Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 221Apr 22, 2009 10:47 pm Yes, I am following these postings. I'm really interested in hearing what people are saying as Wincrest continues to trade on. Just before we heard about Wincrest ceasing to trade for a while (end of January), our Wincrest plans were finalised, our Council DA approved, our pool deposit paid, our demolition deposit paid. Last week we received our final tender. Now we are wondering what to do. There would be no urgency except that there are 5 of us living in a 2 bedroom house and we've all just about had enough. Mum + Dad, 3 x teenagers, 1 x bathroom, interesting! Do we build with Wincrest? Do we buy the plans (copyright) from Wincrest and have an independent build the house? Do we start again with another project home? Do we go owner builder? (We've done that before and not sure if we have the energy) Any ideas or opinions - any help appreciated. Building The Manhattan 39 Trend Fascade building in the Sutherland Shire http://striveandprosper.blogspot.com Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 222Apr 22, 2009 11:03 pm I think you have to decide on your own comfort level. We're building with Wincrest and had started before all the problems. I am happy with the quality of workmanship so far and am finding my SS much more approachable now. My theory is that they don't want their reputation to suffer any more damage so they're going all out. Our house is progressing quite quickly now. The guttering is half on, and will be finished tomorrow. The roof will possibly be started Friday. I even rang the kitchen place to change my cabinet colour, but the cupboards had already been made. I'm hoping they keep up this pace. Only you can decide what option you should take. Do your homework on the pros and cons of each situation to help you decide. Judie Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 223Apr 24, 2009 12:18 am We continued... All good so far. We hadn't started the build before all of this went down, as it took over a year to get to the DA stage (thanks council). We didn't want to have to go through that with another builder and who knows, the same thing could happen with the next one. Now we have a slab.... never thought i'd get that excited about concrete!! Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 224Apr 24, 2009 9:23 am After getting council approval in Dec we're now at frame stage (finally!) and I have to say Wincrest have been very response for us and our SS has been good so far. The invoice for the slab reached us before the conrete had even dried which I guess is no surprise!!! Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 228Apr 25, 2009 7:02 pm peterd are you happy with the quality of work that is continuing on? Yes. My brickies, though a bit slower than others, are meticulous. I can't find fault with their work. (I told them too, and they seemed pleased to be recognised.) I haven't been past during daylight hours to look at the roof yet, but I'm sure it will be done well too. Judie Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 229Apr 27, 2009 8:00 am We have just signed the contract with Wincrest........if you have followed our posts we have had a couple of hiccups - but as soon as we bought the issues to our CO's attention, they were immediately addressed to our satisfaction (with some we were extremely surprised as we thought they wouldn't budge). We feel like going with any builder at the moment will be a bit of a gamble anyway, so we are hoping that they will go OK at least for 12 months - I must admit that it was an extremely difficult decision - we had our DA approved and just didn't want to start all over again......and what probably swayed us was we just can not fault our CO - she is just fantastic, and extremely honest, and I think we would be very disappointed if we went anywhere else anyway Feel free to PM me if you need any more info. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 230Apr 27, 2009 7:34 pm Guys, I would be very weary of them, they are having trouble sourcing materials and not meeting obligations. Recent jobs have had issues, one recent handover delayed as appliances couldn't be supplied. Worrying stuff....... I hope they don't fall over but this is no way to re-build a reputation. Hope all the trades have them on short terms as enough have been burnt already. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 232Apr 27, 2009 9:43 pm M&J+2 Guys, I would be very weary of them, they are having trouble sourcing materials and not meeting obligations. Recent jobs have had issues, one recent handover delayed as appliances couldn't be supplied. Worrying stuff....... I hope they don't fall over but this is no way to re-build a reputation. Hope all the trades have them on short terms as enough have been burnt already. the reason was the supplier of appliances & general hardware has put them on $50,000.00 credit limit & they are spending that every 2-3 days & then they won't deliver any more appliances until they get another cheque. is has only 2 days & then they received another cheque. Appliances have been back for a few days now & they will probably be on hold again in another couple of days. It will be like this until they up their credit limit. I have been told it's not a money problem it's just they have cut down the staff so much & management haven't been available to sign the money releases. i received a cheque which I am very happy about for work done over the last couple of weeks & I am keeping a very close eye on things for any warning signs. