Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 09, 2010 4:06 pm Hi there, after spending hours reading through peoples topics on building with Dechellis, i thought I would start one of my own and share our experiences. We bought a block of land in Magill in 2009 and chose Dechellis to build with. We really liked their Wild Orchid and Sorrento design on paper, however, we decided to make a few changes after looking at their show homes. In the end, our design was completely changed as we went through the journey of deciding what we really wanted. The sales consultant was very helpful but we felt we were a little pushed towards getting our plans finalised. When we asked if certain things could be done with the kitchen, we were told that our concept wouldn't work. In the end, we checked with our architect friend who easily drew up what we wanted. Unfortunately, because we had signed the contract, we had to pay extra to get the plans amended. We were annoyed because we had previously asked if we could speak with the drafts person and were told that we had to do everything through the sales consultant. They also made us feel bad about making the change (probably because it was abit of a hassle for them) and tried to convince us that it would set our build back 5-6 months. In the end, we stuck to our guns and there was no delay at all. Anyway, we had a really quick experience getting our plan through council (plans went in December 2009) which was a suprise and our building was scheduled to commence in May 2010 as we had to demolish our old home. Our selection meeting was an absolute nightmare. We are pretty relaxed people but we had a really nasty lady (apparently related to the owner!) who was extremely rude and condesending. She cecrtainly should not work in customer service!! My husband and I couldn't believe the way that we were spoken to and was actually quote shocked. There were issues with the plans at selection and i think this put her in a bad mood but really, this wasn't our fault. We had always said that if changing our kitchen design was an issue we would be more than happy to delay our selection date. However, they proceeding but then made us feel like we had done the worst thing in the world by changing the plan. Anyway, we got through it but it did leave a bad taste in our mouth. My poor husband was ready to pull the pin with them after that meeting! I must say that the actual selections that we were allowed were fantastic. We hardly had any extra costs that were unexpected. In fact, the extra costs that we did have primarily related to home theatre/security and extra insulation. It was nice to have lots of good quality "standard" items included without having to upgrade. Our building commenced in May with pad preparation and as of today, all our flushings have been completed and we are almost ready for lock up. This is pretty good given the rain that we have had this winter! In fact, we spoke to Sampinas yesterday and they are finalising our kitchen which they said should go in next week. We have been really happy with the quality of work done so far and the tradies have been great. Very happy to have a chat and explain what they are doing. The SS (who I have found out has just resigned!) has been pretty good too and always calls us back when we leave messages. Overall, we have been pretty happy with the only bug-bear being communication issues and mis-information from the sales consultant. I have to figure out how to upload photos and stuff now to show you all but would love to hear your comments! ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 2Sep 09, 2010 4:58 pm wow, you are nearly finished!! well done, cant wait to see pics go to www.tinypic.com and upload pics but change the default size to 'message board' or ' 17 in screen ' etc then just click the link on the tinypic page the photo is on, 'for forums' and copy it onto this forum thread..and voila we will be able to see them Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 3Sep 09, 2010 6:12 pm welcome RobbieC, Isn't it funny how these big builders make you feel bad about making changes to the plans of your own house. Selections ARE a nightmare, I ended up in hospital the night of our selection meeting.... suspected heart attack!!! wtf I'm only 32..... in the end it wasn't and just someting brought on by a virus, but as I said NIGHTMARE!!!!!!! Anyway, your build seems to be coming along quiet nicely. Can't wait for some pics Land settlement 4 May Building contracts signed 27 July Slab pour 26 March Frame started 10 May Bricks start 31 May Roof & Gutters Start 31 May gyprock 1 July Kitchen & cabinets/tiling 19 August Second fix plumbing 15 September Second fix electrical 22 September PCI 28 September viewtopic.php?f=31&t=29155 Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 4Sep 09, 2010 9:31 pm welcome robbiec ! Had to have a little chuckle re your selection meeting experience, no doubt you read about our stand off with N re our stupid red sill tiles, which were never delivered in the end anyway ! Glad to hear your build is progressing well now that you're up and running - look forward to seeing some pics ! Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 5Sep 09, 2010 11:27 pm RobbieC - is that you? Great story....... Rebecca Custom Build with Kersbrook Constructions - SA https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37762 Current Status: Handover on Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 6Sep 10, 2010 8:01 pm Hi RobbieC - I am building with Dechellis too and we are 13 days away from handover! I grew up in Magill - great place to live We had a similar experience at selections. We had attitude from the start and it took about an hour before we felt comfortable at the appointment after finally breaking the ice! My husband was also fuming and ready to walk! Like you said in your thread the quality is fantastic so its worth grinning and bearing the attitude! Look forward to seeing some pics Building the Sorrento (modified) with Dechellis Status: Paving in progress Site works commenced: 22/2/10 Pre Handover: 14/9/10 Handover: 23/9/10 My thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31665 Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 7Sep 13, 2010 11:05 am Hi All, well, I have spent the weekend working out Photobucket and uploading some photos so I hope this works! And Bec, yes it is me!!! Cant hide from anyone on the net! The photos are from start (i.e. empty block!) until now which is the flushing. So I apologise for the mass of photos. You will also see the free "lap pool" that has emerged after all the rain! The most exciting part has yet to come which is the inside stuff. We have been told the kitchen should go in this week but am not holding my breath. Seems that all action has stopped since SS has resigned. 