Building with Wisdom Homes

Thank you so much mish018, i hope your build is going well for you

mish018, oh that is steep! I don't think i understand. Why were you charged additional tiling when the staircase is closed off? That would mean you can't access that area. So you are basically paying for tiling that you can't even set foot on? Maybe i have misunderstood?

Not smoothly unfortunately. Just incredibly frustrating and time consuming having to deal with basic things our site supervisor should have picked up along the way. To be fair we had a change of supervisor about 1 month ago and none of the issues occurred on his watch. Hopefully we can sort it out with management however my patience is wearing thin.

No we closed the staircase off and put a door in for access. A door under the staircase is not standard. You pay extra for this including tiling.

Oh i see what you mean! I thought you meant you had no staircase access yet they charged you for tiling We had to pay too.

mish018 - I was in the same situation as you with the tiling under the stairs once a door was put there. In short, the ex-CSR said the standard staircase is enclosed and hence tiling is not included. For mine, even the door height is still TBD until build time. My feedback is if we are all asking the same questions, shouldn’t WH pre-empt these questions?

@ASJ1981- one minute you are still making amendments to your variation, waiting for the end panel and next BOOM, your slab is down! Oh how the rest of us in the admin stage wishes we were there.

twolittlepeas - congrats on the new house. Especially love the skylight in the kitchen!

Hi all!
Reading through many pages of responses!
This is my first time building, and we’re trying to decide between Wisdom and another builder (Oran Park). But TBH, the reviews that are left on productreview have scared the bejeesus out of me! Are they really that bad? Or have we got some happy campers on here too?
Thanks! Happy building!

Hi Mark,

I really fail to understand how Wisdom Homes became such a big name in construction business with incompetent people in all departments. We had numerous issues with wisdom homes during planning and construction. We thought atleast Wisdom Homes maintenance will not be the same. However, it also belongs to same category of incompetent team of people.

We had given our 90 days maintenance list in August 2018. It has been more than 6 months since then but we haven't even got a proper maintenance report from the three inspections that have taken place since then, forget the fixes.

Whatever was discussed during inspections is not captured properly and there are lots of items that are either missing or incorrect. We have sent numerous emails to get the report corrected, but even after repeated talks and emails the report remains in a bad shape. No one wants to take ownership and things keep going in circles. Three inspection have happened in which we discussed same things but still not properly captured.

Example: At the time of handover, we were asked to check for fixes of the issues that were identified at PCI stage. So, we were asked to check only those window glasses that were identified at time of PCI and nothing else. The supervisor told us that if we find any other glass with scratch we should put in maintenance list and they will be fixed later. We did just that. Now, Mathew, the inspection guy, comes for inspection after 8 weeks of sending our maintenance list, and that too without the list. We had a copy so we showed him everything, of which he noted all the glasses and said he will get it fixed. Then his report comes with half points not mentioned and window glasses written as 'No Further Action' (NFA). The resson mentioned to us is it is not mentioned in handover form and its not maintenance team's responsibility. Even when we tell him what we were told by supervisor, he still doesnt want to change his stand.

Follow-ups on emails and phone start from there, and we send all points missing or incorrect in email. Mathew agrees to some but for some we are asked to talk to Rodenko which included window glasses. When Rodenko calls, he mentioned he will check with David and says Matt will come again and do another inspection. Due to Matt's unavailability Tony comes and he agrees to what David said, however, he could only add comments to Mathew's report once he gives revised report with agreed points. This happened just before the Christmas break and then long wait started. Finally in end of January, after following up many times, Mathew comes for inspection and he notes everything again. When second report comes, again some points were still missing and some incorrect. Even those points that were stated in first report, and were agreed, are missing from the second one. On top of that, Matt lists those glasses in his report that were identified at the time of PCI, and not what we showed him or were in our maintenance list (though he has put few pics of the ones he inspected). When we wanted to talk to Matt about this and other missing/incorrect entries in the report, he didn't respond for a week.

Finally, we had to send email to Tayla (as she was on an extended leave) asking her to tell Matt to call us. Unfortunately, my husband was away from phone when Matt called. He immediately called back, but Matt didnt pick up and messaged that he cant talk. Furthermore, for glasses he messaged that this is list he has got from David (supervisor) that needs to be fixed and if we have issues talk to Rodenko. So, basically we are again at same point what we were in Nov 2018.

My question is, is it so difficult to understand that the issues at time of PCI inspection are not same as what we have put in maintenance list? Why we need to go to Rodenko for?

I am shocked that is this such a rocket science that Matt couldn't understand after 2 inspections and so many emails/ discussion? You expect us to give everything in one list and we are not allowed to make any mistakes, how do then all your teams make so many errors? Is it so difficult to make one maintenance report when you have captured all points in two inspections?

