Browse Forums Building A New House Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 245Aug 31, 2010 9:29 pm Xiphias - Your house photos look amazing. I love the wooden floor. Danana - Thanks for the heads up about the SS. Yes it was ours that left too. We are waiting to see if this will have any impact on the time frame completion we were given by DG. Jennie - Love Shack hehe love it. We called our home Colonial View after the name of our estate Colonial walk and the fact that there is a Colonial farm a street away. It was a really difficult decision. Pipphen - Welcome. Most builders will give you a time frame of 10mths- 1 year from deposit to handover. We signed up in December and expect handover in late Oct or early November. We used the timber frame but I do believe the steel frame would be better. From experience most land in The ponds and Kellyville Ridge is late to register. If you sign up now and your land registers late you can be hit with price increases on the other hand all builders increase their prices yearly. Basically you cannot win either way. Well this week despite the fact that our SS left we still saw progress and the walls were finished being plastered, sanded and the cavity doors were installed. The guys were suppose to do the cornices today but that didn't happen. We have ordered our plantation shutters and have put a deposit on the carpet. We are in the process of negotiating side fences and retaining walls with our neighbours. Next step is to get plans done for a pergola, and quotes from landscape gardeners and concreters. McDonald Jones Homes - The Parklane http://ashobuild.blogspot.com/ https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34426 Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 246Aug 31, 2010 11:24 pm Bizzie Mummy Well this week despite the fact that our SS left we still saw progress and the walls were finished being plastered, sanded and the cavity doors were installed. The guys were suppose to do the cornices today but that didn't happen. We have ordered our plantation shutters and have put a deposit on the carpet. We are in the process of negotiating side fences and retaining walls with our neighbours. Next step is to get plans done for a pergola, and quotes from landscape gardeners and concreters. Hi BM, Glad that your work is still progressing despite the hiccup with SS's. It hit home today how much we have yet to organise/do and we don't even have to worry about fly screens or floors. We met our new neighbours who got their keys today from MJH and started talking with them about retaining walls/fences/driveways. Then there's a new TV & dining table to get, clothesline, BIG box of light globes until we can get light fittings, landscaping to arrange, toilet brushes, have gas connected, have phone connected, check on blinds/curtains and arrange installation & payment. Arrange tiling for alfresco and front porch. Not to mention the beautiful picture I brought at Darwin last week which is at the framers. We also have to check up on a few things with the house that aren't finished/installed, not to mention work! I'm exhausted just thinking about it but at least we will be back in our own home Now if only I had a money tree to pick to pay for it all. Jen Building Bordeaux 13m Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 249Sep 01, 2010 9:42 am b.lizzie Thanks for the electrical link Danana, love your blog too! Can anyone tell me if the anticon blanket is the same as sarking or do we need both. Lizzie Lizzie, The anticon blanket is different to sarking, you wont need both its one or the other. Riccathome Building:Bronte Grand Manor Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 250Sep 01, 2010 8:25 pm I'm off to do my electricals tomorrow on my Bronte GM....any last minute tips? I thought it would be a no brainer but once you actually sit down and start marking things out I ended up walking a away and leaving my hubby and father in law to keep going, it was doing my head in. God help the consultant who has to deal with us tomorrow We are into week 3 in council so hopefully only another week or so before a decision is made and another step closer to the start of construction. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 251Sep 01, 2010 8:41 pm normad I'm off to do my electricals tomorrow on my Bronte GM....any last minute tips? I thought it would be a no brainer but once you actually sit down and start marking things out I ended up walking a away and leaving my hubby and father in law to keep going, it was doing my head in. God help the consultant who has to deal with us tomorrow We are into week 3 in council so hopefully only another week or so before a decision is made and another step closer to the start of construction. Nomad We were out of council 9/8/10 we got building certificate and still waiting for start date all I can say is expect to wait!!! Riccathome Building:Bronte Grand Manor Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 252Sep 01, 2010 9:27 pm Jennie_ Bizzie Mummy Well this week despite the fact that our SS left we still saw progress and the walls were finished being plastered, sanded and the cavity doors were installed. The guys were suppose to do the cornices today but that didn't happen. We have ordered our plantation shutters and have put a deposit on the carpet. We are in the process of negotiating side fences and retaining walls with our neighbours. Next