Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 221Oct 06, 2013 9:39 pm Forgot to say: I preferred paying it cash, so asked to arrange for it that way, rather than putting it on the mortgage, but that was also an option. 19.03.14 - Land Settlement 15.04.14 - Building Permit 28.04.14 - Earthworks 14.05.14 - Slab Stage 20.05.14 - Frame Stage 11.06.14 - Lock Up Stage 03.07.14 - Fix Stage 15.08.14 - New Home Presentation Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 222Oct 07, 2013 8:14 am Thanks Gavison Girl! Wow! At this rate, I'm not even sure where we're gonna get money for furniture! Worried about the lighting as well. Anyway, I'm sure it will be all worth it in the end. Indigo 22 Potters Grove, Officer, Vic Aug '13 - Signed PWC Oct '13 - Conditional Approval Dec '13 - Formal Approval Apr '14 - Land Settlement Jun '14 - Site Start Oct '14 - Keys Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 223Oct 07, 2013 8:31 am Gah! I wrote a whole reply about lighting for you _chylatte_ and it never posted! Sorry! OK, here goes again... Batten fix lights are the standard light fittings you'll see in older houses, the ones you can screw a lightbulb into yourself. They hang out of the roof, but you can put covers over them to make them look nicer. The big plus is that if you want to change the bulb, or the cover, you can do it yourself because the wiring is already done. This is what the houses come standard with, and any extra ones you want are $43. Downlights look great, I personally love them! The reason I steered away from them is because they're expensive to do with HBC, and if I do change my mind later I can get a sparky to do it. Like you, I wanted pendant lights, and that was the hardest decision for me! I decided to get batten fix points for the pendants, as there's some nice DIY ones out there now. The traditional pendants, so the ones with the circle which is about 1 inch thick attached to the roof, have to be wired in by a sparky, much like downlights. Every time you change them you'd need someone with electrical experience to do it for you. That said, there's so many more options out there in this type of pendant! Search for DIY pendants or DIY batten fix online, and see if there's something you like. If you find one, then batten fix will work for you I'm also BAL 12.5, but I knew from the start. I'm just in the boundary too Gaviscon Girl! So annoying.... I'm hoping they start building to the North of me first, so then my rating will change and I'll save $4500! More furniture for me haha! Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 224Oct 07, 2013 9:03 am Waaaahhh!!! Thanks so much ez85! You're awesome! By the way, did you do a lot of upgrades aside from carpet and stone? Indigo 22 Potters Grove, Officer, Vic Aug '13 - Signed PWC Oct '13 - Conditional Approval Dec '13 - Formal Approval Apr '14 - Land Settlement Jun '14 - Site Start Oct '14 - Keys Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 225Oct 07, 2013 9:08 am Carpet in the bedrooms and stone in the kitchen were the main ones. I also got the overhead cupboards next to the rangehood. Adding overhead cupboards means they'll tile the whole splashback up to the cupboard line too which I wanted anyway. Other than that, I upgraded to 900mm double towel rails and that was about it! Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 226Oct 07, 2013 3:45 pm Hi All. I have been a silent follower of this topic for sometime now. have read thru the posts mostly twice to get clear ideas on tips/pricings etc. And coz of ur good reviews i thot of checking out HBC. Did liked few designs and had a look at their display in doreen (Abode 22 - which we had liked 2)..Our plan is 2 build in wollert (epping north) as of now. I dont thnk anyone here is building there now!! So the sales guy did talk to us well, spent an extra hr after 5 to explain things. I asked abt std inclusions and costs for upgrades. He didnt precisely mention abt the costs on upgrades; he mentioned like tiling, timber look flooring are std. Arent they? Also he had taken info from me for resolve. Today he called n said all s good with my finance status. (I do have 5% deposit with me as of now) Also, he sent me an email asking for an information session with resolve & him in their docklands office. Also mentioned that i can have a look at their standard inclusion items there. I am thinking if hes kinda getting pushy or is it normal. I am a FHB, so dont know much on these processes !! But to tell u, i havent fully decided which builder to go with. But we do have an inclination towards HBC!! Let me know ur thots. Also, cud someone pls update me on the upgrade costs. stone benchtop, 900mm appliances, glass splashback, carpets cat 2, bricks cat 2 etc. This will give me a heads up on the cost part incase if the SC doesnt update me sooner !! 9/4/14-Site Start 9/5/14-Slab 16/5/14-Frame 21/5/14-Roof 31/5/14-Bricks 6/6/14-Plaster 14/6/14-Fixing 19/7/14 -Flooring 8/8/14 - Keys http://newnestinmelbourne.