Building in Brisbane area

jersey3681 · Dec 09, 2007 7:38 pm

Hi everybody,
I'm Roxy and I live in Canberra. We just bought a land in Brisbane area (Drewvale) and we are planning to build a house. iIjust moved to Australia and I'm not very familiar with the builders and that's why i need ur help. Plus the fact that I'm in Canberra at the moment it makes it even harder. We are trying to build a two storey house but to keep it under $300,000 with all the extras. Do you think we can make it? I contacted Tamawood and had a bad experience with them so we are looking for a different builder.Any advice ? Our block of land is a corner block of 640m2 (approx 30m x 22m - but we have the corner so that's why is 640m2). We would like a 4 bedroom house with alfresco. We considered doing a low set house but we wouldn't have any backyard left. I'm so confused...

We like Haven 310 from AV Jennings but I'm not sure about their inclusions / exclusions and didn't hear great things about them...

Jet79 · Dec 09, 2007 11:40 pm

Hi Roxy, we are building in Greenbank with Dixon Tamawood. We have only had one problem with them taking a bit longer to get the contract ready, our friends have nearly finished their house with them and have no probs what so ever.

A good website is the master builders association, www.masterbuilders.com.au they have all the names and most of the website addresses of builders around the country. You search by display villages. If you want to start the process from Canberra I would advise trying to use a builder who has an office in the ACT as well as Brissie, then you can look at their display village in your own state. The process can take a while.

I'm not a fan of AVJennings, only what I see of the finished product at the display villages. If they can't make their display look fantastic what hope do you have that your one will look great. I like the Plantation houses but be aware they have a huge wait at the moment so might be 12-18months from now before your in. We only looked at single story so that's where my advice runs out. Good Luck and welcome to the best state in the country!!

Jet

jersey3681 · Dec 10, 2007 9:06 am

Hi Jet,

Thanks for your reply. I really don't want to go back to Tamawood. First, we had an appointment with one of their sales consultants in South and his customer service skills were just not there...for every question we asked his answer was: we are a big company and these are our conditions...you like them fine, you don't look for somebody else. We thought we'll give it another try with a consultant in North (we had to do another trip to Brisbane) and he was more friendly. We chose our design, paid the $100 initial cost for them to start checking the land, chose the colours and tiles and they were supposed to come back to us with the onsite costs. Well, a month later we got a call from a girl at the reception telling us that our design has been deleted from their database and they can give us the money back or we choose a different design. We tried to call our consultant, left a message on his phone and he never called back.
We really had enough !
We tried to find a builder who builds in both ACT and QLD and we only found Hotondo Homes.
We haven't seen an AV Jennings house display, we'll go again to Brisbane next weekend and we'll check the display villages.
I'll check masterbuilders.com.au
Thanks for the tips!

kasiakm · Dec 10, 2007 6:13 pm

I am sorry but most of the people I met said Don't touch tamawood/Dixon.
I also had been told think twice about any builder registered in Robina.

I believe it is a question of quality you want for the house. For sure don't think that the same good builder will have the same reputation in second state. As some posts show it is not the case.

With the premium big builders: M3tricon, Clarendon, AVjenings, Ownit homes you should expect quality however I have just met the neighbours and they complaining about the quality and customer service in Clarendon.

I built my house with OWNIT HOMES and can tell you honestly that they are excellent, flexible and if you want the quality you will get it. Pre contract, construction and maintenance service was brilliant and fast. have a look on their website maybe you will find sth suitable. They are not cheap but it is up to you how long you want to live in this house. www.ownithomes.com.au
If you want to know more about them - ask. I can send you some pics of interior.

The best solution is to come to Brisbane and visit display villages. If you find the house you want (which is really difficult and complicated job) you should visit all display homes of this particular builder and screen the house from the top to the bottom. The basic price of double sotry will be app. $200k. Then it is up to the size. Remember to add app. $50k on top of price from the builder.

I believe you need to be here to build the house. There is so much to do, all the selection, discussing every element of the house and of course making pics of the construction (important for wiring and plumbing).

Anyway, your house will be as good as your homework. There is a lot of hardwork ahead of you.

Good luck!
kate

Jet79 · Dec 10, 2007 7:03 pm

Kate what does it matter if a builder is registered in Robina? Their head office is in Rocklea and you have different contractors in Brisbane than you do on the Gold Coast. Everyone has different experiences and that's why this forum is great. I have two friends who built with Ownit and were both so dissapointed with how long it took and all the problems they had when it was finished. They built in Springfield so maybe it does make a difference who they contract to. I know two people building with the same builder from Dixon and have been more than happy.

kasiakm · Dec 10, 2007 8:11 pm

Jet79

Kate what does it matter if a builder is registered in Robina? Their head office is in Rocklea and you have different contractors in Brisbane than you do on the Gold Coast.

There were two different sentences.

Everyone has different experiences and that's why this forum is great.

And this is what I am doing as well so please don't jump on me cause I have a different opinion.

I have two friends who built with Ownit and were both so dissapointed with how long it took and all the problems they had when it was finished. They built in Springfield so maybe it does make a difference who they contract to. I know two people building with the same builder from Dixon and have been more than happy.

Springfield... I know that a paperwork and the water meter is taking ages as council is overloaded with building applications. Think that Springfield is like a new city.

