Browse Forums Building A New House Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 41Jun 18, 2010 8:59 am Congrats Bizzie Mummy, We are waiting for the council still before we can start... zzzz On a side note, how awful are the basic internal door handles? Thats the first thing we will be changing when we move in... nevermind the 36 light fittings that we will replace with down lights - its going to look quite odd for the first few weeks haha. 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 42Jun 19, 2010 8:02 am Hey All, the standard door handles are pretty ordinary - round ones - we changed them for lever style, which are also easier to open if you have your hands full. And the house was bagged - that is the brickwork was painted - this week. I am surprised at how quickly things can move along when there are people on site. I am thinking that as we are a bit out of the way hopefully things work a little better for those of you that are building in a more populated spot. Oh, yes, the water tank arrived as well. We are going down today for a closer look around to see what else might have happened during the week, but it does feel that after the big things (slab, frame, roof, brickwork) things seem to have slowed for all of the fiddly bits. Anyway, hopefully about another 6 - 8 weeks and we'll be in (fingers crossed, touching of wood and all that...) Building the Bronte Manor in Lake Macquarie Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 43Jun 20, 2010 8:30 pm Update - Slab completed. Plumbing work completed. Frame due to be delivered Thursday. Xiphias69 Hey All, the standard door handles are pretty ordinary - round ones - we changed them for lever style, which are also easier to open if you have your hands full. danana On a side note, how awful are the basic internal door handles? Thats the first thing we will be changing when we move in... Door handles - I'm getting the drift that you guys are DINKS We have two little ones and from experience lever door handles are the biggest PITA! They can open them quite easily and get up to mischief. A bike is all they need to stand on if they can't reach. Door knob handles are much more difficult to open and keep them out until they are tall enough and older to be trusted! Needless to say we did not upgrade! We can do that when they are older! Danana - I hope the council get moving on your plans! Xiphias - Not long to go now. Do you have a pic to post yet? Mrs Waiting - Registration is progress! Congrats. 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 44Jun 20, 2010 9:55 pm Just thought I would give an update on our place: Well on Friday (2 days ago) we had handover - we are in! I left work early and drove (a little too fast!) to our new home. Our site supervisor met us at the house to run through how everything worked and explained how we organise them to fix up any problems we find over the next few weeks. He handed us a book full of waranties etc. and then handed us a BIG hamper full of all sorts of goodies including champagne and glasses, and said he had enjoyed building for us. My husband and I thanked him for the great job and once he had left we cracked open the champagne The house has turned out beautiful! I'll put up a few photos once we've got some boxes out of the way, there's stuff everywhere at the moment Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 45Jun 21, 2010 6:29 am Katrina1601 Just thought I would give an update on our place: Well on Friday (2 days ago) we had handover - we are in! I left work early and drove (a little too fast!) to our new home. Our site supervisor met us at the house to run through how everything worked and explained how we organise them to fix up any problems we find over the next few weeks. He handed us a book full of waranties etc. and then handed us a BIG hamper full of all sorts of goodies including champagne and glasses, and said he had enjoyed building for us. My husband and I thanked him for the great job and once he had left we cracked open the champagne The house has turned out beautiful! I'll put up a few photos once we've got some boxes out of the way, there's stuff everywhere at the moment Congratulations Katrina, Look forward to seeing some photos. riccathome Building:Bronte Grand Manor Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 46Jun 21, 2010 12:12 pm Wow Katrina...how exciting...how does it feel being in your brand new home??? I can't wait...I'm already dreaming and we haven't even started building! An update on our progress, we finally got our Contracts to review on Friday afternoon, unfortunately due to other pressing personal issues, we weren't able to review them until this week...but hopefully we can get the many pages signed off and handed back by Friday afternoon!! I had a quick flick through them on Friday when I picked them up and it's all very daunting!! There is just so much to take in! The only obvious issue I found through this quick flick was the 150 days is almost up, everything has to be approved by 28 July 2010, which I'm not too happy about due to the 2 months delays getting required information from MJH which should have only taken a couple of days!! I have to review them fully tomorrow night, so I can get any issues or modifications dealt with asap and we can get them in and go to council! I hope to also make a blog when we start building, but at this stage haven't worked out how to do this!!! Buidling the Chesterfield Grande in East Maitland.... