Building with Kurmond Homes

I would say they need 6 months from the day they are on site, give or take.

and no, Kurmond doesn't give any lock combinations. the other way around, they stress out that we cannot access the site without them and when you ask them for an inspection they say they are busy.
Your friends are lucky to have such a loyal builder/SS.
Anyway, there are usually plenty of ways to access the site and home if you really want it

we signed the tender in Jul 2017. Tender was ready much earlier but it was postponed from our side as we were waiting for our lot to be registered. we didn't want to pay for tender extension everything 3 months.
we ended up paying for one though.

We were never told anything about a tender extension, and were never given one. Just hit with a $9K price rise when it came to the contract as the fixed price guarantee had expired (even though we raised the expiry date and their lack of care we were being pushed past it. of course they brushed that aside. Why would they care? They got more $$s by being slow).

I'm a bit confused about this as other people seem to have been offered it. Typical Kurmond management.

We are installing a fair amount of cabinetry after handover. Kurmond's pricing was a bit steep. We are getting all of it done for the same price as just the pantry and Laundry priceing from Kurmond. Which is a shame because I would have preferred it all in when we got the keys.

1. Butlers pantry
2. Laundry fitout
3. Theatre room wall to wall cabinet - the Lifestyle store want the cabinets in before they install the projector etc.
4. inbuilt home office desks.
5. Buffet to dining room wall

and then the usual, landscaping, curtains, sparky etc.

I asked the SS if we can bring the cabinet maker along to the pre-paint inspection, all I got was a 'it's not for a few weeks yet'. So, I'm totally bringing them! The stonemason needs a long-ish lead time to get the pantry stone in and cut. Especially with the Christmas shutdown.

well we were not really offered that.
we actually ask about all this during tender presentation (before signing it).
after signing the tender we new when it would expire (it is said in tender how long it is valid).
then when we knew we wouldn't make it on time (about 4 weeks before tender expiration) we requested further tender fix for 3 months. it was 0.6% from current house price which ended up something like $1800.

Tender extension was an option?? We also got hit with a price rise, our tender expired before our land registered... even though our land registered exactly when we said it would. And then Kurmond mucked around for 6 months after registration.
When we went with Kurmond the sales guy said they had a price lock for un-registered land. However failed to mention the fine print that the price lock was only for land registering in a certain period.

wow, you will have a fancy house it seems!

we have a small and simple house therefore not much to do after handover.

exactly! our tender said the land needed to be registered before July 2017. we confirmed that it was 31st of July and therefore signed tender on 27th of July. It locked the price for 5 months until 27th of December when the price lock kicked in for extra 3 months.
Though we signed contract only in April we kept insisting it to be signed before end of March so no further extensions would be needed. All the paperwork was done in February so March-April we were just waiting for them.
At the end we got from them a confirmation email that no matter when we sign the contract no tender price increase will happen.

Well, I'm glad you managed to negotiate around it. We knew the expiry date (we made them name the date instead of the fuzzy '150 days from signing' they offer), then busted our butts getting the appointments done as quickly as we could, evicted our tenants, knocked down the house. All to no avail. It sucks, but nothing we can do about it now except warn others.

Hi guys,

an update from us!

We had the first practical completion inspection this week.
All looked good though not everything was finished.
The driveway was being installed as we were inspecting everything.
They also haven't finished some things like toilet basins and tile splash-backs over, kitchen splash-back, kitchen pluming and such.
Not much but they look like they are rushing to handover asap.
They say that everything is going to be fixed by our final inspection next week.
If everything goes right we will get the keys next week.

As for the soil removal issue, it seemed straightforward at the beginning.
As I mentioned previously, we have signed a variation which said that the client (us) will be notified 24 h before the works commencement and will be inspecting the works.
We have never received any notices from them and when we actually asked them what was going on, they said that the person who was meant to give us a notice got sick that day and therefore we were not given a notice. They charged us for 2 loads anyway.

We are shocked how easily they just tell the clients to f. off and charge them for nothing. We have tried to settle with them by paying for one load (though I don't believe there was any), but they just think their excuse of someone being sick is enough to charge us over questionable scope of works.

As per our contract we will pay all the invoices but as all the papers (variations, e-mails) support our claim, we have decided to complain to Fair Trading. I hope they will punish Kurmond for their behavior and the way they treat their clients.
I will update you on that later.

