Building with Montgomery Homes

jga · Dec 09, 2021 7:40 pm

TrickyRickyDoo

Just an update from our pre-construction process, things have suddenly moved rapidly recently with the selections at Thynk + Kitchen Cultures, final lodgement plans etc all going through and CDC in progress. Was very impressed with Thynk albeit accepting that prices with the builders margin in are a little higher, but there is some wiggle room for negotiation.

Good to know… we have external selections at the beginning of Feb. Land is still kicking along with the road still being dug out and flattened.

TrickyRickyDoo · Dec 09, 2021 7:42 pm

jga

TrickyRickyDoo

Just an update from our pre-construction process, things have suddenly moved rapidly recently with the selections at Thynk + Kitchen Cultures, final lodgement plans etc all going through and CDC in progress. Was very impressed with Thynk albeit accepting that prices with the builders margin in are a little higher, but there is some wiggle room for negotiation.

Good to know… we have external selections at the beginning of Feb. Land is still kicking along with the road still being dug out and flattened.

If you want an earlier appointment its worth calling them, they seem to have more availability than the website would suggest. Is the land prep the main factor determining when you'll be ready to build?

jga · Dec 09, 2021 7:46 pm

TrickyRickyDoo

jga

TrickyRickyDoo

Just an update from our pre-construction process, things have suddenly moved rapidly recently with the selections at Thynk + Kitchen Cultures, final lodgement plans etc all going through and CDC in progress. Was very impressed with Thynk albeit accepting that prices with the builders margin in are a little higher, but there is some wiggle room for negotiation.

Good to know… we have external selections at the beginning of Feb. Land is still kicking along with the road still being dug out and flattened.

If you want an earlier appointment its worth calling them, they seem to have more availability than the website would suggest. Is the land prep the main factor determining when you'll be ready to build?

MH only had 1 appt before Xmas… I’d be keen to visit thynk just for a browse…

Yeah land isn’t registered yet so we are trying to get most stuff done before that so we don’t fluff around once it’s registered

TrickyRickyDoo · Dec 09, 2021 7:48 pm

jga

MH only had 1 appt before Xmas… I’d be keen to visit thynk just for a browse…

Yeah land isn’t registered yet so we are trying to get most stuff done before that so we don’t fluff around once it’s registered

You can actually call Thynk for that too, I only knew that on the day I visited, but they allow a 30 minute pre-viewing to have a look around and get some inspiration.

jga · Dec 09, 2021 7:52 pm

TrickyRickyDoo

jga

MH only had 1 appt before Xmas… I’d be keen to visit thynk just for a browse…

Yeah land isn’t registered yet so we are trying to get most stuff done before that so we don’t fluff around once it’s registered

You can actually call Thynk for that too, I only knew that on the day I visited, but they allow a 30 minute pre-viewing to have a look around and get some inspiration.

Yeah ok that sounds like a great idea… sick of looking at Pinterest hahaha

TrickyRickyDoo · Jan 19, 2022 12:11 pm

Just an update to mention that Montgomery homes extended our tender expiry by 2 months due to the delays and have "assure you that regardless of any material shortages and labour increases during these 6 months, your home design price has been protected from any turbulent market fluctuations.".

Despite the delays, they appear to be doing the right thing in all other respects.

Ashington Homes · Jan 20, 2022 5:15 am

TrickyRickyDoo

Just an update to mention that Montgomery homes extended our tender expiry by 2 months due to the delays and have "assure you that regardless of any material shortages and labour increases during these 6 months, your home design price has been protected from any turbulent market fluctuations.".

Despite the delays, they appear to be doing the right thing in all other respects.

That's great news.

I was talking to some industry colleagues on Tuesday who were telling me about one very large builder who is now handing back contracts on a regular basis.

