Hotondo

Hi just wanting to know anyones opinion about Hotondo cheers.

I’ve done a few Hotondo homes for clients. I know my clients have been happy with them.

Their floor planes aren’t bad either. They are pretty popular where I live.

People have had trouble with this firm on the South Coast NSW. A Hotondo being built at Kings Point has been going for a couple of years and is still well short of completion. Builder working under the Hotondo label shot off to North QLD. Owners have had to claim building insurance and this is not a user friendly process. Owners have had to pay rent all this time for a rented premises, not to mention all the other stress and expense. Their TV ad states Hotondo offer a dream, not a house, and this appears quite true!

I was unaware of all of this, could be right… I tend to not go near project homes any more, simply for the reason of not enough freedom with their choices.

I did however hear the same story of JG Gardner Homes!

I have seen the ex Hotondo manager in Nowra only last week, so I can say he has not done a runner to Queensland. He has gone back into business for himself. He always did well, either with Hotondo or on his own. I think his grief was with the company, that’s why he left them. But I haven’t heard of Hotondo leaving their customers in the lurch.

But I can name a few other project home developers who have!!!

Can I ask you petgale, where you got your information from? I feel sorry for the home owners that this happening to! But I do know in the past when other housing groups have done the same thing, they (the people involved) should be able to get compensation for all the extra costs they have forked out. Heres hoping!

(Their TV ad states Hotondo offer a dream, not a house, and this appears quite true!)
I did have to have a giggle at this, well put!!

The house is in my street and I have spoken with the victims. I have not discussed posting anything on the net about this, but when I found this post I couldn't resist making a comment.

The chap who went to QLD is a well known builder in the area, working for Hotondo. His workmanship and supervision was poor and apparently when a very large retaining wall at one of his constructions near Batemans Bay collapsed, he ran out of funds, leaving subbies unpaid.

I heard his credit rating was zero, but Hotondo still used him. This fellow has declared bankrupsy, thus allowing the victims here, to claim the insurance.
There appears to have been plenty of meetings etc but still no progress - the victim says the cost of repairs for faulty workmanship and to complete the job properly is still around $200K - and it is not a mansion, just what should be a very nice house, built to lock-up stage at the moment.

I haven't been rude enough to enquire how much the insurance is covering and how much the victims are/will be out of pocket. However I do know that if an ordinary battler found himself in this position - huge loan repayments along with rent - he'd be hard pressed to see this through.

Go to www.shonkybuilders.com and check out the link for Hotondo Homes

I found that a very hard site to get the hang of….but I’m female!

So I didn’t get to see the Hotondo thing.

Seems shonkybuilders.com has hit some raw nerves. WE HAVE BEEN HACKED AND OUR DATABASE DESTROYED. Seems we have upset some people. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE WE HAVE YOUR STATIC IP ADDRESS YOU IDIOT. Site will be back up shortly. Please bear with us.

Hotondo also builds in Victoria...

Their display homes are quite good, and they seem to be a large builder!

Hi Petgale

I can tell you about home warranty insurance because we are going through this at the moment. It's taken three months to sort out the insurance, not quite finalised yet. In Victoria, Home Warranty Ins covers up to $200,000 but only 20% of the total contract price is allocated for incomplete works so that's the maximum that can be claimed for incomplete works. The rest is allocated to defects. So if the price for completing the works exceeds the 20%, the defect amount the insurance company agrees to pay and any monies they have left to pay then they will be out of pocket. Believe me, it is very easy to be out of pocket, we will still have to pay a few thousand over our original build price.

Also, the insurance does not cover rent or any solicitors fees that you incur so that's also extra expense that can't be claimed back. For us that's over a years worth of extra rent to date and will continue until our house is complete. Plus having to pay mortgage on top of that.

It's also not easy to get a builder to take on the works. I think many of the MB customers have had to go owner builder just to try and get their houses finished within budget. Builders still want their profit margin so unfortunately it can be tens of thousands of dollars over the original contract price just to get the house finished.

So I really feel for those people because I know exactly how they feel and what they will be going through. All for just wanting to build a house.

