Building with Dennis Family Homes

Love to hear of others building with Dennis Family Homes at the moment. We are currently at Frame stage, super exciting but have had a few hiccups! We are building Macedon 322.

Hi, we will be building with DFH this yr, just waiting for our land to settle. Just wondering what sort of hiccups you have come across and where abouts are you building?

Hi rtforresters
Nothing major... Overall they have been really great. I'm terrible at making decisions.. So we chose a fascade based on a display home as we found that easie than trying to go on the tiny samples of bricks etc.. But last week they rang to say that our bricks are not available any more which was disappointing. Really hoping that our new choice look ok..
Another small hiccup that will be fixed is that we went to have a look at the build and one of our installed windows has a crack in it(looks like something was dropped on it).
The site manager is great and I'm sure it will be fixed..
Have you built before? I would suggest before going for your colour selection that you research boral and austral bricks and google images with the particular bricks you like, the computer program that DFH use is not great and it's hard to get a true reflection.
We are building in Victoria.
What plan are you hoping to build?

That's good to hear, not many people are posting their views/builds on this forum. Glad it's going relatively good. I have built before but with Burbank. We chose Austral bricks and the sales person at their display centre was able to give me addresses of houses that used the bricks we chose so you could get a better idea on a bigger scale. If you are unsure about your choice in bricks, maybe that's something you could look into.
We are building one of their generations series houses which they are no longer offering. We've made quite a lot of modifications to the house plan and DFH has been very good in accommodating our ideas. Hope the rest of your build goes smoothly. Are you using an independent inspector for your build?

Hi Again!
We are using a local guy as our inspector. All good so far! Tiles should start in the next couple of days! Super exciting ?
http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w490/Cassie_Rowarth/Facebook/The%20Rowarth%20Abode%202016/12832544_10153946707208554_4162465297734225097_n_zpsyvzium1x.jpg

Great to see a DFH thread.

We are building the Hawkesdale 372. Our third attempt at building for our KDR. We are currently waiting for contracts & colours. Signed our estimate on 26 Jan & it took the office people 4 weeks to look at our file even though we gave them a heads up re acoustic specifications. 7 weeks since signing estimate tomorrow.


KDR - Under the Flight Path (Dennis Family Homes)

Hi Rondy

Wow... I loved the Hawkesdale, huge home! How big is your block? Vague moment, what is a KDR?

KDR = Knock Down Rebuild.

We're building in an established area and knocked down a very dilapidated fibro. I think our block is 693sqm.

The only thing I'm not sure about with the Hawkesdale is the internal bathroom but a guy at work built the Hartley which is similar & he says it's fine.

The Macedon is a nice plan too. You must have a wide block.

How long did you take to go from estimate to contract & colours?


KDR - Under the Flight Path (Dennis Family Homes)

Hi Rondy

August 2015 deposit paid
November colour selection
Contracts signed mid November
Site prep given the go ahead Feb 2016 (we did this through a local guy and saved about 12,000 in site costs)
Build commenced last week Feb 2016

Bare in mind DFH shut down for 3wks over Xmas so that held things up..
Our block is 17m wide and 1024sm.

I love that you have a powder room! Jealous!!

oh how exciting, it's starting to take shape. How long did they take from completing the slab to frame?

Hi Rondy, we were able to do our colours prior to signing the contract. We pushed to have everything in the contract so we didn't have to raise a lot at variations.

They left the slab for about a week before starting the frame! No action today as part of our order didn't come so hopefully start tiles tommorow!

Hi Cass row+4.

DFH took a long time between deposit and contract. Were you waiting for settlement? I don't understand why it takes them so long.

What external colours have you chosen? (Old & new bricks)


KDR - Under the Flight Path (Dennis Family Homes)

Hi Rondy,

I know..it felt like forever! We are dealing with DFH office an hour from where we live.. So we had to wait for them to come and survey our land etc.. Then our file was in for drafting for 6 weeks(don't know why it takes so long!) ..then we decided to prep the site ourselves and not to the depth that they originally wanted us to.. So that meant another drafting..
We originally chose
Austral Greythorn bricks which we loved with Boral walnut roof, Dune feature render and timber meranti windows to the front fascade..
Then they told us that the bricks were no longer available
So now we have chosen Austral Newport bricks which are apparently very similar, the rest remains the same and hopefully matches in ?
Any progress on your build?

Side view of our house from the backyard.. All windows in except for our front timber feature windows ?


http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w490/Cassie_Rowarth/Facebook/The%20Rowarth%20Abode%202016/12801350_10153946707023554_5590859121871413691_n_zpsk1dekzyb.jpg

Thanks Cass. I'm hoping they will be able to leave it to cure for longer. We'll have to raise this issue as 1 week is not long enough.

Yeah we thought the same but they say as the frame doesn't bear much weight that it is fine.. They wait to install windows/roof etc because obviously that puts stress on the slab. Mind you they laid our slab at 0730 on a day of 37 degree heat.. It was dry before I even got up there to look after work!

37 degree heat is also not ideal. The ideal wait time is 4 weeks. Im slightly disappointed as ive heard a lot of good reviews. im hoping they assign a reasonable site supervisor for mine. Im hoping they put more effort in the rest of the build.

I guess they will be guided by what you want ? Our site supervisor is great and we have many friends who have had him also and have no complaints or issues years post build. I'm sure they will follow your direction, It is your home after all.

True Cass ? Im hoping we have a good supervisor too. Glad you've got a good one.