Browse Forums General Discussion Re: JG King Homes 4Apr 29, 2008 9:49 pm Hi,
I am currently building with JG King Homes in Pascoe Vale, Victoria. Overall, I couldn't be happier with things so far. I had a great sales rep that couldn't do enough to help, and the first supervisor I had for my home was brilliant. He has since been promoted and his replacement isn't as great, but we're getting there. Like everyone that builds, there have been some small hiccups with a few things on site, but nothing major, and nothing they haven't been willing to fix. With the exception of the hiccups, the quality of the construction so far is excellent and I am very happy that I seem to be getting what I'm paying for. It took a bit longer than I liked for my construction to start, but once it did start, they have powered ahead. My contract has the house being completed by July 2008, but as of this week, they are already up to tiling, so I am hopeful it may be completed a little bit ahead of expectation. From my personal experience, I would certainly be happy to recommend them to any prospective home builder, but like ANY builder, you just need to keep your eyes open and question anything and everything you need to. Good luck. Kerrie Re: JG King Homes 5Apr 29, 2008 11:04 pm Hi Kerrie
Welcome to the forum How long did they take from the initial deposit to site start? Our experience with them so far has been mixed. We paid the initial deposit for a Barton 265 (with some modifications) in late Jan ... 3 months have gone by and we are still waiting for them to finalize the plans!! The sales rep promised the preliminery plans in 4 weeks, but it took 2 months ... even this we got only after about 20 calls (and a bit of a tantrum ). The preliminery plans had many errors, so they went back for rework; the revised plans were suppose to arrive by 21st April; today is 29th and we still haven't got them ... so far we've called them about 10 times on this On the plus side, they have been happy to modify the layout of the house to suit our exact requirements, and they have done it for a reasonable price ... most other project builders we've spoken to either refused to change their plans, or were only wiling to change them for a hefty price tag, and a redrafting fee Re: JG King Homes 6Apr 30, 2008 10:09 pm Hi,
Thankyou for the welcome. I'm not really that new, it is just that I was having trouble logging on under my old ID (Lacy), so it was just easier to re-register. My situation is a little different to yours. I started the process via the Craigieburn office in Feb 2007 but I needed to apply for dispensation for setback through my local council. I am building the modified Lawson and I must admit I did get plans reasonably quickly after paying an intital deposit. From memory it was about 3 weeks or so. I then spent months and months fighting the council for dispensation, including having to lodge an appeal, so it was really the builder who had to wait for me. I did end up settling my dispute with the council, and as such needed some minor alterations to the proposed plans. I do remember the amendments took 3-4 weeks even though they were really small and simple. At the end of the day I was happy to just wait a bit because they never charged me for plan alterations, and were just happy to work with me until everything was right. Like you, it was a different story from the other volume builders. From memory, the council issues were sorted out about August 2007, but then I had to wait for the contract to be prepared, read, signed returned....etc. All up that didn't happen until about late October 2007. Following this you also need to wait for an appointment with the colour consultants to pick everything, which also takes time..... Work on my block officially commenced just before christmas 2007 (they cleared the block), but things didn't really kick off until mid Jan 2008. As I said in my earlier email, one thing really started they have gone at the rate of knots. It was very hard to be patient at the start and I was also frustrated by the many delays, but I am happy now and can see it has all been worth it. I suppose in some ways I have found building the house a bit easier as I put in a small in-ground pool prior to commencement of the house and I found the pool company ABSOLUTE HELL to deal with. I then went on to have 3 separate problems with the council ( two with the building dept and one with the planning dept). By the end of the whole council experience I was just about homicidal. By comparison to the above JG King have been the easiest of the 3 to deal with, and on the whole have not kept me waiting any where near as long as the b l o o d y pool company and the council. It's all 'horses for courses'. Good luck. You didn't mention where you are building. Kerrie Re: JG King Homes 7May 01, 2008 12:00 am Hi Kerrie,
Glad to hear that everything is going well for you. I am currently at contract stage with them at moment. Could I ask whether your site costs was fixed or did you have a provisional sum? If provisional sum was the allowance close to what they stated? I am having a provisional sum for both my site cost and rock removal as they don't offer fix where I am building. Your reply would be greatly appreciated. Duminda - We had our Preliminary Plans about 6 weeks after our $2k deposit and now we are at contract stage. Must admit they are very flexible with modifying the plans and moving internal walls without costs. Our sales consultant is very knowledgeable and helpful, he responds to most of my emails so that's good. I am building in the northern suburb of melbourne. Re: JG King Homes 8May 01, 2008 4:31 pm We're building in Bonbeach.
