Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 22, 2009 9:20 am Hi all,
I've been looking at building a house with *******... and am almost ready to sign the contract (once they make a few final changes and fixes to the plans). I like the plan, and am otherwise happy (mostly!). However, I want to sign it after the 1st of July - to get the extra grant (since I live in Victoria). They are basically saying that if I don't sign before the end of this month (which ends in around a week), my site start will be pushed back from late July right through till October, and they will charge me an extra $3000. It's because they can't get me in to sign the contract after the 1st.. I'd have to wait weeks before they could fit me in for the contract appointment. A week seems to make a lot of difference, eh? I am seriously considering just pulling out.... I am not interested in waiting till October, or paying extra. So.... what other builders have similar value to them? I had originally chosen them as they seemed to have good value plans. I already own the land.... I just need to build on it. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 2Jun 22, 2009 10:24 am We recently pulled out of building with S****** as well. We just had to many careless mistakes which put us off. After my experiences with the large volumes builders I would rather recommend a small private builder in your area. They can generally build in a price which isn't too much different and you get to design you own home. Also we felt more comfortable as they will do a better job as they rely on word of mouth for business. You will always hear bad things about builders, its hard to get recommendations Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 3Jun 22, 2009 10:55 am Thanks for that advice... it's most appreciated! I shouldn't have written my post so quickly... I have spent a while chatting with them about it over the past few hours - and we've come up with a good solution. I will go in to review the contract now, but not sign it - I will instead go there first thing on the 1st of July - next wednesday and sign it on the spot (provided I'm happy with the contract when I review it). Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 4Jun 22, 2009 11:15 am I'm building with Simonds and they themselves left the contract signing till 1st July. I guess they want me to spend the extra money on upgrades. I just emailed them and asked to review the contract before signing. Plus I don't have any contact details for my CSO.. who is it??? Or an appointment to sign the contract. Quite slack I say. Contracted completion date 24 July 2010. What's today's date????? Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 5Jun 22, 2009 11:27 am See that's what I'm having trouble with..... they're letting me have the appointment to go over the contract with them - but they refuse to let me take it home with me. I had planned to take it home to give to my solicitor to also review before I go in one the 1st of July to sign it. But they said that Simonds won't let people take the contract away with them until it's been signed.... and that's what the 5 day cooling-off perriod is for. Hmmm.... Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 6Jun 22, 2009 12:53 pm theres been heaps of threads and posts lately about their contract signing policy - it seems a little ******* 2014 - Prepping to build the Soho 4 with Plantation homes, industrial style 2009 - Built the Brampton with Coral Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15399&start=280 Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 7Jun 22, 2009 12:59 pm Hmmmm thanks for that! I'll check out the threads and see what I can come up with. I don't like the policy, and I was under the impression that legally I could take a contract for review. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 8Jun 22, 2009 1:59 pm webbiegareth See that's what I'm having trouble with..... they're letting me have the appointment to go over the contract with them - but they refuse to let me take it home with me. Arrive at the appointment, get the contract, refuse to sign it. Then, take it home. That's what we did with Simonds. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 9Jun 22, 2009 2:11 pm never sign till a solictor sees it tell them your solicitor has forbidden you to sign anything till he sees it make an appointment with your solicitor for later that same day and tell them that so it wont delay things stay safe happy building Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 10Jun 22, 2009 2:17 pm bingoshelley never sign till a solictor sees it tell them your solicitor has forbidden you to sign anything till he sees it Simonds won't change the contract anyway. They should also provide you with a blank HIA contract (they gave us one) to read, as they don't modify it at all. They just set various values like how many days allowed for construction and the liquidated damages. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 11Jun 22, 2009 3:03 pm hi guys, i'm going to sign with them 2of july,there r some questions 1 when can i get the final price of site cost? is it going to be huge different from the quotation?r they going to let me know when the soil test will be done 2 can i change my color options even i've done my color selection 3 can i ask my admin to send me the detail of the contract(final floorplan, colors, promos, price list....etc) to have a look through? 4 if i don't have a solictor, what should i do? do i really need one? where can i find a good one and how much is going to cost? thankx!!!!!!! Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 12Jun 22, 2009 4:29 pm ashley&eric hi guys, i'm going to sign with them 2of july,there r some questions 1 when can i get the final price of site cost? is it going to be huge different from the quotation?r they going to let me know when the soil test will be done 2 can i change my color options even i've done my color selection 3 can i ask my admin to send me the detail of the contract(final floorplan, colors, promos, price list....etc) to have a look through? 4 if i don't have a solictor, what should i do? do i really need one? where can i find a good one and how much is going to cost? thankx!!!!!!! Once the contract is signed they will charge you to change anything. