Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Nov 27, 2010 4:08 pm When we finally decide to build a house with one of the big builders (Simonds, Metricon, Porter Davis, etc), with the standard house plans that they offer, do they allow any flexibility to re-locate certain things? For example, could we say to them that we want bedroom two and three connected to a rumpus room? And a walk in pantry connected to the garage, etc. Or is it pretty much what you see on the plans is what you get? Sorry, have never done this before. Cheers for your help. Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 2Nov 27, 2010 4:29 pm Some builder's are more flexible than others, but yep, you can change things. When we were going to build with M, we added a powder room where one did not exist and reconfigured the ensuite. I've seen a PD Cremorne where the garage was relocated to where the rumpus room was due to it being a corner block. There's a Simonds house near me where they have merged two bedrooms into one, extended the house and added an ensuite to make a guest suite. Moving, added and deleting walls is generally ok, unless you want to delete a load bearing wall. Adding and deleting doors is no problem, we added 6 doors to our PD home. The thing is, you will pay for the changes, a couple of hundred $ for doors usually. Anything is possible, I found M to be more receptive to major structural changes than PD, but nothing we asked for from either builder was knocked back from memory. As far as I'm aware, PD will not move plumbing unless it is one of their standard options. The best advice I can give you is to get yourself an experienced sales consultant that will go in to bat for you if there are difficulties and don't take no for an answer unless they can give you a very good reason. Most things are possible if you persist, but the changes you mentioned sound pretty minor so I can't see you'll have a problem. Good luck! I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 3Nov 29, 2010 8:52 am Our experience building with one of the big builders was that they were relatively accomodating with any changes we had. We deleted a study, moved the lounge, made a big laundry, turn the old laundry into a walk in storage... and the list goes on. They will slug you with a fee of between $500 and $1000 just for the privelege + the cost to do certain things. Although I heed warning... If you ask them to more a wall here or there they will do so... even if it looks absolutely rediculous, impractical or if complications will arise. These builders build rectangular houses very well, but anything outside of this, they tend to dissapoint. So, all I stress is that if you ask them to alter something, make sure you have modelled it first to understand the implications. Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 5Nov 30, 2010 10:19 am Hi McLovin, How is the research going? If you have questions about changes to the standard house plans, then I suggest visiting the builders display home and asking the sales staff there, they are the best people to help answer your questions on what changes are possible. Do you know what house designs you are interested in so far? In terms of PD, we have over 85 different house plans for you to choose from with thousands of custom variations available. If you want me to organise a sales staff to contact you, then let me know. Otherwise, all the best on the research. Cheers, Jess. Porter Davis Homes Questions? Call 1800PORTER Mon - Fri 9am-8pm Sat - Sun 10am-4pm info@porterdavis.com.au http://blog.porterdavis.com.au/ http://www.porterdavishomes.com.au Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 6Dec 03, 2010 9:16 am In other words, no PD's won't change the plans! I think they're saying that with 85 designs if you don't like what they've got meh! I'd be looking at a smaller builder who will bespoke for you. Don't fall for the "Freebies" scam Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 7Dec 03, 2010 4:49 pm tim the toolman In other words, no PD's won't change the plans! I think they're saying that with 85 designs if you don't like what they've got meh! I'd be looking at a smaller builder who will bespoke for you. Where do you get that from? Plenty of people have altered PD plans. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 8Dec 03, 2010 9:16 pm Team PD In terms of PD, we have over 85 different house plans for you to choose from with thousands of custom variations available. To me that sounds like they'll pretty much do whatever changes you want. Perhaps tim the toolman missed the thousands of custom variations available part.... Built with RedInk Custom 5000 Key Handover 15/12/2009 Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 9Dec 08, 2010 9:25 pm We're with Henley and they had a page of a bunch of different variations you could do to the standard layout of the house. We also added a wall to a room, and a door, deleted a few cupboards/storage and so on and it hasn't been an issue so far. I think it really depends on how big of a change you're looking to make. I vaguely remember hearing along the lines somewhere that most builders will be happy to make changes, so long as the core essence/feel of the house is the same - so basically you're not turning it into a completely different house/plan Land Deposit - 18/12/2009 Became a land Baron - 21/12/2010 Site Start - 27/1/2011 All moved in!! Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 10Dec 08, 2010 9:42 pm Everything has it's price!!!!! We had this big green book from Henley which had all the prices and diagrams of they're ''standard variations""..... they had a choice of options that they had already drawn plans for, and had been costed ....so illustrations and prices were offered...which was handy....We even changed things to our own specs, it's just a matter of informing them via phone & email then waiting for a respone. Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 11Dec 09, 2010 9:42 am I went to a PD sales centre\display homes and they basically said tough luck when I asked about changes. H have been very good, and apart from their list of available variations (one was adding a big balcony at the rear of the house) I've also been able to add walls, doors, extra garages etc. H's Emperor Q1 on acreage Site cut 16/6/11 Slab 2/8 Frame 29/8 Tiles 9/9 Bricks 13/10 Plaster 2/11 Fittings 28/11 PCI 19/3 Re: How flexible can you be when building a new home 12Dec 13, 2010 2:29 pm Hi cookie_monster, I appreciate your feedback and am sorry to hear that you found PD inflexible with design variations during your visit to a display home. We currently have over 120 home designs for you to choose from with thousands of custom variations available. How big the change is really determines whether or not we can go ahead with them. I am glad that you found a builder that can cater to your specific needs. I hope your build is going well. Cheers, Jess. Porter Davis Homes Questions? Call 1800PORTER Mon - Fri 9am-8pm Sat - Sun 10am-4pm info@porterdavis.com.au http://blog.porterdavis.com.au/ http://www.porterdavishomes.com.au 2 8011 Hey everyone Not for me or anyone I know, just generally interested. For a single allotment house, are you allowed to take the fence on both sides of your house and… 0 15296 I've just had a look at the website. The company are just building broker's. There are plenty of similar companies that basically draw your plans (they own them so you… 8 4374 |