Our sales rep is based in pakenham - he's also knowledgable, but his feedback and follow up is not so good. He gave us those target dates and didn't bother to chase the drafting dept until we called and made a fuss about the delays. This lack of feedback and follow up ticked us off more than anything else. The reason we're worried about the delays is because we have already settled the land. Every week's delay cost us an extra $400 in interest. That's on top of our existing mortgage! We got the revised plans today, but they still have some mistakes. The sales rep said he'll get drafting to fix them straight away, but I'm not holding my breath. Quote: Duminda - We had our Preliminary Plans about 6 weeks after our $2k deposit and now we are at contract stage. Hi Belgrave - How long did they take from preliminery plans to contract? Also which house are you building? Quote: Could I ask whether your site costs was fixed or did you have a provisional sum? If provisional sum was the allowance close to what they stated? I am having a provisional sum for both my site cost and rock removal as they don't offer fix where I am building. Our site cost had a provisional sum for foundations - $7000 odd, subject to engineering. We said we can't accept any provisional sums, and told them to get their engineer to give a firm price before we sign the contract. We haven't seen the contract yet, but they have already told us that the site costs will be fixed and that the fixed cost will be $4000 LESS than the provisional amount . It's would be hard to fix the rock removal cost, but you might be able to get them to fix the rest of the site costs. Re: JG King Homes 9May 01, 2008 5:27 pm Hi AmyLacy
I still haven't signed yet and its been more than 12 months..sigh..but we are very close. It could be possibly be the fact my house is 100 percent custom and its 500k so far and still rising I am from Melbourne as well and i would love to insist that i get the same area manager/supervisor could you do me a favour and pm me his name? I feel a lot better now hearing some people in melbourne having relatively good experiences thanks in advance. smeagol Re: JG King Homes 10May 01, 2008 6:15 pm Hi Duminda,
I am buiilding the Belgrave 2000 in Aurora Epping North. From memory I think it took about 2 weeks to get the contract. Our provisional sum is also $7k and the contract is subject to soil test, engineering etc because land is not release until Feb 09. Didn't know that we can get the site cost part fix so will contact my sales consultant about it. Could I also ask have you done your soil test yet? Smeagol - I drove around the estate where I am building and ask two different people whose house was built by them about their experience and quality of workmanship and whether they are happy building with JG. Both replied overall they are happy with building with JG. As normal they said there were minor hiccups but were resolve pretty quickly. This was also the reason why we decided to build with JG . So my advice is to drive around and ask people who have built with them to get an idea of what to expect because most likely you will probably get the same supervisor and tradies. I guess it's the luck of the draw if you get good supervisor than everything is fine, if you get a lazy supervisor who don't care then their will be issues. Good luck to both of you on your building journey. Re: JG King Homes 11May 01, 2008 10:20 pm Belgrave - I'm also building in Aurora Estate. A bit of trivia for you - Michelle from the Discovery Pavillion built with JG King and she has been living in Aurora Estate for a few months now...she said she was happy with them.