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 233Apr 27, 2009 10:07 pm Hi Rosewood, I think a number of owners really appreciate your involvement here so I'm saying this is a positive tone, but in this day of EFT, DirectDebit and what I believe is tremendous faith shown by trades that have stuck by them (whether due to belief or just to recover the pittance offered), not having someone sign the cheques in time wouldn't wash with me... (I'm happy to hear from anyone else) Regardless of intention this isn't healthy- I think we need to recognise this fact. Revised staff levels also show at construction level. Its all connected. don't get the work done, don't get paid, can't pay suppliers, can't progress the job, don't get paid.etc etc Despite inside knowledge of how the game works, we need to remember that there's a homeowner on the end of this chain. Potentially giving the whole building industry a bad wrap. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 234Apr 27, 2009 10:36 pm yes thats right & they do pay most people by eft. I was surprised myself last week when I heard management hadn't been there to sign but I suppose large business are covered by tighter security & the financial controller needs to authorize something before payment can be made. With the commonwealth business banking you have a security token that 2 authorized users have to be there to allow payment to go through, so I suppose when you look at it that way maybe it's a bit more easier to wash down. Lets hope it gets sorted out. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 235Apr 27, 2009 11:16 pm Playing devils advocate, you could always operate to a self imposed limit lower than that set by a supplier (only a small amount like $5K less would do it). Its probably a better show of good faith to a supplier rather than going on stop continually. If the exact numbers you advise are correct, I would not sleep well as a homeowner thinking that my builder only had a $50K float for all his projects and I had $500K on the line. I know you can appreciate, business isn't about the final numbers but keeping the 'right' numbers moving to the right places. Just a balancing act provided you have the ingredients. We save the final counts for selling, winding it up or exiting partners... As for management issues, if I had a business returning from the brink, I'd be very close making sure everything was on track. Late payments, material supply issues, inevitable building delays, vacant management..... oh dear. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 236Apr 28, 2009 12:23 am yes but 50k credit limit is just one supplier & this supplier only lost 10% as they had insurance. The people who had no insurance have continued to supply trades & services. They builder had to cut staffing levels to be able to continue . It would be stupid of them to go full steam ahead knowingly they would be in hotwater again with funds. That would only result in people walking off job sites as they were not getting paid.
We all knew it was going to take a bit of time as some suppliers decieded not have dealings with them anymore & new suppliers came on board. So things are slow at the moment but hopefully everyone will be getting their houses finished. I think the most important thing is not to stir up things & it's a known fact that the owners here are at tender hooks as it is. so far on what has been reported they seem to be happy with the way things are progressing with their homes. Lets hope it stays that way. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 237Apr 28, 2009 12:43 am I agree Rosewood, the builder is understandably cautious, they've had a close call and they've risked loosing everything it is a good sign they are taking things easy. They are also trying to rebuild their credibility and they are probably making changes hence the "slow pace". You have given good advice and everyone should relax and be patient T. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 238Apr 28, 2009 12:49 am im so glad we are owner building this whole process sounds so heart wrenching and stressfull i feel sorry for the little tradies as taking a 60-70% hit must have closed some of these guys down or at the least caused them great grief and hardship that may take them years to recoup from. i guess as a forum you really dont know who you are dealing with and some responses may even come from wincrest themselves who knows. im glad some of you are finally getting your homes built and i bet you cant wait till hand over day stay safe happy building Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 239Apr 28, 2009 11:02 am Thanks to you all. This information is so valuable when we are making our very important decision. We have started to look at other project home companies - although in the present climate there is risk there also. Having gone through the anguish of getting the plans drawn up so slowly and all the back and forth emails with Wincrest (which took almost 12 months) I don't know if I can face that again with another company. Building The Manhattan 39 Trend Fascade building in the Sutherland Shire http://striveandprosper.blogspot.com Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 240Apr 28, 2009 1:17 pm We would also like to thank Rosewood for the information and honest opinion you give in this forum. We have decided to go ahead with Wincrest for a number of reasons and are comfortable (and excited) with our decision. We have found having you (and Judie as well) on this forum a great source of information. Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74717 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 105617 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 23502 |