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 13Jun 22, 2009 4:36 pm ashley&eric 1 when can i get the final price of site cost? is it going to be huge different from the quotation?r they going to let me know when the soil test will be done We got ours after we signed the contract. However, the site costs came in ~$5000 less than provisioned, so we got a refund. Quote: 2 can i change my color options even i've done my color selection Possibly, if they haven't already ordered what you want to change. They will most likely charge you, though. We changed the electrical plan twice after the initial electrical appointment and paid $100 each time for the privilege. Quote: 3 can i ask my admin to send me the detail of the contract(final floorplan, colors, promos, price list....etc) to have a look through? You can ask for the final sales quote, which should contain this information. You should have received a copy of the full colour selection at the end of your colour appointment. Quote: 4 if i don't have a solictor, what should i do? do i really need one? where can i find a good one and how much is going to cost? We didn't get a solicitor to look at the building contract, as Simonds won't change it anyway. We only used one for the land contract. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 14Jun 22, 2009 5:13 pm Thank you Djelibeybi ! I may not change anything, but still want to know my options you r so lucky the site cost is $5000less ,as i know, most of my friends paied at least $2000 more! do u have good experience with simonds? since there r so many complains , i'm getting worried....... Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 15Jun 22, 2009 5:24 pm ashley&eric do u have good experience with simonds? since there r so many complains , i'm getting worried....... Overall, we're happy - we've had ups (like getting half our site costs back) and downs, as with any build I suspect. However, while I don't suffer fools gladly, I also tend not to get too worked up about delays and mistakes: I just accept that they happen, work to a resolution and move on. This annoys the crap out of my partner, who tends to get far more emotional about it. That's why I'm the one who deals with the builder, not him. So, my recommendation is to get to know your CSO and SS well. Treat them nice, and they'll treat you nice. I have a great relationship with my SS now, so he'll actually be honest with me and tell me what I need to know instead of what I want to hear. And in return, I don't waste his time. If he phones with a question, I make a decision immediately, so he can continue working. If I report an issue, I leave a voicemail and email him with pictures and a more detailed explanation. Essentially, I try to be as useful and as out-of-the-way as possible. At the same time, I visit every week and get status updates weekly as well. And this relationship works for both of us. Edited to add that we still love our house, so that's something. We're building about an hour's drive away from where we live, so we can only really visit once a week on Saturday. And now that things like the kitchen cabinetry and bathroom vanities are installed, it's really shaping up to be a fantastic home. Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 16Jun 22, 2009 5:57 pm We didn't get a solicitor to read the contract either as they told us the same thing and we just accepted it. We did get them to send us a blank HIA contract and we read through that first. I have since asked the BACV about this and you are entitled to take the contract and get it reviewed. I'm not sure about the changes after your colour selection, but we managed to make changes to the tiled area (we increased it) and weren't charged for it because we made the change before we signed the contract - the contract had already been prepared so we signed it as a variation but we weren't charged for a variation. We didn't get the final price until our contract appointment but then we skipped the tender process so I'm not sure what the usual process is. For us it was very close to our sales quote (as in it was up by only $1,000) as the site costs came down, and then our colour selections took up that extra. We were very careful with our colour and electrical selections so as not to alter our price too much... My blog: http://artstitcheshome.blogspot.com Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 17Jun 22, 2009 6:35 pm I recently pulled out of a contract with Sim0nds. This would have been my second build with them. They wouldn't allow the contract to leave the office. That was my breaking point. After so many errors in the house plan drawings and a continual increase on pricing I wanted time to look everything over. They said if there were problems to fix them in variations. I refuse to sign 10 to 15 variations because they failed to have it correct in the first place. VERY DISSATISFIED this time round. Also I cant see why they can not sign the contract on your requested date. They are full of crap. just tell them your not available until after then. I made my appointment on a Friday for the next Monday. So they can fit you in i'm sure. The CSO was fantastic however. She was a Senior CSO for the West. Any one building with Sim0nds in the west should pray to have her. NO EXPECTATIONS, NO DISAPPOINTMENTS! Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=27441 Landscaping Thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=43969 Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 18Jun 22, 2009 7:02 pm Djelibeybi So, my recommendation is to get to know your CSO and SS well. Treat them nice, and they'll treat you nice. I have a great relationship with my SS now, so he'll actually be honest with me and tell me what I need to know instead of what I want to hear. .....And now that things like the kitchen cabinetry and bathroom vanities are installed, it's really shaping up to be a fantastic home. Thanks for ur really nice tips, i know it's really important to be nice and honest with them and hope to be treaded the same. I'm going oversea at the end of July with my bub, and have to leave my hubby to deal with them, hope he will survive........... good luck with ur dream house! Re: Trouble with S*monds.... other good builders in West Melb? 19Jun 24, 2009 10:32 am I spoke to my sales consultant yesterday and she verified that you can't take the contract home, that is why you have the 5 business days to cool off. Fortunately, I will have the weekend as well. I told her I don't have an appointment yet to sign the contract so she emailed my CSO (cc'd me) and told her the situation. Well now I know the name of my CSO and have her email address. Well thats a start. Contracted completion date 24 July 2010. What's today's date????? I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 9878 Hi I live in a 100yr old semi and my neighbour added an additional floor last yr and our architect has advised that we can knock down our semi and build a free-standing… 0 37681 Hi All It has been a few weeks since my last update. The build has been progressing well. 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