Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 09, 2009 2:27 pm We are currently at the stage of receiving the contract with Burbank.
We are planning to build a Violet with them. Since being a first home buyer, we would like to hear from people who have built or currently building with Burbank. So far our experience with Burbank has been very ordinary with a lot of misinformations in pricing Building with Burbank also 2Jan 09, 2009 4:02 pm Hi there
We are building with Burbank also the Revolution - we are still a fair bit of from contract though - mainly have concerns regarding being informed about what is going on and it seems to be taking ages. If you don't mind me asking how long did it take you to get to contract?? Best of luck with the build! Re: Building with Burbank... 3Jan 09, 2009 4:21 pm Its taken us 3 months to get to the contract stage after our land was available........we still have to see the contract..............they take a lot of time to do the engineering drawings. If you don't mind answering.....which part are u building in?? Re: Building with Burbank... 4Jan 09, 2009 5:05 pm Hi there,
We are building in Cairnlea. Where abouts are you building?Have they given you a site start date? I have no idea when they plan to build and its a little frustrating. I don't mind if it is going to take a while I'd just like to know. Cheers Bec Re: Building with Burbank... 5Jan 10, 2009 10:30 am We are building in Craigieburn.......we don't have the site start date.....as we sttill have to see the contract.......we have no idea when they will start building...hopefully we will hear something in the coming week.........as there are some people still on leave in Burbank........once we hear anything we will keep you posted........
Cheers JL Re: Building with Burbank... 6Jan 27, 2009 6:23 pm We are planning to build forrester 4300 with burbank. Just put down a deposit and sent our layout (since corner block) for developer approval. Hoping things will go smooth from here.
http://www.burbankhomes.com.au/homes_de ... use_id=103 Any suggestions on this home please? (Slight modfication to enchance this layout) Anyone has got a list of essential items we need to take what Burbank not providing as part of standard? Thanks in advance Re: Building with Burbank... 7Jan 28, 2009 2:34 pm [quote="grind67"]We are planning to build forrester 4300 with burbank.
Any suggestions on this home please? (Slight modfication to enchance this layout) Thanks in advance[/quote] Hi Grind67. I was also interesting in the Forrester 4300. Have you been able to see it. I couldn't found a display home in Melbourne. Can I ask you what modifications have you request . I was thinking of a 5th bedroom instead of the study, a large sitting room instead of the void on top of the kitchen and I was thinking of building the laundry somewhere else, seems I would like to have full access to the backyard from the family room. Do you know if they would accept this modification? Re: Building with Burbank... 8Jan 28, 2009 8:50 pm Hi Eze, so far we have chosen to have standard Option A (Guest/Bed 5), Option F (Balcony), Option J (Facade corner pergola), and moved kitchen stove towards wall (not center)...kitchen change accepted and quoted
Plus thinking to move garage separately from house but not sure how much it is going to cost for this garage change In relation to forrester display...yes nothing in Melbourne but they said couple are getting built in Melbourne we can visit with supervisor after some stage. In relation to your change, I dont see any issue, but it might slightly delay Thanks, grind67 I am building camellia 29 with burbank 9Jan 29, 2009 1:10 pm Does any one know if North facing land requires extra solar hot water panel (standard inclusion is 2). How much does it cost?
Pricing of their custom options is bit wishy washy. Building contract signed last week 10Feb 16, 2009 4:27 pm hi bec_e,
an update .......just letting u know that we have signed the building contract last week........so what stage are u at now?........just some info from our recent experience....please check ur tender and the prices and check if they are not repeated some where in the tender again.. as we found one......and with the construction days period in the contract.......Burbank has a standard of 230 days after the slab stage......... Cheers JL. Re: Building with Burbank... 11Feb 16, 2009 10:08 pm Hey,
I've chosen Burbank myself, everything has been very smooth so far. The sales lady accidently made a mistake with pricing, but it resulted in me having an additional $500.00 in my pocket - so all good news! Little while to go before I get to the contract stage, land isn't released until July/August. I'm hoping the house will be built and ready to be moved in around February next year, but by the sounds of things with the contracts, it could be a little bit longer. How has everyone elses experience been with Burbank so far? Cheers, bigred Re: Building with Burbank... 12Feb 18, 2009 4:32 pm I'm building a Rochester with Burbank at Heritage Springs (in Pakenham). My experience with them has been that they are very slow to get the contract signed, but once they actually got started things have moved along quite well (though this is my first home build so I have nothing to compare to).
