McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread

kopite1892 · Aug 09, 2012 10:38 am

Hi All,

Hi All,

Well we are jumping back on the ‘building band wagon’ with MJH again! Although this time, not for our own home.

We have been given the assignment to project manage my in-laws build, from start to finish. They are a tad old, a bit out of the loop and would not be able to handle the stress – not that we had any stress or anything, in fact if it wasn’t for such a pleasant and easy going experience with MJH the first time round, then we wouldn’t have accepted the challenge, or I should say the opportunity to interact with the staff from MJH again!

(azza, suzz, pete, and big phil! = No.1 !)

So..… they have chosen to build the Entertainer two, and have just paid the 3k deposit…. And I tell you what, I reckon that would have been the easiest sale our consultant has ever made, and if it wasn’t for the misses and I, then our consultant would still be there trying to explain to them which way the house will be facing on the block! Yes ppl it is that bad Lol! God love them! Heheh no no jokes aside, as always or consultant has done a fantastic job in providing his knowledge, experience and assistance on how the house should sit, and look like on their block, and also showing great patience through the process thus far is commendable (your next suzz)

Anyway, just thought I’d reach out and see if anyone else is building, or is looking to build the Entertainer Two. I would love to grab your thoughts around the large alfresco and the possible lack of natural light coming through to the great room and kitchen. This has been quite a headache for them (and us)… so we would really like to see if one is currently in construction, or if ppl have thought about this potential issue, and perhaps have a resolution?...

Thanks all for your time, and look forward to any advice and replies.

Kopite.

kornjen · Aug 10, 2012 8:07 am

welcome back kopite.. hehehe...

soccermum · Aug 10, 2012 12:28 pm

Welcome back kopite!

How long have you been in your house for now? You been happy with everything?

Looks like our painters are almost finished!

mandv · Aug 10, 2012 2:01 pm

Week 3 of Bricks... Still not done. Just another 20% of 1 wall and the facade to finish. I just want them to finish so they can get a lid on this box! Then i wont have to worry about rain any more too much.

monz21 · Aug 10, 2012 2:49 pm

welcome back kopite! you're addicted to building now!

does anyone has an electricity guy who can be recommended for lights, alarm and TV stuff? I'm hoping to only get one person so I don't have to deal with so many vendors after handover. If you do please PM me.

How long does it take from contract until you got your electrical appointment? Any suggestion of what to include with MJH and what things are better off to be done after handover?

soccermum · Aug 10, 2012 3:38 pm

monz21

welcome back kopite! you're addicted to building now!

does anyone has an electricity guy who can be recommended for lights, alarm and TV stuff? I'm hoping to only get one person so I don't have to deal with so many vendors after handover. If you do please PM me.

How long does it take from contract until you got your electrical appointment? Any suggestion of what to include with MJH and what things are better off to be done after handover?

we're getting MJH to put onto bayonet where we want the first downlight to get and then get our own sparky to do the rest. Also things like bathroom heater/fan/light was around $450 compare to $100 at the light shop. Ceiling fans were also too dear through MJH.

We got them to put our extra power points and tv points in but will get our own antenna guy after handover as we though $600 was too dear

agetator · Aug 10, 2012 5:56 pm

wow may have keys in 3 weeks or so ...lets hope

some great news we have sold our house now the packing begins not at all looking forward to packing 20+ years of s**t

duskdarterrest · Aug 12, 2012 10:38 am

Hi everyone

have been bit of a lurker in the past few weeks reading this thread, and thought its probably about time that we introduce ourselves to you guys.. We have bought a block of land in 'waterford county' estate near thornton and planning on building a mcdonald jones home - beachside grande elite.

we have two houses on the market to sell before we can start the ball rolling to build this house.. We have depoist on the land and the house, had our pre colour selection appointment and basically trying to hold things off till land paid off and both houses are sold. One less stress!

e

KTKTKT · Aug 12, 2012 11:56 am

Welcome and good luck with selling the houses. You won't know yourself once you start to see your new home go up.

duskdarterrest · Aug 12, 2012 8:26 pm

Hi KTKTKT

have you moved into your home? are you happy with it? is there any thing you wouldnt do again or recommend to others (like us) what to change?

we are stuck.. on two facades - which one - classic costs us nothing.. or the baliness - which has a lovely verandah to sit on over looking the swamp/lake and barrington top mts and costs a fair bit $$$
we bought the block for it has mt/hill views, seems silly to go for the classic facade.. dont think there is much room to even put a chair on that one..
decision decisions.. then there is the bricks - all the choices we like - are discontinued.. arrragh!!

