McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread

Hi all,

Hussibug, glad thing are going well for you and hope they speed it up. We were told that it picks up after roof, certanly looks like it now, unless it slows down again later on.

Kornjen, I hear you regarding colour selections. Ours was avarage, and I think the process would be much easier if there is a list of all upgrades to look at at the colour appointment, if not before. Some things you miss out on because you don't remeber them at the time and noone offers it to you. We did ours in around 2-3 hours and felt a bit rushed at the end.

Scotta_74, I would be very upset too if that happened. I wonder now how sturdy the frame is if that could happen. We had enough trouble with our timber frame not being cut poperly for the roof trusses and wondered late rone if we should have gone with steel. Still glad we didn't. Hope it's sorted for you quickly.

On a happier note, our roof is completed, also fascia. We went by this morning and plumbers were working. Thing seem to be moving along quicker now. Still no solution to the exposed concrete issue, but I trust that we will get there.

Also, we chose our flooring, Quick Step Colonial NSW Spotted gum (9.5mm), form a local carpet shop, we got a good deal we think.

taki

Sorry misread this ! I always thought skirting should come after flooring (only done timber floors once a while ago though). We are still a few steps away from flooring !

Sounds like there's lots of stuff moving forward for everyone, albeit at different paces !

Kornjen, we have had our initial colour appt, next is booked for 12 Sept. I am still waiting on some questions on pricing eg. we don't like any of the standard front doors so are hoping to get another one, but haven't got the price info yet. I am dreading the colour appt because I am hopeless at making decisions and hubby has said 'get whatever you want' haha.

Scotta, what happened ???

Taki, congrats on the roof completion. Are you getting floorboards throughout ?

Well we are having a few hiccups on the way to contract and final drawings etc. Having some issues with timber doors at the rear of the house (long & boring) - but the most recent one is looks like the facade we wanted may not be approved by our developer. I desperately want the Balinese in a light coloured bag & paint (certainly the facade & probably the whole house). But seems there's not enough 'variation' in the brick look for our developer's guidelines. Very annoying, particularly as MDJ had another client have the same facade knocked back by the same developer & didn't flag it.

Thought I would just pop some pics on here of where we are up to.

Thanks Taki..everything does seem to pick up after the roof is complete.

Hussibug

Budgnbear, yes we will have flooring throughout, around 180 m2 in total. Will probably tile alfresco and porch. Hubby wants decking, but I don't want maintenance so we'll see. I think tiling is less expensive and more durable.

Hussibug, great photos, what a lovely house. Your roof looks similar to mine except for the ridging, I think mine is done differently. Is it Boral ' Linea' Charcoal Grey ?

Thanks Taki...

We are really happy considering we had no idea what it was going to look like really. As ours is the first of this design to be built we had no display home to go through. Just had to look at the architects impressions.

Our roof tile is Moccha Chocolate. It changes colours depending on the time of the day.

kornjen, we're in the ponds as well..... Have you had a delay in registration yet? if not, then there will be one... going by what all pondies have been saying and also our experience; the first date for rego is not the guaranteed date for rego... it at least gets delayed by another month...

The same things happened with us regarding the electrical appointment... we completed ours like a week and a half or so before we had our site cut! Gives you heaps of time to plan I suppose..

taki, weldone with the flooring, great colour as well! Quick Step is one of the best laminates out there... you wont regret it, heard so many good things from family and friends re this product!

have you guys thought about composite decking for your alfresco and portico? a little more expensive but maintenance and screw/nail free!

It appears that our frame was manufactured in another state and was freighted by road/ rail to NSW then delivered to site. There is at least fifteen frames in this condition or worse and also a few damaged roof trusses. I have heard that the rep for the framing company has been called to come and do a site visit and I am yet to hear from our site supervisor. It appears that the majority of damage appears to have been caused by the loading and unloading of the frames and trusses. I would think that the next stop for the majority of the damaged frames would be the scrappers. In fairness MDJ however we only notified our CLO on Friday so I don't expect much to change over the weekend. We will see how things progress next week. There are some other pics in our Blog.

Kopite1892, will have a look at decking. We will probably need to put in some sort of balustrade around alfresco and steps.

