Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 12, 2009 9:08 pm I have just recently discovered this forum and wish I had found it earlier. The exchange of information on this forum has been very useful and very interesting to read hence we have decided to sign up and share a few thoughts and hopefully building tips for others. We would like to share few tips we have learnt along the way to help anyone out there who are in the processing of building with M3tric0n. 1. Any changes you want to make to the original house plan needs to be addressed with the sales consultant to ensure it can be done and can be added into the price estimation. 2. Before signing any contract, read through (word for word) all items included and make sure the prices are right as prices changed for us after signing the two contracts. If you do not pick up on these errors, they can and will over charge you. 3. Before colour selection appointments, go and look at display homes for colour choices as it is easier to see the big picture rather than a small sample. If you like the look as it is in the display home, then it might be worth paying the extra to know exactly what you are getting. It also makes the selection process less stressful. All M3tric0n homes are available on file at every selection appointment, so if you like the look of the bathroom tiles at a display home, then all you need to do is quote the house name and location. They have all the details on hand. 4. Keep in contact via email and phone with the Sales consultant to stay in loop with the building process. If they don't return your emails and calls, be persistent by calling and emailing until they return your messages. We have been quite lucky as our sales consultant has been very helpful and keeps us in loop with everything. These are just some of the tips for now. We will post up more if anything else comes up. ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: M3tric0n Homes 2Oct 12, 2009 11:45 pm Thanks for the tips, upgraders. Where about do you build? upgraders I have just recently discovered this forum and wish I had found it earlier. The exchange of information on this forum has been very useful and very interesting to read hence we have decided to sign up and share a few thoughts and hopefully building tips for others. We would like to share few tips we have learnt along the way to help anyone out there who are in the processing of building with M3tric0n. 1. Any changes you want to make to the original house plan needs to be addressed with the sales consultant to ensure it can be done and can be added into the price estimation. 2. Before signing any contract, read through (word for word) all items included and make sure the prices are right as prices changed for us after signing the two contracts. If you do not pick up on these errors, they can and will over charge you. 3. Before colour selection appointments, go and look at display homes for colour choices as it is easier to see the big picture rather than a small sample. If you like the look as it is in the display home, then it might be worth paying the extra to know exactly what you are getting. It also makes the selection process less stressful. All M3tric0n homes are available on file at every selection appointment, so if you like the look of the bathroom tiles at a display home, then all you need to do is quote the house name and location. They have all the details on hand. 4. Keep in contact via email and phone with the Sales consultant to stay in loop with the building process. If they don't return your emails and calls, be persistent by calling and emailing until they return your messages. We have been quite lucky as our sales consultant has been very helpful and keeps us in loop with everything. These are just some of the tips for now. We will post up more if anything else comes up. Waiting for 2010 Land registration.... Re: M3tric0n Homes 3Oct 13, 2009 9:38 am We are building in Lalor Victoria. Looks like slab will be layed in the new year since our land settlement keeps on delaying. ----------- Upgraders ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: M3tric0n Homes 4Oct 13, 2009 2:45 pm Thanks for the headsup as we are about to chat with the same company. We have a question which you may be able to assist with. Is is worth looking for the right salesperson or are they all the same working off the same book. My guess is that you are also working with different people during the process. Do you a say into who you get to work with? Thanks Re: M3tric0n Homes 5Oct 13, 2009 6:17 pm Hi Sassy When you first make an inquiry at the display home office, there will be one sales rep to discuss the house plan and options with you. At this stage, it is important you discuss exactly what you want included into your home for example changes of rooms, certain features eg fireplace etc. Once you pay the $1000 deposit, they will have someone from Metricon head office to take over your file. They will become your sales consultant throughout the whole building process. We did not have a choice but we were very lucky to have a great sales consultant name Jason Wilson. He has been very helpful by offering professional opinions about the house plan and always knew exactly what we meant when we discussed any changes. He always keeps us in the loop with things and always followed through things promptly. So if you can request to have him then I highly recommend him. I hope that helps. What house are you building? We are building the bel-air contemporary fascade but we have combinded 4 of metricons design into one so the house plan is not the original plan. ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: M3tric0n Homes 7Oct 14, 2009 12:53 pm Hi guys We are also about to start building with this company, we have had a few minor problems along the way, but as long as you have everything in writing on the contract and always double check with them as sometimes they forget to take things off and you could be paying for things you don’t want. When you do your tour of the house ask every little stupid question you can think of as all display houses are full of extras, this goes without saying, also ask to be taken outside and ask what is standard and what’s an extra on the exterior of the house, front, back and sides. Eg brick infill’s above windows • Don’t be pressured to sign if you’re not 100% comfortable • Make sure everything you want is on there before signing as variations do cost • Keep on top of things • Chase up your emails and phone calls as they can take forever to reply • Get an independent building inspector, as this will save headaches once building starts Builder; Big M Design; Soho 32 Facade; Ascent Blog; http://mickeyb-soho.blogspot.com Trend; viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23990 Re: M3tric0n Homes 8Oct 14, 2009 3:41 pm Hey Sassy..we're building a Liberty 42 .. we ended up spending a bunch extra...amazing how things add up. Let me know how you go as would love to see another liberty. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: M3tric0n Homes 9Oct 14, 2009 6:55 pm hi all yes it is important to ask all little questions as the answers will be the decider. when we started our research, we compared prices between M and a small builder. When the quotes came back there wasn't much of a difference in price therefore we decided to go with M. I hope I don't jinx myself by saying this but we have are having a good building experience so far. I have read reviews from others in other forums and they have been negative eg. useless sales consultants and problems with building process. Sassy: I can't seem to post a pic of our house plan on so I will describe the changes made. 1. We took out the child's retreat and made 4 big bedrooms. 2. Moved the powder room next to the bathroom. 3. Turned the old area of the powder room into a walk in robe for b.4. 4. Moved the laundry door to the hallway rather than walking through the kitchen to get to the laundry. We tried to move the laundry to the other side of the house near the bathroom but they rejected our request. 5. Changed the layout of the kitchen to the kitchen in Stanton display home. 6. Changed the layout of the ensuite to the Grandview layout. 7. Made the master bedroom bigger by taking out the robe behind the bed wall and put in a walk in robe near near the door. M is very flexible with layout changes now because they need to please the customers or else we will take their buisness somewhere else. ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: M3tric0n Homes 10Oct 14, 2009 7:13 pm Hi Upgraders, We are currently looking to build with M and have been over and over sooo many of their plans. We are wanting to build a 4br with the childresn retreat so I am fiddling with a couple of plans at the moment. My biggest question is how much I should allow for extras which aren't accounted for. So I can base which plan to go for I am looking at the base prices and adding $30k. Is this fair considering the promotion they are offering at the moment will include some options we may have upgraded. I am not extravagent and looks like our site costs should not be much more than $4k. How much more did you spend over the base price of the Bel-Air?? Thanks in advance, Michelle Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=32574 Re: M3tric0n Homes 11Oct 14, 2009 7:15 pm P.S Thanks so much for posting this topic and willingly offering your advice. It is so helpful to read stuff like this! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=32574 Re: M3tric0n Homes 12Oct 14, 2009 7:48 pm Hi Michelle You're most welcome. We are more than happy to share our ideas and tips with others as we didn't have anything to go by when we started our building process. It has been a real learning curve for us but it has been very enjoyable. To answer your question about the base price, we chose the bel-air house design as it is bigger and cheaper than the original house (latitude) that we fell in love with. Our base price is $234,800 for bel-air 37, we didn't take up the promotion they had at the time only because it didnt not match up with the changes we wanted. However the new promotion they have the moment is the momentum is quite good as there are better upgrades which means you might not need to pay more for the upgrades. In total we made $100K worth of upgrades hance the username upgraders We made this choice as we both know this is the one and only house we are going to live in so we wanted to get exactly what we wanted instead of regretting it later on and pay more to change it. I think the new promotion covers lots of the upgrades therefore you probably wont need to spend that much on upgrades and extras. ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: M3tric0n Homes 13Oct 15, 2009 2:12 am We spent $30k in upgrades, on the Riva 33. We had the help of some promotions and we kept to a strict budget to achieve that, otherwise it could easily have been more! Electrical $7,600: Downlights, 4 star heating with zone, antenna, additional ducts for bathroom/ensuite, cat 6 network, extra PPs, external lights, and more! Colour appt: Around $10,000: Stack stone pier $5,000. Brick upgrade cat 2 $1,127. Then doors, stair treads, laminex cupboard edging, handles, privacy glazing, etc etc. Caesarstone was included in the promotion. Timber floors: $6,000. That's to upgrade from tiling to the highest category of timber for most of the ground floor (except sitting room at the front). Carpet: $0, basic category. Tiles: $600, we didn't get anything too fancy. Then $2,600 of other stuff including a kitchen window, rainwater tank provision $1,575, floor drains in wet area, cold water provision for fridge, door from garage to house (this wasn't included in original plan! Yet it was in both display homes) Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: M3tric0n Homes 14Oct 15, 2009 4:41 am We spent $40k on upgrades on the Soho 32, with needing to spend another $30k after hand over. The upgrades we did; • 2.7m ceilings • 2.3m internal doors • Double doors to the study • Garage to House door • Alternated the kitchen plan • Cat 3 Bricks • Cat 3 Creaser stone • 2.1m tiling in bathroom and ensuite • Tiled shower bases • Digital antenna • Phase 3 power to house • Extra external lights • Bi-folding doors • Remote garage door • Window locks • Fly screens • Extra power points/TV points/phone points • Sarking • Brick in-fills above windows • Over Head Cupboards • 900mm upright cook top • 900mm rangehood Thats what I can think of on top of my head Things we are doing after hand over • Heating and add on cooling • Tiling • Carpet • Wardrobe • Laundry Cupboard • Down lights • Pantry/ microwave provision • Driveway • Decking • Fence • Feature walls For now, I'm sure will find more things to do once house is complete!!! Builder; Big M Design; Soho 32 Facade; Ascent Blog; http://mickeyb-soho.blogspot.com Trend; viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23990 Re: M3tric0n Homes 15Oct 16, 2009 4:28 pm Hi everyone hope everyone is well I recently discovered a great new tool from M and would like to share it with everyone. For those who are colour selection process, this tool will help give you a visual of your colour choices as its very hard to make a judgement based on a small sample card. I've been playing with the tool and realised the glass splashback we have chosen for our kitchen is too light. here is the link: http://www.studiom.com.au/envisage have fun guys! this website can be used for Metricon and non-Metricon builders so feel free to share this with family and friends who are in the building game ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: M3tric0n Homes 16Oct 16, 2009 4:36 pm It's a gr8 website, we spent hours on hours looking at diffrent colour schemes, the only thing it didn't have was our style of facade and the brick choice is limited, but over all it helps us heaps. Gr8 post Builder; Big M Design; Soho 32 Facade; Ascent Blog; http://mickeyb-soho.blogspot.com Trend; viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23990 Re: M3tric0n Homes 18Oct 16, 2009 5:42 pm mickeyb, what is sarking and why would you want to upgrade it? Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: M3tric0n Homes 19Oct 16, 2009 6:03 pm btherl mickeyb, what is sarking and why would you want to upgrade it? Sarking is reflective foil insulation that goes underneath you roof tiles or colourbond roof and it works as a thermal barrier, water-resistant/weatherproofing, dust resistant and a fire retarded membrane and also helps with enhance energy efficiency. This is an extra and not standard with our builder Hope that has helped you Builder; Big M Design; Soho 32 Facade; Ascent Blog; http://mickeyb-soho.blogspot.com Trend; viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23990 Re: M3tric0n Homes 20Oct 16, 2009 10:50 pm Hi mickeyb, I've have seen sarking around the walls of the house but never thought it can be used for the roof as well. That's interesting. Are you or anyone planning to trap the heat in the roof and return it to warm the house in winter? We have been to the Herald Sun Home Show last month and found that there are products out there that you can return the heat lost by fan forcing through filters back to the interior of the house. Saves money on heating costs. We are hesitant in considering this technology due to the cost in installing this unit. Per standard, the ducted heating is included thus no need to pay more unless like us and btherl, we have upgraded the ducted heating to a more energy efficient unit at the cost of about $750. (Guess been conned by the electrical people into upgrading as this upgraded ducted heating unit will "save money in the long run and the extra money put in will pay for itself in no time") ------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 - Contemporary Fascade (Non-Standard) ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74709 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 105576 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 23492 |