Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 04, 2008 2:40 pm Hey all,
We are new to the forum! We are looking at building our first home at the Boulevard at Parafield Gardens and are pretty excited about the process, although a little daunted as you may expect! We are just looking for some general feedback regarding Statesman Homes, our preferred builder! We really like the 'Clovelly' design, and are looking to build it with 9 foot ceilings and a built on Alfresco which should be nice! What are people's thoughts on Statesman? We really like their designs; what are people's thoughts on their building supervisors? Are there any that ppl recommend or we should look out for?? We understand this is a big factor in how smooth the whole ride is! Is there any general advice on things to consider apart from the obvious that some experienced people could recommend such as hidden contract costs, etc?? We would appreciate any help at all, and are looking to ge the O.K. from the bank this week and hurry things up as much as possible! Fingers crossed we may sign up this weekend!! Thanks again! Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 2Nov 04, 2008 4:48 pm Welcome to the forum . I am pretty new here too.
We're currently building the Trinity Split with Statesman at the moment. I haven't got very much nice to say right now. It's been 18 months and we have just had our slab poured. No communication, no questions answered, and many, many delays with no apology or explanation. I have no suggestions for site supervisors. You aren't allocated one until the roof cover is installed , although I have been told who ours is for when we do get to that stage. Regarding hidden costs, be prepared. We had variations sent out just about every other week....we were under quoted by $15K for our footings, we had a $10K bill for dirt removal, and another $7.5K surprise when the engineer decided our house needed to be split again, at the carport. Our colour selections were expensive too, the basic range is very, well, basic LOL! All in all, the base house price was $121K (before the last price hike), and it ended up being almost $190K. We also had $10K off during a promotion, so it really ended up being $80k over the base price. And we haven't been extravagant by any stretch of the imagination...we could have spent a lot more! I wouldn't suggest building with them if you are in a hurry, or if you have a strict budget. Or if you are impatient LOL! Good luck. Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 3Nov 04, 2008 6:01 pm Hey Infinite Loop!
Thanks for the prompt response. Am sorry to hear about your hardships!! Our fingers are cenrtainly crossed that we don't have a similar experience! You will certainly have a nice view when it is done, we hope it all pans out in the end for you! Does anyone have anything positive to say about Statesman or could recommend a good building supervisor? We don't want to be put off too soon... lol! Thanks in advance guys and gals! Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 4Nov 05, 2008 12:30 pm Hi Leigh and Sam,
We are about to sign a contract with statesman too (hickenbothum are the same compay) probably on the weekend so far we havent had any problems with our quotation person however we havent started building yet. Are you a first home buyer...i heard that they are fast tracking all first home buyers slabs due to the grant having to happen in a certain time frame. Have you had a quote done yet. We are building the Adelaide MKII HOWEVER we have added $26k mods to this house. Theres alot of things you need to look out for. The base price for our house was $150k Heres a list of things currently on our quote. Fasade $12K Footings $17K 9FT Ceilings $8K Extra Insulation $5K Power cables $5K - we are having our house 40mt from the front 2.5 acre block Windspeed $1k Septic $10K So far our quote is $245k, we have most of the upgrades already included in this figure but i expect there to be at least another$10k at selections - kitchen cupboards/tiles etc. We still need to add things like carpet, tiles, aircondioner to the list ahhh. We too get the $10k discount through statesman and the $21k first home owners grant. Best of luck! Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 5Nov 05, 2008 2:59 pm Hey clm!
Congratulations on your soon to be signed contract also! We are home buyers yes, so we get the $21K federal, and I beleive an extra $4K from the State govt. as well as the $10K special too! Aren't we both lucky!? lol If they are fast tracking the slabs that will be great, I have heard something similar so will ask about that and report back if we find anything out! We have had a quote, base price was $107K and with all the extra's we want are looking at just under $150K. W e are going to be pretty basic when doing selections as we still have the driveway to do (are doing this ourselves), as well as floor coverings, etc. Am sure to be looking out for soil removage fees and the like, hopefully do a fixed priced contract as much as possible! Cheers, bext of luck and we will have to keep each other informed of progress! Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 6Nov 05, 2008 9:51 pm Hi Leigh and Sam,
I am also new to the forum and have just recently signed with statesman. We too also get the $25000 in grants and also the $10k bonus from statesman. So far our experience hasn't been too bad. The only major downside is the receptionist at head office. I have called twice in the past 2 weeks for completely different things, I have thoroughly explained each time what I am after and each time she transfers me to the wrong area... arrgghh!!! Our drawings have also been delayed and we should hopefully have those by the end of this week. They were delayed as our sales consultant hadn't completely specified one of our modifications so they were unable to complete the drawings. Our base house price was $132000 so far with the modifications, footings and garage we are currently at $185000 not including the above discounts. Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 7Nov 05, 2008 10:24 pm Wow, lots of people just signing up!