KTKTKT · Aug 12, 2012 8:59 pm

Hi Duskdarterrest
Unfortunately we are a way off yet. Roof and eaves are done and bricks have been cleaned. Now for the inside...
The good part is that the decisions we made so long ago about bricks, roof, windows etc are now on show and we LOVE them. The house is great.
We are getting an independent inspector in next week - just for peace of mind because we know Nothing about building.
Only advice so far is to pick a few thingsyou really think will make a difference overall on your finished house and go for the best you can afford. With everything else stick to the standard range. It's great.
KT

sandybee01 · Aug 12, 2012 10:04 pm

Hi KTKTKT, we to are building the garden retreat, we decided on the classic facade as it doesn't cost anything and also because it want date in the future, we did like the Balinese facade, but price and future consideration won.

KTKTKT · Aug 13, 2012 5:54 pm

Hi Sandybee
Now that we can see the GR on our block we know it was the perfect choice. We have a massive side yard and the Alfrsco is going to be fantastic. What stage are you up to.

sandybee01 · Aug 13, 2012 6:10 pm

We have had our pre color walk through, just waiting on the consolidation tender, we love the G R was perfect for us, are you having the alfresco grand, we are and we will also put a pool down that side as we have a 1600m2 block, so heaps of room, did you do many up grades KTKTKT

KTKTKT · Aug 13, 2012 6:49 pm

We have got the grand and it makes a really nice line along that side of the house rather than a fairly flat edge. We did some of the usual upgrades - higher ceilings, lever door handles, gloss cubboard doors and four banks of drawers in the kitchen. We are doing bamboo floors throughout after handover. We have a look around with our site supervisor tomorrow morning. Really looking forward to it.
Where are you building?

duskdarterrest · Aug 13, 2012 9:18 pm

did anyone have trouble chosing a brick colour you liked from austral? as all the ones we both agree on seem to be discontinued on the online austral website.. we are now half thinking of not rendering the house, its a choice we can do later on, and just getting a nice brick.. as for the facade we are still leaning towards the baliness, but it all depends of where the driveway sits on the block, currently its on the right but there is a street post right in the middle of it, so waiting to see what MJH will do about that??

we think we have sold one of our houses - :z:

mandv · Aug 14, 2012 8:08 am

we had trouble finding bricks we liked that were still available also. We needed exposure grade as well so it was even harder for us to pick a brick. Out of the whole of Austral there is only 1 range of bricks you can choose (Urban One) as standard and we didnt like any of them. We paid i believe it was $400 and went with a brick from Boral. It was called "Blue Rio" it cost almost $6000 to upgrade to this brick. When it comes time to build were informed that Boral are having issues with this brick and we cant get it at the time and who knows how long before it is available again - could be weeks or even years. so we went with the Victorian Blue brick from Boral instead which was from the same range/price. Not my first preference, but checking with Boral over the weekend and almost 9 months later the Blue Rio is still unavailable. So it would of delayed our whole build if we went with this brick.

You can also go to PGH as well all 3 brick suppliers have a standard range from MJH you can choose from. It just will cost you a $400 fee to use a supplier other than Austral.

Lady Dragonfly · Aug 14, 2012 8:24 am

mandv

we had trouble finding bricks we liked that were still available also. We needed exposure grade as well so it was even harder for us to pick a brick. Out of the whole of Austral there is only 1 range of bricks you can choose (Urban One) as standard and we didnt like any of them. We paid i believe it was $400 and went with a brick from Boral. It was called "Blue Rio" it cost almost $6000 to upgrade to this brick. When it comes time to build were informed that Boral are having issues with this brick and we cant get it at the time and who knows how long before it is available again - could be weeks or even years. so we went with the Victorian Blue brick from Boral instead which was from the same range/price. Not my first preference, but checking with Boral over the weekend and almost 9 months later the Blue Rio is still unavailable. So it would of delayed our whole build if we went with this brick.

You can also go to PGH as well all 3 brick suppliers have a standard range from MJH you can choose from. It just will cost you a $400 fee to use a supplier other than Austral.

We didn't really look into 'which brick to choose' it was cheaper to bag and paint (different but similar to rendering) the whole house... an upgrade but the price ($5000) is less than the cost to upgrade to a decent looking brick. This way we didn't have to worry about choosing a brick, just the final colour for the house, we have chosen Thunderbolt. We can't wait!!

protoxl · Aug 14, 2012 8:56 am

When we went to austral we struggled too. Seemed like there were virtually no exposure grade bricks. When we asked at the counter, the lady got some new ones out, they were the "couture" range. They weren't even out on display yet (not sure if they are now). She told us mc j were introducing them into their colour choices as a standard exposure grade brick (ie no extra charge). We loved them immediately. When we went for our colour selections they initially didn't know what we were talking about, but the consultant went out the back and found their sample! So they didn't even realise it was there! I guess each to their own, you might not like them, but we got the colour "georgette," a dark cool grey, and I think they look great.

mandv · Aug 14, 2012 9:27 am

protoxl your colour is very nice, i wish they told us about this range when we went there is still nothing even on the Austral website about this range. When did you select colours? We picked them in Janurary this year. there was no mention of this range at that time.