Oh wow! Sorry about the crappy variation mess, but yay for handover!!!
Seems like a lot of stuff is missing? I thought it was meant to be done so they had the week to fix anything you find wrong...


Our tiles started this week! And SS said kitchen is going in this week too!

well, according to our SS everything can be finished this week so next week when we come there will be only cleaners and maybe painters to fix stuff right away if we find anything else.

oh yes, none of the appliances are installed (heating system, oven, dishwasher, vacuum system, AC). they say they will be installed within about 3 weeks after handover so I guess 3 weeks the house will not be as functional as normal, especially on this weather.
we have also found some electrical issues with some switches. they say it is going to be fixes when they appliances installed.

We are thinking of moving-in in about a month (as we booked our landscaper this way) so I guess we can wait 2-3 week for everything to be fixed with no issues.
I just hope they are actually going to fix everything and not wait for 3 months of maintenance period.

Congrats on progress!
it looks like it took them a bit less than 2 months from lock up to PC so I home they will finish your home before x-mass!

Wait, they arent installing your oven until 3 weeks after you get the keys??
I know appliances dont get done before hand over (so no one steals them). But three weeks is a bit of a big ask!

We have our fingers and toes crossed for a nice christmas present this year!! He said 8 weeks from lockup.. which puts it at 24th Dec lol... still hoping !

yeah, 8 weeks sounds realistic. we have 7 weeks. we can get the keys next week right after the final inspection.
at least I will try to book it with Kurmond office this way.

regarding the appliances, that's what we understood from our SS. when we get the keys, that's when we book the date and time for appliances. that will not happen right away and will take a few week.
it is very annoying as the 13 weeks maintenance period starts from practical completion date (next week for us).
so no appliances, no OC but the 13 weeks will be ticking.

Inspection day today!
We area tiles are in, kitchen and cabinets are in and the first coat of paint is on.
Getting excited now!!!

Fingers crossed for a chrissy handover!

great! congrats! if kitchen is there and tiles are in then probably 3-4 weeks more.

as for the appliances, they sent us an email today, they say they will deliver and install within 10 business days. they offer you to pick the date but I am not sure how flexible they are with that.
They said they would need 2 days: one for delivery, another for installation.
I have asked for particular dates to do it at the same time with my flooring. Hopefully they do it.



We will have our final inspection tomorrow but had to postpone the handover as our bank didn't pay the last progress payment.
Hopefully they will pay till the end of this week.
We have agreed to pay the settlement payment by ourselves as it will just take ages with the bank.

Hi guys,

we got our keys yesterday.
i would probably be more excited if not the last crap that Kurmond put me through.

On the day of the final inspection we have noticed that the garage door doesn't close properly (it didn't lock and stay closed when you put it down). it happened after we signed the papers and our SS already left. we stayed to see the backyard and discuss the landscaping and when we came back to the front we noticed the issue. we texted the SS about the issue, he didn't care much and told us we cannot be there without him. when we were almost leaving we noticed he returned. he struggled to close the door and after we left he send us a message that door works properly.
I sent another e-mail to Kurmond ladies just in case to make sure that by the handover the issue is solved and they reassured us that there is no problem.
Yesterday after handover I headed to the house straight away, mainly to check the garage door as I think it is a major security issue if the door is unlocked and not even closed. we don't have locks in the door between the house and the garage so if someone enters the garage they can easily access the house.
So can you imagine when I came to the house the garage door was just open.... it probably was open for a few days from the inspection.
our SS shown himself as a total аsshоle. he only cared for us to sign the paper and didn't care about resolving issues. he also liеd to us at the day of inspection and then in the e-mails...
I was so рissed off.. no happiness or excitement about the new home, only worry if it is now secure or not.

I of course contacted Kurmond with an angry e-mail and they responded promptly. Next week someone will come to see the door.

We also realized that our laundry mesh door is missing. in the first walk through we knew about that but then lots of things were missing and our SS just responded to anything like "oh, that's going to be installed later this week". it was not the case for the laundry door as they simply forgot to order it.
We probably have to go through all the variations to see what else is missing.

Overall the house is ok or even better but we cannot really enjoy it yet as have to fight with Kurmond.

They have arranged our appliances as they promised for 2 days of our choice. They confirmed it but today we already got a call from one of the tradies who said they cannot make it on the day we picked (2 weeks away from now) and have to reschedule.
It looks like we will have to spend a lot of time in an empty home waiting for tradies. I don't know guys, if you have jobs, we both have full time jobs in the city so it is kind of an issue for us. I thought we could dedicate 2 full days for everything but it look like it will be more than 2 days.