I have started a new thread on my troubles if anyone's interested. My advice would be to keep on to them. Don't assume that everything is rosey when you don't hear. They don't ring to inform you of delays or problems usually, we've just learnt when everything's sitting there idle for a while. Quote: i heard that they are fast tracking all first home buyers slabs due to the grant having to happen in a certain time frame. I can't see how they can fast track anything, a lot of it is out of their hands. It takes months to process everything, architect drawings, engineering reports and longest of all council approval. If everything goes smoothly like the piece of paper they gave us when we signed, it will take six months for a slab. Best case scenario. Unless you are lucky to have a council which can push your application through quickly, but they can't guarantee nor rely on this, it's not in their control. Apart from that, there is no reason why they'd push first home buyer slabs through first. In my development alone there are over a hundred people (all Hickinbotham) waiting for a slab since early this year when they released more land in our estate (Hickinbotham owned). Nothing's been touched over there. The $21k is contingent on signing a contract, not laying a slab. Theoretically your slab could be laid in two years time (I certainly hope not though!), and you'd still get the payment if you sign before June 30 next year. This is my understanding, I am not getting it so am happy to stand corrected. Challenge this one, I fear it's an empty promise aimed at signing people up! I will just reiterate, make sure you keep on their case after you sign. I can't stress this enough. My whole estate is built by them and no-one I have spoken to has had a smooth ride. The wait may taper off if there is a downturn in house construction thus freeing up trades, which is anticipated, but then again by the look of this thread the $21k has sparked some interest...maybe it's going to do the opposite! Good luck Keep us updated. Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 8Nov 06, 2008 11:20 am Hi,
Im just saying what they told me, something about they have changed the paperwork system for all first home buyers due to having to have the slab down by 26weeks after signature for the grants. Not sure exactly. We are not that fussed if it takes a while to build we arnt really in a hurry. We had quotes etc done before the new grant was given just happened to be great timing i suppose It would be good if we could all enter the "South Australia forum" to keep each other updated. I just wanted to point out that the $4k grant from the state government is only for houses valued at $400k or less. So you may want to look into this further or you may not get it (we wont be receiving this) Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 9Nov 06, 2008 6:31 pm Hey,
That is certainly good timing! We feel pretty luck to be in the same boat! We are looking at signing the contract on Saturday, so we will ask them about preferences for new homebuyers for slab pouring etc. Will keep you posted! Does anyone know if Statesman do a fixed priced contract with regards to footing etc? Or at what point they fix the contract price? Just curious as we don't want to sign up then every cost balloon's to the point we can't afford it. Is quite scary when you think about it! Will let you know how we go! Good idea with the South Australian forum, will be very interesting to hear how everyone goes and how similar the ride is for all of us! Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 10Nov 06, 2008 9:01 pm Hi All
We are building with Hickinbotham and ours was a fixed price for the footings once we had the engineers report telling us what class slab etc. we would need. We had a certain amount in the contract for rock breaking..can,t remember how much,but they didn,t come across any rocks,so we have been credited for that. It,s great to see a few more on here building with Statesman/Hickinbotham as I think there were only a couple of us until now Look forward to seeing everyone,s progress Oh and I also strongly agree with Infinite Loop with regards to keeping on to them...NEVER assume that things are being done...we made that mistake and it wasn,t until I joined this forum and took the advice of others that we started ringing and emailing until things started happening...11 months after signing our contract they started building Once we started harrassing them (we hated doing that) things started happening. Having said that though...I have spoken to several people who have had no trouble with communication etc. with them...so maybe it,s just the luck of the draw Good luck with it all Cheers Mel Building on 9 acres Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 11Nov 07, 2008 1:57 pm Quote: we made that mistake and it wasn,t until I joined this forum and took the advice of others that we started ringing and emailing until things started happening...11 months after signing our contract they started building I wish I had joined long ago for that reason , it's funny that since I have read the advice and experiences shared on here I have all of a sudden I am getting somewhere! I am getting all my answers next week as I have finally got an appointment to see the "elusive" contracts manager! Don't make them feel as though you don't have a right to know what's going on...this is what they have done to us and since reading this forum I've learnt that we have every right. They've even gone as far to answer one of my questions (written) with "that's our problem to sort out"...umm, not acceptable! Get the contract manager's email direct, (PM me if they don't give it to you), as the usual way they deal with compaints and queries takes days and days. And get everything in writing! Take photos of every stage! I am so glad we did because we are about to use them next week! Document dates, even if you think you won't need them. Put together a mini file of your building (good to look back on after it's finished too ). Hopefully you never need it but if you do, you'll be glad you have it. I wish I had documented more in the beginning....everything was seemingly going well so we didn't bother. Oh well. Mel's right, not everyone has a bad experience. I have seen problems with other builders so my advice still applies even if you choose to sign with another builder. As I drive through my Hickinbotham estate, I do have to say the houses look very nice, so I hope that we get a nice house out of it at least LOL! Hmm, and back to the topic of constant variations....I just got another one in the mail today for $324.50, to have the phone point installed . So obviously they don't stop even when you get to the construction phase There was another one about an antenna too? $290? I have to read through it all again I think. I thought I sorted all this out at colour selections. Re: Advice on Statesman and general building 12Nov 09, 2008 10:18 am Well we signed up with Staesman to have the Clovelly build on our block at The Boulevard yesterday!!!
Upon our discussions we were explained that there is a preference, at least with Statesman, to get the slab's poured for new home buyers!? Apparently if a slab is not poured by the end of financial year (30/06/2009) then first home buyers are not entitled to their grants, therefore if the building company has signed up these people who are seeking the grant and promised them the same and don't have their slab down, they are going to be in a bit of a barney! We were assured that our slab should be well and truly down by April/May next year so fingers crossed this does occur and we will be in our place by this time next year, or at the very least by Christmas!! We were also explained that as our land has long settled, our block is flat and design is fairly staright forward (we haven't changed it a great deal from the original) that it should be a quicker and easier one to build! They seem to give prefernce to these as they can finsih them with minimal fuss. Hopefully this all actually occurs as we will no doubt be keeping on top of them! Let the fun begin! You should check your detail drawings, it may show downpipe within brick pier. 14 14124 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18247 Yes, unless you are in a low intensity rainfall area or the area is protected from rain. Do you have access to NCC Part 2 or can you download it? I can email you a copy… 10 12533 |