Re: JG King Homes 12May 02, 2008 12:53 am Hi Oztish,
It's great to hear from someone who is building in the same estate. We have been told by Vicurban staffs as well. Just to get more certainty we drove around and ask other people who built with JG and the response was also good. Our main concern is the site cost and rock removal which are provisional sum. As you probably know the estate has alot of rocks. If you don't mind me asking is your site cost and rock removal fixed and whether you had your soil test? We loved the Meletis houses but it's out of our budget range. Which house are you building and when are you starting? What's good about Meletis is what you see is what you get, pretty much everything. Thanks. Re: JG King Homes 13May 02, 2008 9:34 am Quote: I still haven't signed yet and its been more than 12 months..sigh..but we are very close. It could be possibly be the fact my house is 100 percent custom and its 500k so far and still rising Wow! how big is your house? Initially we were also thinking of doing 100% custom, but decided to pick one of their standard plans and modify to suit our requirement, especially since JG King was so flexible with modifications. I'm glad we didn't go custom! Smeagol, which part of Melbourne are you from? Quote: Could I also ask have you done your soil test yet? Yes, we actually got 2 soil test reports, one from land developer and one from JG King - and they show 2 different classifications ... developer says the block is 'S', JG King says 'P' Quote: As you probably know the estate has alot of rocks. We spoke to a builder before we started looking for a block, and he advised us to stay away from any land with rocks, simply because it is diffficult (in many cases impossible) to estimate the rock removal cost. Belgrave, is your land contract also subject to a soil test? BTW good luck to all of you too Re: JG King Homes 14May 02, 2008 10:35 am Duminda Yes, we actually got 2 soil test reports, one from land developer and one from JG King - and they show 2 different classifications ... developer says the block is 'S', JG King says 'P' Depends on whether you had fill placed on the block, the natural material in Bonbeach (I think that is where you are living) I'm guessing would be a sandy material and therefore little reaction to water (heaving or swelling), if you've had fill put on site depending on the amount of fill that automatically puts you into the P category. My brothers block was "naturally" M but because it was a sloping site and built as a cut and fill in "became" a P. See also https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.p ... highlight= http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff2/mikeb1968/Siteclasses.jpg mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: JG King Homes 15May 02, 2008 11:22 am Yes, it is something like that, sandy soil with a fill on top - from memory the fill is between 500mm-1000mm Re: JG King Homes 17May 03, 2008 1:33 pm Hi,
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, but with 2 small kiddies, I don't get a lot of time for the internet. My site costs were mainly fixed. I did have a provisional amount for rock removal ($3000), but they did not hit any rock. I have had to use some of this amount as extra soil needed to be removed from the site due to access issues. I think it was fairly easy for them to estimate my site costs as they had all the engineering reports available before the contract owing to a 6 month delay due to the council. I was reasonably happy with the quoted site cost (..once I got over the shock of how much they add to the basis cost). I did have 2 items that I thought were excessive (additional handling and additional material delivery). I asked them to reduce these cost or else make them provisional, and they agreed to halve them. Everything else was fixed. Kerrie Re: JG King Homes 18May 03, 2008 5:37 pm Quote: Hi Duminda, Our building contract is subject to soil test, feature survey, and engineering etc because our land is not titled until feb-march next year. I was actually thinking about the contract for purchase of the block ... it's generally a good idea to make that also subject to a soil test and a site survey, especially if you have rocks, slopes etc. Re: JG King Homes 19May 03, 2008 9:09 pm Hi Duminda,
My apology for misunderstanding. My land contract is subject to finance, but I did ask to put subject to soil test but VicUrban refused. Has the developer got soil tests reports? We asked our land developer whether they had any soil reports before we put the deposit on the land and the land sales consultant said no. Hi Amylacy - Thank you for sharing your site cost information much appreciated. It's great to hear that you didn't hit any rock. We are hoping that we be as lucky as you that we won't hit any rock when we start to build next year. Our site has about 400mm fall so hopefully the cut/fill won't be expensive. Re: JG King Homes 20May 05, 2008 8:50 pm Hi Belgrave,
My block looked fairly flat but when surveyed it had about a 1 mtr fall from the front left hand corner to the back right hand corner. It was also classed at H on the soil test. My additional site costs due to this were: $765 forsite cut and fill in lieu of standard cut and fill $3386 for H class waffle slab in lieu of standard $550 extra drainage $480 extra engineering over the allowance $1715 allowance for concrete piers (mainly due to house in proximity to swimming pool) $578 Bulk concrete allowance $1031 Conrete pump. I recall someone above also asked me for the name of my great supervisor. Unfortnately the really good supervisor I had has moved on to a promoted position and is no longer supervising individual constructions. The one I have received as a replacement is new to the company and is really not that ace. He's OK but not worth recommending. He is also really poor at followup which is one of my general pet hates. Hope that helps. Kerrie I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 105553 1 7941 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74701 |