So it's awesome to see that Montgomery are able to honour their prices. Not sure how they are doing it, but the fact they are is brilliant.

hogai · Feb 01, 2022 6:25 pm

Unfortunately for us the 180 fixed price terms is ending in Feb and they’ve proposed a 0.25% prorate payment which ends up being about $2k per fortnight to keep the price fixed. Plans not submitted yet to the council and there are aspects in the contract where the price is still not fixed such as site costs! Looking at paying this fee for 4 months at least until we get to construction phase. We haven’t done anything to slow the process down and have been waiting for them to finalize and submit to council for a few months now.
Almost feel like they’re pushing us out. If they can’t keep all their clients I’d rather just be told then create a situation where I have decide to leave. So we are looking at most likely leaving them and looking elsewhere for a builder.
Communication has been poor and very slow. It’s usually through email rather than giving you a phone call even when you request one.

So stressful at the moment with everything happening.

TrickyRickyDoo · Feb 01, 2022 6:43 pm

hogai

Unfortunately for us the 180 fixed price terms is ending in Feb and they’ve proposed a 0.25% prorate payment which ends up being about $2k per fortnight to keep the price fixed. Plans not submitted yet to the council and there are aspects in the contract where the price is still not fixed such as site costs! Looking at paying this fee for 4 months at least until we get to construction phase. We haven’t done anything to slow the process down and have been waiting for them to finalize and submit to council for a few months now.
Almost feel like they’re pushing us out. If they can’t keep all their clients I’d rather just be told then create a situation where I have decide to leave. So we are looking at most likely leaving them and looking elsewhere for a builder.
Communication has been poor and very slow. It’s usually through email rather than giving you a phone call even when you request one.

So stressful at the moment with everything happening.

That's not good, where are you building? Are you on a new site or a knock down rebuild? How close are you to having plans submitted to council?

Nicole99 · Feb 01, 2022 7:12 pm

We are in the EXACT same position . Waiting for basix to be submitted which is meant to take a few days and is taking weeks . 180 days ends in a month! None of the delays are from us !

We feel totally stuck too! So frustrating !

How long have you been waiting to go to council ?

jga · Feb 01, 2022 7:13 pm

hogai

Unfortunately for us the 180 fixed price terms is ending in Feb and they’ve proposed a 0.25% prorate payment which ends up being about $2k per fortnight to keep the price fixed. Plans not submitted yet to the council and there are aspects in the contract where the price is still not fixed such as site costs! Looking at paying this fee for 4 months at least until we get to construction phase. We haven’t done anything to slow the process down and have been waiting for them to finalize and submit to council for a few months now.
Almost feel like they’re pushing us out. If they can’t keep all their clients I’d rather just be told then create a situation where I have decide to leave. So we are looking at most likely leaving them and looking elsewhere for a builder.
Communication has been poor and very slow. It’s usually through email rather than giving you a phone call even when you request one.

So stressful at the moment with everything happening.

Yeah we have the same.. 1.5k per fortnight and we haven’t hit land register so it’s going to add up to a fair bit for us depending on timeframe it might be more effective for us to have a new tender drawn up.. 🤷🏻‍♂️

TrickyRickyDoo · Feb 02, 2022 1:19 pm

We paid our deposit last June, have all our selections completed, awaiting DA submission imminently.

Our tender expiry was extended by 2 months and really don't want to be hit with any price rises as we've already gone over heavily on our selections.

TrickyRickyDoo · Feb 10, 2022 6:51 pm

Has anyone had any progress?

TrickyRickyDoo · Mar 02, 2022 9:21 pm

So I'm guessing you all received the letter from Montgomery today advising about the impacts of COVID-19 and the delays? Not really sure what it actually means. I wondered whether they are hoping that some people will voluntarily cancel their contracts?

Nicole99 · Mar 03, 2022 6:00 am

We have not had that letter yet . Are you close to contract signing ? I’ve heard a few ppl getting near to signing contracts -

TrickyRickyDoo · Mar 03, 2022 6:30 am

Nicole99

We have not had that letter yet . Are you close to contract signing ? I’ve heard a few ppl getting near to signing contracts -

Yes, our DA should be approved imminently. It's been an unexpectedly long journey. The only reason we've stayed with Montgomery is that several friends have built with them and the quality is good (for a volume builder) whilst the 3 level design is what we wanted for our sloping block. The only alternative for the Riviera we considered was the GJ Gardner Seaview.