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 227Oct 07, 2013 5:53 pm Hi bkoolrocks! Welcome to the thread! I was/still am a newbie as well, so here's hoping I can answer your questions the way some beautiful people from this thread answered mine: Flooring and tiles are standard and you can choose from their Category 1 range or you can upgrade. I haven't done my colour selection (pre-start) yet but here's what I gathered the costs would be based on the others': 1. stone benchtop - got quoted for around $1700 for the kitchen (not sure about ensuite and bathroom vanities. I would like to know as well) 2. 900mm appliances - around $800 if I'm not mistaken 3. glass splashback - around $850 4. carpets cat 2 - $550 - $800 depends on the size of your house 5. bricks cat 2 - $600 - $750 also depends on house size hope that helped! Indigo 22 Potters Grove, Officer, Vic Aug '13 - Signed PWC Oct '13 - Conditional Approval Dec '13 - Formal Approval Apr '14 - Land Settlement Jun '14 - Site Start Oct '14 - Keys Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 228Oct 07, 2013 7:09 pm Thanks a lot _chylatte_ for your quick response. I have also compiled a list of upgrades and cost on my own I also would like to get a 20mm stone bench in ensuite and bath. Let me see if i can get some more clearer picture from the sales guy, the next time i meet him. Also, I am gonna talk to another broker to see how my status is and what all my options are. I will keep you guys posted about any updates from my side. 9/4/14-Site Start 9/5/14-Slab 16/5/14-Frame 21/5/14-Roof 31/5/14-Bricks 6/6/14-Plaster 14/6/14-Fixing 19/7/14 -Flooring 8/8/14 - Keys http://newnestinmelbourne.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 229Oct 07, 2013 8:58 pm Hi guys, had a disappointing day...as you may have gathered- I share only to help others in their journey In one of my previous posts I said I was going to email HBC and request the removal of heating all together so I could get it done through Brivis afterwards. The reason I thought this would be fine is because while we were waiting on titles out pre-start consultant advised we couldn't make any changes until after settlement. So it's after settlement now and my request has been refused- with the reason being that I needed to make this request PRIOR to titles. I have the original info in an email from my 1st pre-start consultant and I forwarded this to pre-start consultant number 3. She is now ignoring me!! I have asked to speak to someone about it due to bring ignored and must admit, I am really surprised! The thing is, that the standard heater is only going to be ripped out afterwards to get one that's compatible with the cooling we want. I didn't think it would be this tricky considering final plans aren't done yet! We were even happy to pay for an upgrade through HBC and can't do that either. So, moral of the story...don't hold back on your requests and make sure you cover everything! I was advised I couldn't make this change at pre-start either because it would effect formal formal finance/valuation...so where exactly was my window of opportunity? Anyway, vent done! Thanks for reading! Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 230Oct 07, 2013 9:13 pm Sorry to hear that pooks! I was kinda thinking that maybe they wouldn't allow it since we are going through Resolve. I guess it is a requirement for them to approve our loan. Indigo 22 Potters Grove, Officer, Vic Aug '13 - Signed PWC Oct '13 - Conditional Approval Dec '13 - Formal Approval Apr '14 - Land Settlement Jun '14 - Site Start Oct '14 - Keys Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 231Oct 08, 2013 5:15 am You just can't upgrade before finance that's all (when it comes to Resolve organising finance). Hoping today I have better luck with the email from pre-start lady number 1! Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 232Oct 08, 2013 6:21 am Sorry to hear about your troubles Pooks. I am also having a bit of trouble at the moment. We discussed earlier about when to pay for upgrades and I mentioned that our Sales guy said we could put it into our loan. Well... now we are being told that we can't do that and we have a huge list of things we want to upgrade and we can't afford to do it unless it is in the loan. We would have put a $10,000 allowance in at prestart if we had been told the correct thing. So I am really disappointed. I have some more upgrade prices from yesterday: - Cat 2 carpet - $1,210 - Cat 2 bricks - ash - $680 - Off white mortar - $800 approx - Extra tv point - $95 - down lights - $163.00 each - double 900mm towel rack $32.00 - shower shelves and soap shelves - cat 2 glass shelf is $80 and cat 3 shelf is $120 per each shelf - Junction Box - $57.00 - Cold Water Provision for fridge - $140.00 · - Cat 2 laminate flooring - $1,500 - Front landscaping prices depending on style packages start from $3,095 - light dimmers - $75.00 - upgrade kitchen tap range from $50-$100 - toilet upgrade - $226 Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 233Oct 08, 2013 1:33 pm Impish73- what a pain to not be able to do some of your upgrades if you can, just focus on the structural ones you want- bricks etc because you can always add on later after handover at a cheaper price in most cases! How did you find pre-start? So my email worked- I received an apology this morning from Prestart lady 3 and we can upgrade the heating to whatever we want. Ideally we would like to remove the whole lot but it's part of the "package" so I will compromise and except this. I'm just glad