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 47Jun 22, 2010 2:50 pm Congrats Katrina! Hope it is everything you expected! ...and BM...DINKS?!?!? Haven't heard that one for a while, and no, we aren't because yes we do but yes we are (confused yet?). So we must be...the acronym didn't work, probably would've got reported if I typed it in...anyway, still like the levers and kids will get into a door regardless of the type of handle (unless you use liberal amounts of vaseline or something slippery to coat the handle ;-p ). And a bike...ours will move chairs around to climb on to! And yes, trying to get a foto posted somewhere....hopefully this link works.... http://picasaweb.google.com/11160186760 ... 2441709202 It's the only foto I have on my work PC, but if that works I can load up some more for you to have a look at. Hope everyone is progressing well! Building the Bronte Manor in Lake Macquarie Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 48Jun 22, 2010 2:58 pm Xiphias69 Congrats Katrina! Hope it is everything you expected! ...and BM...DINKS?!?!? Haven't heard that one for a while, and no, we aren't because yes we do but yes we are (confused yet?). So we must be...the acronym didn't work, probably would've got reported if I typed it in...anyway, still like the levers and kids will get into a door regardless of the type of handle (unless you use liberal amounts of vaseline or something slippery to coat the handle ;-p ). And a bike...ours will move chairs around to climb on to! And yes, trying to get a foto posted somewhere....hopefully this link works.... http://picasaweb.google.com/11160186760 ... 2441709202 It's the only foto I have on my work PC, but if that works I can load up some more for you to have a look at. Hope everyone is progressing well! Hi "X", Yes photo works, good to see something happening for you. we are almost at signing contracts and getting to review board then to council, its getting there slowly but surely. Building:Bronte Grand Manor Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 49Jun 22, 2010 3:01 pm Congrats Katrina, how far along your 140 days contract did you get?? or go over?? We have just been informed start will commence within 20 days. Steve Building The Chesterfield Grande with McDonald Jones https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33587 Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 50Jun 22, 2010 4:14 pm Hi Folks, Well only a few weeks in a we have hit our first snag with McJones. We are having trouble trying to get a colour appointment booked. When we first spoke to the sales person and in our following appointments we were always assured that we could get a colour appointment ASAP as we want to speed up the building process as much as possible. We know that it will take a few weeks to get in but when we were sent our colour pack we were then told that we can't book in for a colour appointment until we get and sign our consolidated tender! We are at least a few weeks away from getting that. I'm so frustrated because it seems that the two departments don't know whats going on with the other. One is saying yes we can get an appoinment and the other is saying no we can't. Aparently the Directors were supposed to be having a meeting about the miscommunication between departmnets but noone has called us to let us know what is going on. It seems we have been left out of the loop and meanwhile time is ticking away and nothing is happening.... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 51Jun 23, 2010 1:07 am Hi everyone, Well I am another McDJH customer, having gotten our original quote in October last year we currently have a slab, bricks and a roof. It is a long slow process even with a quick 3 weeks council approval (amazing!). Happy to answer any questions I can about the process to date and will probably ask lots of questions in return. We are building the Bordeaux 13m with the Tropicana facade and al fresco thingy out the back. Anyway, I do have one question: can anyone recommend a building inspector we can use to monitor the progress and ensure everything is going as per contract? We do not have bank involvement so there is no inspections in that regard, but we would like to make sure that everything is done well. Jennie Building Bordeaux 13m Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 52Jun 23, 2010 1:02 pm Hi VPW, yes, this is the most frustrating time, at least that's the way I felt, well, guessing from this and the previous thread that others have experienced it as well. It shouldn't be too hard to get the cons. tender, as that is only part of the real thing anyway. That has all of the big changes you want to make (move walls, doors, windows, rooms etc). The colour appt will then determine all of the little things (tiles, taps, benchtops, door handles). That then makes up the final contract that gets included in your council approval. Expect lots of to-ing and fro-ing in all of this. I would allow anything from 6 - 10 weeks for that to get sorted, more likely the 10 weeks. If your sales person has indicated otherwise, then they are just interested in the sale. Our sales person was very up front and stepped through the process so we knew the beginning was the slowest part. I do admit that it didn't stop me peppering the senior staff with