step is to get plans done for a pergola, and quotes from landscape gardeners and concreters. Hi BM, Glad that your work is still progressing despite the hiccup with SS's. It hit home today how much we have yet to organise/do and we don't even have to worry about fly screens or floors. We met our new neighbours who got their keys today from MJH and started talking with them about retaining walls/fences/driveways. Then there's a new TV & dining table to get, clothesline, BIG box of light globes until we can get light fittings, landscaping to arrange, toilet brushes, have gas connected, have phone connected, check on blinds/curtains and arrange installation & payment. Arrange tiling for alfresco and front porch. Not to mention the beautiful picture I brought at Darwin last week which is at the framers. We also have to check up on a few things with the house that aren't finished/installed, not to mention work! I'm exhausted just thinking about it but at least we will be back in our own home Now if only I had a money tree to pick to pay for it all. Jen Lol there is so much to do! I hear you. We haven't even started on buying new furniture for the house. We will just make do with what we have until we settle in. We both work full time and with 2 little kids there is little time to shop around. Ah slow and steady wins the race I guess. I forgot to mention solar panels. We are chasing up the best deal on those as well. If anyone knows anything about solar panels feel free to comment. We are looking at a 2kw system. McDonald Jones Homes - The Parklane http://ashobuild.blogspot.com/ https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34426 Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 253Sep 01, 2010 10:47 pm Well we had a rather long day today for our colour appt. Up at 6,3 hr drive to appt and our 10 week old who is pretty much always calm went the dummy spit as soon as we sat down to discuss the house......mustn't want to move. Ended up a 3 1/2 hr appt and then 3 hrs drive back glad thats all over with. We now have 5 days to make any changes in which there is still a couple of things we are mulling over. Must say MJ were great in regards to us missing out on our steel frame/colour bond roof due to our covenant. I asked after being advised by a few people in the industry whether they would upgrade the tile to horizon-flat since we had lost value so to speak with the timber frame/tiles. Also with that tile being the standard not too long ago they had no problem at all with changing it. One concern i have had from the beginning is the free AC(i know shouldn't complain its free) especially since no brand name had been mentioned either in the letter or in discussions until today. Whilst i have never heard of the brand and have found out various details searching the net i think we will most likely not take up the offer and try and get part of the value somewhere else in the house. Building The Monte Carlo with PR-MJ Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 254Sep 02, 2010 7:48 am mattmaca - colour selections was also a long 2 days for us as we couldn't decide in one day so we went back a 2nd day. On the aircon you will only get a portion of the value back but we upgraded to the actron with MJH. For us it would have cost us more to have a reimbursement and then get what we wanted installed after. We spoke to the guy that does the air con for MJH to enquire about the models and our own independant and then came to our decision to upgrade, he was very helpful. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 255Sep 02, 2010 7:54 am Quote: One concern i have had from the beginning is the free AC(i know shouldn't complain its free) especially since no brand name had been mentioned either in the letter or in discussions until today. Hi Macca, the free A/C is a Derby and needs 3-phase power. I found out the hard way about that (see previous posting). In one way it turned out for the best because reviews I had seen on it were not good. Our replacement (single phase) is Acctron. If you do go for a 3-phase A/C make sure you have the supply in the street! So, for us, the skirting are now on (rubbery arms from weilding an nail gun for the last few days....), final electricals are finished and now wanting to get the plumbing for the sewerage done (last thing before moving in). then we can unpack the shed with stuff we have had stored away for up to 5 years....it'll be like Christmas finding out what we have in there! Building the Bronte Manor in Lake Macquarie Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 256Sep 02, 2010 10:27 am Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. Many thanks Jen, riccathome and b.lizzie for the info. The sales guy told me MDJ is the largest builder in town and builds about 500 homes a year. In spite being a big builder I need not worry of being just a number and getting lost in their system. Apparently it is quite standard that once a building certificate is issued, building would started within 21 days. Is this the case for those who have started building with MDJ? I can see pros and cons here. Being so large, each new client will have to join the 'queue' to be serve, right? Is this what you are experiencing riccathome (got a building certificate and still waiting for a start date)? In your case, it has just exceeded the 21 days estimate. Hopefully you will hear from MDJ soon on it. Keep us posted on the