Anyone had probems/experience with Masterton before?

Newcastle · Nov 21, 2007 2:16 pm

We are in the process of buildig with Masterton. Waiting for the plans to get submitted to council. We have just found that once we paid the deposit we have had zero customer service, and nothing has run smoothly. With comments like "I'll answer the phone if I'm around" and getting hung up on, not having calls returned by senior managment, we are now having serious concerns. We are also finding they are extremely slow, taking 3 months and there is still no DA lodged with council. We're interested in hearing what other people have found/heard. We're now looking at local buiders who can deliver a quality product on time, but we are unsure whether they are going to be competitive pricewise. Any comments are welcomed.

Michelle · Nov 21, 2007 2:28 pm

Welcome to the forum Newcastle.

Such a shame that you have had to experience this poor service from a building company that has really good home plans…..some of the best I’ve seen in NSW.

Look at a private builder…..are you from Newcastle?

Newcastle · Nov 21, 2007 3:42 pm

Yeah, we really like their designs, and the display homes look great.

We are in Newcastle and are now thinking of going with a local builder but don't know who is "good", or how they compare cost wise with larger Project home builders.

Michelle · Nov 21, 2007 5:20 pm

Newcastle…..what you need to do is ask around; see who seems to have a good rep as a builder. Once you have found a few, show them the Masterton plan you like.

See if they can vary the design, so it is your own, and get them all to quote on that size and style home.

You will get quality work as apposed to the larger project companies. You may have to pay slightly more then Masterton, but quality comes first!!!!

Best way to find a good builder, ring an Architect, get him to give you a few names of quality builders in your area.
See if some builders have websites, it’s always good to see their work. Ask for references from the builders so you can ring those people and get their opinions of the builder.

Go down this avenue first, before you settle for sub standard workmanship.

Good luck, get cracking, you don’t have to much time before they will all say NO too late before Christmas.

This is a good builder, this is what you want to look for.

http://www.buildingrevolutions.com.au/

not2oldru · Nov 22, 2007 9:10 am

Newcastle

Take a look at Allworth,they do build in your area and quality and service is good.

http://www.allworthhomes.com.au/index.htm

Talinsmum · Nov 22, 2007 10:28 pm

Hey Newcastle we are neighbours as I also live in Newcastle....

I'm presuming that you've done the rounds of the display homes in the area (Mirvac at Cameron Park & Aberglasslyn, AV Jennings/Lily/Coral etc at Fletcher, McDonald Jones at Metford and Fern Bay, Allworth and Beechwood at Metford/Thornton - plus all the ones in Warnervale etc) and checked through them all for house designs - we are actually going with McDonald Jones ourselves........

As for smaller builders - I don't know too much about them I'm afraid but maybe take a trip to the Master Builders Association and have a chat to them?

Fiona

robenkel · Nov 23, 2007 7:41 am

Hi Newcastle, How are you? We are currently building with Masterton in Sydney. We had exactly the same concerns as you. On the sales side everything was fantastic, our sales consultant helped us out immensley. But once it was all handed over to the office to start the administration side of things the ball seemed to drop. I was on the phone to them every single day, chasing them up, keeping on their tail, and eventually i think they got that sick of me they did whatever they could to get our job out of the ground! In saying that, once they started our site supervisor has been fantastic and it has all really seemed to fall into place. Im extremely glad now we decided to stay with them, but when going through the process at the beginning i was certainly asking myself "what have i done!!" Another word of advice is to speak to your site supervisor directly, we got little to no help from our "customer service" officer, i was telling her more about my job by driving past it than she could tell me from her files!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask!!

Embos · Apr 01, 2008 3:31 pm

Hello! We are building with Beechwood in Sydney and we had a very similar experience. Before we signed anything or handed any deposits over, any changes we made (remove a window here, add a window there, add a wall etc) happened quickly and we had the revised plans in our hands within a fortnight. Since signing, our sales consultant has suddenly turned from "Mr Not a Problem" to "Mr I Don't Know." He can't seem to chase things up with the head office, doesn't seem to have much knowledge on what is happening and his attitude stinks. We're first home owners so everything is new for us and maybe I'm expecting too much from a project home builder.

Also we've since received a few more revised plans (revised to reflect council requirements) and it feels like Beechwood make changes to their standard house template and not to your most current plan. I say this because windows keep changing sizes, a downstairs toilet keeps flipping around from plan to plan, an alfresco area was added to one without our request and doors change too. We really have to keep an eye on every aspect of the plan to make sure that they have included all our changes and haven't changed anything we haven't asked for.

And gees! While I'm on a roll- their submission to council was just miserable. It felt like they didn't read all of council's requirements which only further delayed our plans in council. And they tried to blame council for changing regulations but when I checked in with council, they had not changed anything in 5 years and it was clearly stated on their website what was required.

We might be a dime a dozen to these project home builders but when it's your first home and it's the most amount of money you've ever spent in your entire life, I think feelings of doubt and anger at incompetency is warranted.

Raz · Apr 01, 2008 5:11 pm

Check the Fair trading website... have they got a lot of insurance claims?
Have sent you a pm.

Raz

sammy · Apr 03, 2008 4:07 pm

Yes we have the same problem with Beechwood. they said the delay was because the council changed their regulations!? Maybe they get better once construction starts?

We went to Masterton for a quote as well. They told us that our land is too steep and need a split-level design( ie more money). They also charged us extra for traffic control because it was in school zone!

Well, needless to say, we did not choose to build with Beechwood and Masterton Homes!

Maxie · Apr 03, 2008 8:51 pm

I have a friend who built with Masterton and a lot of what you are saying sounds familiar :wink:

We built with Beechwood the first time around and they were fantastic (mind you, that was 13 years ago!)

sammy · Apr 04, 2008 1:21 pm

I only wish that we had the same experience as you Maxie. It would have saved us a lot of emotional stress. But staff can change after 13 years even though company is the same.

Newcastle · Apr 26, 2008 11:03 pm

Thanks everyone for your advice. From paying the deposit to having council approved plans took just under 6 months. In the end we chose to walk away lose $4000 rather than risk building with them.

The new company leaves em for dead. Council approved plans in around 7 weeks!
::cheerleader::

Wish we had asked around a lot more first!

Thanks again to everyone.

Talinsmum · Apr 27, 2008 10:31 am

Hey Newcastle - so who did you end up building with? did you end up going back to a smaller builder or stick with one of the bigger project builders?

Fiona