Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 16, 2008 6:21 pm hi peoples, im new to this forums. I am a first home buyer so no experience what so ever. I am searching for home and land package, i got a few packages im intrested in which is Simons homes Auburns 16, but they dont have any display for that one cuz is only 16sqm house. I got a few question what to look out for.
1. Is it possible that i can ask to drop the price down on the price of home land pack? 2. Do i need a solictor for buying home land package? 3. Anyone experience buying home and land package, and what to look out for? THANKS GUYS! building a new home!! Re: Buying home and land package what to look out for? 2Jul 16, 2008 6:55 pm Hi,
I was a first home buyer like yourself. I am almost in it. But i can say it has not been such a good experience. In all honesty i built with a company called Colex Homes, thinking because they are a small company compared to your major names like Simons and porter davis and metracon, that they would have a higher building standard to keep customers happy and to spread news that they are good builders. I can say i was totally wrong. Instead of getting what i asked for i have recieved somthing totally different. 1. The brick work looks like it was done by a pack of 12 year olds 2. They destroyed one of the side fences with cement 3. The paint job on the inside is nothing but shocking 4. The customer service skills of Colex homes are those of a monkey I will name no names on here. But yeah in my experience, i have found that a smaller company was actually worse than your big names. Things to look out for. When you get your contract read the whole thing, its very daunting for first home buyers you dont know what to look for, get someone to look at it for you. ALWAYS get a solicitor in the housing field to read your contract. To be on the safe side. And learn from a few of my mistakes. Never pay your progress claims unless you KNOW the stage is completed, ask for a inspection before each stage that you can walk through and make sure things are done properly. I had not done this, Colex Homes had invoiced me before every stage was completed, and thinking that everything would be ok i paid for every stage. Which was never completed in the first place. Stand your ground, builders will try and bully money out of you, take photo's of your house every weekend to make sure you have evidence, time stamp them. In case things go sour you can always be prepared for court. Theres allot more than that. but yeah thats all i can think of at this stage. At the moment i am fighting a uphill battle for colex to fix there mistakes. But its not all bad, some of the house was done very well, like the tiles, the kitchen and the plaster work, the house is level. In my opinion stick with your big names, you have a better chance of getting some good builders to do your house. Re: Buying home and land package what to look out for? 3Jul 16, 2008 7:11 pm This question or ones similar to it, have been discussed on forum several times before so a search may give you some previous comments (probably even some of mine )
We are doing a house/land package and have found it an effective way of buying; as ours is in a development of 34 house/land packages, we saved money, land was cheaper than market value and things like soil reports were done by developer. (you usually have to do this yourself on your own land), also by haveing things like cement paths, fencing, floor covering etc included, it was easier for budgeting and possibly for borrowing. You do have to read the fine print though as all house/land packages are not the same, what is included varies greatly from builder to builder and from package to package. So, make sure you check carefully re what is included and what is not. The other thing that varies hugely between different packages is the flexilbility to change things. Ours was very flexible, we had a choice of which floor plan we wanted (from builders catalogue) and could make minor adjustments such as changing a door to an archway and vice versa, changing ceiling heights, minor changes to kitchen layout, moving a window etc. I'm not sure how far we could of gone making changes as floor plan was almost perfect for us as it was. However some people have reported packages in which you could change virtually nothing, and I know we looked into another package with a different builder and couldn't even move a kitchen window or raise the ceiling height or upgrade tiles. Needless to say our association with that builder was very short (like 1 appointment ) Re your specific questions; 1. I doubt it. you can always ask, nothing to lose. However house building on your own land is usually not open to negotiation on price either. Building is quite different to buying an established house, in this respect. 2.You do not need a soliciter. It may be an idea for a soiliciter to check the wording of the contract but no more so than when building on your own land. 3.Have already answered this in my post. One other thing to watch out for is the time factor: is the land already titled and therefore building can start straight away (subject to council approval etc, of course) or is it land which is in the process of being subdivided for packages. Ours was the latter and land titles offices are extremely slow (in SA anyway), although we signed an initial 'registration of interest' (non-binding) early last year, building did not commence untill Feb '08. House is now at lock up stage and hopefully handover is only couple more months away. Good luck with your decisions, and I hope this long and rambling reply was helpful. Re: Buying home and land package what to look out for? 5Jul 16, 2008 7:30 pm McCracken Country Homes.
Relatively small builder, mainly country SA, but does do a lot of building in our town. Not sure what part of Australia you are in, may be an idea to add that to your profile, sometimes others can give more detailed local advice if they know what state or city you are in. Yeah I don't know why I came to a forum. Place is full of wierdos/pedos thought internet may help but I suppose I'll try my luck with someone in person. Cheers. I tried… 0 6393 No the fireplace doesn’t work. It’s been enclosed. I’m not sure what was removed, as it was done quite some time ago - well before what I can see with photos online… 2 11569 Interested in getting either the Polytec Boston Oak or Palace Peak for kitchen cabinets. Looking at the Boston Oak ones, it appears that the colour varies significantly… 0 9151 |