OPINIONS WANTED - DIXON HOMES???

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this so apologies if i am not doing this right!

My partner and i are first time builders and this will be our first home. We are thinking we will go with Dixon Homes as their prices seem to be fairly cheap in comparison to some of the others.

We aren't going for luxury - we are more concerned about having a quality home built that we are happy with that is in our budget.

Has anyone built with Dixon before? Any comments suggestions ect good or bad. would love to hear back from people!

Thanks!

Hi Bonnie_p,

Firstly I do not know Dixon Homes, but may I suggest that you go and look at one of their recently built homes (ask them for a few addresses). If you like the quality then sign up... simple as that. You might also talk to the owners if you're lucky and find out how they treat their clients and so on.

If you are really interested I quality then keep a good look at the job as it goes and take photos of things you think are defects. Building consultants are supposed to find the defects, but many do not even know what a defect is! They can look at the works at say frame stage and completion stage. But make sure that they get on the roof and inside the roof because many do not. And make sure they will look critically at the roof plumbing also. Larger firms usually do not insure their operators and hence the large number of large firm disclaimers. That's my theory. I am a consultant myself and a lot of short-cutting goes on that other consultants miss. One guy missed all of the defects. Now there's that word again. There should be a book about that.

Leonardo_23

Hello

Well unfortunately I cant give you a full opinion of Dixon Homes as I am not building with them but I can give you my impression from our first meet and greet session with them.

Like you my partner and I are first home/ first land builders and we were looking for something cheaper but still has the same quality.

When we met with Dixon at their Brisbane office the gentleman was extremely unhelpful did not talk through any plans with us, just kept writing numbers on a piece of paper and telling us that this is how much it was going to cost. He then said they have at least a 42 week BUILD time atm.... This didnt include the paperwork side of things. So that put my partner and I right off because that didnt even take into account any delays etc.

We then had a look at the range of inclusions Dixon throw in and all I can say is CHEAP and NASTY.

But one plus for them... Steel frame home is standard they dont build timber frame homes.

Hope this helps, but if I was you I would keep looking, there are plenty of builders out there and there are some reasonable prices, cheapest is not always best unfortunately.

Leonardo_23 thank you so much for that advice thats so helpful to me. I will make a point of writing it down and making sure it happens

charlinic6 thank you also, some very good honest opinion. I see you are building the Daydream 28 with Coral - i actually would have LOVED to build that home too but unfortunately it was out of our price range. I do love the fact that Dixon use steel frames too, its a big plus for us. Could you recommend any other cheaper builders for me to have a look at? Dixon was just appealing as they have 2000+ designs and their prices seem to be unbeatable.

Hi Bonnie

I am unsure of what location you are building in but here in Queensland this is who we looked at, who didnt have too bad a price:

1. Coral Homes---- reasonably priced and great levels of inclusions and best of all FIXED PRICE TENDER.... huge bonus
2. Simonds Homes--- Again reasonably priced and they had some nice home designs
3. NewStart Homes- Great level of inclusions and good bonus offers
4. Hallmark Homes- I love how their display homes have no furniture in them, gives you a fantastic idea of what is actually included, and what their base level is. Definitely worth a look.

But please be aware that the base price of a house really doesnt count for anything (same with Dixon), you have many more costs to add to this, site costs, landscaping, driveway, postbox, washing line etc...

Actually that's one of the things I really liked about Hallmark, was the empty home to really show you what you get.

Fancy furniture and fittings you see in other places make their places look rather pretty, but then they slog you for extras.

charlinic6 thank you so much, i will look into those builders. We are building in SEQ, Jimboomba area.

And yes, our site is looking to be an E or H class soil so we are already adding 30k for site works.

You're out my way then.

Which estate are you in? Flagstone, Jimboomba Woods, or another one ?

We have a lot in the Edenvale Estate, its just down the road from Jimboomba, next to Cedar Grove

Have you checked out Planbuild homes? We just completed our build with them in Pimpama and I know they build out Jimboomba way. We were very impressed with the cost and found them the cheapest for the inclusions received. When we talked to a salesman at a land office in Coomera he recommended Dixon to us. We then showed him our plans through Planbuild of the house we wanted to build and he said that even Dixon would struggle to beat our price with the inclusions we received.

