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Hi all,
I'm new here and this is my first post, Me and my family of 5 have decided to build the Leon 2514 with Simonds, with the Kew facade. We already had our Colour Appointment and have just signed out Contract today, we are really excited. Despite some negative comments on Simonds Homes we still will build with them as they fit our budget and we are currently living in a Simonds home. Tile selection should be soon and Site start will be on the 1/04/2011. Yay!
Will post Floorplan later.
Hi
Welcome to the forum, we built with Simonds and had no huge issues, just little things which we picked up along the way, bought up wite our site sup and he would fix them straight away.
Check out my thread below i look forward to your pics and updates as you go along,
where abouts are you building?
Your house is beautiful, We are building in Geelong, I read that you did too. The Geelong office are very good, and very responsive, have had not problems yet? hehe
Here is our Floorplan!!
(the Alfresco is a bit cut off but you get the picture)
Jovi0990, nice plan. Even we are building thru Simonds, Vaucluse 3500, we have had some many variations done and had opted for tender initially than contract so its taking time. did u happen to do any variations, was it all included in the contract or had variation after contract ?
Cheers
Abraham
Abraham, We had some variations but we didn't tender,we got a copy of our contract so we could proof read it, all our variations where on the contract but there were some minor mistakes, so we changed them and added some new ones on, when we signed it.
Grats Jovi!
I'm building with Simonds too. The Parkside. All I can suggest is that you triple check the plans / colour selections every version they give you. We made a couple of changes during the contract stage (extra tiles here, add a door there etc) nothing huge, but every time they gave us an updated plan, something else had changed. A door would dissapear, so we would get it added back on, and then the paint colour would change. took about 10 goes for them to get it right. They kept telling us just to sign it, they would sort it out later, but I wasn't signing off on a $250k build without getting the plan right!
The build has been pretty smooth so far. Nothing to really complain about.
Milesy
Milesy, Congrats on building a Simonds home. Yeah you do have to check plans allot, we got a copy of the contract to proof read it, so we know what were signing into. Hopefully everything goes well.
Jovi.
My suggestion don't build through S they are atrocious, build through anyone but not thru them
Abraham, we are living in a Simonds home right now it's nearly the 7th year and our house is in great shape, only minor cracks here and there but you get that. Thanks for your suggestion but we are confident enough to build with them.
Jovi,
Even I am building through them, our CSO and sales is good but the management is useless they have not touch with the customers. We are in in together but care factor is zero. I wouldn't be building my next home thru these thugs
Abraham, Well I'm very sorry for that, I do wish it won't get any worser. Where abouts are you building?
Abraham, I have friends that live in Albury which I think is next Woodonga, nice place to build
Yes, ur right it's next to Albury- plans are good, price is good- even after we went through the tender process and asking them a zillion times about any extra site cost they came with an astronomical figure for retaining wall. When I td them I will get that done thru 3rd party they need 1000$ for another soil test, its the hidden cost, either re-engineering etc..
Abraham, Why would they need $1000 to test the soil again, That's ridiculous. Yeah sometimes they don't listen, and you have to keep telling them, does get very stressful at times. I wish there was a perfect builder.
They are trying thr luck as for them everyone is gullible - just told the Sales guy to convey to the operations manager that I am not willing to pay $16000 for a timber retaining wall for 28m L X 1m H nor the $1000/- if I was to do it myself also told not to get the contract as I will be using another builder, who I always had as backup.
Yes sometimes they do try to trick you. I mean $16000 for a retaining wall if you could do it yourself or get a professional, which could be cheaper, sounds a bit overpriced to me. Yeah it's good to have a backup builder, we have some too.
My suggestion don't build through Si***ds they are atrocious, build through anyone but not thru them
Hi abraham .....
I couldn't agree with you more. Only wish we hadn't built with them .... the biggest mistake ever.
Their prices should not be considered to fit people's budgets as in the end, the faults and defects they create only end up costing you thousands of dollars on top of what you have already paid.
I will also say that from our own experience a home which was built by Simonds 7 years ago should not be compared to the current day home which this builder now constructs. There is absolutely no comparison unfortunately.
To everyone currently building with Simonds I wish you all the luck. Please be warned that you will need to remain vigilent in your dealings with them throughout the entire process and beyond settlement. Guard your sanity!
HI Jovi
We are also a family of 5 that is currently looking at building the Leon 2514.
Its a very long story but to cut it short we are now onto our 3rd block. First one had a huge BAL which added around $13000 onto the build cost + $20000 site fees. Second block was just a nightmare. After finding a dream block at a dream price we photos sent to developer and agent to query fencing. All questions were answered and our offer was excepted. Signed contracts with our conveyancer and all was going great. Three days later had an appointment with our Simonds SO and he started talking about the site fall. We had brought a relitivily flat block. Something wasnt adding up. We discovered that day that the agent had sold us the wrong block
We were absolutly shattered as the block he sold us had a huge fall, trees all over it and NO fencing. It was the total opposite of the block we had been sending him photos of. It sounds unbelievable that it could happen but it was just a huge mess. Fortuantly the estate agent didnt hold us to the contract as he said it had been an "oversight" on his part. Seriously?????
Anyway we are now waiting for a block to be released in around 4-5 weeks. We have first right to refusal on it after the price is stated. Fingers crossed that this is finally the block for us.
With all the waiting now though, I am starting to second guess myself as to if the Leon will be big enough for the five of us? Have you had the same thoughts? I fell in love with the display home and we have paid our holding deposit to lock in our promo. We have changed it a bit to be more like the display, moving the linen press and pantry. We also extending the door frame width (if that makes sense) and a few other things. Did you do many alterations to the standard plan?
Good luck with it all
Crys