emails and phone calls.... On the other hand, I have heard that MJH are pretty much on par with other project builders. The only improvement happens when you have an architect and do everything yourself....which does get expensive (been there & done that....). So, good luck, and hope it all comes good in the end Building the Bronte Manor in Lake Macquarie Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 53Jun 25, 2010 3:53 pm Hi All, finally getting the foto thing sorted. I have posted a few more at http://picasaweb.google.com/11160186760 ... ouseBuild# Hope everyone progressing well. Cheers.... Building the Bronte Manor in Lake Macquarie Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 54Jun 26, 2010 6:10 pm Hi guys. Have been lurking for a while and it has been great to hear everyones views and advice in regard to building with MJ. After looking at various Display Home companies in our area we have decided to go with Mcdonald Jones and have just paid our 3k to get things started. We have visited the Harrington Waters site for MJ a few times and loved both the Beach House and the Monte Carlo and were most impressed with the quality compared to other Display Homes we had looked at. We had pretty much decided on the Monte Carlo until speaking with a family member who has a great deal of experience in building who brought up a few good points. Whilst we are still keen on the MC we are open to looking at various other designs just to be certain we are making the right choice. Anyway look forward to hearing how everyone is doing in their adventure and wish all a smooth time with their builds. Building The Monte Carlo with PR-MJ Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 55Jun 26, 2010 8:38 pm Well progress on our block this week. Bricks were delivered, then the frame was delivered yesterday. So its all moving along nicely so far. Congrats Katrina! Xiphias - Your house is looking great. I noticed you have water views of the lake in the background. Lovely. Woodduck - Won't be long before you start. We drove out to Pitt Town this morning to have a sticky beak at the MJH. Very nice. We loved the big blocks out there but it is a bit to far from work for us. Welcome Jennie and Mattmaca 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 56Jun 26, 2010 8:56 pm hi all, X its all looking good, congrats, all the stress, sleepless nights and endless emails to council was worth it...haha Woodduck, if your block is on a corner I know which block is yours now... I'll be watching... if its not I'm watching someone elses build...haha Bizzy, you have bricks and a frame thats great, I currently live in Pitt Town its not too far from anything really, its a beautiful place, lovely people.. you have a great spot where you are building too, very handy to everything, Well, we have signed our contracts just waiting on design review panel to approvel then off to council, fingers crossed that will be next week, its all moving along nicely now so good to see things happening... Building:Bronte Grand Manor Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 57Jun 26, 2010 10:42 pm Hey All Congrats to everyone that has had progress!! It seems everyone is all moving closer to the 'dream'! - as Katrina is currently experiencing!! Does anyone know if you can change colours after the colour appt? We are having 2nd thoughts on our Sandbank Garage Door and Fascia. Everywhere we see it it's appearing very 'yellow'. I'm not quite sure what we were thinking when we picked it, but fingers crossed we can change it. Only just received our consolidated tender so hopefully we can still make a change. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 58Jun 27, 2010 5:56 pm Hey Mrs W, We had to change something, lucky it was the Monday after our Friday appointment, We just called the wonderful Melissa, our colour consultant, and told her of the change, she fixed it straight away and email me a new colours list. Hope this helps... Building:Bronte Grand Manor Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 59Jun 28, 2010 8:15 am riccathome Woodduck, if your block is on a corner I know which block is yours now... I'll be watching... if its not I'm watching someone elses build...haha Must be someone else's, we are in the cul de sac, and as of last week there was no signage on our block. McJones are building 6 houses out there at the moment, one is nearly completed, another is at lock up and the rest in council or nearly ready. Woodduck Building The Chesterfield Grande with McDonald Jones https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33587 Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 60Jun 28, 2010 8:17 am Bizzie Mummy Woodduck - Won't be long before you start. We drove out to Pitt Town this morning to have a sticky beak at the MJH. Very nice. We loved the big blocks out there but it is a bit to far from work for us. It is a long way out, we spend more time out there in the river than anywhere else so it was only right to move there. Been watching your progress, when we get to the interesting stages I will post plenty of pics. Woodduck Building The Chesterfield Grande with McDonald Jones https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33587 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 16841 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 11119 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 23502 |