Anyway, here are a few photos...

hi kopite.. it was supposed to be registered end of august but moved to september 16... it september 4 now, and no changes still so Im hoping it will be on time... =)

this is the status as of the moment... do you actually see the status as completed on each stage? or does it update all the status as completed once it is registered?

Construction Status Due 19/08/2011
Availability of Services Due 30/09/2011
Council approval of Plan Due 26/08/2011
Lodgement of Plan to LPMA Due 31/08/2011
Registration of Plan by LPMA Due 16/09/2011

we are now planning on the things we want on the electricals... can you guys give me an idea on the following items :

1) we definitely are going for LED downlights but we will ask MJH to do the prewiring... how much does the pre wiring cost?
2) additional aircon zone
3) basic home theater package
4) 2 way switch
5) extra power point
6) how about internet connection?

sharing our color selection...

thanks

budgnbear - good luck with your developer approval

hussibug and taki - your houses are looking good

scotta - how annoying! hope it doesnt set you back too far.

kornjen - we had our colour appointment on 21 july, plans were submitted to council on 19 august and we havent been advised when our electrical appointment will be yet. we got the standard and extra electrical price lists from our CLO not long ago. if you want to pm me your email address i will forward them to you.

Kornjen, yeah we actually saw the status on each stage say “Completed” as the dates went by… so the “Registration of Plan by LPMA Due” was the last stage for our sub development to be registered and to say “Completed” also, its a bit weird how your due date for completed of the 'availability of services' is after the actual registration date............. not sure if ours was like this..

The Electrical pricelist isn’t ‘ours’ so im a bit hesitant to send it across, if you know what I mean… If you speak with your CLO, they will be more than happy to send it across to you!

Our framing issues are being addressed and will hopefully be resolved by Thursday. I received calls personally from both Bill McDonald and the CEO of the framing company today to advise me of their plan to address the problems and to say we are chuffed with the service would be an understatement! I will keep you all updated as things progress.

On another subject, can anyone give me any feedback on weather the Derby Ducted Air Conditioner or the Actron ESP Plus Air Conditioner (6K upgrade)????

thanks kopite... i got a copy from Em.Russ....

anyway, so meaning our land is not progressing coz everything has still dates on it....

another question, is the whirly bird included on the colorbond roofing?

Well, we've put a deposit on the Parklane! So excited!
It will be great that you guys are a fair way ahead of us - we can see what we're in for next

Great outcome Scott, not much else you could ask for, after what's happened. fingers crossed its all ready in time for when they're meant start!

Congrats soccermum, now the fun begins!

We've just put a deposit on the Havana One H&L package and are very please that we've made the decision. Any decision in fact, we've been back and forth a bit!

I've got a question for anyone that got a package with MJH. I know we really can't make any changes, but what sort of stuff do you get to choose within the package? Obviously colours for tiles etc, but:
Are any options for timber laminate floors included?
Can we choose taps and stuff?
When we pick paint, do they do the same colour right through the house, or can we pick different colours for different rooms?

I'm sure I'll find out soon enough at my colour appt, but I'd like to know sooner so I can start planning.

Also, does anyone have pics of their kitchens/bathrooms they like? It would probably be easier seeing something I like and just replicating that! I'm not overly good at visualising!

Hi everyone,

We had our pre - handover inspection today went very well.Not a real lot to be fixed up just a few paint touch ups and couple of door adjustments overall we are very happy with the end result.House looks better than we imagined and completed sooner than we thought it would be, so all going well hadover is end of next week hope everyone elses building is going well.I will put up some pics when i find out how to.good luck all

Hi all
Thanks for all the great info i have already been able to find by following your experiences. MJH is preparing a quote for us at the moment but i already have a million questions in my head.
How easy is it to change our mind about choices we have already made once the quote is prepared?
Has anyone had their stacker sliding doors recessed into the floor so the track doesn't stick up? If so, how much extra did it cost?
Has anyone used the wooden floors supplied by MJH? Are you happy with them? Do they wear well?
What alternatives to the Lin doors on the home theatre have people used? That's a lot of money that I think I could better use elsewhere but i dont want the end finish to look cheap. Wish i had a crystal ball!

the derby aircon is really good i dont think any need for the upgrade i thought about it to but glad i got the derby one without the extra expense

as to[/quote]

yes you get one whirly bird with the roof kornjen