Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 27, 2021 8:31 am Hey all - has anyone built with McDonald Jones and has any insight to the final cost, compared to the previous estimates? We've received our initial tender and I've added in a sizeable chunk for the studio selections (flooring, electrical, upgrades etc) to reduce the potential $ increase in the studio above what I was expecting. What was your experience like? Did the studio selections vary wildly from what you thought? As an example, the house base is around $400k but I've upgraded/added on about $200k worth of upgrades etc. I believe that will get me more than I want Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 2Aug 27, 2021 10:19 am dunno about that builder, but we upgraded about 150k on base price of a 32sq home. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 3Aug 27, 2021 10:43 am Noname dunno about that builder, but we upgraded about 150k on base price of a 32sq home. how was the final cost when compared to the base + 150k upgrades? More or less the same? Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 4Aug 27, 2021 11:14 am Concretecowboy Noname dunno about that builder, but we upgraded about 150k on base price of a 32sq home. how was the final cost when compared to the base + 150k upgrades? More or less the same? im not sure the question makes sense or I've misunderstood you. Base price + upgrade cost = final price. There hasn't been any movement of the final price. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 5Aug 27, 2021 1:11 pm Noname Concretecowboy Noname dunno about that builder, but we upgraded about 150k on base price of a 32sq home. how was the final cost when compared to the base + 150k upgrades? More or less the same? im not sure the question makes sense or I've misunderstood you. Base price + upgrade cost = final price. There hasn't been any movement of the final price. sorry - might be the way i constructed the question. We had our base price plus upgrade costs build in to the original tender, now we have to do the electrical/colour selections, which would come out of the provisional sums included. From the various posts I've come across, this is where a lot of people get stung for not having enough in their 'upgrades' allocation. Once they've chosen all there selections, they'd get the final cost (which i assume it wouldn't move much from there). Was your final price much different from the first price estimate (if there was a set $ amount allocated for upgrades) Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 6Aug 27, 2021 1:27 pm yeah ok. gotcha. we got all the big stuff out of the way upfront, raised and raked ceilings, flooring, stone choices kitchen finishes, etc. We provisioned 14k for electrical, 20k for cooling/heating and 10k colours buffer. we came in pretty spot on because this isnt our first rodeo. electrical came in at 12.3 and colours upgrades 12k and cooling 21k. on cooling, our builder and their supplier/installer were having a laugh trying to charge 32k for a system that i was able to get done after hand over for 18k. After providing them several quotes to that effect i got a much more reasonable price from them. SO I would recommend doing the same as heating/cooling is usually a pretty huge gouge. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 7Aug 27, 2021 3:25 pm Noname yeah ok. gotcha. we got all the big stuff out of the way upfront, raised and raked ceilings, flooring, stone choices kitchen finishes, etc. We provisioned 14k for electrical, 20k for cooling/heating and 10k colours buffer. we came in pretty spot on because this isnt our first rodeo. electrical came in at 12.3 and colours upgrades 12k and cooling 21k. on cooling, our builder and their supplier/installer were having a laugh trying to charge 32k for a system that i was able to get done after hand over for 18k. After providing them several quotes to that effect i got a much more reasonable price from them. SO I would recommend doing the same as heating/cooling is usually a pretty huge gouge. Thanks mate - appreciate your insight. interesting to hear about the AC - will have to keep an eye on that in the case they try to gouge us! They included a base model as part of the package but I think it won't be big enough/not enough zones so it will be interesting to see what they say the price will be for the upgraded version Re: McDonald Jones - Final price variance 8Aug 28, 2024 11:16 am Yeah, once the build starts, the price is final with upgrades already added in. If costs change, or increase, you should get variations via email to sign off on mid-build. I have seen reports some people got money refunded back end of build for materials not used etc... The significant date is when receive final payment invoice Check that section of contract Bit of fluff by builders prior to that 1 25301 Hi Need to read your contract about when final payment is received. Clearly outlines what happens. In vic, known defects or incomplete work must be completed before… 3 14058 Hey Buddy I am so sorry to hear. I have been going through something very similar. In our case a client owed us circa $200k for the final payment and moved in without… 2 10051 |