Builder -Rockwall Homes - have you worked with them?

Hello... Has anyone got any experience with Rockwall Homes, or are dealing with them currently?
They've just joined the Homeworld Kellyville with a new display home - Livingstone. I really like their home designs shown on the website, and so far they've been good with communication. They do custom builds as well. It is at early discussion stage for me, so keen to know if anyone has any feedback.

Thanks!

HI, I have been after some feedback on Rockwall Homes as well. I have been recently dealing with them, after their house at Homeworld drew my interest. On the few times I have met with them, they have been very helpful. All their houses have a nice look to them, and are very unique. I am proceeding with plans, and at this stage, have nothing but Great things to say. I was close to committing to another project home company in Home World - Kellyville, but wanted to talk to Rockwall Homes, before committing. I am glad that I have spoken to them. My partner and I have been happy, and are looking forward to talking to Rockwall about the next stage of the proposal. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the feedback Eagle. Good to hear your dealings with them has been good.. Look forward to following your build....


HD

Hello 4evaesh and The_Eagle

Just wondering how it is going with Rockwall Homes?

We are in the market for a full custom builder in Sydney.

Has anyone built with Rockwall or any custom builder they can recommend?

Hello.... We didn't end up going with them. Their inclusions were good and I liked their designs. If we picked one of their designs that would've been quite good for the price. But because we had our own plans the charges were a bit more. We went with Finesse home builders. I'll pm u my experience so far. 3 of my friends just finished building with them also.

Thanks 4evaesh, your experience about Finesse Homes would be greatly appreciated.

we are currently talking to Rockwall. however, ever since paying the deposit of $2500, they have came back and raised the price of up to 30k. We have agreed to the increment thus far as they are saying that it was due to the changes that we wanted to make to the plan.
I admit that was our fault as we mentioned what we needed since the first day. sales guy said its all good. So he is saying that he did say no problem but he never said it wouldn't cost anything. So, after consideration, we have decided to let them go on with the changes and add in the cost. this all happened in the 2nd week of us paying the deposit.

into the 3rd week. I have received another email from them saying that we now have another problem due to the changes we made. from what im feeling, the builder is trying to get money out of us and is trying to base all their claim due to our request to change their plan. we have got a friend that is building and has heard the same tactic being used. where the builder might tell you an estimate cost of the changes you like but come back later with a price that is a lot higher and said that their estimate is not accurate as they are not expert. (which at this time, you are too far ahead to cancel the deal).

I wish anyone who has got more experience in building can tell us what else we should expect and anyway we can try to stop the price from increasing. At this stage, we have not even sign anything as yet but the builder is not going to refund the $2500 should we decide not to go with the construction.

Hi Guys

Me and my friends have just started dealing with them..
We have 3 blocks of land in Nth Kellyville. We have also spoken to other builders but Rockwall seemed to have better inclusions and was cheaper. Also liked their service...nothing seems to be any trouble with them but only time will tell. We had our own contour surveys and they didn't mind using them to start the plans. They custom designed a house from scratch for 2 of us and my other friend chose one of their designs.
I m curious if anyone has built already and if there were any nasty surprises.

I wouldn't mind if anyone could get back to me asap as we are due to sign contracts next week.

you best go through the details before signing anything. I was quoted a price and it went up every week. Well, I guess at least they came with excuses for all the price changes. At least right until the last one. Which they somehow managed to put a higher price than agreed on the tender. Yes, they were hoping we would miss the details and just sign their tender.

Also, the tender they prepared was full of uncertainty and give them a lot of opportunity to increase your price later in the building stage. From the way I dealt with them until I sign the tender, I certainly believe that they will use up any excuses they can find the increase the price.

Good luck to you and please keep us posted.

Yes we were impressed with their display home and considered paying the $2200 to get a tender too, however they are one of the builders I would categorise as having a "hidden cost" pricing structure. i.e. Their tender does not list individual variation costs. If you later choose to delete an item in the tender, generally their credit would be less than 1/2 of what they would have charged.