Regardless i'm pretty anxious and wondering what the actual timings will be from DA to contract signing to start of build to handover.

jga · Mar 03, 2022 6:50 am

TrickyRickyDoo

So I'm guessing you all received the letter from Montgomery today advising about the impacts of COVID-19 and the delays? Not really sure what it actually means. I wondered whether they are hoping that some people will voluntarily cancel their contracts?

Hey TrickyRicky,

It is certainly a fun time... although we haven't received a letter like you stated, we were hoping for land registration within the next month but looks like its been pushed back to August. We have a decision to make as from now, each fortnight the price goes up a fair amount and wondering if its worth canning the current tender and waiting (taking the price hike pain) or dealing with the incremental increases. I might try to negotiate when we get closer?

But like you've said, for a VB the quality and finishes appear to be excellent and I haven't heard of many problems with MH, once the build starts. I've been following a few people on Insta and they haven't had issues. But you always see someone complaining about the other builders.

I try to have the mantra, yes it is frustrating in the heat of the moment with delays and whatnot, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel (no matter how far away it seems now) and will eventually get there, and once you are in, you wont think of the heartache it took to get there. :-)

J.

Nicole99 · Mar 03, 2022 6:55 am

TrickyRickyDoo

Nicole99

We have not had that letter yet . Are you close to contract signing ? I’ve heard a few ppl getting near to signing contracts -

Yes, our DA should be approved imminently. It's been an unexpectedly long journey. The only reason we've stayed with Montgomery is that several friends have built with them and the quality is good (for a volume builder) whilst the 3 level design is what we wanted for our sloping block. The only alternative for the Riviera we considered was the GJ Gardner Seaview.

Regardless i'm pretty anxious and wondering what the actual timings will be from DA to contract signing to start of build to handover.

How long has your DA been in council ? We’ve been told it’s .25% increase per fortnight from mid march once tender expires . We still haven’t had electrical appt yet - I guess the longer the build the longer we have to save for our extras like landscaping … it’s a catch 22 .

TrickyRickyDoo · Mar 03, 2022 7:20 am

Nicole99

TrickyRickyDoo

Nicole99

We have not had that letter yet . Are you close to contract signing ? I’ve heard a few ppl getting near to signing contracts -

Yes, our DA should be approved imminently. It's been an unexpectedly long journey. The only reason we've stayed with Montgomery is that several friends have built with them and the quality is good (for a volume builder) whilst the 3 level design is what we wanted for our sloping block. The only alternative for the Riviera we considered was the GJ Gardner Seaview.

Regardless i'm pretty anxious and wondering what the actual timings will be from DA to contract signing to start of build to handover.

How long has your DA been in council ? We’ve been told it’s .25% increase per fortnight from mid march once tender expires . We still haven’t had electrical appt yet - I guess the longer the build the longer we have to save for our extras like landscaping … it’s a catch 22 .

Our day has been in for about 3 weeks. Lake Macquarie council seem to be reasonably quick at working through the DA.

aplasticow · Mar 03, 2022 8:02 am

TrickyRickyDoo

Nicole99

We have not had that letter yet . Are you close to contract signing ? I’ve heard a few ppl getting near to signing contracts -

Yes, our DA should be approved imminently. It's been an unexpectedly long journey. The only reason we've stayed with Montgomery is that several friends have built with them and the quality is good (for a volume builder) whilst the 3 level design is what we wanted for our sloping block. The only alternative for the Riviera we considered was the GJ Gardner Seaview.

Regardless i'm pretty anxious and wondering what the actual timings will be from DA to contract signing to start of build to handover.

Depends a lot on situation, because there's a bunch of stuff that can be done by MH while waiting for DA (but frankly I think they are so slammed at the moment, everything is just sitting in a q)

Our experience. DA was approved mid Jan. We signed Contracts yesterday
You then have 20days to secure funds and provide 1st progress payment
Once they receive proof of funds, they then have 20 days to start consstruction
Depending on your Contract Lenght (changes from house to house, but bank on 40-50weeks) ... That's how long it will take to build, provided there's no major delays (weather, material shortages, giant boulders that needs removing, owner instigated changes mid build blah blah blah)

Hope this gives you some type of idea

Realistically, once you have signed on the dotted line, there "should" be a fence and a portaloo going up on your property within 40 calendar days