Also, This is a case of MISLEADING the customer where construction team says list all glass issues in maintenance list and it will be fixed by maintenance team and now maintenance team says what our supervisor said was incorrect and this should have been checked at handover and got fixed by contruction team. So none of the teams is basically taking accountibilty and ownership of fixing them leaving us with faulty stuff . Is this how Wisdom Homes handover the houses and provide maintenance to all your customers?

We are really frustrated and we want to know from you the following:
1. When are we getting our corrected report where it lists the glasses mentioned in maintenance list and inspected, also has all missing items added and incorrect item corrected?
2. When will the fixes be done for all our maintenance issues?

Thanks
Ruchica

M4bath - for us, the last few weeks of the admin stage (waiting for Construction Plans & End Panel) seem to take the longest because you are anticipating it and look forward to just getting to site! Then next thing you know, your portaloo is getting delivered and it all starts happening right before your very eyes! You are almost there, it's all very exciting

Hi All,

We just received a variation for 8000$ In order to comply with BASIX Certificate. It mentions upgrading R values for insulation and also to provide Comfort Plus Galzing to all our ground floor windows. Is this something that anyone has come across? We did not see this coming and I am requesting an assessment copy. If anyone was in a similar situation your thought appreciated.

Thanks,

Same thing happened to us. A friend is building a similar house down the road.

We had 9k in Basix and prob 25k in onsite detention.

My mate had $0 in basix and $0 in extra onsite detention as they are on the downslope to a river.

I called the company who did the report and they explained it just depends how your house is located + windows + sun.

Investment in comfort and sustainability is probably the best investment you can make.

It is a shame that project house builders are not offering comfortable houses in the first place, as they probably should.

Unfortunately, some people are okay in paying $250 per sqm for marble-look porcelain tiles (which in fact, are costing $5 per sqm when purchased directly for the factory and then are getting replaced during next major renovation) but are not okay in installing double glazed windows and better insulation or paying $200 extra for thermal camera inspection.

And then the same people they are installing 3-phase 20kW+ aircon systems and paying crazy energy bills. Those systems are not only cooling or warming the outside but doing it in the most inefficient and unhealthy ways.

In most cases, people have no absolutely idea what is truly comfortable, energy efficient and healthy house is about and, unfortunately, mass scale project builders played a huge part in this gap.

Even if you pay for variation, you still have to make sure that windows and insulation are properly installed and sealed, hence, insist on thermal camera inspection by independent inspection, otherwise, your variation investment will be at risk.

Thanks stevezau.

I did call the assessor to check. Although we might still need a few changes there have been some things that have been missed or incorrect during assessment. Our Solar panels have not been taken into consideration, Our roof type is Tiles (they have it as metal colorbond) and Cieling fans have not been considered.

Thanks for the feedback alexp79. We have considered to make our house sustainable/energy efficient wherever we can. We have around 6 Ceiling fans(Consumes 1/10th of Aircon electricity). We have 5kw solar panels that we have included. And a;; these things have not been included in the assessment. Our roof type is also incorrect. So its worth for everyone to check all the variations thoroughly before signing as things can get missed easily. We have also booked independent build inspector

Just make sure it is all implemented in a proper way. In 99 out of 100 cases the houses, which are built, are far from the houses calculated/specified in the BASIX, e.g. it doesn't add much to your energy efficiency/sustainability if your windows/doors are not properly sealed or your insulation is not installed in the right way.

Hi fellow Wisdom builders,

I'm a long time lurker on this forum but today we finally got our construction plans! Is there anything you can recommend for me to triple check? Admin has been a long slog for us, starting back in Dec 2017. We swapped land back in August and since then have had 4 CSR's but hopefully we are on the move! We are building the Washington 32 with some modifications to the downstairs office/ lounge and the upstairs bathrooms and robes.

Our pool was put in last week and hopefully it won't be long before we start seeing some Wisdom action on site.

Thanks,

Hi there! I do remember your posts - I think we were almost doing our selections around that time! What sort if modifications did you do to your Washington?
Your pool looks fantastic and fingers crossed you get to site soon!

Hi Carly4282,

I just want to let you know that if you want headaches, corners cut, uncompleted work and rough job, then by all means hire the builder that you have read the worst about.
Mark Scully says one thing but does the other. It's called marketing!
I built my home with Wisdom Homes and 8 months after handover they disagree with important defects. I wouldn't recommend them even to my worst enemy!

start our Frame,i think it's only take 2 days will be finished!

We had a similar experience. Ended up talking to the Basix consultant they use to see what other options there were but didn't really prove successful. Might be worth a try for you as your house and location might allow some options.

The $24k on-site detention (Hydraulics) was the biggest surprise albeit allowed for as a provisional amount in the Tender.