progress. My fear is most builders will overbook beyond their capacity to deliver. Of course, we will be none the wiser about this and once we are locked into the contract there is nothing much we can do but wait .... Jen, you signed up in Oct and started building in April (6-7months). This would have exceeded the 150-180 days fixed price tender. Did you coop any price rise? If so , by what amount? Was your land registered when you first contacted MDJ? As you said, Jen, unless I want to play the waiting game (especially when my land is unregistered), it is almost inevitable that the building will start outside of the fixed priced contract. I wonder why colorbond roof is the only choice with steel frames? Was advised that steel frames are only available for single storey. At this stage (undecisive), I am deciding whether to build single or double. I prefer steel frame with tiles (like the patter of rain on the roof but not the thundering noise in a storm). Can anyone with colorbond roof please provide feedback on the noise volume on the colorbond roof in a storm. The sales guy told me that normally some 'sound proof' material is placed in the roof cavity to muffle the noise from the tin roof? Was your roof done that way, Jen? Would light color colorbond roof fade and look shabby/dirty over time? Guess there is an advantage of choosing dark colors - wears better over time (dirt/dust not so visible). If this is the case, then the extra cost of having darker colors is justified. Any one built or building at The Ponds? Love any comments to help me with my decision (wish I am not so indecisive). Plot size: width 16m (front and back). length: 30.5m and 31.5m Total: est 498 m2. Back is facing North-East. Land is reasonably flat (less than 1m fall). I think at The Ponds, I can only build on 50% of the land. Browsed through the home design choices. Unfortunately there is no mention of ideal plot size for each home design. Previously, I do not even think or pay attention to anything in the house. Now every little detail matters, the orientation of the house, the layout, design, budgets, costs, builders etc etc .... wow, my head is spinning ....... Yeah, I like most of the facade and design of MDH homes. Anyone who has built with them, what is the quality of workmanship and finished home? Rating from 1 - 10 (1 = horrible, 10 = excellent). I was considering Casaview and Wisdom homes. I found quite a few reviews on Wisdom homes (bad and good) but seems like Casaview builder is pretty small and unknown (only 3 feedback). What was attractive with Casaview is that they are willing to lock in the fix price contract (not limited to the 180 days) but they have limited design choices. b.lizzie - are you at The Ponds. From your experience, approximately how much later is the late registration from the estimated time at The Ponds? I am trying to comply with the requirements of the Home Builder Bonus condition to qualify for the Bonus. Judging from estimated time frame for preparation and building starting, it looks like I am now running on a bit of a tight schedule . I best be speeding things up a bit. It is good to know in spite the fact that you lost your SS, MDJ still kept the momentum going and stuck to the plan. Wondering if it is more cost effective to do some work externally than bundling it with MDF, ie the driveway, landscaping, tiles and carpets, Air Con, flyscreen (is this in the inclusion or upgrade package?). Anyone can recommend any good tradies (competitively priced) for these jobs? First time I ever heard about polished concrete floors. It looks good but wondering if it is more costly than tiles. Is it also higher maintenance? Love this forum Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 257Sep 02, 2010 10:40 am I am getting confused looking at many display homes and talking to sales guys. Being reading reviews on builders. Sounds like it is a bit of pot luck in getting a good and reliable builder. I am planning to get a quote from MDJ but I am not sure what details is required from me for the sales guy to prepare an accurate estimate for me. Currently no access to unregistered land, hence only an estimate can be prepared. My fear is that if I am not asked to provide detailed information, the final tender will be a lot more (that would be a very nasty surprise). Besides the obvious information (ie single/double storey, home design, floor layout, upgrade package etc), what other information is required for a quote / tender? Generally if there are some changes to the standard layout, will I be expecting a significant increase in cost with MDJ? Would MDJ accept any changes once the quote / tender is prepared but before it is signed? Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 258Sep 02, 2010 2:36 pm Hi Pipphen, A few of us are building at the ponds, my block is 15x32 - there is no problem building the Bordeaux 14m (single storey), even with the 50% restriction (I believe its actually 45% for single storey?). With your size block, you should be good to build almost anything out there. If you spoke to Aaron at the sales office, bring in your preferred designs and he will tell you right off the bat if they will fit on your block with all the restrictions at the ponds, he is aware of them. We went over our contract date by two months, but luckily they decided not to charge us any extra. Building will start within 21 days, but there is a mammoth effort to get to that point, with all the tenders, selections, approvals and paperwork etc. We signed in December, land registered in the first week of April, first work on the block began in the beginning of august. Flyscreens for our place were around $560 (excluding stacker/sliding doors) so not a huge cost. It will always end up cheaper doing the extra's yourself. Building with McDonald Jones - Bordeaux 14m @ the ponds in sydney's north-west Build Blog => http://damianandannasabode.blogspot.com/ Construction status - DONE. