Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 24, 2009 8:40 am Hi everyone, I have been lurking for a little while (or googling things and 4eva getting this sight) and decided it time to join! We are in the process of having our plans finalised by the builder we have chosen but I am concerned about a few things (maybe its just the fact I havnt done this before) Firstly, I feel as though our price is a little to high? A lot of other builders offer comparible things/size and the price we have is about 20k more than theirs. Also the home we are building, I dont like the facade, or ANY of the ones they offer I think it is just the 'style' of the builder as you can pick their homes if you drive around and look at the new homes. I love love love the facades of all the dennis homes and most other builders, but the ones for the builder we have chosen are kind of 'retro/funky' I guess you could call it, but it doesnt feel 'homely' to me. I love the floor plan and havnt found any others that I like and also we have had to make some changes to include a home gym which has now been put into the plans. Im starting to feel WAY to picky already and we havnt even started! The builder seems a little pushy though. Everytime I discuss this he pushes with the "lets just get everything tidied up first and signed and then we can look at all that" But i want everything decided BEFORE we sign off on anything, and I feel as though I am wasting his time? We have already paid the $1500 deposit to get all the plans changed. i love the inside/floorplan, I DONT like the front which I think is just as important. Did you have to compromise on some things that you werent happy with? Sorry for the huge post Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 2Sep 24, 2009 8:53 am Can you try to take a design you like for the front and see if they will change the front to suit?? We love our house plan and are lucky I love the front too but sometimes think we might have over paid but can't help these things!! Get what you want as once you sign they might charge extra for changes . That is my 2cents Forum thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22300 Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 3Sep 24, 2009 8:57 am It sounds to me like your experience with this builder is going to be a stressful one if you already feel like you are not worth his time. If he wants your business he should be trying to help you as much as he can... Maybe if you can post your floor plan and the facades that you like, we can help you find someone who does both the way you want it... after all it's your money and your house. Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 4Sep 24, 2009 9:08 am Thanks for the quick responses This is the floorplan to the house we have decided on http://www.palladiumhomes.com.au/Images ... s-3000.gif The outside 'gap' between the garage and the kitchen will have a 5X7 gym added on with a few alterations to allow the powder room to become the hall/entry to the house. and the facade (which is so hard to picture as it isnt even a photo. As it is a new design there are no others I can drive past to look at!) http://www.palladiumhomes.com.au/Images ... tional.jpg Ive already said that I want the front windows a little lower/centred, and Im not sold on the portico? If anyone can find or has got the front of their home similar to this, Id love to see pics. Its the flat portico I cant picture. I will not be rendering anything (at this stage) And we are paying extra for a colourbond roof. And their will be double front doors. Trying to keep it very simple, but classy Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 5Sep 24, 2009 9:17 am Oh yeah, I see what you mean... am loving the plan, the facade, no so much. But the pic really doesn't help does it. Will keep an eye out for a similar floor plan. Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 6Sep 24, 2009 9:17 am Oh yeah, I see what you mean... am loving the plan, the facade, no so much. But the pic really doesn't help does it. Will keep an eye out for a similar floor plan. Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 7Sep 24, 2009 11:47 am Nice floor plan. It's a little different, which I like. The facade is easy to change where the bedroom windows are, and there's nothing wrong with the flat roof portico. If done properly, it can look quite nice as a feature (which follows the straight lines of the garage parapet wall). Which brings me to one question, is that a garage parapet wall ? It looks that way in the sketch. Will the roof be running down into a box gutter (as opposed to having a gutter on the front of the garage with the roof running into it.) Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 8Sep 24, 2009 12:03 pm Yes I believe it is a parapet wall which isnt much to my taste Im having a lot of trouble deciding. i love the floor plan, dont like the front at all. I much prefer the look if the guttering along the edge of the garage? This is the look I was wanting http://www.dennisfamily.com.au/files/0Z ... a_Hero.jpg Which has a completely different 'feel' to it. As I said though, the builder has their own 'style' which is dont really like Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 9Sep 24, 2009 12:05 pm Makoby, we experienced a very similar situation to you in that our first selection for a builder was a smaller builder. Although I still truely believe we would've ended up a lovely house if we'd built with them, there were just too many little niggling things that I wasn't happy with. We eventually decided to move to another builder and were lucky enough to find a floorplan that was almost exactly the same. I did have to sacrifice a few things that our smaller builder was happy to change for us and now the bigger builder won't - but overall we are very happy with our decision, as well as the cost. I think the thing that you need to always remember is that this is a long and stressful process that you are entering into and if you are not entirely happy now, you need to ask yourself how happy you'll be if issues get harder to resolve once you've actually signed a contract. This is your home and you need to make decisions that you are happy with - not that the builder is happy with. Having said all that - I think no matter which builder you go with - there will always be issues and problems!! Best of Luck!!! Re: 1st time builder...Advice needed please......... 10Sep 24, 2009 1:41 pm It wouldn't be hard for the builder to alter his roof plan and allow the roof line to run into a gutter at the front, in lieu of a box gutter in a parapet. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Hi there, We’ve recently had plans approved to add a 1st storey addition to our existing house for a growing family in Sydney. With the current cost of building… 0 4296 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6901 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Don't think they are designed for double brick. WA has a particular way of building and unfortunately that's the way a large amount of sills are finished. 3 7005 |