When we build we were also told that we could wait even few weeks waiting for contractors. e also had few things to fix but everything went smooth because of attitude of the builder.

thanks
kate

Just wanted to add sth. I would like to drive mercedes, but I cannot afford on it. That is why I drive XXX and I am happy. I do not complain because I know that anything above is out of my price range. So I am happy with the quality I could afford. And this is the same with house.

First calculate your budget and pick the shelf of the builder. You have limited funds go for cheaper builder (I am sorry but I would still prefer e.g. Hallmark). If you have a budget $300k you can afford on a more expensive house.

Comparison between D and builders I pointed out is like comparing Mercedes to a bicycle. There is a difference... in the worksmancraft and materials. Check the resale value of these houses.

wantingahouse · Dec 11, 2007 10:48 am

Quote:

I am sorry but most of the people I met said Don't touch tamawood/Dixon.

I am using them and they are fine! I have had friends use them and they were extremely happy with their end result. Did you build with them? If you didn't I would say you can't really comment on the experience. It's different for everyone.

For us, we couldn't afford to build with Met or Aden etc so Dixon worked well for us. We appreciated that they were bigger builders and cheaper and therefore there may not be the customer feel as with other builders but hey...we are thinking end result and for our money we got so much more. Plus, we ended up with a great builder from what I have been told.

Sorry for the tangent - just had to say this.

kasiakm · Dec 11, 2007 6:06 pm

wantingahouse

Quote:

I am sorry but most of the people I met said Don't touch tamawood/Dixon.

Did you build with them? If you didn't I would say you can't really comment on the experience. It's different for everyone.

I am glad you had positive experience. I didn't build with them but I saw few dixon homes and had someone who build only once and wouldn't repeat this experience. And it is not about customer service as this person was quite happy with it, it was about materials used.

cheers
kate

yvette72 · Dec 14, 2007 4:06 pm

try perry homes they do take a while but build a good home donot go to tamwood I will not go into it

jersey3681 · Dec 17, 2007 9:13 am

After a long day yesterday we decided to go ahead with AV Jennings. We'll do the paperwork in January as yesterday was their last day and we'll see how we go. We still didn't get back our deposit from Dixon Homes. :evil:

HomeReview · Dec 17, 2007 12:11 pm

I recommend you look into Brad MacLachlan Homes or Metro Homes. Both are able to build exactly what you want and have excellent quality.

chiching · Aug 04, 2008 8:58 pm

I would be looking at a builder that maybe does a max of 30 houses a year, if they do more then you may either wait longer or encounter more probs, as for Brad McLachlan read my post under building a new house, then Under Brad Mclachlan, it speaks volumes on what your experience with them will be like, just in case though,,,,,,,,STAY AWAY.......honestly their reputatin is becoming increasingly ******* and from what I know their are at least 3 of us engaging the BSA and lawyers against their companys which are Brad McLachlan, McLachlan Special Projects and Stylewise homes, they treat their clients like crap, and they go through more staff than china does paper for their telephone books, thats alot of paper.........but if you decideto build with them it will be at your own peral and make sure you stock up on tissues as you will need them,,,,,,,,,,,

mdance · Aug 21, 2008 11:10 pm

We had our home built with Perry Homes last year and I would seriously never ever ever recommend them to anyone.

Let me just a few of the problems:

Salesman made promises he never delivered
Our door handles fell off
Our doors didn't close and they told me my husband could fix that cause he's a chippie
Our water tank pump didn't work for 6 months and cost a washing machine in the process
Our hot water heater didn't function properly, perry told us to talk to the plumber, who told us to talk to the manufacturer cause he didn't really know anything about it, the manufacturer told us to go to perry... you get the idea
They missed silicone and the group left something to be desired in certain areas.
The security screen on the stake sliding door fell off when we bumped it
When I complained about the gap between the security screen and the window frame in the master bedroom they told me it was to let the water out when it rained :twisted:

Then we discovered that the security screens they provided weren't even Aust Standard and could be ripped off by hand. Yes that right by hand. Like opening a tin of tuna. How do we know. Well after disturbing burglars in our house we found they had gained entry by ripping off the security screen by hand. My husband tested it out and most shocked and disgusted by how easily, quiety and quickly they could be pulled off. Once I figure out how to download the footage from my mobile phone I will post on utube for all to see.

It made me physically ill. We had to replace all the screens at our expense, cause Perry wouldn't compensate for the cost of the original screens.

Is this the quality you expect from a Master Builder???? A company which goes on and on about quality quality quality. :evil:

Happy to answer any questions.

Michelle

brisvegas · Aug 22, 2008 1:29 am

Take heart Jersey, if you think it's hard going through this process from another state, try doing it from another country. We live in Hong Kong and last July had exactly 3 weeks to find a builder and plan we wanted, do some tile / carpet selections and with a toddler in tow (who had one illness after another - even a vomiting virus, made for an interesting lawn outside of the display homes!!!!!!).
It certainly adds to the complications but interstate should be a bit easier. I am sure that every single builder has satisified and unsatisified customers and there is no such thing as a perfect builder. The only thing you can do is be incredibly organised and efficient in your dealings with them CHECK and RECHECK everything because they will make mistakes on tenders and unless you catch them you'll end up paying more than you should. Get everything in writing, note down names / dates etc etc and document everything should you need it at a later date.
Good luck and you'll find a lot of useful info on the forum there are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful folk at your disposal......