Thank you CathyLeigh
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14002Sep 24, 2016 7:23 am WOW...What a great experience...NOT! Spent nearly $550k on our build (Miami 16 Elite Executive - 46 squares). Great design but we have been seriously disappointed by substandard quality of finish and defects. Just completed our PCI only to discover that build issues that were previously raised have not been rectified, and now MJH want us to sign off on contract at the last minute. As a general warning to other home buildings in our position please keep an eye on the following. 1. DON'T let tradies use your island bench as a work station. We spent nearly $10k on an upgraded kitchen bench (Statuairo Nuvo with 60mm waterfall edges) only to have it damaged by inconsiderate tradies who used the unprotected bench as a general work bench. We even have drill marks in the top! and now MJH are trying to have it unsatisfactorily repaired rather than replaced. 2. INSIST that when render is being done to your home that all windows have to be covered/protected. Half our windows have now been completely ruined in the clean up process because again the people they employ don't give a crap. Used a sharp edge to try and remove mortar stains only to cause severe scratching, which MJH are attempting to negate by saying you can't see the defect from 2m! All our windows are upgraded 6.38 laminate and double glazed to the kitchen window / splash-back which has to be replaced...but still hasn't! 3. TAKE a keen notice of the internal fit out in the early stages, particularly the cornice work. 90% of our cornices are not aligned, not evenly joined, severe gaps, poor finishing and yet MJH say this is acceptable despite being raised with them when first noticed. House is now at hand-over stage but if this serious defect was picked up and rectified earlier, it would have saved us all a lot of grief. Will probably now have to wait for the independent umpire to make a decision because MJH say it is OK...but it is substandard work and NOT acceptable! 4. DON'T pay the $475 Caoba stain to the front door. What a waste of money...it isn't even a varnish finish! Better off spending 20 bucks at Bunnings and doing it yourself. Much cheaper and I guarantee you will do a better job than the person they paid. 5. REQUEST that when you have your PCI the house is properly presented and cleaned. Our's was disgusting and it was difficult to see the defects through the build up of dirt, marks, mortar and paint stains that had not been removed. There are a number of other issues I could raise but I think you all get the general idea. You just have to stay on top of your build and voice your objections to your SS and have it documented in an email/text message. Most importantly, follow up your concerns in a timely manner and don't just assume it will all get sorted...because invariably it doesn't. To everyone building with MJH, I wish you all the best with your build. I still believe they have great house designs and a great product to offer. I am sure you will get similar issues with other builders, but when you are spending the amount of money we all are, is it unfair or unrealistic simply to expect a nice finish! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14003Sep 24, 2016 1:05 pm daley229 WOW...What a great experience...NOT! Spent nearly $550k on our build (Miami 16 Elite Executive - 46 squares). Great design but we have been seriously disappointed by substandard quality of finish and defects. Just completed our PCI only to discover that build issues that were previously raised have not been rectified, and now MJH want us to sign off on contract at the last minute. As a general warning to other home buildings in our position please keep an eye on the following. 1. DON'T let tradies use your island bench as a work station. We spent nearly $10k on an upgraded kitchen bench (Statuairo Nuvo with 60mm waterfall edges) only to have it damaged by inconsiderate tradies who used the unprotected bench as a general work bench. We even have drill marks in the top! and now MJH are trying to have it unsatisfactorily repaired rather than replaced. 2. INSIST that when render is being done to your home that all windows have to be covered/protected. Half our windows have now been completely ruined in the clean up process because again the people they employ don't give a crap. Used a sharp edge to try and remove mortar stains only to cause severe scratching, which MJH are attempting to negate by saying you can't see the defect from 2m! All our windows are upgraded 6.38 laminate and double glazed to the kitchen window / splash-back which has to be replaced...but still hasn't! 3. TAKE a keen notice of the internal fit out in the early stages, particularly the cornice work. 90% of our cornices are not aligned, not evenly joined, severe gaps, poor finishing and yet MJH say this is acceptable despite being raised with them when first noticed. House is now at hand-over stage but if this serious defect was picked up and rectified earlier, it would have saved us all a lot of grief. Will probably now have to wait for the independent umpire to make a decision because MJH say it is OK...but it is substandard work and NOT acceptable! 