McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread

Hey guys, Just wondering if anyone here has or is building the Monte Carlo Executive with rear activities. Would be grand to know how it went or any changes you made.. 😀

May I ask the area you built we are in the hunter and having multiple issues with MDJ. Both staff and sub standard build

hi all we are tossing up between two build mcdonald jones and coral homes. mcdonald jones is throwing in alot like outdoor kitchen air con alfresco and also whitegood promo. at moment mcdonald is thirty thousand more the coral. coral is a bit bigger, we are looking at the lyndhurst modified a bit. what at peoples opinions. who better to go with. anyone building a lyndhurst thanks

Hi Aden,

We're also tossing up between MJH and Metricon. MJH have thrown in those things to us too, but we'll get a lot more house from M for the price of MJH! Only reason we're considering MJH is because they seem to be the major builder around Hunter/Newcastle, (+ they offer steel frames, Hebel at a reasonable price), and their quality seems higher than other builders. I maybe wrong but this is based on looking at display homes... However, I'm now concerned having read ourforeverhome's reply!

we have also came to the conclusion that mcdonald jones is a bit better quality and offering the steel frame is great considering in a bush area. i have not heard bad reports on mjh but alot of negative on coral. hard decision this house building

hi trying to find out price difference from lyndhurst and lydnhurst with childs activity thanks everyone

Currently building in the hunter what you see in the display homes is not what you get. Be prepared for extra costs and highly recommend a professional independent inspection throughout the build. We are 4 months past original finish date and still on end in site.

My advice to anyone considering building - McDonald Jones or otherwise - if its not written down, it hasn't been discussed. So email after every conversation to confirm discussion. As the old phrase goes "measure twice, cut once".... check check check every drawing and email for details, multiple times . The mistakes are amazing... Its your due diligence. But its also one way of avoiding so many issues. It takes longer to get started by doing this, but will be easier in the long run. We are still before our build (weeks away), but so far, that philosophy has worked well. PS being in a similar role has helped me with diligence. But you can do it too!!

Well unfortunately we are yet another one to be screwed over by this "builder". We had lots of issues through the admin phase and their lack of communication and now we have issues with our house.

Things like scratches on the range hood, chips, scratches and marking to all the high gloss cupboards throughout the house, scratched window frames wher some imbecile has tried to remove paint. Drawers and shelves where they have been cut are chipied all along the cut.

There are many more but I won't go on.

The Area Manager and his Manager have been involved and all everyone does is pass the buck or they can't see the problem. They expect the clients to just accept things with obvious scratching. We couldn't take any more so we have lodged a complaint with Fair Trading. It's a shame we have to rely on a statuary body rather than them doing the right thing by the clients in the first place.

I haven't said too much during the build as we were hopeful of getting these things fixed however it is obvio they do not care about their clients!

I would not recommend this pack of your know what's to anyone!

The best of luck to anyone silly enough to build a house with them with all the obvious issues they have.

HFW003 - Where abouts did you build, and what did you build if you dont mind me asking

Anyone with more than 3m high ceiling have got pictures of their stacker/bi-fold or garage door from outside. Do you have brick or cladding above?

Hi

Anybody know roughly what the time periods are between:

Slab and frame
Frame to lock up
Lock up to Handover?

Cheers

Hi nike66
We should have been in our home in march still waiting so it could be a long wait.

Is it normal practice to refuse an independent progress inspection before handover? I thought it was under fair trading that progress inspections be allowed.

We are getting closer to handover so thought I'd post a few updated pics. It's so exciting seeing color selections come to life and we are happy with the way our Bronte Executive Lodge is coming along!

looks great were your tiles an upgrade thanks

Thanks. The tile colors were in the standard range. But it was a small upgrade to get the 300x600 tiles on the walls. And a much bigger upgrade for full height tiling.

Our slab was poured on 10th Feb, frames were delivered on 14th Feb and up by 21st Feb. Garage doors were installed around 14th June to complete lockup, and we are approx. 4 weeks from hadover. Hope that helps. (We are building a Bronte Executive Lodge on The Central Coast)

Wow thanks. Our slab was poured on the 4th July. Still waiting for the frame to go up. It was supposed to be early last week, then late last week now some time this week (?) Just trying to figure out if ours was normal period of time to be waiting or not! (Our house is also much smaller than yours).
Thanks again.

Geez that's not good.