they use brivis! So now Il just waiting on prices. Ruby123- you might be interested to know that Casey Council told me today that the levy we pay is due soon for me so it's $808 for Livingston and you pay to council and then they release the building permits. I found out my house number today Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 234Oct 08, 2013 1:41 pm thanks for letting me know pooks woohoo you know your street number I keep guessin mine I think im 2 or 4 haha. already have my letterbox cant wait to buy a number for it. glad home buyers has got back to you seems crazy you cant just remove the standard heating all together. Site Start 11/3/14 Slab Pour 2/4/14 Framing Complete 8/4/14 Lock Up 1/5/14 Fixing Stage Complete 14/5/14 New Home Presentation 20/6/14 Handover 2/7/14 blog: http://firsthomebuilding.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 235Oct 08, 2013 7:41 pm Hi guys! I'm sorry to hear about all the issues you have been having with the upgrades! I had wondered this myself and I inquired about it before we signed the pwc... Our sales person said the only way to include upgrades in the cost of the loan is to put an allowance into the pwc, then anything that we don't spend gets taken off the final build price.. Otherwise you can pay for them on the day.. Sucks but makes sense i guess. Pooks i'll be interested to hear what cost they come back to you with for the heating model upgrade! Although I think we'll be going down the evap cooling path so prob not necessary to upgrade the heating. What's this fee we have to pay to the council and why do we only here about these things AFTER the fact?! So annoying! And so many hidden fees and costs! oh well at least we get a brand new house at the end of it! Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 236Oct 08, 2013 8:19 pm Hi Hayles85, You are right, upgrades are a bit annoying but variations before final plans should be so straight forward (their words!) as long as you are paying upfront if you didn't include it originally. I know it's about $1000 to upgrade to the 4 star model from the standard 3 star. We are happy to do this as we had planned for it early on- we have just been waiting for the window of opportunity to organise it. Anyway, this fee is a "Community Infrastructure Levy" which is found in your land contract if it exists. It would differ for each estate/council and may not even be required for some. It is a one off payment to contribute to the community with additions added to your particular estate eg. Trees/plants/community facilities. You pay the fee to council and they put it towards works in your estate. Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 237Oct 09, 2013 5:35 am Phewww...our sales guys got back to us yesterday and apologised to us for any confusion. Our prestart girl was under the impression that we couldn't add our upgrades to the loan. He confirmed that we can as we are not going with Resolve. Deep breath... So all is good again. I think am getting my stages confused, if someone could assist that would be great. We signed the first contract 6 weeks ago, what stage is that called? I think I am in the prestart stage - about to choose colours, get plans etc. This is all very confusing. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 238Oct 09, 2013 6:21 am I think we're at about the same stage, impish73. What you probably signed a few weeks ago is the PWC (Pre Works Contract). We just got conditional finance yesterday, so I'm calling today for the Contract Signing / Colours appointment. Which brings me to my question: As a copy of the HIA contract is in the welcome pack, I'll be going over it with a fine toothed comb tonight. Was there anything in there that I should be looking out for? I know I have to double-check that I won't be charged more by HBC because my land is only titling in March. (Some other builders on this forum do charge for that). Anything else? 19.03.14 - Land Settlement 15.04.14 - Building Permit 28.04.14 - Earthworks 14.05.14 - Slab Stage 20.05.14 - Frame Stage 11.06.14 - Lock Up Stage 03.07.14 - Fix Stage 15.08.14 - New Home Presentation Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 239Oct 09, 2013 7:03 am Check your costs in the contract compared to your PWC as mine differed a tiny bit. Also check whether you have FIXED site costs. Mine did, so there will be no surprises for extra costs during construction. Just check all costs in general really. Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 240Oct 09, 2013 9:10 am Gaviscon - we are also supposed to be titling in March / April so we are paying approx $1500 for our price guarantee for 10 months. I got the extra months to cover us as most developers don't title land when they say they will. I havent, and i havent looked to much into it, but on face value its not the saviour its trying to make out to be. Shared equity in your home is never a good idea. The… 1 4032 Hi, have purchased a house with 2 single garage doors. The Centre pillar one side sits proud to the other. Can I change 2 doors into one. Please see picture. 0 6488 For reference, this is the Austlii reference. My take on this is, that they would be breaking the law denying access to a homeowner in Victoria, or their agent from having… 1 9270 |