Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1521Jun 16, 2014 6:56 pm thanks niccles...we really had liked it in a display house and added it in PWC itself Niccles bkoolrocks your house is looking great! It's so exciting to see the cabinets go in I love that custom window you put in too 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? 1522Jun 17, 2014 10:42 am Hi izzyjoe, no that is their share of their bit of fence which was 16 meters... Our fence is approx $75 per meter... Building Abode 22 Cranbourne West Contract Signing 30/10/13 Land titled 31/10/13 Settlement on land due 20/11/13 Formal Approval 14/11/13 Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1523Jun 17, 2014 11:08 am Gosh you're all flying along now! Congrats to those of you in your new houses, it all looks so exciting! So I haven't had much to report for awhile. Soil came back as P class (surprise surprise) so they'll have to level my block out a bit and pop a retaining wall down one side of the house. Doesn't worry me, I'd rather have a house that stays up! They're currently chasing the developers approval, but still hoping to hand me over to construction next Wednesday! Yey! Got a call yesterday to say my block has been moved OUT of the bushfire zone, so I'll be getting the $4500-odd taken off at the final invoice stage. It was already factored in when I signed up for that block, so my loan had it included. That's my fencing and bulk of the landscaping covered now Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1524Jun 17, 2014 11:37 am congrats ez85 !! happy days ahead Can someone give me a rough idea on how much should I keep aside for landscaping...I have a 5*10.5m backyard, 5*4m front and small strips on sides...What we would want is to mainly a lawn and garden strips on sides...what you all think? 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? 1525Jun 17, 2014 12:07 pm Hi all, Long time reader, first time poster! My Fiance and I recently purchased a house and land package with HBC in Clyde (Pasadena estate, anyone else there?), we have gone with a small home due to $$ constraints, we are getting the Phoenix 15. Been reading the last few pages about the fencing, and i have double checked this, but our package actually comes with fencing included. i have that in writing as well to be safe. anyone else have that included as well? just seems like a lot of the bigger homes don't have it? We are booked in for our colour selection and contract signing this Friday at the Docklands. What should we expect? Is it simply just flicking through a colour book or do they actually have decent sized samples of the flooring, tiles, walls with the different colours painted on it for better viewing etc? We are probably going to go with one of the themes, not sure which one yet though. With regards to the taps, door handles, shower heads, sinks etc, are the standard ones that are included decent quality and do they look nice? or are they that bad that it forces you to upgrade? Hoping they are all ok as we only have a 3.5k allowance for upgrades and bulk of that has been taken up with changing the bathroom layout and upgrading to 900mm oven. are there any questions we should be asking or things we should be looking out for while there? Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1526Jun 17, 2014 12:22 pm Hi Chris...welcome When I choose our package, they didnt had fencing in the package and anyways i was planning to get it done once we move in...and each one get a different offer...i got kitchen promo...some here got landscaping...etc etc.. We also chose themes...i wasnt particularly happy with it, coz we were not told off about it and it came as a surprise..but looking at our current stage, we are quite happy with it.. They do have small samples in there for you to look at...but again, it all depends on ur imagination...!! We havent had changed anything as such, as they looked pretty standard...we upgraded to double towel rails, glass shelves in bath, 20mm ceaserstone benchtop in kitchen, 900mm appliances, landscape window in kitchen, 1200x900 bath, eaves to the front, changed front door, sliding door to WIR,pantry, overhead cupboards above fridge etc. then we added few more powerpoints here and there...we upgraded our carpets to cat 2 as well... Their standard inclusion has obscure glazing to WC only..so for ur design, ur bath and ensuite will have clear glass window. make sure u decide on ur additional powerpoints/lights before u go there... dont know if i have missed much ! if u have any Qns...shoot.. 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? 1527Jun 17, 2014 12:38 pm bkoolrocks Hi Chris...welcome When I choose our package, they didnt had fencing in the package and anyways i was planning to get it done once we move in...and each one get a different offer...i got kitchen promo...some here got landscaping...etc etc.. We also chose themes...i wasnt particularly happy with it, coz we were not told off about it and it came as a surprise..but looking at our current stage, we are quite happy with it.. They do have small samples in there for you to look at...but again, it all depends on ur imagination...!! We havent had changed anything as such, as they looked pretty standard...we upgraded to double towel rails, glass shelves in bath, 20mm ceaserstone benchtop in kitchen, 900mm appliances, landscape window in kitchen, 1200x900 bath, eaves to the front, changed front door, sliding door to WIR,pantry, overhead cupboards above fridge etc. then we added few more powerpoints here and there...we upgraded our carpets to cat 2 as well... Their standard inclusion has obscure glazing to WC only..so for ur design, ur bath and ensuite will have clear glass window. make sure u decide on ur additional powerpoints/lights before u go there... dont know if i have missed much ! if u have any Qns...shoot.. Thanks for the reply and answering the questions Which theme did you end up going with? Yeah we were a bit bummed that the overhead cupboards are not standard, and then to find out they are around $430 per cupboard was a bit of a shock. might be an ikea job possibly. Were the upgrades for the towel rails, front door, WIR door to sliding costly (if you dont mind me asking) yeah we have the electrical plan and i have scribbled all over it with where we want power points. the only other inclusion i think we are looking at is ceiling fans. Is it right that you can pay for some of these upgrades on the day or have it built into the price? for example, we could tell them that our loan is based on having an allowance of 3.5k, and anything on top of that we can just pay on the day? Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1528Jun 17, 2014 12:50 pm yeah...our design ddint had an option for overhead cupboards eventhough we got the kitchen promo..but we added cupboard above fridge $450 Doubel towel rails upgrade - $15 Sliding Door for WIR - $329 Sliding door to pantry after deleting exisiting door - $159 Front Door with glazed glass - $560 these prices are as on Dec 2013...also door sizes are standard...might be different if you have higher doors... We havent tried the Fan option...so dont know the price...we also had like 3k for upgrades built into the loan..anything above it, u can pay from hand...if anything remains in ur 3.5k, u will get it deducted at the final progress payment. 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? 1529Jun 17, 2014 8:40 pm Hi Chris, welcome to the forum Oh wow, you get fencing included? Thats fantastic! Must be part of the H&L package then. Good luck with your colour selections on friday. If you don't want to choose from the themes, you need to pay an extra $500 for a custom colour appointment. We weren't happy about the themes either, when we signed our PWC it wasn't themes only. But in saying that, we are pretty happy so far. We didn't find anything terrible that we had to upgrade. I knew that I'd hate the standard basin, so we upgraded those. Their standard is what you see in display homes. I don't know how to explain them. We knew we wanted to upgrade heating and the carpet. So we made sure to do those. With electrical stuff, we made sure to only to add in powerpoints/tv points that would be too difficult to do after handover. For example, we put a powerpoint in our island bench. We really didn't spend what we thought we would. It wasn't added into our loan. We paid via direct debit that day. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1530Jun 17, 2014 9:00 pm bkoolrocks izzyjoe....yes thats a fixed landscape window which we added in lieu of splashback...tht costed $150... Thanks bkoolrocks. R u sure it's $150? I asked for a quote and it cost $1200 cause it has to be double-glazed as part of council approved design and interferes with the predesigned structure. Nevertheless, it's a good addition instead of using tiles as it brings in more light. Lookin good there! Cheers Nobel 16 PWC - 27/5 Prestart - 17/6 Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1531Jun 17, 2014 9:06 pm izzyjoe...yes its 150 only for me...may be its the double glazing cost...lukily for me, all the windows and doors in the back of the house are double glazed by HBC to meet 6 star energy rating !! And yeah, indeed its a very good addition to the house 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? 1532Jun 17, 2014 10:06 pm Welcome Chris, We put $2,500 into out loan thinking that should be enough for upgrades. But we ended up spending $5,000 on upgrades. I was amazed how easy it was on the day to spend money! We upgraded the bricks, carpet, stone bench tops to the bathroom and ensuite, upgraded the wardrobe doors to mirrored doors. Plus a few new power points and outdoor lighting. This was things on the colour appointment. This we added to the loan was upgraded fascade to the Mona, upgraded the garage to have bricks over the garage rather than the standard painted timber. Upgraded the dinning room and living room sliding doors, so make into the same as the allure at salandra rise display home. We are building the circa so it's very similar to the allure. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1533Jun 18, 2014 12:37 pm I just got a call from my SS asking me if I wana keep the remaining bricks...i wasnt prepared for the Qn, so I said you may keep few over there...!! Did anyone else get this Qn? 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? 1534Jun 18, 2014 1:09 pm I didn't get asked but they left about 120 bricks, over 10 cartons of bathroom tiles (I might sell these) and 10 roof tiles! 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? 1535Jun 18, 2014 1:12 pm good to see u around pooks... qn for you...which brand of retractable clothesline did u buy and was it easy to fix? 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? 1536Jun 18, 2014 2:21 pm Sorry about minimal posts...I've been monitoring my data at home. My NBN saga continues as somehow I'm clocking up 100gb in 2 days while away at work...on a password protected wifi network with no neighbours to hack it. Geez... Anyway, we haven't fixed the clothesline yet, I'm still using clothes airers under the ducted heating vents. It looks real easy to install. They are in Bunnings- there is just the one brand there but I forget what it is...I couldn't find any other brands online. Check it out though...better than an eye saw pole in the backyard and more space than a lot of the ones you pull up from a wall 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? 1537Jun 18, 2014 8:27 pm Got another question for those who had fixed priced packages. Along the way during the building did any hidden fees pop up like planning approvals, survey of the land or additional building permit fees? I was told the whole thing is fixed and the only extra $$ required is if we change or add things. But reading through the contract I see those things mentioned above and it makes me worried.. And what is the go with connecting gas, water, electricity etc. Expensive? Should that be included in the price too etc? Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1538Jun 19, 2014 10:15 am chris1987 Got another question for those who had fixed priced packages. Along the way during the building did any hidden fees pop up like planning approvals, survey of the land or additional building permit fees? I was told the whole thing is fixed and the only extra $$ required is if we change or add things. But reading through the contract I see those things mentioned above and it makes me worried.. And what is the go with connecting gas, water, electricity etc. Expensive? Should that be included in the price too etc? These are additional cost that you pay, but these would have been outlined in your meeting with your finance guy. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 1539Jun 19, 2014 10:49 am It's also worth tracking back in this thread to see some of the surprise costs than can sometimes come up. Eg- I had to pay for bushfire provisions as I was zoned after my contract signing so it couldn't be included in the loan and ruby123 had to pay for an extension to her driveway after contract signing (I think). 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? 1540Jun 19, 2014 11:08 am We had to pay extra for our driveway too. Their standard driveway was too small for developer approval. Or something like that. That was appox ~$950? I posted about it awhile ago. Edit - that was after contract signing too. 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 4122 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 6627 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 9451 |