I think it really depends on the builder at the time. I know of 2 people who have built/are building with H0tondo. The first one seem to have no problems with them at all, the second says that the floorcovering guys are the only ones they HAVEN'T had a problem with.. I say its just luck of the draw!! by the way these 2 houses are being/have been built by the same area office.

I think Hotondo woek a little different to other builders. I think they licence their name and services to local builders, ie eg Mattie walker Constructions T' as Hotondo Homes (insert area here).

My folks built a Hotondo in Traralgon and it is a very good build.

Yep that’s what they did here also.

Our current house was built by one of the builders building under Hotondo Homes in North West Sydney and we have no problems with it for the past 6 years. We have just sold our house and moving on to build another house with a different builder (J@ndson) as Hotondo didn't have a design we like.

They have also build a number of houses in our estate (Astroia Park II) without problems that I know of. Our house was built by Hotondo M@carthur. Before I signed up with them, I did a check with department of fair trading to make sure they don't have any claims against them. Anyone building a new house should at least do this to avoid * builders.

MadCow

The Hotondo thing is a franchise in a "conversion" form rather than a "turnkey" which is like a McDonald's franchise.

The Conversion franchises are where you get somebody who is already qualified in their particular field and you just load them up with infrastructure, marketing, support et al. Turnkey franchises are when you turn Bob the Builder into, say, Bob the Hamburger restaurant owner or Bob the Coffee Seller.

Hence, the local builders in Traralgon, Port MacQuarie, Brisbane, Hobart etc... can take on the brand and if they go pear-shaped, they basically bugger up the Hotondo brand.

My Father and brothers started Hotondo in 1979 as a Ministry builder in Deniliquin, NSW and Dad started franchising in 1993 by basically signing up local builders in country Vic with the promise of colour boards and some designs. My two brothers bought him out around 2003 and have taken Hotondo to a different level, albeit one that was not in my Father's best interests.

We are building with Hotondo at the moment. Our design their contractors. We could not be happier with them. We have had absolutely no problems, great service and their contractors have been fabulous. Tim the toolman is right in respect of the franchise thing. The owners of Hotondo in our area have been building here for over 30 years under their own name and have now (or in the last few years, i'm not sure of when) taken on the Hotondo name. We would recommend them to anyone thinking of building in Western Victoria.

We are about to start building with hotondo and so far they have been excellent. Our builder is fantastic - I think you just need to research the Hotondo builder in your area and see what their reputation is like there. Here in Hervey Bay they have a great name and we can't wait for our build to start!

I’m still doing work for Hotondo in Nowra.
I’m very comfortable with the people I am working with!

Hey guys we have just paid our deposit for a formal quote and plans to be drawn up with Hotondo at Hawards Bay. We have been talking to "Turnkey" builders for almost 8 months now and even got a quote from AVJennings (which was 70k over our budget clearly our job was too hard for them inc so many mistakes in the quote it wasent funny! biggest waste of our time and $750!!!)...

By far Hotondo have been the most helpful and so far honest people we have come across. They dont know something they tell you they dont know and they find out for you. Verbal discussion is followed up by confirmation emails. Prices given and inclusions helpful. We want outside people to do work they hare happy with that.

We have a dificult block flat as a tac but in a 1 in 100yr flood zone... they have been more than helpful in accomidating our needs.

Right now I would recomend them to anyone! Hopefully it stays that way

At the end of the day all companies have their good and bad stories... most you read on the internet are bad becaue people are frustrated. I look forward to writing awesome reviews for Hotondo!!

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all your sharing on Hotondo Homes. I am a first time builder and obviously nervous. I've looked online at many 'project' home builders and the only design which appealed to me was one of Hotondo's designs - the Byron 237. The reason I have looked for this kind of builder is I assume they will be cheaper than finding an architect, designing something I like then finding a builder to build it.

I've read a lot of good things about Hotondo, and a few bad things. I tend to find more people are willing to share bad reviews over good ones, with so many good comments here versus bad, I tend to think Hotondo is quite a good option for us. Being franchised I do believe it still comes down to the actual builder.

I'm wanting to build in Sans Souci, Sydney, can anyone recommend a Hotondo builder for the area? Also, anyone built a Byron 237? Any ideas of cost?
Many thanks!