From slab down we had the keys in just under 12 weeks. Apart from a few little hiccups it was a pretty stress free process. Included in our package was ceaserstone bench tops, extra wide timber entry door, air-conditioning, colour bond roof, driveway, carpets, tiles, mixer tap ware, soft close cupboards, full facade render (this did cost extra however, feature render is included in all their packages) clothesline, letterbox and full turf we also upgraded to Bosch kitchen appliances. The only thing we removed from the ready for living package was fencing as we already had people build around us. Our price came in well under 200k for a 225m2 4 bedroom+2 bathroom+lounge/media room home. We have also found everything very good quality/value for money.

Do yourself a favour and go for light coloured roof, be that colourbond or tiles. It does get pretty hot out this way at times, and a light coloured roof will help.

Of course you won't get sea breezes this far inland, so look at building a house that takes advantage of passive solar heating, as it does get chilly out here in winter, as well as hot in summer.

Check out www.loganvillageweather.com , as it will moving to Jimboomba sooner rather than later.

kailie86 - WOW thanks a lot, that list of inclusions is amazing i will have to have a look at Planbuild Homes for sure. Thanks for that little tip! Liking the quick construction time too!!!!

bpratt - thats a very very hany hint about light coloured roof! Ive never thought of that but it makes sense!

Agreed BPratt feel sorry for the chumps in my estate with the tarmac black roof... we are sure to see a mirage over that in the summer lol...


Hey Bonnie

Nice to see more young people out this way too!! We are building at the Aspect in Buccan.
Another tip go see all the display homes and ask heaps of questions about whats included whats not. Yarrabilba is good as is Ormeau Ridge down the Coast. There is a VERY helpful lady at the Coral Homes there called Helen who is a fountain of knowledge.

Try to avoid the Rochedale estates, this is aimed at the high end of the market and the display homes show you just that!

Orbit Homes is also one to look at, we have had friends build with them, basic build but good value for money and they have some nice designs.

I think its about finding a design you like too and sticking with it.

We liked the Plantation Retreat Nouveau plan which is a display at Yarrabilba.. but it had a starting price of $245k and no site costs with that it was well out of our price range.. and so we started looking at plans which were similar which is how we came across the Coral Daydream. We have modifed the plan to suit us but well worth the extra cost.

Hope all this info helps!!

charlinic6 - thank you, you're so helpful

We are hoping to at least save a bit of money by supplying our own water tank and HSTP, ive been told that can save us a good amount of money! Here's hoping! We have to save somewhere because our soil test will be coming back at BEST a H and worst an E. Neither are ideal lol

We have a plan from Dixon that we love and would suit our block really well. Im thinking we might stick with them. They arent luxury but it will do us fine its a lot of home for a very reasonable price

Have you received a fixed price tender with Dixon yet? I found their pricing great but when I started asking about inclusions the cost was getting higher and higher eg overhead cupboards are not included as standard and doors are very basic.

In the end it comes down to what you can afford right now. If you don't want inclusions comparable to other builders then they will be cheaper. Get yourself moved in and upgrades things when you can afford them.

I was going to go with Planbuild but have decided on Hallmark now. I'm building an investment property and just want a fixed price turnkey product so I don't have to organize anything myself.

zozo - thanks for that information

We do not have a fixed price tender as yet, but we will be keeping the build as basic as possible so HOPEFULLY the price shouldnt escalate too much. My partner and i are quite handy so we will add in the little luxuries as we go along after the build is complete and when we have a bit more money to spend.

We are just after a basic home that we can add to. We love the fact that dixon build with steel frames and their prices are cheaper with colourbond roofing rather than tiles - which is what we want. We are yet to find a builder to build a bigger home for cheaper, so we will be using Dixon.

I have heard Hallmark are quite good too!

I'm looking at HL packages in Birkdale QLD, anyone have feedback regarding general build quality and overall finish?

Bump

Bonnie
I hope you have signed up to your contract already as I was also looking at Dixon homes. I had started looking
prior too the govt cashback deal and the house I had picked out was for $162,000 but after sorting out my finances
I now find the same house is $184,248 so quite a large increase and basically wiping out the govt cashback.With
that sort of increase I will have to see if I can find a better deal else where so the suggestions on this page relating
to other builders will come in handy. Good luck with your new house.