Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 28, 2016 8:01 pm Hi all, My partner and I are looking into building our first home. Currently we are researching different builders and reading reviews, ofcourse they all vary with good and bad reviews so I am posting here to get some feedback from your own experiences and advice. We have a limited budget so the builders we are considering are Format Homes, Statesman, Weeks and Macklin, Metro property development. Its a big move for us so we are just trying to get the best for our moneys worth and being cautious before locking into a contract. Any reviews and advice is greatly appreciated! Re: adelaide- reputable, quality builders 2Nov 29, 2016 3:46 pm Hi Katrando, We have just started the building process with Statesman Homes. We looked around at SO many display homes, spoke to friends who have recently built/are building, and also spoke to people at work (I work at a doors and windows manufacturer). I hear, and have heard a LOT of bad things about Sterling (they're not on your list but worth mentioning). We decided against Weeks & Macklin after I did some extensive research, and the general feel was that they make you chase them a fair bit, and end up being quite pricey, adding costs on here and there, and have long build times. I also didn't want a steel frame, and as Weeks own Supaloc, they use steel frames. The other builders didn't seem too bad, we just loved the designs Statesman had, and also loved the display homes (our home is also on display out near Gawler which helps!) So with Statesman, we found a plan that we absolutely LOVED and didn't want to make any alterations to it. This seemed to be the cheapest option for us - other builders were going to charge us for alterations. We are building the Felixstow Alfresco: http://www.statesman-homes.com.au/house ... w_alfresco We have taken as much out of the quote as possible (aircon, flooring, laundry trough no cabinets etc), and we came in at around $194k, before our colour selections. We are going to try to go as standard as possible, but there is a few small things we would like to change, but it will all be subject to cost! However, they were doing an awesome package at the time so we paid $10,500 and got upgrades such as 2.7 ceilings (which we needed as per encumbrances!) and solar. These alone paid for themselves, plus we got luxury upgrades throughout the house, and a colorbond roof etc. We went through a FANTASTIC sales consultant, he has made the whole process an absolute breeze. Let me know if you would like his details and I can provide them! After reading through this forum, I sent him a three page word document full of questions, and he had provided answers within 24 hours. He is wonderful. Now, we are past the stage of speaking to him regarding our build - yet we still receive emails from him providing updates on what's happening behind the scenes. To help your decision also - we have received our colour selections book over the past few days, and I've had it at work. I've had quite a few comments on how extensive it is, and that they offer quite a fair bit as standard inclusions - we are so impressed. Hopefully the rest of our build goes well too We are hoping that we will be eligible for their 18 week build time guarantee. The biggest piece of advice I can offer is that you get a general feel of the company through their display homes, but especially their sales consultants. I had a pretty crap experience with Weeks in the minimal time I was dealing with them, and their customer service in the display home was also sub-par. Might be something worth keeping in mind! Also read reviews!! Trawl this forum, go through google and try to find as many reviews as possible for whoever you're going to build with. Re: adelaide- reputable, quality builders 3Nov 29, 2016 4:22 pm Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post! Your reply was very informative and was exactly what I was hoping for in a response. This is a very overwhelming time for my partner and I and we are racking our brains with selecting a builder, constantly looking up reviews and limiting them down. I hope the rest of your build goes well! If you could PM me the details of your statesman sales consultant id really appreciate it! Thanks! Re: adelaide- reputable, quality builders 5Jul 21, 2017 9:44 pm We built with Format Homes , about 350m2 to our design, got keys in April 2017. We are generally happy with quality and it progressed roughly to plan. Although there's a few minor things I'd do differently when engaging with them, in comparison to other 'builder stories' Ive heard, Format seem pretty good. PM me if you want more details. Northern Adelaide, Format Homes '16-'17 after failed Bondor OB Re: adelaide- reputable, quality builders 6Sep 13, 2017 2:28 pm Who did you end up going with? Not Weeks I hope - I heard from several professionals (like our inspector, and independently from other trades) that they screed OVER your waterproofing. Not regulated so much in SA, but who wants mushy screed under their tiles? Especially a larger family with the sheer number of showers. A no-brainer for that. I'm glad I didn't go with them, as I was considering them. Went with F0rm@t - can't question the quality of the build at all. Minor hiccups and comms problems, but they've sorted everything quickly! A friend built with Weeks, and now he doesn't know if he should rip up the shower floors and do it properly... I thought it would be a big cost for an 'unknown' quantity, and thought he shouldn't until it was a problem. He wasn't happy - he had no time to go to the build and didn't get an inspector. It is in lake macquarie area and dimensions are width 14 m and depth 8 m and the slope is 1/5 going down from the road. 1 7684 It's MGP 10 which means every length has been machine graded to it's specified engineered strength. It may not look pretty and if you where hand picking your timbers you… 1 302 Building a new home, and looking for a garage builder (home builder not contracted to do this). Someone to build steel garage (double), colorbond, including supply and… 0 3401 |