I'm having the 4 bedroom version with the alfresco and HT; I changed the dimensions of the HT and took out one window, otherwise it is as displayed at The Chase. They started site works on Jan 7th and by last weekend the frame and roof are up. I've had a short delay this week as my bricks are not available but I'm told that the brickwork will be done by the end of next week. While the contract does specify 230 days I've been told that they are taking 4 months to complete a single storey house. I'd post some pictures but on checking it seems I can't do so Re: Building with Burbank... 13Feb 19, 2009 6:30 am We're building a Burbank Stonelieigh.
The pre-cpntract stage took ages, but we changed a LOT. Burbank were very accomodating of our changes, and let us do pretty much everything we wanted, Pricing mix-ups were a big issue, but I always asked for estimates of changes on e-mail, then when the tender came through and the prices were higher I was able to refer them back to e-mails and they honoured each price. We had slab laid at end of Jan, frame was up in just over a week, plumbing rough in is done and bricks are almost finished. They are really shifting. The quality of work seems very good, our site supervisor calls me every week to update us on progress. I have to say that if you are prepared to be very careful with your paperwork and keep on top of it, and them, then from what I have seen so far I cannot fault Burbank. If interetsed, pics and vids on our blog www.mytb.org/tony---emma Tony. Re: Building with Burbank... 14Feb 19, 2009 7:07 am Tony & Emma Pricing mix-ups were a big issue, but I always asked for estimates of changes on e-mail, then when the tender came through and the prices were higher I was able to refer them back to e-mails and they honoured each price. We had slab laid at end of Jan, frame was up in just over a week, plumbing rough in is done and bricks are almost finished. They are really shifting. The quality of work seems very good, our site supervisor calls me every week to update us on progress. I have to say that if you are prepared to be very careful with your paperwork and keep on top of it, and them, then from what I have seen so far I cannot fault Burbank. Yes, this matches my experience exactly. I was also careful to communicate with them by email on any variations so that in the event of any dispute on price I could show them the error of their ways I didn't make much in the way of structural changes but I had a lot of variations from standard at my colour selection stage; pre-wiring for the HT room, different carpets/tiles etc. which did lead to some delays. A warning to anyone else building a Rochester; the space they allow for the refrigerator is only 600mm deep. I got them to alter it to 800mm so that the fridge didn't stick out. They did this as a no charge variation when I said that they should pay me for pointing out a faulty design; my research into fridges showed me that no family sized fridge would fit into a 600mm deep space. Re: Building with Burbank... 15Feb 19, 2009 8:04 am I forgot to mention that I'm getting Kevin from New Home Inspections http://www.newhomeinspections.com.au/ (recommended elsewhere on this forum) to do inspections for me at pre-plastering and pre-handover stage. When I spoke to him he said that he had done a few Burbank inspections recently and that he has found few faults with their work. Re: Building with Burbank... 16Mar 02, 2009 5:08 pm Hi all, I am with Burbank and roof tiling is currently being done and then only brickwork until lockup. I just called them to see if I could have the kitchen sink changed to one without the drainboard (bowls to remain in the same position - checked and this style is available). To my surprise they flatly refuse to consider any variations once you are on site regardless of how minor the change. I have experience doing office fit outs on a large scale ($1m minimum) so are aware that it might be too late to make certain changes but do not believe that the kitchen cupboards are already made and the hole cut out!! There is no mention in their contract that there are no variations allowed once you are on site. It took 13 weeks to get to contract stage which was way above what I had been told when I signed up. It then got held up with the Xmas break and didn't get started until late August). If I take off my rose coloured glasses then I can fault them with a lot of other issues, some administrative and some building wise. The only reason I decided to go with them was that I had seen one of their homes that would suit my lifestyle and a relative had built with them and it was the devil you know versus the devil