Guys, sorry about all the negativity here, I also want to write good stuff about Kurmond. maybe not now.

Today I found out that one of my colleagues is also building a house. it is 3+ years for him now. he is 9 month in construction and not even in lock-up stage. SO maybe we should thank Kurmond for at leave quick build.

I hope if the house doesn't fall apart in the next few months I will come here and write something good about Kurmond.
Now I am just too angry with them for that.

Put it on google maps they will surely do something about it because it will destroy there reputation,I know I did it to my builder,its bad publicity wouldn't of handed my last payment until the house was complete and all things fixed it worked for me try it

Hi All,

Just an update for us, we are looking to have keys in two weeks!
Super excited!

Having a few issues trying to get the gas meter installed because the site fence was in the way of where they need to dig. But that should have moved today so we can get that booked in.

My built to boundary neighbour had a fence included in their house and land package.. that went up last week. It's the cheapest fence you've ever seen, and they did a really bad job of it. They have installed it too low as well. I can see through my nice window splashback straight into their bedroom window...
And even in the back yard they actually had to dig a little bit to get the fence in.. so when I level out the yard, it's going to be less than 1800 high... *sigh*. And it's lap and cap, so an extension isn't easy to do..

How's everyone else going?

congrats on progress!

if you are financing the construction with a loan, make sure you know your banks conditions on releasing the final payment.
our bank needs OC for that and we still didn't get one.
PCA came today to see the driveway, window mesh and window restrictors on the top floor.
We are also finishing our flooring on top floor today-tomorrow so hopefully will get the interim OC next week.

So as no OC we could not get the final payment from the bank and needed to find 31k urgently almost over night. Oh that was a tough night

as I said we are instlalling flooring. last weekend we were cursing Kurmond as we were removing the wall skirting. I asked Kurmond not to install it and just leave them in a pile bu they didn't agree to that. I don't know why, my colleagues builder is doing exactly that and having no issues with that. It is actually cheaper for them as they would not need to spend time installing and painting then. I still don't understand their logic.
Anyway it is just annoying that we needed to remove something from the house right away after handover.

We have also starting getting rid of shelves in robes. oh, boy, you cannot make it cheaper that Kurmond did. they could not even put a shelf without intermediate partition in the middle in a small drobe. Same thing in linen and pantry. I understand it is not Kurmond but their subbie.. but really. installing that cheap stuff... they really don't care how you are going to use it. and of course there is no partitions in the signed pantry elevations. they never let us to see the layouts of drobes as we would never agree to what they have finally done.
anyway, that's just waste of our time to cut everything out and repair the walls...

oh, for appliances, we had everything delivered and installed today... so yey!!!
unfortunately the electricians could not do what we agreed on.
that's another annoying thing.
we designed everything the way we wanted, agreed on everything with electricians and at the end they don't do it the way we want it....

another thing what we have already faced even visiting the house now and then for a few hours - existence of steps between wet areas and usual areas... we constantly hit our feet in there...
and again, at the design stage we asked Kurmond about 50 mm set-downs in slabs. this is a typical thing for wet areas.. unfortunately they ended up without set-downs and therefore all wet areas are 40-50 mm raised above general areas.

and again, we discussed these things before even signing tender. they didn't care about anything and promised that everything would be just as we want... they just wanted us to pay.

so we will have to do something with it pretty urgently...

as a summary, unfortunately our home needs a lot of improvements and changes before we can call it comfortable. they just don't care about your comfort. the only thing they care is to get more money from you and to hire the cheapest subcontractors for the job....

hi guys,
just an update on our home!

we moved in an enjoying our new home.

apart from things I described earlier there are a few minor things we are going to put to our 90 days report.
so far Kurmond maintenance team is helpful.

we have been slaving for 2 weeks fixing the skirtings back to our upstairs rooms. so far 2 rooms are done. every time i need to plaster or sand something I remember Kurmond with a bad word....
we hope to finish the whole upstairs by the end of this week.

guys, if planning to install your own flooring after handover, insist for them not to attach skirtings there!!! even if they say no - just insist! it is such a waste of time and effort to do it after they install it..

anyway, apart from minor things we are happy with the house. so far