Browse Forums Building A New House Dennis Family 3Jul 29, 2007 6:01 pm Have just started building with Dennis Family. So far are very impressed. They are up to frame stage and dont seem to lag at all, they even work on weekends!! The supervisor is great and keeps us up to date and the work so far seems like quality!!
Any if you want any further info please just ask Re: Dennis family are they good 4Jul 29, 2007 8:54 pm Thanks mattwalker and cvojkovic for your reply
cvojkovic, did you have different in price between initial offer and the final contract. Also do you have any advice on things worth updating like heating, cooling, roofing, ... ETC. Re: Dennis family are they good 5Jul 30, 2007 10:35 am Obviously site costs were an unknown at the time of getting initial cost, they were happy for us to do our our site cut and fill to save us money but in the end we thought it easier to get them to do with insurance and liability and stuff.
The base price for our house (the Charlton 290 Resort) was $179,000 and all up our contract price is $230,000. Now dont freak out that is including site costs (we have a fall of 1 metre over block), retaining walls, concrete driveway and path , crossover, evaporative cooling, upgrade to 5 star heating, upgrade to 5 star instantaneous hot water unit, starphire glass splashback, all carpet and tiles, change ensuite shower to double, change pantry door to double, couple feature walls, timber garage door and remote, 4500l rainwater tank, add some sliding doors where windows were, add privacy locks to all toilets and bathrooms ( a must if you have kids), add bench and inset trough to laundry, change some lights to downlights, add some extra power points and tv points, add junction boxes to front pillars, upgrade to 900mm stove and cooktop, upgrade bricks with flush finish, render to front of house, upgrade front door and handles, add kicker to laundry, ensuite and bathroom vanity in additional colour. So all in all we were extremely pleased and also got a free dishwasher as part of the deal. When compared pricing of upgrades to other competitors DFH are by far cheaper with their upgrade costs and we just love the look of the house. As we live close to our block we go past everyday and the site is always left clean. We were there one morning after they excavated and the site had piles of dirt and was uneven, I was a bit upset about it. By that afternoon (mind you it was a saturday) it was cleaned up and level. They bought a machine down for the day and had it done before I even had a chance to get stressed about it. We live in Phillip Island which is about 1 hour and a bit from melbourne, they bring melb trades down and just seem ti go for hanger and tong when here to get their job done. Having said that went past today as the guttering was dropped off on sat hoping to see some work happen today but so far no one there!! What house are you looking at building with them and what display location are you dealing with? Re: Dennis family are they good 6Jul 30, 2007 11:55 am Forgot to add that also included a $10,000 surcharge for travel to Phillip Island. We priced builders on the island and DFH were by far cheaper than using local people.
My husband was a little skeptical about the price blowing out but once we received the contract is listed absolutely everything so we were totally aware of what was going on and what was included. Re: Dennis family are they good 7Jul 30, 2007 3:20 pm Also forgot to add that included a h class slab which had to be suspended and required 80mpa rather than standardof 56mpa so that added to the cost as well as silt pits and prob a few more things I forgot as well. Just has a new baby boy last tuesday and still are yet to retrieve my brain!!
To answer your original questions which I went off the track a little, the prices we were given from the sales consultant at the first meeting for upgrades ect were pretty much spot on from what was in the final contract give or take a few things. Re: Dennis family are they good 8Jul 30, 2007 3:46 pm mattwalker Hi Azar and welcome! There should be some helpful info here on Dennis Family Homes. Have a look around or try using the search feature. You could also try: http://www.bestbuilder.com.au Hi there Matt, I am unable to get on the site you have listed. It shows up as "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" for some reason. cvojkovic, Thank you very much for the info provided...we are looking into both NBG & DFH at the moment and i am pleased to see some positive review on DFH! Re: Dennis family are they good 9Jul 30, 2007 9:03 pm Hi cvojkovic
That’s nice we too building the Charlton but we going for the 230 I would love to build the 290 if I can afford it. I really like the design of DFH. I have been to other display houses with other builders they all look like hotels; Dennis is the only one that you feel you home. We building in Bendigo We didn’t add many extras we paid $1000 and got (DFH June 2007 offer) • Silestone kitchen benchtops • Glass splashbacks • Technika 900mm stove under bench oven • Technika glass canopy range hood • Clarke Quattro kitchen sink • Sectional garage door • Square inset vanity basins • Designer tapware throughout Still waiting for the final contract and if it’s not going up by much i hope (my wife got the shock of her life when she saw the different in your price ). I will add few more extras. Being my first house i really don’t know what’s important to update. Please keep me posted with updates, it’s handy that we building similar houses. By the way how much did it cost you to update to the timber garage door Re: Dennis family are they good 10Jul 30, 2007 9:30 pm They quoted $1500 but acutal contract price for upgrade to timber was $1344.
My hubby has said to say we thought of another change, but it was too late. That was to make the rear garage door a double door for easier access as we only have a metre on either side of the house and garage. I have all our upgrade prices if you want anymore just let me know!! The Charlton is a great design and we cant wait to live in it!! Re: Dennis family are they good 11Jul 31, 2007 7:34 pm I thought about the double garage door too in the back, but instead I got the single I think it cost about $400-500 more to get a double one, hope I will not regret it
I will be interested in knowing what you guys will do with the back yard (or more of the side). Hi everyone, Newbie renovator here, after some advice for combining our family room in the picture and the alfresco and make a larger family room. There is a flush sill… 0 4845 Ask the council if there is a chance of getting build over easement exemption. Sometimes easements are unused and 24cm is not all that much. Good luck. And yes any builder… 2 13745 |