Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 23, 2007 1:56 pm Hi,
I am thinking to go either with 1) National Builders Group ( Buckingham 46E) or 2) Charlisie Homes. (The Grande 43) National Builders said tht they are happy to accomodate our custom design/requiremenrs (i.e. to have 1 extra master room at ground floor). Hence I prefer to go with them unless Charlisie is happy to do same (haven't had chance to talk to them). Hence, I am wondering, If anybody has experiecen or any comment on National Builders Group please. thanks DM Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 2Feb 03, 2008 3:12 pm Hi DM,
We had a couple of changes done to the buckingham and NBG was happy to oblige....so no worries in change of design with NBG. Have you decided which builder you're going with yet? Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 3Feb 03, 2008 4:50 pm Hi, we are now building with NBG, paid our deposit on thursday, So far they seem lke really good value for money.
They are very accomodating when you want to change something and very flexible if you want use your own materials. No negatives to report yet, only good things. Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 4Feb 03, 2008 8:27 pm We're building the Buckingham 36 with NBG - made heaps of changes - changes cost money but they are most happy to oblige. Our final drawings have been done and we pick our colours this week and so far no problems at all. Fi has moved in!! Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 5Sep 22, 2008 5:41 pm Hi Everyone,
Could someone please provide some further info. - regards to NBG. Paid the initial deposit, had property inspected by the town planner and about to proceed with the town planning stage and wondered if we should go ahead with the process. We are located North-East Melb (Preston). They seems to have the most value for money package but saw alot of bad press about them in the past. Hopefully someone here can shed some light. Much appreciated. Thank you.... Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 6Sep 22, 2008 7:07 pm We're currently building with NBG. Our customer service rep was appalling and basically had no idea what he was talking about and would rarely return phone calls. The only time he hurried anything was when he knew he could get a bonus if we had our finals signed off by a certain date.
It took 6 - 8 months to get through all the red tape and paperwork but our builder is bloody fabulous. We'd heard the negative press surrounding NBG, but quite frankly, you can never please everyone all of the time and every builder has so some negative press on occasions. At one point we considered M in our area, but the stories we heard certainly turned us toward NBG. The only thing I can suggest is to find out who your actual builder will be and ask questions from there - someone is bound to know his work. The other thing we did is make early contact with the builder and got him to take us through several homes he was currently building so we could get a feel for his quality of work. There had been some negative press about our builder, but a work colleague of mine ( a former brickie) told me some subcontractors don't like to work for that builder because he's so damn fussy. Suits us fine! Our builder has been really accomodating with any changes and with sourcing alternative materials for us. I guess what I'm saying is that it just takes some homework. Our slab is being poured this week and the builder has committed to getting us in by Xmas. Fingers crossed. Cheers, Building in remote, regional Vic We have roof, frame, walls, plumbing, electrical....but no bricks! Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 7Sep 22, 2008 8:15 pm Hi Try, We are building a few suburbs over from you with NBG.
Well really we started with NBG but now with the builder they assigned. I am so far extremely happy. We have a builder in charge of our block who foresees problems and communicates. My only complaint is that he takes his time - too many projects on at once. The start up with NBG though took time and they are inconsistent in their pricing and information. No serious complaints though. PM me if you have questions. Fi has moved in!! Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 8Sep 22, 2008 9:43 pm Ditto with the two above comments. I have also found their initial communication and efficiency somewhat lacking, but since the assigned builder has actually started, I cannot be happier. Everything is going along pretty smoothly. They started on the frame today (before the rain hit that is.) Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 10Sep 23, 2008 9:52 am Hi,
We started off with NBG but are now with Carlisle. NBG put our site costs at 32000 whereas M3tricon put them at 12500.00 - a huge difference. We are still waiting to see what Carlisle costs will come in at. They also use a different building system to other companies. They hand your project entirely over to a builder and your contract is with that builder rather than NBG. NBG seems to be a marketing vehicle and almost like a co-op in some ways. As the others have said chat with the particular builder they are going to place you with and satisfy yourself as to their quality. Dale. Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 11Sep 23, 2008 5:07 pm Thank you guys for the feedback, really need any support/feedback I can get at this stage cuz of the cost involved. Am really grateful that everyone here is so helpful. Million Thanks....
