Browse Forums Building A New House Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14044Oct 14, 2016 10:39 am daley229 If it is a building defect that does not comply with Australian Building tolerance, then I would strongly consider lodging a complaint with Fair Trading....they are the regulating authority so lodge a complaint and keep at it.....We thought building your own home was supposed to be a fun and exciting time, but ours is anything but....Our treatment by our SS and senior SS has been nothing short of disgraceful...when we questioned obvious defects at our PCI, the senior SS said we should not expect such high standards from MJH because they are only a project builder! Hello, what about building code standards. Even told us he could not comment on extremely substandard cornice finish because he is only a carpenter....MJH are so stretched you will find a lot of your SS are not even qualified builders...so how can they seriously maintain quality control if they don't know minimum building standards. Stay posted, as more to come. Prior to signing the contract I queried about access for a building inspector to get access throughout the build. I was assured both in email prior to contract signing and verbally during the contract signing that this would not be a problem and they allow access for a building inspector. Fast forward to starting on my site and the SS has said he's been told from the Construction Manager that no building inspector is allowed on site to inspect the slab form/steel-work before it's poured. After to'ing and fro'ing with management and not getting anywhere I had gotten to the point of lodging a complaint with Fair Trading. Also I did notice that MJH made it's maiden appearance on the August 2016 list of businesses that NSW Fair Trading received over 10 complaints in a month for... EDIT: Since my original post my SS has made contact and looks like we reached an agreement. Which is certainly good to see. I probably should have also clarified that I don't actually have any issues with the SS himself, he does seem to be reasonable to deal with. Building the Cordova One with McDonald Jones at Calderwood Valley, NSW: http://calderwoodvalley.blogspot.com.au/ Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14045Oct 14, 2016 3:20 pm Hello, has anybody gone with either Sepia or Santa Monica timber flooring? If yes, would appreciate your feedback (and may be a couple of pics?) . Finding it hard to decide between them! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14046Oct 14, 2016 3:38 pm Jazz926. Thats great Jazz. God my gyperock goes in next week single story home and they say March and knowing my builder Masterton probs april. I so wish i built with M.D.Jones but they could not do my attached granny at the time. I seriously dont know what takes them so long after gyprock 90% of the builders get house complete in 8 to 12 weeks max after gyprock. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14047Oct 17, 2016 10:06 am Quick progress update for those following. Our electrical fitout has been completed on Saturday. The rest of the internal painting will be done this week. After that it's just the rest of the fitouts like mirrors, bath tubs, shower screens and etc etc. Hoping to get a PCI date soon! Blogs has been updated with a bucket load of photos. Our McDonald Jones Cordova Two Build - http://cordovatwomjh.blogspot.com.au Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14048Oct 17, 2016 12:10 pm Jazz926 Quick progress update for those following. Our electrical fitout has been completed on Saturday. The rest of the internal painting will be done this week. After that it's just the rest of the fitouts like mirrors, bath tubs, shower screens and etc etc. Hoping to get a PCI date soon! Blogs has been updated with a bucket load of photos. Looks great Jazz. Our PCI is planned for 27-October though we are having a pre-PCI this Thursday. looks like MJH will handover both Cordova two around same time! Regards, Shobnom Cordova Two with McDonald Jones : http://Cordova2withMJH.blogspot.com.au/ Deposit:11'Dec-Contract:7'Apr-CDC:25'May-Slab:23'Jun-Frames:8'Jul-Bricks:5'Aug-Roof:12'Aug-LockUp:12'Sep-PCI:17'Nov-Handover:24'Nov Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14049Oct 17, 2016 1:01 pm ZerinShobnom Jazz926 Quick progress update for those following. Our electrical fitout has been completed on Saturday. The rest of the internal painting will be done this week. After that it's just the rest of the fitouts like mirrors, bath tubs, shower screens and etc etc. Hoping to get a PCI date soon! Blogs has been updated with a bucket load of photos. Looks great Jazz. Our PCI is planned for 27-October though we are having a pre-PCI this Thursday. looks like MJH will handover both Cordova two around same time! Exciting. I think yours is probably still a week or two ahead of us. We haven't got a PCI date yet. Our McDonald Jones Cordova Two Build - http://cordovatwomjh.blogspot.com.au Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14050Oct 18, 2016 7:05 pm And another word of advice. If you opt to pay the $550 for overhead cabinet to fridge space, make sure your refrigerator (or intended) refrigerator will fit the space as opposed to thinking it naturally would. Colour Consultant didn't advise, we didn't ask and assumed it surely should be OK....Well guess what, it doesn't....Remedy, get rid of $4K fridge or rip out $550 overhead cupboard....also if you intend to do screed to main flooring tiles after handover, check the dishwasher will fit.....because guess what, we have a 10mm gap left which MJH either didn't consider or didn't give a Rats. Totally over this nightmare of a build....and still they want to repair our $10K caesarstone bench that was damaged by their readies....Wife in tears....hate this whole experience.... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14051Oct 19, 2016 10:50 am Sorry to hear that daley229. I guess it depends on your site supervisor. We had a great site supervisor, Adrian. He actually asked us what we intended to do for our flooring so that he could ensure the dishwasher would fit. We told him we are thinking of doing solid timber floors so he ensured there was enough room so our dishwasher would fit after the flooring was done. He also was willing to cut all our doors down so they would clear the timber floors but we told him to leave them just in case we ended up doing the timber look tiles instead. We didn't do the overhead cabinet to the fridge space (which I had been regretting) but after hearing what you said I am glad we didn't now so we can take care of that after we get the fridge we want. I hope you get your issues sorted. CathyLeigh Building the Monte Carlo Executive with rear activities with Balinese Resort Facade, Salt Water Beach Estate, Wallabi Point Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14052Oct 19, 2016 1:27 pm Hi, Has anyone got their Home theater and home hub installation done with Steve Sot? Would like to know your experience on how it went and the quality of installation? At what stage of the build will they be interacting for installations? Thanks in Advance, Chuck Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14053Oct 20, 2016 8:01 am Hey Guys, Just giving you a little update on some timings in case people were interested. We've been blown away with how quickly the build is coming along: Site excavated 20/9 Underground water tank 23/9 Internal plumbing started 28/9 Plumbing completed 29/9 Site fence 10/10 Slab formwork and piering 12/10 Waffle pods and reo installed 15/10 Slab poured 17/10 Site clean up and frames delivered 18/10 Framing commenced 19/10 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building Miami 16 Executive - Kings Estate Terrigal NSW - Build 2016 Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14054Oct 20, 2016 12:20 pm Hey all, We are looking at Building with McDonald Jones homes and have some questions: We went to the colour selection studio and they advised: Porcelain tiles are FROM $145 per m2 (installed) Ceramic tiles are FROM $115 per m2 (installed) Gerfloor was around $120 per m2 price off memory (installed) Is this how much everyone else was quoted? This seems astronomical. I am happy to pay the little bit extra for MJH to do it, but I don't want to be totally ripped off. My husband rang a tiler who said it is about $60 per square metre to lay, plus $15 per square metre of materials totalling $75 per square metre plus the cost of the tile. (We live in the Newcastle NSW area) The cheapest carpet they had was FROM $60 per m2. And it was crap. The half decent was around $80 per m2 installed. Most expensive was around $120 per m2 installed. I told my partner we should just get the gerfloor (which is like vinyl bricks which look like timber) and install ourselves. Google makes it look really easy but my partner wont do it - hes worried they wont work out and thinks we either need to pay MJH do it, or organise a tiler when we get the keys. What does everyone recommend? Porcelain or ceramic tiles for the kitchen/dining/lounge/hallway? Is it the norm to get it done afterwards or to get MJH to do it? I was thinking about just living with concrete for a while, but after hearing about the dishwasher not fitting, I am not so sure that is a good idea. In our package, the kitchen benchtop is 20mm. We were thinking of upgrading to have the waterfall edge but still at 20mm rather than the 40mm. Would this look odd? has anyone else done 20mm bench and waterfall edge? They said the airconditioning we have is only a two zone and that it wont work very well on hot so we should upgrade to a individual zoned one for an extra 4k. I don't really know if it was a sales pitch to try and get us to buy more or what? I don't really understand why they would give us a aircon standard that wouldn't fit the house.. I knew all the upgrades were going to cost a lot, but I didn't really they were going to cost as much as they are... any tips would be greatly appreciated The process seems to be very slow. We have waited 2 weeks now for an updated Deposit variation. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14055Oct 20, 2016 4:17 pm Hi Tahlia, we stayed with the 20mm stone benchtops in the kitchen and upgraded to 20mm waterfall ends at a total cost of $2,160.00. I just love the waterfall ends and decided it was better to use the money on the waterfall ends instead on upgrading to 40mm benchtops with no waterfall ends. We also upgraded to porcelain rectified tiles in the bathroom, ensuite and laundry at a total cost of $2,600.00. Here are some photos of our kitchen with 20mm benchtops and waterfall ends. Still no floor coverings or pendant lights yet. We are doing our own floor coverings. We paid an extra $1,000 to increase our skirting heights throughout the house because we are thinking of doing solid timber flooring and don't want to lose our skirtings. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ CathyLeigh Building the Monte Carlo Executive with rear activities with Balinese Resort Facade, Salt Water Beach Estate, Wallabi Point Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14056Oct 20, 2016 6:06 pm CathyLeigh Hi Tahlia, we stayed with the 20mm stone benchtops in the kitchen and upgraded to 20mm waterfall ends at a total cost of $2,160.00. I just love the waterfall ends and decided it was better to use the money on the waterfall ends instead on upgrading to 40mm benchtops with no waterfall ends. We also upgraded to porcelain rectified tiles in the bathroom, ensuite and laundry at a total cost of $2,600.00. Here are some photos of our kitchen with 20mm benchtops and waterfall ends. Still no floor coverings or pendant lights yet. We are doing our own floor coverings. We paid an extra $1,000 to increase our skirting heights throughout the house because we are thinking of doing solid timber flooring and don't want to lose our skirtings. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hi Cathy your kitchen looks great! Are you able to show me what your floor looks like? It looks like much nicer concrete than i imagined. Why did you upgrade your porcelain tiles in the bathrooms? Got any pics of the bathroom? Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14057Oct 20, 2016 7:22 pm Hi Tahlia, I think you could choose some nice tiles from their standard range but I don't think they have porcelain rectified tiles in their standard range. Rectified tiles means you have a lot narrower grout lines. I just knew the tiles I wanted so I had to pay for the upgrade. Here are some photos. What home are you building? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ CathyLeigh Building the Monte Carlo Executive with rear activities with Balinese Resort Facade, Salt Water Beach Estate, Wallabi Point Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14058Oct 20, 2016 7:50 pm CathyLeigh Hi Tahlia, I think you could choose some nice tiles from their standard range but I don't think they have porcelain rectified tiles in their standard range. Rectified tiles means you have a lot narrower grout lines. I just knew the tiles I wanted so I had to pay for the upgrade. Here are some photos. What home are you building? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Wow looks beautiful! we are looking at the Lyndhurst Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14059Oct 20, 2016 8:09 pm I just had a look at the Lyndhust and it looks like a nice floor plan. We got thrown in for free the Actron ducted air conditioning, the alfresco grande, the Celebrations Package and upgrade to Smeg appliances. With regards to the air conditioning we didn't upgrade it at all and we have found that it works great. They told us that you will get a system that will perform for the house you are building. We just had living areas as one zone and bedrooms as the other zone. CathyLeigh Building the Monte Carlo Executive with rear activities with Balinese Resort Facade, Salt Water Beach Estate, Wallabi Point Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 14060Oct 20, 2016 8:12 pm CathyLeigh I just had a look at the Lyndhust and it looks like a nice floor plan. We got thrown in for free the Actron ducted air conditioning, the alfresco grande, the Celebrations Package and upgrade to Smeg appliances. With regards to the air conditioning we didn't upgrade it at all and we have found that it works great. They told us that you will get a system that will perform for the house you are building. We just had living areas as one zone and bedrooms as the other zone. Perfect! Sounds very similar to us. Did your grande include concrete? We are still waiting for our DV to come back to see if ours does (its been over 2 weeks) Hi AKG, We had a base tender of $592 for 31 squares from MC Donald Jones. It looks relatively cheaper than other builders. 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