Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 28, 2010 3:33 pm Hi everyone just walked through a Huxley home today and was impressed. We're looking at a custom build with Horizon Homes but prices are getting a bit scary. So we thought we'd go back to the Project Homes to see which companies could design something a bit different. We have an up-sloping block so the standard project home would need to be tweeked to work for us ...and we wanted something that looked a little different (ie more contemporary than most of the display homes we've seen). Huxley will custom build for us but I'd like to know if anyone has been through this experience. I need to know all the good bits, bad bits and in-between bits. How flexible are they? How do their costs compare? Any hidden extras we need to know about. any help would be appreciated. thanks Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 2Mar 28, 2010 5:48 pm Hi there, Been there, done that and spent a lot of time going through the motions with this company. I can't go into too much detail here but feel free to PM me and I will talk you through our experience. Needless to say, it wasn't a positive outcome. Cheers Greg PS, you can check out our build : building our new home in Hornsby. I will give you my mobile and I can have a chat to you. Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 3Mar 29, 2010 12:16 pm Hi, We are building with Huxley and have been fairly happy. We've had a few hiccups along the way and had a few costs blow out thanks to council and hitting rock. I think the costs are a little higher than some other project home builder but I have heard a few times the quality of the finished products are good. For us it was quite easy to modify an existing plan to suit the block. Check out the blog below or send me a PM if you like. Mick Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 4Apr 12, 2010 1:36 pm Thanks for the response Greg and Mick... 2 weeks ago we spent half an hour with the saleswoman, asked plenty of questions, made lots of noises about how keen we were to build a house, gave her our contour survey and she said she'd call us with a ballpark figure to help us start our budgeting. Two weeks later and we're still waiting. I think I have my answer (and I'm now moving on)....guess they're not that keen on custom building after all... Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 5Apr 12, 2010 2:00 pm I think it's quite easy to slip through the cracks especially when you require more effort than someone wanting a standard plan. I guess some sales reps are better than others but this is a problem with lots of builders. You're going to get used to chasing people up for things. Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 6May 13, 2010 11:30 am Hi 7 months ago finished building with Huxley and I strongly recommend NOT to go with them. Still haven't received all paperwork (certificates, etc..) that was supposed to be supplied shortly after handover 7 month ago. Council cannot issue occupation certificate without it (event interim). 3 months defect period is still going 4 months after. I can give more info if you PM me. Cheers, Dima Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 8May 14, 2010 10:45 pm Hi lina1977, I sent Dima a PM yesterday asking details about the defects and cetificates and haven't had a response. Seems a little strange why they would not issue appropriate paperwork for occuption certificate. How's your build going? There are a few of us around H1 building modified versions of the Monash. Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 9May 15, 2010 7:57 am Tom's Playroom Hi there, Been there, done that and spent a lot of time going through the motions with this company. I can't go into too much detail here but feel free to PM me and I will talk you through our experience. Needless to say, it wasn't a positive outcome. x2. I think it really depends on who your sales person is. The one we dealt with, I felt did not understand enough about building on an upslope. Constant questioning about designs why full split vs half split could not be answered on the spot. I find that odd when they pride themselves on being a split level builder. Also I think the salesperson you get will depend on the level of communication you receive in the early days. Ours again, left a lot to be desired. We got to the point the sales rep went on 6 weeks leave and didn't bother telling us. Also, take the price per m2 they quote you with a grain of salt. In our experience they ended up $100k over our stated budget. When approaching them we advised our budget and requirements, and block difficulties, but we ended up just wasting valuable time. I still really like the design they came up with - shame really. Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 10May 15, 2010 7:19 pm micks_k Hi lina1977, I sent Dima a PM yesterday asking details about the defects and cetificates and haven't had a response. Seems a little strange why they would not issue appropriate paperwork for occuption certificate. How's your build going? There are a few of us around H1 building modified versions of the Monash. Hi Micks_k Just sent you a PM. Our build is very slow. We had a slab on Melbourne Cup day last year and they haven't completed bricking yet. (We do have roof tiles though) I have mentioned my brick issues on this forum before, so that slowed us down. We didnt modify too much. We had to increase the ceiling height on the bottom floor as our slope is over 3M across and added a few doors here and there. I just cant wait to get a garage door!! Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 11May 17, 2010 1:58 pm What a nightmare with your bricks. Are they going to knock down the bricks and start again with another brick? Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 12May 17, 2010 3:14 pm We looked at Huxley when we were considering knock down rebuild but the sales staff really put me off too. He didn't seem to be able to explain to me how the design could be modified to suit upslope and side slope which our block has. He made it sound like it was impossible to build upon. The existing house is proof it's not impossible though. We did get better answers from Montgomery Homes though. We had decided we would go with them except we then decided to buy land instead of Knock down rebuild instead. If we end up hating where we move to then we will go with MH and knock down rebuild where we live now as we are not selling it. Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 13May 17, 2010 3:48 pm Our first home was a Huxley, and me and hubby would NEVER build again with them. Honestly they did not care and were slow. We are currently building with Coral and would recommend them to everyone Good luck Cherie Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 14May 18, 2010 10:21 am Hi Guys, Well it looks like we are not the only people with issues. Before we considered H Homes we were told that they build a nice home but they are expensive. They also take forever, but we figured that all good things take time. We invested $1100 and had a site survey done by this company. Wish that we had not bothered. The home design (Oxford) is a 32 odd square home for $240k plus site costs. When we asked our Central Coast rep how much site costs were, he told us 'about 60K). We questioned how high this was and then he said 'About 40K then'. In our naivity when dealing with a sloping block, we still thought this was too high so he knee jerked again with 'Probably about 20-25K). Alarm bells should have rung but we went and invested the money in a survey...which didn't even pick up whether gas or water had been run to the site (despite the pipes already installed and rolled up and terminated on the block). Was hardly worth the paper that it was written on. Had we had the survey done by another builder, the cost would have come off the home. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after about two months of meetings, emails, meetings, phone calls etc we finally had it explained that they could not build the Oxford on our block and that we would need to go through their custom design department - dear as poison. Our quote, to get all of the inclusions that our current builder lists as standard, came to $396,000, which is about 80K more than we are paying now and we now have plans in for a 41 square home for so much less. What really P&%$sed us off was the fact that HH must have known that they were nowhere near the money and budget that we had, but they continued to waste over two months of our time. That was over $2500 in land repayments and all of the time and inconvenience. My experience is that these guys are amateurish and will fight for the sale no matter what - even if it means keeping you hanging on for no reason. I would offer this info for anyone looking at this company - avoid like the plague unless you want your budget blown to bits and much time wasted. I know that there are other people on here who have had good results with this company and I wish them well in their journey - our experience was not a positive one in any way. Regards Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 15Jun 29, 2010 9:49 pm Hi there, So sorry to hear of your problem and thanks for letting everyone know of your experience. I guess that we all face our trials in this building process (we have been going since September last year and still don't have Council permission). There were just too many alarm bells we saw with HH and we were furious that they wasted so much of our time. Time equals money when you are paying off a block of land you can't live in, plus rent. They just did not seem to care. I sincerely hope that your luck improves. Kind regards Greg. Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 16Jun 29, 2010 10:18 pm thanks Greg, i may talk to you later. Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 17Jun 29, 2010 10:27 pm gotbadbuilder thanks Greg, i may talk to you later. No problems, drop me a PM. Happy to discuss and help where I can. Let me know how far down the path you are and if you are looking for another builder. May be able to point you in the right direction if you are a Sydneysider Cheers Greg Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 18Jul 10, 2010 7:53 pm Our neighbours are building with Huxley. They started building 3 days before us we have now been in our home for 3 weeks our home took 10 weeks to build. The Huxley home has the frame and windows in and just started bricking, the windows were the first thing to be deliverd they are warped and falling apart but they put them in. The owners are devistated. They have not been at the house for weeks Re: Huxley Homes? The good, the bad and the ugly. 20Jul 11, 2010 12:36 am Hi there everyone, With the direction this thread is going, I just wanted to ensure that you have all read the post on Individual Liability located here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=29877 Make sure you have a good read Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! at most it will have a short lintel which could be moved up just below the ceiling or even above. Above means you need to patch the cornice and might need to deal with… 2 61394 You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 16150 do not pay until you are satisfied with workmanship windows require flashing over the head archithrave and up under weatherboards 3 28295 |