Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 28Nov 14, 2009 12:18 am Hi Inkheart, I've just joined found this site and wish we had read these posts earlier. We signed up with APG in May and it's been a slow and frustrating process. We're still working through our paperwork errors with our selection consultant ( I so disagree with the testimonials on they're website too!)...we we're hoping the building process isn't going to be as bad, but having read your posts...we might have been too optimistic! We'll certainly take on your advise on getting a building inspector. As for site supervisors, hopefully they won't be as bad as yours....I wish there was a way to find out without getting you into trouble. Please continue to keep your readers posted on your building progress. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 29Nov 14, 2009 6:31 pm First homebuilder We signed up with APG in May and it's been a slow and frustrating process. We're still working through our paperwork errors with our selection consultant . We had to wait a long time (nearly 6 months) to get the contracts and found that extremely frustrating. In the next phase, our selection consultant was utterly horrible and the most unhelpful person I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. During that period we regretted building with APG. But since the site works started in early April, it's been great. Progress has been speedy. And our site supervisor is excellent. We had an interim independent inspection when the roof trusses were on. The inspector found three minor items which APG fixed within 24 hours. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 30Jan 24, 2010 3:50 pm Inkheart I am about to post some photos in relation to defects picked up during the course of the construction of my new home and to share my experiences around.... Rule number one: Do not be rushed into and sign a home building contract until your documents and plans are reviewed by a reputable building inspector or an architect. The amount of heartache and money you will saved far outweigh the initial cost of few hundred dollars. Thanks mate for advise, we are currently looking at various display homes. we do like APG lincoln display home http://www.buildingwa.com.au/article/displayHomes/APG-Homes----Lincoln/ but we are very concern about the quality of workmanship. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 31Jan 24, 2010 4:28 pm Assassins Inkheart Thanks mate for advise, we are currently looking at various display homes. we do like APG lincoln display home http://www.buildingwa.com.au/article/di ... --Lincoln/ but we are very concern about the quality of workmanship. What exactly are you concerned about? We are building the APG Drysdale (but have changed it a lot). We've just reached lock-up. So far the workmanship has been excellent. We've been checking up every weekend and we've had two independent inspections so far. We are very happy with everything. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 32Jan 24, 2010 4:42 pm ozhappy981 Assassins Inkheart Thanks mate for advise, we are currently looking at various display homes. we do like APG lincoln display home http://www.buildingwa.com.au/article/di ... --Lincoln/ but we are very concern about the quality of workmanship. What exactly are you concerned about? We are building the APG Drysdale (but have changed it a lot). We've just reached lock-up. So far the workmanship has been excellent. We've been checking up every weekend and we've had two independent inspections so far. We are very happy with everything. Great news mate, We read a lot of bad stories which made us wonder. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 33Jan 29, 2010 12:56 pm Inkheart Mate you have been great source of information...I'm planning on building with APG have not signed paperwork yet, but thanks to this forum it appears all builders are just about the same. At the least APG is fixing issues and yes please use independent inspection (Very Valuable info) I have no idea about building but I'm confident this forum will continue to help... Any one with more info on APG Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 34Jan 29, 2010 3:24 pm Hi guys, I have built 3 x now Number 1. Apg.... Number 2. with another company and Number 3 with Apg again...... 1st up.....In the planning stage before any work starts you should be prepared to spend at least 6-12 months purely on your planning......on such things as....How would you like your home laid out, how big would you like the toilet doors, which side do you want your toilet roll holder...........Every single detail should be considered, scrutinised and discussed before you decide........Don't leave these things up to the builder....you will only be dissapointed when the build is finished and you didn't realise something.........If you are prepared to build and spend thousands of dollars read every fine print, do your research on everything and the go to the next page....I can't stress this enough... I have seen too many people in my business go into building thinking the builder will take care of it all and think some things should be common sense and its not......To them it is a business and to you it is your lifelong savings and home, please consider every screw and every pipe and if this sounds like it might be something you need help with then please seek out people that can help you....... 2.....Don't take the sales reps word as gospel... its your money and your home you decide how you want things. For example....we wanted grano in our porch and alfresco so we can tile these areas instead of paving.....and the sales rep said no that won't look any good........oh really, well we have done it before and we like it and we have to live there. So give us a price on grano for that area. Simple.. 3.... Before you sign off on your plans get everything you can possibly think of costed...... For example.....on the plans it shows no bulk heads anywhere but you are thinking its something you would like put it in a list of maybes and give that list to the sales rep to quote and then based on the prices ask him or her to include on your plans.....same again for doors.....that might not be shown....ask them to be quoted...and then decide........ 4....be prepared to go and visit your home during construction at least 3 x a week and take your plans and look at everything that has been finished since the last time you were there and if something doesn't look right.....write in an email and send it of to be answered...... FOr us The sales people this time around let down the company but in my opinion the SS and the trades have been fantastic....good luck guys I hope everything turns out well We are loving our house so far.... Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 35Sep 12, 2013 10:46 pm I wish we had seen the posts above before starting our build with APG. We signed with APG in September 2012. To keep things factual - titles and settlement on our land occurred in October 2012. We are building a version of their display home. Since we signed contracts there have been a multitude of problems and errors. I dont have time to list all of them right now but I will list some of the ones that stand out: Building permit was declined twice - firstly because the house did not conform to the Building Code - light requirements. Builder gave us options to rectify mainly involving making unsuitable changes to plan or putting in sky light at our cost. After expressing our annoyance at the fact they sold us a house (version of display) that does not conform to the building code, they paid for installation of skylight. The second decline was due to failure on builders behalf to submit planning application to local authority for front retaining wall - We were utterly amazed at receiving an email from APG saying "As anticipated" the second application for a building permit had been declined because of a failure on the builders behalf to submit correct applications. Iv never known a builder to "Anticipate" the decline of a clients building permit? The corresponding variation for approx $800 to submit the correct applications also added to the disbelief. Needless to say we told them to leave the retaining wall. Finally in February 2013 a building permit was issued (although at one stage APG were telling me we had no approved permit - when I was holding a copy of it in my hand) and works began. Our request to be compensated for the delays were declined as APG say they do not compensate client's "perceived" delays. During the build there have been a few issues - Bricklayers putting walls in incorrect place Walls being demolished and rebuilt after roof and frame complete Bathroom cabinets incorrect size Drain in bathroom shower in incorrect location Kitchen cabinet incorrect size and not built to accommodate stone waterfall end Chasing of walls for water / power conduits not filled properly and visible through texture coat render Kitchen stone benchtop contained two pieces joined together - one piece was from a different patch and therefore showed a visible colour difference. All of the issues above have been fixed We went through pre-handover and subsequent to that had one last look at the display home and noticed a big difference in texture render colour. Subsequenet investigations by us revealed they the pre-start consultant stated the incorrect colour on our addenda. At our selections meeting we asked the pre-start consultant to give us the same render colour has the display home but a half a shade lighter. We also followed this up in writing via email when we asked that she double check the render colour on the display was reflected in our addenda. It seems she failed to check, because had she done so our addenda would have stated LIMED white and not LIME white. There is a massive difference between the two colours. Might I add dulux have colour codes for a reason - so APG's poor excuses as to how the mistake happened because of a simple spelling mistake is laughable. Had the pre-start consultant double checked the colour, or given us what we asked for which was a front door in the same colour as the display we may have picked up the difference much earlier. So after 99% completion of the house they are removing items to re-render the entire exterior. Except they were supposed to wait until I had viewed the render colour and approved. Nope that would be far too hard - so rendering began on the house, prior to viewing of new colour..... IN THE RAIN. This is what happens when you render a house in the rain http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz213/sbv16/20130912_172011.jpg Its been over a year, we are sick to death of dealing with APG and this build is costing us both financially and emotionally. The details above are only some of the issues we have had to deal with. So much for APG quality and service. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 36Sep 13, 2013 11:26 pm That's terrible. Hope you get it sorted soon. Building nightmare started on 23/02/13 Prestart 17/05/13 Earthworks 08/08/13 4 1/2 month delay (+wettest September in 47 years) Slabbed 18/11/13 Brickwork started 11/12/13 Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 37Sep 14, 2013 7:11 am Hey svranjic, Sorry to hear about your issues with the build - although glad that most of the issues seem to have been fixed. I'd be interested to hear what they are going to do about the render so please keep us posted. I think gweluphome hit the nail on the head in his post before yours with this section: gweluphome Every single detail should be considered, scrutinised and discussed before you decide........Don't leave these things up to the builder....you will only be dissapointed when the build is finished and you didn't realise something.........If you are prepared to build and spend thousands of dollars read every fine print, do your research on everything and the go to the next page....I can't stress this enough... I have seen too many people in my business go into building thinking the builder will take care of it all and think some things should be common sense and its not......To them it is a business and to you it is your lifelong savings and home, please consider every screw and every pipe and if this sounds like it might be something you need help with then please seek out people that can help you....... And even having read through in fine detail, I still missed things in our contract that should have been included - fortunately nothing major yet. It would be nice if there were no mistakes in translation or note taking and it wasn't necessary to be so vigilant but mistakes happen. And if I have to spend a few hours a week providing another level of quality assurance to identify any issues earlier, then it is a small price to pay for ensuring I get the house that I want built. Which is why I appreciate the forum and posts like yours providing feedback on the types of items to be aware of (tho sorry that you had the issues in the first place). Demo + Build in Rivervale, Western Australia Moved in June 2014 http://rivervale.tumblr.com/ Building Thread Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 38Sep 14, 2013 8:10 am It is disappointing that so many things have been deleted from this thread. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Built with APG Homes - Ouch! 39Oct 11, 2013 4:40 pm Just an update We have had handover and gotten keys. Finally the majority of things have been fixed. Other than the front door, which is not the colour requested (again) but I will fix this myself. It was great the site super gave us his direct contact number and provided us with a key to get in and start painting whilst they were finishing the house. As someone else mentioned on this thread, the pre-start / admin area at APG seriously let us down and contributed to major errors and delays on this build. The fact APG still couldnt get the door colour right after all the errors with colours previously says it all really. Im very disappointed that nobody at APG apologised or spoke to us about the substantial delays and errors on our build when we collected keys - filling out a survey on an ipad is not the same as face to face contact with a representative from APG who cares about their client and their client's perception of the company based on their experiences. Its unreasonable to think errors dont happen when building, but in our case it was the sheer number of completely avoidable errors and poor communication that made our experience unpleasant. I haven’t. But have a Lowe Design home. Not only did I find Matt Lowe patronising and a bully, but the home is NOT TO CODE. I have water coming through the bricks… 1 31195 Thanks , we decided to go with them now in the process of designing, yes I agree they are super flexible with design and super flexibility with our needs , anyway one… 2 31168 0 20298 |