Tread carefully before committing to these builders who do not itemise costings on their tender and who add lots of PAs. It's the PAs that will hurt you in the end!

Good luck everyone, may you find an honest builder.

HI Guys (fhb123456), in relation to Rockwall Homes, let me give you some feedback. I am right now upto the stage of lodging to council. I have been more than impressed with them. I have been dealing with the sales guys, and they have been more than accommodating. Naturally, if you are going to change plans, add items and play around with room sizes, there will be some extra costs. I was down this track (to the stage we are now), with another builder, and let me tell you- the money I spent with them to get to this stage was probably a blessing in disguise. We were very particular about what we wanted, and I have found these guys to be very helpful. For starters, the return calls, and they work towards meeting deadlines. They even came out to our house on several occasions to discuss the quote and plans. You need to remember, that each construction company needs to make a dollar out of each project, and they were upfront about their costs. The only thing that I awaited was a price for a fireplace which needed some research and work, as it was an extra not featured as a standard inclusion. YOu also need to consider that this builder also has a great inclusions list that others would count as an upgrade. I am more than happy with what we have worked towards. The only other areas, you should check is sizes of driveways/ air con unit capacity and water storage tank. As these may have some unique characteristics to your own build/ size. Hope that helps. I am looking forward to construction commencing in 8 weeks hopefully! Depending on the Hills Council.
Regards
The Eagle.

Thanks for the info FHB123456. They issued us a tender and we went through it with a fine tooth comb.

We were not happy with a few things and set up another meeting to discuss the details
That meeting went for about 3hours. I have to be honest I have never dealt with any builder as straight forward as them. I have built several homes before but because of my friends being first time builders I wanted to make sure that I was committing them to a good builder.

Their tender did itemize every inclusion and service involved, it was about 25 pages long, so I am not sure what document they gave to BuildingNewHome, the tender I have detailed everything. We asked them to make some changes before we signed which obviously annoyed them but they agreed to do so. I am 99% sure we will go with them.

Our square metre rate is about $55 less than Wisdoms and inclusions are top of the range.We wasted $1000 with Wisdom before coming across Rockwall 's Display in Homeworld. So far so good.

Hi Guys,
I really like their design at Kellyville display village. One of my major worry is the flat roof design. It might be ok for now but I am worried what if it starts to leak after 2 or 3 years.
Regds,
Garner

Their quality is very good and the homeowner spoke very highly about them except for one which said the home took longer than they expected but that didnt worry them as the end result was good.

I have also seen their display home and thought that was pretty good.

Hi all, just to let you know, we have lodged our plans , 2 weeks ago with Hills Shire council. Rockwall have been very accommodating, and I highly rate their architect, Simon- who has been excellent. So far, so good. I'm glad we went with Rockwall.
The Eagle

We are currently building 2 houses double brick in Elizabeth hills (Cecil Hills) and so far Rockwall is very cooperative. We got a good price, costed extra for upgrades like commercial windows etc but well in the price range we can afford. First home is reaching the first floor concrete slab. Sales guys are very helpful it's all going good at the moment

Hello,

I am currently building the new home with Rockwall in Kellyville, Belford avenue. Is there any neighbor?

I have great concerns for the hidden cost from them. They attempted to charge me two certificate fee already.

Any neighbor could contact me by email - tongjixianing 'at' gmail.com

PS:

After I got my solicitor involved it was solved and Rockwall did not charge me extra payment. The construction has started and so far so good and construction goes smoothly and nicely. Thanks for your advice.

Hi tongjixianing,

Good to hear that you are building with Rockwall. I'm also interested about them but we have a draft floor plan what we want to build. We had a chat with the sales guy last week for an estimate cost as per our requirement and floor plan. Are you doing a custom design or going with one of their designs. What sort of hidden cost are you concerning about it? Didn't you get your Tender done yet?

The origanl post was edited with comments.

Rockwall's architect is awesome...really gave me a personalized service, nothing was ever any trouble and within a week had my plans ready to perfection.

Land is registered and we now waiting for council approval.
Hats off to you Steve;-)