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 259Sep 02, 2010 2:58 pm pipphen Apparently it is quite standard that once a building certificate is issued, building would started within 21 days. Is this the case for those who have started building with MDJ? That was true in our case. pipphen Jen, you signed up in Oct and started building in April (6-7months). This would have exceeded the 150-180 days fixed price tender. Did you coop any price rise? If so , by what amount? Was your land registered when you first contacted MDJ? We did exceed the fixed price tender, however it was not due in any part to our actions, but rather MJH. They took a long time to do the tender, get the plans and contracts drawn up and then they had to be amended because they moved something without asking us and it had to be fixed. I was rather peeved about this because it would have taken a 2 minute phone call to clarify. Of course MJH acted like they were doing us a big favour in not applying any price rise. We also had to provide proof of ownership of the land but we had owned the land for almost 20 years so it was no problem for us. Not sure how it works when buying new land but I'm sure others here can enlighten you. pipphen I wonder why colorbond roof is the only choice with steel frames? I think it's because they can use much larger spans when using steel and to fix all the battens for tiles, along with the weight of the tiles would maybe make the roof too heavy for the frame. pipphen Can anyone with colorbond roof please provide feedback on the noise volume on the colorbond roof in a storm. The sales guy told me that normally some 'sound proof' material is placed in the roof cavity to muffle the noise from the tin roof? Was your roof done that way, Jen? The home we demolished to build this new home had colorbond roofing, but did not have the acticon blanket (did have insulation though). We also had a large section of bare colorbond for a carport. There was not much noise from the roof itself, but really heavy rain on the carport was quite deafening. You couldn't have a phone conversation. The new home has no bare sections of roofing and it has insulation AND the acticon blanket. WHilst I haven't been on site during heavy rain, I am 100% sure it will be very quiet. pipphen Anyone who has built with them, what is the quality of workmanship and finished home? Rating from 1 - 10 (1 = horrible, 10 = excellent). I can't answer that in full until we have moved in, but from what I have seen I have been quite happy with. Our next door neighbours have just finished building with them as well and they were quite unhappy with the internal painting, yet I thought ours was brilliant. After speaking to the painter and thanking him for a great job, I mentioned how unhappy our neighbour was. He told me that MJH has their own contracted painters but contract out when the workload is high. We got the independent painter and our neighbour had the MJH painter. Go figure. We have a couple of things go wrong but as soon as I have mentioned them to the site supervisor he has addressed them immediately. The wrong rangehood was installed but has been rectified and a light switch was incorrectly placed. After I called the SS about it he literally got back to me in 2 minutes after my call saying he had arranged the sparky to fix it. I know he had because he wanted to know if they could dual wire the two switches or did I want the existing switch removed (it was behind a door). The tiling, bricks, plaster everything is excellent. The only gripe I have is that some late brickwork was done and it was some time before it was cleaned and the mortar hasn't cleaned up as well as the rest. I think with any project home builder there will be pro's and con's. If you go with an independent builder they tend to be more expensive because they don't have the buying power of the project builders. We don't have money to burn so we chose a reputable project builder in MJH because they have a reputation to protect and it's in their own best interests to do a good job. So far so good Jen Building Bordeaux 13m Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 260Sep 03, 2010 12:35 pm hey all, I have some questions... The 20 days from the building certificate to start building.. are they counted as work days or just 20 calendar days? And just checking the 130 days to complete the build, starts from the date of the building certificate is this correct? Thanks all Riccathome Building:Bronte Grand Manor Hi AKG, We had a base tender of $592 for 31 squares from MC Donald Jones. It looks relatively cheaper than other builders. But I assume there are many hidden things that… 1 16833 Hi, Apologies - I know there is plenty out there on this but struggling to put together the puzzle. We're planning our garage/external laundry to master bedroom and… 0 11109 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 23480 |