4. DON'T pay the $475 Caoba stain to the front door. What a waste of money...it isn't even a varnish finish! Better off spending 20 bucks at Bunnings and doing it yourself. Much cheaper and I guarantee you will do a better job than the person they paid. 5. REQUEST that when you have your PCI the house is properly presented and cleaned. Our's was disgusting and it was difficult to see the defects through the build up of dirt, marks, mortar and paint stains that had not been removed. There are a number of other issues I could raise but I think you all get the general idea. You just have to stay on top of your build and voice your objections to your SS and have it documented in an email/text message. Most importantly, follow up your concerns in a timely manner and don't just assume it will all get sorted...because invariably it doesn't. To everyone building with MJH, I wish you all the best with your build. I still believe they have great house designs and a great product to offer. I am sure you will get similar issues with other builders, but when you are spending the amount of money we all are, is it unfair or unrealistic simply to expect a nice finish! OMG! That's a worry! We are building the exact same house and have spent similar money on the same benchtop for our kitchen. I would be VERY annoyed if that investment was damaged during the build and then not completely replaced. You haven't paid for a patched-up bench top that is essentially a second-hand item now. What area have you built in? How often did you get onsite to check progress/workmanship? Those issues are a serious red flag to the level of quality control the SS is providing to the site. I wonder what Scotty Cam would say about that?? Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The MIAMI 14004Sep 26, 2016 12:24 pm Hi peeps, we just signed up for MIAMI 16 Exec with MJH for our corner block in Central coast. Thanks to everyone who has posted their reviews, very helpful towards making the final decision. Overall the reviews are mixed, but we figured with a bit of luck and due diligence we may be able to avoid the pitfalls. I'd be keen to hear what modifications people have done to the Miami or in retrospective thougths/things pple would have done differently. Thanks, Git Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14005Sep 26, 2016 3:07 pm Hi Git (and anyone else building Miami) Miami 16 executive is a great design/layout. We made what we believe to be a number of improvements, but still keeping the original design concept. Now that the build is completed, there are a couple of minor oversights/improvements we could have made...but too detailed to list in this forum. Feel free anyone who wants a copy of our design modifications to email directly at: brettdaley@quantumcorp.com.au. I am more than happy to give feedback where I can as I know it will help your decision making. PS...we to Cordy 88, we are uilding at Harrington Grove in Sydney's South West. PPS...Get an independent building inspector as soon as you can... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14006Sep 26, 2016 9:52 pm Hi Daley229, I'm interested in what oversights/improvements you may have made with your Miami in hindsight. We've made a few changes (improvements?) to the plans ourselves and are hoping that we've got most things covered. If you're happy to list a couple of glaring ones (in your opinion) post build please PM me. Thanks! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14007Sep 26, 2016 10:09 pm CathyLeigh Wow Lisa, that went really fast. Your home has come together beautifully. It looks stunning. You must be so happy with it all. When will you get the keys and move in. Yes very happy with it all, my husband did the PCI on Monday and there was only a couple of minor things that needed finishing, but generally speaking the quality of work is very impressive and our Site supervisor has been great to work with. Cant wait to move now. I think we will be doing handover maybe end of June there abouts so its all right on schedule too. We still have fencing and some excavating work to do ourselves before we can move in so hopefully in next couple of months. Hows your house been going. do you have any more updated pics have you finished your flooring yet[/quote] Hey Lisa, we still have a long way to go. We still have no floor coverings or proper window coverings yet. We are focusing on trying to get the outside done first. We are not actually living in the house yet and live 2 hours away so it has been hard trying to get things done. We are both going to take 4 weeks off work in the next couple of months to try and get as much done on the yard that we can. My partner has had the excavator there to tidy up the whole yard and level it, he has dug plenty of trenches and put in a lot of drainage. He has done quite a few footings for our retaining walls and has finished one retaking wall on one side of the house and started one on the other side. He is currently in the process of bricking up some raised garden beds which we will then cover the bricks with stack stone. We will also be putting a retaining wall across the front of the house and will be putting stack stone on it too. Here are a few updated pictures. We will eventually put the dark brown shutters on the front windows and use the dark brown shutters in the bathrooms. On a lot of the other Windows we will go the white shutters and probably the pull down blinds on the stacker doors. [/quote] Hi CathyLeigh, I really liked you bath tiles, may I know what tiles are those? Thanks! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14009Sep 27, 2016 5:57 am Hi Corey88. 're Miami build our improvements were. 1. Added 1.5 metres front to rear in middle of house. This gave extra space to home theater, dining and bedroom 2. 2. Extend house side to side by 1m to increase room size along entire boundary. 3. Extend main bedroom at rear by 1m and extend alfresco 2m front to rear. 4. 700mm step down into home theater. 5. Increase depth to shelving in study nook. Added doors and made it extra linen/storage. 6. Increase size of laundry and added third toilet. 7. Remove centre column at rear of house between family room/alfresco to create more open space. 8. Triple garage but added depth to 6m. Oversights/ More improvements. 1. Extend alfresco 1m side to side. This would not only allow air flow where BBQ is to be placed, but would give roof line/pitch more aesthetic appeal. 2. We used the Edenvale ensuite layout with his and hers WIR...should have extended the external wall side WIR under the eave to maximise space. 3. Consider swapping the living / dining rooms around as per the display homes...think of it from a visual perspective but also the practicality of where to place bulky lounges...the current dining room layout has a wall. Unfortunately we have already had a wall pre-wired etc so difficult to swap over now. 4. Ask your consultant if it is possible to remove centre pier to Alfresco....we are installing a pool and the pier blocks view. 5. Don't get handles on powder room cupboard as the cupboard door opens onto the entry door causing damage. 6. Opted for a standalone bath in main bathroom, but is the wrong layout...view of bath from entrance is blocked by vanity so it did not create desired look...we did however get sliding cavity door so as not to open up on shower door...this works well. That's all I can think of at the moment, so again good luck with your build. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14010Sep 27, 2016 11:15 am Thanks pshome, The floor tiles are Sandust White Lapato Porcelain - 300mm x 300mm; and The wall tiles are Sandust White Lapato Porcelain - 300mm x 600mm. Misty grey grout. I am not sure why they use "white" in their name because they are not white at all. They are also rectified porcelain tiles which means that you get a very narrow grout line which looks so much better and less grout to clean. They charged us a total of $2,690.00 to upgrade these tiles but we used them in the main bathroom, ensuite and laundry. Just used different vanities in the bathrooms. They actually used them in their Monte Carlo display home at Fern Bay if you want to see them in real life. Not sure if that is close enough to where you live?? The photos don't do them justice. That is where I saw them and absolutely loved them. To me, they look like a tile which shouldn't date too much. CathyLeigh Building the Monte Carlo Executive with rear activities with Balinese Resort Facade, Salt Water Beach Estate, Wallabi Point Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14011Sep 27, 2016 11:39 am Thanks Cathy! I did the virtual tour on MJH website and they looked great. I also like the bath of The Vienna at Oran park. I hope to decide on something similar during colors. Thanks again. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14012Sep 27, 2016 3:17 pm Dear All, Those we are still at their Planning phase, please check the locations of your downpipes. They seemed such a tiny and unimportant things when we signed those plans few months back. Now we just realized that we have one down-pipe in our front facade!! I am devastated to see it (though it will be painted in similar color of our brick). Can someone tell me how easy it is to change the location of a downpipe later? img]https://forum.homeone.com.au/u/71902_1474953378.JPG[/img] Regards, Shobnom Cordova Two with McDonald Jones : http://Cordova2withMJH.blogspot.com.au/ Deposit:11'Dec-Contract:7'Apr-CDC:25'May-Slab:23'Jun-Frames:8'Jul-Bricks:5'Aug-Roof:12'Aug-LockUp:12'Sep-PCI:17'Nov-Handover:24'Nov Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14013Sep 27, 2016 5:31 pm What is the standard tile size for living / dining rooms? Our plans say "upgraded tiles" in these areas but I don't if they are 450 or 600. It's a house and land package if that makes a difference? Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14015Sep 30, 2016 12:05 pm pshome Can I change my facade at plan presentation phase on an unregistered land? Thanks. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14018Sep 30, 2016 2:08 pm papa-smurf01 pshome Can I change my facade at plan presentation phase on an unregistered land? Thanks. They said no to us. Hi AKG, We had a base tender of $592 for 31 squares from MC Donald Jones. It looks relatively cheaper than other builders. But I assume there are many hidden things that… 1 17316 Hi, Apologies - I know there is plenty out there on this but struggling to put together the puzzle. We're planning our garage/external laundry to master bedroom and… 0 11725 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 26428 |