who to build with?

Hi there.
I'm a first home buyer and I am wanting to build in or near Doreen.
(We haven't seen a financial broker yet to see how much we can borrow etc yet). I'm just curious and am wanting to do as much research on it all while we're saving for a deposit. Also are there any banks or lenders who allow 100% deposits these days? what are some pros and cons of getting one? And do you have to put down 10% or 20%?

I have been looking at some house and land packages with various companies and have been reading some reviews on a few too.
So far I have come across negative reviews (with reason!) with S!mmonds Homes and Burb@nk. I'm glad I read up on them because they origonally were an option because of value. But I'm not going to put up with their mess that they seem to drag people though!
I'm also looking at Porter Davis and Rivergum Constructions. Has anyone had any (good or bad) experiance with building/buying with them? Is there anyone else you would reccomend having a look at?

I'm new to all of this and it's so overwhelming!

Feel free to inform me on your personal experiances with the company you have built with and any advice you have for me is welcomed too

Just remember that people who are unhappy with their build are more likely to report it on the internet than those who are happy. You might not be getting a complete picture of those builders. There will probably be good or bad stories about anyone.

This site is wonderful for hearing about things first hand though. I hope you get the information you're after.

thats very true you do normally only hear of people's grievances but that is pretty much with anything. A lot of people on this forum have blogs and threads that you can keep updated with their build so you can see the work first hand and you will see most of the complaints are not major problems just annoying that happens to most people when building. I myself have had my problems but if that is worst we get, we are lucky because there truely are some horror stories. Luck of the draw!!

I don't think the banks will do 100% finance any more. I believe it is around 90% and the lender criteria has become a lot stricter.

Ah ok then Yeah I'll have a look around the forums and at peoples blogs to see what I'll be getting myself into haha. We are thinking of building a Porter Davis house. They're lovely and affordable

We've just gone through the finance side of our build and yeah, it's 90% for most banks now days after the GFC (And unfortunately I don't mean the Catters ). I believe the Commonwealth will let you borrow around 95% if you've already got a personal loan or credit card, but I can't verify that as I'm not with them.

Yeah as stated above most comments you'll hear on a house are the negative ones, and I do find a lot of the time people complain about things that the tradies have done, not so much the developer....one constant I've found though - horrible communication with nearly every company :/


As for who to go with, it really does depend on personal taste. I'm personally building with Porter Davis because of my parents - they're with them and have had only good things to say (On the whole) and we liked their house plans.
Maybe a good way to start would be to look at house plans/prices, then look at the packages they throw in (I think they all do it), where they give you a bunch of inclusions for a lower price. You might find that one particular company is offering you something others aren't, that you might consider vital to have in you house

If people are only saying the bad things, how about looking for the least amount of bad things being said

For us PD wasn't our first option, initially we went to see Burb@nk / S1monds who basically turned us away as soon as we told them how much $ we had in genuine savings / didn't yet have a block of land. The sales reps where rude and tbh we where glad we walked out the door.
When we went to PD, the sales rep was friendly and helped as much he could, the broker from choice was very friendly and was helping getting us approved for finance.
Our CSC has been helpful almost every step of the way (a bit too by the book when it came to PCV's though) and the SS so far has been friendly and informative too. The progress of the build is on my blog and thread but so far, every things been great.
I also found out a friend who works for the people when a dispute gets escalated above VCAT also chose PD due to PD having the least number of issues coming through VCAT.

We are building one with PD not started yet, should begin in a month.
Our experience has not been a good one. They ended up being very nice to sell you the house and recomend choice homeloan people for mortgage ... and well in all both put together we ended up missing out on the 32k FHOG and were not treated well with either of them.

We would never go with PD ever again. if we do build we would probably choose a smaller builder who can alter things to our needs unlike these. With PD we never felt we were customers and had a say in anything.