At the moment, NBG said they can't give us the list of builders until we have the town planner (under contract by them) to do all the planning permit, archit. and site survey work which will cost us about $7k (not included in the quote/parkage) and then when we have that done and ok'ed the go ahead with NBG then they will provide the list of builders. Does this sounds correct? Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 12Sep 23, 2008 7:21 pm No that doesn't sound correct. For us, we paid $500.00 up front for the soil test. Once the results came back, we were presented with an initial quote. At that time we were able to walk away with a $150 refund ($500 minus the cost of the soil test), or pay $1500.00 for drawings to be commenced. At no stage were we asked to fork out for a town planner or anything like that. We had to get developers approval once all the plans had been prepared and then council permits from a surveyor (builder organised both permits and developers approval on our behalf). We were assigned the builder after we had accepted their prices and have dealt with that builder since approximately March08. Hope that helps. Happy to answer any more questions you might have. Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 13Sep 23, 2008 7:23 pm What house are you looking at Try123? Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 14Sep 23, 2008 8:18 pm Its a Townhouse 18E on the NBG website. We were told by the NBG rep that before we could proceed with the building, we have to talk to the town planner to get all the permits and site survey. The town planner is like a sub-contractor with NBG and we pay them for their service seperately. So the $7K is for all the work done till just before the building stage (i suppose??).
Once that's done, comes the building stage. At least that's what the NBG rep. told me.....?? Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 15Sep 23, 2008 8:22 pm That sounds completely wrong to me. As I said earlier, $500 for the soil test, $1500 after receiving the initial quote, and then the balance of the 5% deposit if you want to proceed after being given the final costings.
Any others please correct me if I'm wrong but i'm sure that's how it worked for us. Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 17Sep 23, 2008 10:46 pm Mel&Em No that doesn't sound correct. For us, we paid $500.00 up front for the soil test. Once the results came back, we were presented with an initial quote. At that time we were able to walk away with a $150 refund ($500 minus the cost of the soil test), or pay $1500.00 for drawings to be commenced. At no stage were we asked to fork out for a town planner or anything like that. That was the same for us. We're building in Greensborough on an exisitng block. Our site costs weren't too bad at all (though it is pretty flat). From scraping the block to lock up took 2 months which I think is good. Post contract changes don't have a penalty fee and our building has been obliging with them all. I feel we're getting a lot for our $$$. We weren't after a grand palace- just a home to raise the kids in! I would recommend them as we've had a fairly smooth ride. Please PM if you've got any specific questions. anthea Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 18Sep 23, 2008 11:07 pm Try 123, just re-read your posts. Are you sub dividing a block? that could be what the extra $$ is for. If not, then I don't know why they are talking about a town planner for. Give NBG a call and ask to speak to Len. He should sort you out.
When we were signing up with them, they had their whole process laid on on their documents. $500 up front no obligation etc. I do not understand why yours would be any different. Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 19Sep 24, 2008 8:40 am We have just started the process with NBG and have paid $1000 to have soil testing and a cost estimation done on our plans. This is meant to take 2-3 weeks.
If we decide not to go ahead we get $150 back, if we decide to go ahead, we pay another $2000 to get plans drawn up and a locked in price for the house. Re: Any comment on National Builders Group 20Sep 24, 2008 12:42 pm Hi,
Same for us with NBG. We paid $1000 and got soil report and costing on everything. We were shocked by the cost of some changes and the site works so didn't proceed and got $150 refunded promptly. Dale. 4 14468 Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. We definitely wish to settle and get these people out of our life. They are trying to charge us interest on late… 7 14280 Look at your bill from the electricity company. It should detail the charges. You will need to do some estimating and some calculations. Then charge the… 8 4255 |