you don't. If the issue with the kitchen sink hadn't come up I probably would have recommended them to others believing that no company would be a dream run. Now I am totally disgusted with their service and wouldn't recommend them at all. Anybody who hasn't already done their colours/selections make sure you give it a lot of thought and get other people to give you as much input as possible because virtually you only get one shot at it and then it is bad luck the contract is signed. The other beef I have is that they advertise the 'Dream Home Visualiser' but it certainly wasn't up and running back in October when I went in to Edge. I had to ask at the end of the consultation about it and the consultant said "oh we can do it if you want to". My house style didn't have the facade I had chosen loaded on the system nor half of the colour choice (bricks etc.) so it was a waste of time. I didn't bother asking if we could do the interior. My advice is to triple check everything the whole way through until you get the keys in your hand. Re: Building with Burbank... 17Mar 03, 2009 6:16 am I know what you mean about the visualiser. It wasn't working properly when we went, and didn't have our house anyway.
As for the variaions after contract though, they did make that abundanly celar to us before signing - that NO variations would be accepted under any circumstances once contract is signed. I think i;t even in the contract too? Their reasoning is that once the contract is signed the house build passes on to the next department for ordering materials and construction program, so they don't want the hassle of going back to look at changes. It;s a little surprising, as they have been so accomodaing with other things - but, it's their perogative I suppose. So far we can't fault the build - both speed and quality-wise. Bricks are done, windows in, facia and gutters on. I really look forward to my weekly visits to see the changes. Re: Building with Burbank... 18Mar 03, 2009 12:27 pm The only variations I have had after signing the contract are things that they want to change. For example they changed a tap in the bathroom because the one I had chosen didn't fit once I had altered some cabinetry.
I made a number of changes between tender presentation and contract signing which slowed the process quite a bit but there was never any problems with variations before contract signing. I'm also happy with the speed of the build; I lost almost 2 weeks due to my selected bricks not being available but I will still reach lock-up stage this week. Re: Building with Burbank... 19Mar 07, 2009 4:14 pm Hi all,
I'm currently in the building process with Burbank, we are building the Sapphire. We are in the bricking process. I too, have approached and asked for some Post contract variations (I am wanting to add some additional overhead cupboards to the kitchen). They very bluntly refused. That is correct, no where in the contract is it specified: no variations upon construction commencement. I have escalated the issue to managment. We'll see what happens. Re: Building with Burbank... 20Mar 23, 2009 7:01 pm Just got back from our colour appointment today. It takes 6 hours! We are building a Forrester 4300, with a few modifications (study into 5th bedroom, flooring both the voids, laundry chute etc). The visualiser was pretty handy. Our first choice of bricks was fine (there are options for two contrasting types in the different areas of the facade) but when we saw them next to the first colour we had chosen for the garage surround, it suddenly didn't look so good. You have to keep your budget in mind every step of the way: the range of options in the basic Category 1 things is a little limited, and it costs extra to change up. But overall, we had fun. The lady taking us through the choices has the patience of a saint- with about forty different types of brick to choose from, it can be daunting making up your mind, and that's just the front of the place! We haven't had any problems so far, things seem to be moving along nicely. Getting the survey and soil testing was the slowest: the surveyors shut down over Christmas, and then we had the heatwave that kept them away. We're demolishing our old place, so I expect the hardest yards are yet to be done; but no complaints at all so far, Burbank have been really helpful. Hi All, Recently we have signed a contract with Burbank and we are not aware that they have just DORSET, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, KENT, PILBARA and REDGUM bricks from PGH are… 0 3127 Thanks for your reply. I will just wait and see I guess. Trying to get some more information from our builder. 9 30233 |