Masterton Homes - The next thread 4.0

Freiswold 2 years!

you can't be serious?
How can it take two years??
What are they allowing for? Admin/ preconstruction/ construction = 24 months! Surely not.

You're allowing for the fact that there will probably be major, significant delays on your build as has been the case with most of us here. There appears to be a shortage of workers throughout many areas of sydney. Your site supervisor will make or break your time line. Just expect the worst and you won't be disappointed.

We are in our 9th month of construction and don't have a finished exterior as yet. No lower roof, no cladding and no down pipes. Basically it's just bricks and tiles at the moment and nothing else. Everyone else building around us is finished. Including duplexes and triplexes.

Thank you so much for your honesty.
I'm now officially terrified.
They quoted 18months but obviously it's more like 24. Thank God for this forum is all I can say.

Thank you so much for your honesty.
I'm now officially terrified.
They quoted 18months but obviously it's more like 24. Thank God for this forum is all I can say.[/quote]This forum has been great. We knew going on there would probably be delays. Our biggest reason for sticking with them was the fact that we loved the design and no other design we looked at compared. So we endure and we wait...

Freiswold yes pretty much 2 years from deposit to keys and then 12 months more until they actually fixed the outstanding items from PCI.

Timeline below. Also whoever asked for upgrades list I have a post on that too under budget if you search for it in the blog. Should still be within the ball park to get a gist probably add a little mark up

Timeline | M&G Build at Mulgoa Rise
https://mandgbuildatmulgoarise.wordpress.com/timeline/

Well i finally got an official response from Masterton that might surprise you.

For every 1 rain day, Masterton can officially add 3 days to the build time!
This is all down to the discretion of the site supervisor.

Wtf? Shouldn't the letter actually state this explicitly? Which days/how many they are claiming?

Unfortunately not, there a few things the contract doesn't include.

I spent a long time on the phone today and kinda ended up just accepting it is what it is.

At the end of the day if there was torrential rain on Monday and the slab was to be laid the SS might deem the ground unfit till it dries out properly hence the 3 days.

In the same token he said if the roof and windows are up and the workmen are not restricted from work then it could rain as much as it likes and the days wont be added.

Bottom line though is the word "discretion". that means its all subjective and you need to be happy with the risk.

Our site sat for 4.5weeks with no work as they forgot to order the frames, and we have that in writing from our SS back then. They can't claim wet days as he explicitly states nothing could happen until frames arrived. Will be interesting to see if they try claim at end of out build.

It's their discretion means they will always claim if they run over PC and are under a LD scenario. I think the wording is something like they can claim up to 3 days for each wet day, but again if all works are inside it's would be hard to claim wet delays except delivery?

Oh they will definitely include it as a part of your contract term. Don't expect an extension.

Our site has sat vacant for 2 months and now a further month due to issues with the ss.. completely outside our control. They will most definitely include this in the standard part of the contract time frame. Extensions are almost unheard of.

Thanks for that. At this point I am not too sure what I am confortable with.

That is great news. Best of luck with it all.

Hi, I have secretly stalked you by reading your blog a while back. I actually stopped thinking about M after reading your blog. The problem was our land isn't a standard size and the Shiraz Elite was the best fit we could find. We also thought Masterton inclusions were the best we could find. I ended up coming back and hoping for the best.

Shiraz i totally get the catch 22, we stuck with them because of the floorplan and the value for money you get. The SMEG appliances are great and the little bits add up to be cost effective. We do have a decently finished home just some imperfections. There's also the other costs though like we had to pay two mortgages for longer than required and two bills etc our neighbour went with Xenith homes and were amazing they even change the kitchen orientation mid build! Their home is also stunning. You feel the build quality differences too as the seem to use their group of trusted trades. If they are still around when we build next time I'd use them!

Hi All,

I've been MIA as we sort out our NBN connection.
Telstra. Now that's a fun company to deal with ...

For the newbies - We started our building journey, a knock down rebuild, in August 2015 and we've just received keys in August 2017. I don't think our build is the norm, as we were held up in local council for the best part of 12 months, however I don't think budgeting for 2 years end-to-end build time is ludicrous either. Lots of things out of your control can happen. Trades get delayed. Volume builders mis-order/mis-measure/misunderstand. Weather events occur.
We were at breaking point with the delays, at one point we even asked for final figures to be calculated in order to break our contract. However, like many on here we fell in love with the floorplan and didn't find anything else that we liked as much.

We are thrilled with our new home. We love it. The quality of trades has been good, our finish is nice and the inclusions are lovely. So far (been in almost 3 weeks) we have very little to list on the 90 Days Report (one ******* light switch so far).

It is a personal decision. Overall I think building any house will really test your patience and resilience.
I would never choose to build a house again, but I would reccomend Masterton. The actual product is well done, well thought out and suits my family very well.

Some new home spam -

Our appliances installation started on 15th August, the rangehood was installed on Thursday.


Just the garage door motor to go and we are done!!!

MartinsHarmony, your home looks fantastic.

OK last question on this topic then we are going to have to decide if we sign or cut and run.

The contract clearly states.

1. Masterton don't have to notify you of any rain days when they occur and will simply solicit the Bureau of Meteorology once the build days have elapsed.
2. Masterton can at their descrection allow for 3 "rain days" for every day it rains.

We are totally fine with rains days delaying the project but completely not OK if they delay the project by 3 months because they have replaced the site supervisor 3 times then use the BOM rain days to offset their delay.

Q. Am i likely to see this kind of practice for other volume builders or project builders?

i expect its fairly standard practice. Plus, you're looking at worst case scenario..... we only had the one ss, they claimed about 6 weeks in rain delays (and they were fair when claiming them), and our house was completed on schedule. I understand that you want to feel secure in your choice of builder, but the main thing is to get the house you will love. A year after you have your keys, you will have forgotten any dramas they may have occurred during the build (and remember, there may not be any!), and you will be living in the house design that you love. And there's no guarantees that there won't be problems and delays with other builders anyway. Build the house design that suits you and your family..... you will hopefully be living in it for years to come!