Dale Alcock advice

Hi,

We are struggling to decide on a builder and after being into what feels like a thousand display homes we have narrowed it down to Dale Alcock or Summit. For the Dale alcock builders just a question on the Aspire spec, if we went for the display home version/price does that mean generally there is not much to spend at pre-start because most is already upgraded? I am hoping this would give me a better indication of what my total cost would be. Or is this naive to think and we need to have an allowance for pre-start?

Thanks for any advice - I love trawling through these forums - the information gained is invaluable!!

I don't know about Dale Alcock.......... but the majority of display houses come with upgrades to the basic house spec of between 20% and 50% of the base cost.

See this link for some of the marketing 'tricks' builders use with show houses http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=20

Hi TB, I know you only asked for info on Dale Alcock, but my partner and I are currently going through the process with Summit for a house in their display range, same spec. We did look at DA but thought they were a wee bit too pricey for our liking, plus didn't really fall in love with any of their designs, so we ended up with Summit

They've been great so far, no whinging about all the changes we keep making! They also threw in some perks like automated awning windows for our skillion roof that we won't be able to reach from the ground.

They've never been pushy, we've been dealing with them since January this year and have only just finalised things!
Give me a yell if you've got any q's

Yeah dale alcock your paying for the name ahead of the good quality, summit all the way.

The best thing to do is take the sales rep through the display and point out every single thing you want, they may not be able to give you a price but at least you can get an idea of what may or may not be included. Good luck

one thing i didn't realise was that the dale alcock prices were completely finished houses...like paint, flooring etc..once i figured that out their prices weren't so bad after all

Regardless of which house you get you will end up paying extra money.
We're building a display version of the house and still we have 50grand of extras added. That includes some o he smart wiring, tiling, essa stone benches and couple of little extras.

We didn't get anything for free from Summit, it's actually opposite - we had to pay extra for all our upgrades.
I personally think that Dale Alcock are overpriced. They worked on their name and now their name is working for them.
Whichever you choose you'll end up paying for th things you want. Just remember that nothing is free and nothing is what it seems.

Hi +Tbrown2012.

I just wanted to try to provide some information in answer to your question.

Our Aspire Spec includes things like high ceilings and CaesarStone benchtops - all the top notch items and products in our showroom, meaning there is less to upgrade in Prestart.

The Aspire Spec doesn't include the 'designer options', which are listed on the brochure of the home you're interested in - for example, a bi-fold servery window is classed as a designer option.

It all really depends on the home you're interested in and the level of fit-out you require. It's good to consider your 'wish list' - so the things you would love to have if money were no object, whilst also considering what you actually need in your home to suit your lifestyle.

Your Sales Consultant should be able to help iron out all these details so that you have a good idea of the overall cost you'd be looking at.

You are more than welcome to email me directly with any questions you have and I will always be happy to help wherever I can.

Good luck with your choice - it's a big decision, so you're doing the right thing to be so thorough.

Best regards,

Jemima.

Thanks for all your advice.

We have noticed that Dale's seem to be a bit more than Summit but some of Summits upgrades are standard with Dales eg: symphony cornices and cavity insulation.

Aubin Grove - Interesting you say you get nothing for free with Summit as thats what we have found in negotiations, the sales guy seems quite arrogant and will throw nothing in whilst other builders seem to be more willing to negotiate.
twiggens - would love to know who your sales consultant is because most of the changes i have come our guy has talked me out of and as i said above no freebies.

Thanks Jemima - I appreciate your response.

Thanks to all again for taking time to respond to my post. x

Our display version included designer cornices and insulation in the display starting price. We also had better fittings as standard.
Of course it would be nice to have not to pay extra for essa stone upgrade as we had freestyle benches throughout the house but... We had to add another 2 grand to go with essa stone instead of freestyle.
Other things would be nice as a free upgrade but we had to pay for every little thing we wanted...

Having built houses with both DAH and Summit, I'd say the Summit house was better finished and there were less "Oh no!" moments during the build.

Wish I could "like" this post, makes me very happy with our build about to start!

I found it better value to go with the base model dales design and upgrade what you wanted rather then start from the top. you could then compare the two. we built a similar spec to the display for around 50k less than the display price. I would build with either builder. they are both good.

Like a lot of people said Dale's market themselves very well, hence why they have people on this forum to answer questions...

I think most companies monitor this forum now. I think it comes down to the salesperson, I know if I was a salepersons for house's I would be on here offering my services in hope to sway you to the company I work for to get the commission, that every salesperson is after.

Our current home is a Summit house - we didn't build it but bought it 1 year old.

Having lived in the house for over 2 years now and seeing all its faults it would be a cold morning in hell before we would ever consider building with Summit.

Every experience is different and everyone's expectations are different. Your hell experience might be someone's heaven.

We are currently building with DA because we were 'promised' a superior build. Of course, we take this with a grain of salt until we see the finished product. If it turns out to be untrue, then they have lost a potential returning customer (plus family and friends who will hear our feedback).

Our expectations and standard is pretty high and we expect perfect or close to it for the money we are paying.

One thing I will say about DAH, although their communication sometimes lacks they have been very quick at sorting grievances (which we've had a few).

I've not seen any other building company employees on here except for Jemima from DA. Call it marketing or whatever you like, but its pretty handy to have a listening ear and some handy advice right here. We couldn't thank her enough for her help in the early stages.

Well miss em maybe u should read Marybonds forum red ink rep contribute on her forum maybe you should look at my profile I have 2 followers pm one of them is a BGC residential rep. A lot of companies monitor these forums I can assure you that... When I have issues and write them on here I get called up with clarification. Or if I have questions I can pm her.

AC27 I sense a bit of tension in your post but let me point out the fact I said "I have not seen", as opposed to "they don't exist". So you can unravel your knickers now.

Secondly, Jemima's job is purely social media. I'm not sure if there are any other companies with dedicated social media employees, however the one you refer to in Marybonds thread is a rep, as you said.

Lastly, "monitoring" is quite different to actively engaging and helping, resolving issues, giving advice etc etc.

Sorry for not being clear in the first instance, however I was just trying to be helpful to the OP and give a helpful OPINION. Which I thought was more helpful than

No tension at all Missem, I gave you another example of a forum for you to look at where a rep engages, gives advice, and helps resolve their issues. As you had not seen it, and only seems to think DA do this service. Your right monitoring is quite different, I guess some companies are different in their policies and prefer to directly call you and have a conversation over the phone than write on a forum. I don't really see the problem in either method really.

When one person writes above that a few companies are active on these forums now and then one person writes below you that they haven't seen anyone else do it, I am just being helpful and letting you know that there is others that do :p

I think there might be a little tension your end because you're qouting my qoute about who I would go with which obviously isn't the company you have. If it makes you feel better if money wasn't an issue and I wiped my bottom with a $100 dollar bills I would strongly consider building with DA.

I've had DA over to my house before for a house renovation qoute to knock down my front wall and extend it for 3 metres and to add a metre on to the bedroom got qouted a 150k. We decided against and to just build a house as it would be cheaper.

I quoted you to illustrate a comment which really added very little if any value to the posters question. Yes great, you'd choose Summit over DA that's great thanks for sharing, was there anything else to back up your reasoning or is it purely because DA charge more than most? That is no secret, it's common knowledge and they themselves don't try hide from it.
For all you know the OP is flush with cash and happily enjoys wiping his/her backsides with $100 bills.

A little suggestion - maybe you should try read a comment properly before you get all huffy and post passive aggressive statements which bare no reflection to the comments in question.