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 ⋅ 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 ⋅ 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 ⋅ 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 ⋅ ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 8Sep 13, 2010 2:10 pm Very pleased with myself for the success of loading my photos! Has anone had experiences with quotes for stormwater? I am arranging quotes now and they range from $3,000 to $7,000! Evelyn, I saw you recommeded Top Cat Landscaping in your thread. I met with trevor on Friday and he seemed really nice. He is putting together a quote for me this week. We are running out of money fast thanks to the unexpected $20k excavation and retaining wall costs!! ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 9Sep 13, 2010 2:51 pm I know the feeling Robbie ... we had a $30K start-up cost for retaining walls and site works - ouch. We will now probably just have to top dress our land and throw grass seed on it, until the money tree grows again. Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 10Sep 13, 2010 6:17 pm RobbieC :: Very pleased with myself for the success of loading my photos! Has anone had experiences with quotes for stormwater? I am arranging quotes now and they range from $3,000 to $7,000! Evelyn, I saw you recommeded Top Cat Landscaping in your thread. I met with trevor on Friday and he seemed really nice. He is putting together a quote for me this week. We are running out of money fast thanks to the unexpected $20k excavation and retaining wall costs!! Wow love the photos ! Is that Vintage Red brick - we were very close to choosing that one ! Trevor is absolutely lovely and I highly recommend him to anyone. The boys' quality of workmanship is fantastic, they are so thorough. Can't wait to see more photos Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 11Sep 13, 2010 8:30 pm RobbieC Hi there, after spending hours reading through peoples topics on building with Dechellis, i thought I would start one of my own and share our experiences. We bought a block of land in Magill in 2009 and chose Dechellis to build with. We really liked their Wild Orchid and Sorrento design on paper, however, we decided to make a few changes after looking at their show homes. In the end, our design was completely changed as we went through the journey of deciding what we really wanted. The sales consultant was very helpful but we felt we were a little pushed towards getting our plans finalised. When we asked if certain things could be done with the kitchen, we were told that our concept wouldn't work. In the end, we checked with our architect friend who easily drew up what we wanted. Unfortunately, because we had signed the contract, we had to pay extra to get the plans amended. We were annoyed because we had previously asked if we could speak with the drafts person and were told that we had to do everything through the sales consultant. They also made us feel bad about making the change (probably because it was abit of a hassle for them) and tried to convince us that it would set our build back 5-6 months. In the end, we stuck to our guns and there was no delay at all. Anyway, we had a really quick experience getting our plan through council (plans went in December 2009) which was a suprise and our building was scheduled to commence in May 2010 as we had to demolish our old home. I must say that the actual selections that we were allowed were fantastic. We hardly had any extra costs that were unexpected. In fact, the extra costs that we did have primarily related to home theatre/security and extra insulation. It was nice to have lots of good quality "standard" items included without having to upgrade. Our building commenced in May with pad preparation and as of today, all our flushings have been completed and we are almost ready for lock up. This is pretty good given the rain that we have had this winter! In fact, we spoke to Sampinas yesterday and they are finalising our kitchen which they said should go in next week. We have been really happy with the quality of work done so far and the tradies have been great. Very happy to have a chat and explain what they are doing. The SS (who I have found out has just resigned!) has been pretty good too and always calls us back when we leave messages. Overall, we have been pretty happy with the only bug-bear being communication issues and mis-information from the sales consultant. I have to figure out how to upload photos and stuff now to show you all but would love to hear your comments! Congratulations on building We went through the whole process with them and we found that with the sales person. We wanted to add a study nook and he strongly advised against it, because it was too hard for him to change the plans….. not really as troy is in IT and was helping him. So we decided against it…. Not that it matters now but once started looking at other houses that had study nooks we weren’t the happiest, especially when they built the wild orchid which had one…. Troy swears the sales guy stole his idea hahahahaha. That’s good that you stuck to your guns, at the end of the day this is a house that you invest a lot of money and time in, so you should get what you want. OMG, so it just wasn’t us…. We thought because we were young she treated us this way. Well I guess not….. we had the guts and walked. You are definitely correct she should not be in customer service and btw she is the sister of the director (owner). She was soooo rude to us and she nearly brought me to tears. She wouldn’t listen to us and kept on talking over us. We walked away with it being 10k more than it was supposed to be, as she refused to listen us. We got home and because it was 2.5 weeks away from the extended FHOG we chose a house very similar to the Sorrento. The director ended up spending time looking over everything and came in on the weekend especially and ended up finding they did a MASSIVE stuff up, but we were so traumatised by her hahahahaha we just pulled the plug and lost our 5k. Good to hear that your build has gone smoothe so far. Hopefully your new SS will be just as good I am glad to hear (well you know what I mean) that it just wasnt us..... I thought it was just us that had a bad experience at selections but I guess we werent the only ones! Good luck with the rest of your build and I will definitely be following this one Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 12Sep 14, 2010 1:48 pm Well, the new SS has been very proactive. We now have doors and are now officially in lock up!! Here is the Garage door leading to the hallway and the front door. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ SS has advised me that the joinery will start this week and then the tiling should commence in the first week of October (that will be a nice birthday present!). If all goes to plan he said we should be in our house by our contract date bing 11 November! Evelyn, the bricks are called Grampian Blue - not sure why as they aren't that blue to me! And we went with a brown roof called Loft i think. Jessie, I dont think your age had anything to do with the lack of personality of N! Its really interesting to hear that there are lots of issues with her attitude. I was hoping she just had a bad day but alas, I think she needs to move out of a customer facing position. Anyway, she shouldn't have messed with me as I had completley had enough of her attitude after about 2 hours and let rip. Not good for her as I went into full lawyer-mode (I am a lawyer). However, my husband (who had never seen me in full flight) was very entertained and said it was the highlight of his day! Sad to hear that you ended up throwing in the towel but I am sure that you will end up with just as nice a house as you would have had with Dechellis. ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 13Sep 14, 2010 3:51 pm great to see another successful storey with D, we currently just bought a block and are working on plans. have you got your modified floorplans there? great to see what changes youve made, as we both like the sorrento and the orchard with some changes. -Nathan 2nd-Fix | Blog Building with Desyn Homes previously with the insolvent [url=https://www.facebook.com/7NewsAdelaide/videos/1162546323776021/]Endeavour Homes[/url] Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 14Sep 14, 2010 4:35 pm Hi Nathan, I dont know how to get a PDF into this message so I took a photo of the plan: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ There is an alfresco at the back behind the meals area which didn't make the photo! As you can see, not much remains of the Wild Orchid or the Sorrento. The main bedroom & WIR are the same but we changed the ensuite around. Still the same contents, we just moved it around to get a window for some natural light. The toilet still has a door. We are loving the long galley pantry which was my husbands idea. If you want and tips or tricks, given you are at the early stage, just let me know. Or I am sure Evelyn and the others would be more than happy to provide advice! ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 15Sep 17, 2010 9:43 am After being away interstate for most of the week, I dropped past the house to see lots of action this morning. The tradies were there doing the "2nd fix" which they tell me means that they are putting on doors and skirting boards and some other stuff on the outside of the house near the gutters? Clearly I need to work on my techno speak! Below are some pictures of the kitchen and the pantry. Its nice to see the colour of the cupboards as it was really hard to judge what the kitchen would look like with a tiny piece of laminate! The joinery guys have said that the joinery work should be completed today if everything gets dropped off in time and second fix will be completed by Tuesday. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Looking at the kitchen from the meals area. Fridge, cooktop and oven at the back. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Very long 3.8m bench! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Sink and dishwasher over by the window Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our massive pantry! ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 16Sep 17, 2010 1:28 pm Your Pantry is HHHHHUUUUUUUUGGGGGGEEEEEEE!! Which means my pantry will be huge too Should be fun filling it up! I like how you have a door to the pantry in the hallway - midnight snacks are easier to access Look forward to seeing more photos as the house progresses. What colour have you chosen to paint your walls? BUILDING WITH DECHELLIS HOMES BUILDING THREAD - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38522 BUILDING START DATE 20/9/2010 Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 17Sep 17, 2010 1:54 pm Thanks Shaesmum! I think the colour is called smokey pearl. Friends have a similar coulour and it looks great. We picked a couple of colours and bought some of those little pots and painted it on a white cardboard box. We were really glad we did as the original colour we thought we liked was a little too pink. Nice to know that now than after we have painted everything. We could also then hold it against tiles etc to check that it would look ok. ------------------------------------------------------ Handover: 14 December 2010 Current: Putting in plants! My View thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38242&hilit=dechellis+magill Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 18Sep 18, 2010 5:14 pm Your Kitchen is looking fantastic!!! I love the window in the kitchen looking out to the trees Congratulations on lockup Building the Sorrento (modified) with Dechellis Status: Paving in progress Site works commenced: 22/2/10 Pre Handover: 14/9/10 Handover: 23/9/10 My thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31665 Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 19Sep 18, 2010 5:26 pm Your kitchen is absolutely gorgeous! Is that black gloss? Re: Building with Dechellis in Magill 20Sep 18, 2010 6:12 pm Hey Robbie - looks gorgeous....we have similar taste...... Cruising along....I guess you'll be in by Christmas!!! I like your 3 'stations' in your kitchen, will work well!!! Cheers, Bec Rebecca Custom Build with Kersbrook Constructions - SA https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37762 Current Status: Handover on Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110576 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11039 |