Also remember when a builder gives you the price there are alot of extras to spend on. The PD house we are considering buying has a sticker price of $197k - so far we have a sales quote of $240 and will be shocked if it comes in under $250k when we finish with the electrical (and that doesnt include driveway, fencing, landscaping, etc)

We're building with Pl@ces, the other other PD spinoff. They're all owned by the same group and effectively the overall management and things like selections etc are all done in the same way as PD, theres just some differences.
Firstly the houses sit between the access and lifestyle range in terms of size, cost etc.
They have a few more original floorplans than PD as in they fit smaller frontages, or blocks with rear access for garages etc.
We've gone through the whole contract process and are now just waiting on our land to be settled so we can start building.
So far, there were a few bumps along the way. Some due to their recent system change that all of PD is now using. Some due to human error. A few things changed significantly in cost between quote and tender.
For instance the base price for our house was $170k give or take, whilst our final contract price was $217k.
That said we did make some expensive upgrades, a workmate who is incidently building the same plan house didn't make an structural changes and has less upgrades than us and his came to around $195k.
They do require that their choices mortgage arm look at your finance and push you towards using them as their affiliated. That said we used an independant broker who came highly recommeded, provided them with a finance approval from the bank and for the rest told them to get over it.

We also requested that our contract be re-drafted twice due to the amount of errors and inconsistancies, they also wanted to limit the viewing of the contract to the appointments only.
However we negotiated on that point after paying a partial deposit.

it hasn't been all smooth sailing, but that said i'd still recommend them. For the most part at least when an issue was brought to their attention it was resolved rather than being ignored.

TBH due to the value of the contract, the amount of time we put in to making sure everything was right was considerably more than what several colleuges said they did, now I considered it due dilligence.
Other people may describe it as being anally retentive, as i was picking out spelling errors in the contract, aside from the real issues.

Would we have had a smoother ride with a different builder, maybe but that said H3nley we're not willing to adjust their plans at all from the "standard' variations. PD didn't have a plan that was quite right. Carslile didn't have anything that would fit our block. And the reputation of simmonds and burbank along with the personal experiences of some friends didnt put them in contention. Rawdon hill were promising as well as a smaller builder and we nearly signed with them.

We also considered going independant, we contacted 3 who were reputablely referred.
1 didn't respond to our enquiries at all, the second made an appointment with us to show us through their display house, didn't show up, didn't answer his phone, never gave us a reason. and the third was so busy they couldnt fit us in until at least half way through this year.

As a first home owner, I would be looking at floor plans and the size/shape of the house instead of more so the builder. I built with PD and had what most would consider a fantastic build, it's still an giant emotional rollercoaster though and very stressful.

At the end of the day every builder has good and bad builds, you are better off trying to get a floor plan that -you- like and that fits on the block of land that you will be buying.

Having worked for a boutique building company before who only dealt with customers wanting to spend $500K+ on their homes, I can probably give you some advise in what to look for. Yes a budget is critical but before you can set it, there are several non-negotiables you have to decide on.

Easy you think? Guess again because we are all at different stages in our lives and it's these stages which dictate these non-negotiables and only you know what stage in life you are at.

However help is at hand and no matter whether I had a client who could or had a snow balls chance in hell to even think they could build with the company I worked for, I offered them this very simple formula to discover what they were truely after.

1.) Both you and your partner go into seperate rooms and write out a list of what you want to have in your house. I mean everything you can think of from the ridiculous (including the disco ball in the toilet) to the must have.

2.) Once done and I mean you've exhausted all your options, come together and compare your lists. Those things which match are in and those which don't are out. Not even if you forgot to put in yours after seeing your partners list, if you didn't remember it, it wasn't one of your priorities so tuff titties. After you have made a new list move onto step 3.

3.) You now have your wish list in front of you. The list of, 'If I won tattslotto', now must be divided into 3 lists which you both sit down together and do. The first one you've done already, the 2nd one is made up of 'I need to have this item' and the last list is 'are the must haves and cannot do without'.

The above rules will work with any person no matter what stage you are in life and I can guarantee it works. Yes there will be arguements and tears just over the lists, and just think, you haven't started the building stages yet. Are you sure you really want to go down this path I ask................. HELL YEAH !!!!

I hope this helps in your choices

Mia's Folly excellent advise!

If you think the above advise is tough wait till you actually get into the build... argui9ng with your partner is easy compare to the builder who are experience than you in the game.

BTW we are building with h3nl3y as we were able to find an acceptable mix. Most people end up going with a particular builder just because they are the only one with the 'must have' plan.

I'm very curious to see this toilet you're building...or did somebody veto that idea?

Yes I have to admit I lost out on the disco ball in the toilet. It really is a must have you know, just think of the endless hours of fun you can have just sitting there contemplating your naval while the world just passes you by as the dulcet tones of the Bee Gee play away in the back-ground to help relax your bodily functions. Oh those were the days I can tell you...

hehe. It'd work a treat when the drunks are hugging the toilet as well...suddenly all seems not so bad