. Get the soil classification and set a fixed site cost. There are clauses in builders contacts that they can keep your money if the builder paid for engineer writes them a letter to say that the site does not support the works and will cost more than on M class soil. I know as this happened to 3 of my friends and cost the $8,000 each all with the same builder which is a major scam if you ask me. All the best with your research !!!!! Hi, thanks for your valuable advice. you have explained everything so very well!!! Re: Building in Canberra 34Feb 27, 2012 8:14 pm I'm not quite sure about all the first time posters posting good reviews about Gold Ruby homes. Although I never dealt with Gold Ruby so they may be legit so I hope that answers your question. Even if you think you had everything included in the contract let me assure you that you'll have missed something. For example I had slimline light switch included but powerpoints turned out to be the thicker plates. They want to charge approx $500 to switch at the last minute, I refused to be gouged and went with the thicker plates. Another example is data cables, they put in one end of the plug but left the other end without a plug, I already paid approx $180 for each cable and they want to charge $360 to put in the plugs (RJ45s if you want to google). This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are heaps of new houses all ready and landscaped, retaining walls built on the market. I suggest if you haven't already bought land or have your heart set on a custom build look at allhomes.com.au. Canberra builders/landscapers think they're gods and can get away with anything. Re: Building in Canberra 35Mar 01, 2012 4:45 pm gelatiii I'm not quite sure about all the first time posters posting good reviews about Gold Ruby homes. Although I never dealt with Gold Ruby so they may be legit so I hope that answers your question. Even if you think you had everything included in the contract let me assure you that you'll have missed something. For example I had slimline light switch included but powerpoints turned out to be the thicker plates. They want to charge approx $500 to switch at the last minute, I refused to be gouged and went with the thicker plates. Another example is data cables, they put in one end of the plug but left the other end without a plug, I already paid approx $180 for each cable and they want to charge $360 to put in the plugs (RJ45s if you want to google). This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are heaps of new houses all ready and landscaped, retaining walls built on the market. I suggest if you haven't already bought land or have your heart set on a custom build look at allhomes.com.au. Canberra builders/landscapers think they're gods and can get away with anything. Hi, Unfortunately we have already got a land in ballot... so have to build the house. Guess will have to do a lot of research and homework. Thanks for your advice. Cheers Re: Building in Canberra 36Aug 09, 2020 11:29 pm Hi, a bit old topic, but would like to revive it. I have read on this topic about BLD experience, can someone share their story since 2012? Really would like to understand what were roadblocks, were they hard to deal with? Many thanks Wow I hadn't realised things had gotten that pricey in just a couple of years since I built, that is crazy with how much land is now costing if you aren't lucky enough to… 3 7439 I do enjoy the drama:-D In his latest two videos he has started bringing security guards to site, I am waiting for the punch on to begin lol 6 46146 |