Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 16, 2011 11:51 am Hi All Our land is waiting patiently for a home to be placed on it. We are not in a big hurry to build which has been a blessing as we have been able to do a lot of research on what we want and who we want to build our house. We have looked into a number of independant builders and have narrowed the list down to two that we like - Hotondo Homes (Walter Builders) in Hoppers Crossing and Shane Cook Homes in Bacchus Marsh. Both seem great, have good inclusions and are similarly priced but we haven't been able to hear of any experiences people have had with them. If you have used these builders or know someone that has I'd love to hear how the experience was for you/them. Cheers Building in Bacchus Re: Can you help us decide between two builders? 2Feb 16, 2011 12:22 pm From experience with Hotondo, don't take their lifestyle inclusions stuff as std inclusions. We're building with Hotondo and the Builder actually doesn't like the fact that they advertise them as the standard fit out can vary greatly. Having said that, the actual stuff we get is great. The range of thing our builder offers as standard is really good and they have been happy to let us source our own appliances and gave us close to the RRP (one of them was more than RRP that I could find) The best thing you could do is to go and look ant some of the work that each has done, so you can see the finished product. One of the biggest factors for us was that our chosen builder really knows his stuff (or seems to at least) He's easy to talk to, has a great knowledge base and can clear up a bunch of things off the top of his head. He also knows our area as he has built around Croydon a lot in the last few years. Does either builder have a design that suits you better? Making changes to the designs may run the cost up above what you have planned for. Re: Can you help us decide between two builders? 3Feb 16, 2011 12:54 pm That's great feedback, thanks The Hotondo Builder I've been dealing with also seems very knowledgable and nothing so far seems to be a problem for him which is very reassuring. However the other builder is the same - they're both so great, it makes for a tough decision. We have an odd triangle shaped block (9.5m front, 41m long and 29m rear) so we can't really use many of the standard plans out there. Both builders are happy to use our own plan though and are willing to work with the natural lay of the block so we'll just get it drawn up by their recommended drafty and go from there. Thanks again for the feedback. Good luck and all the best with your house. It is a very exciting time Building in Bacchus Re: Can you help us decide between two builders? 4Apr 21, 2012 9:44 am Hi Scout, Just wondering who you ended up choosing as your builder. Our project is currently being quoted by 4 builders and Shane Cook homes is one of them. Curious to know if you ended up using him and if you did, would you recommend them? Re: Can you help us decide between two builders? 5Apr 21, 2012 10:03 am Scout - we have a similar odd shaped triangular block to you. As you have discovered, going the independent route is the best way to go. To our surprise (and I always remind myself of this when I get depressed about the cost $$) going Custom is cheaper than taking a volume builder plan and making a zillion changes (which we tried to do with Masterton). As another poster said, once you start upgrading from the basic package the costs can sky rocket. I have heard good things about Hontondo, but we are in Sydney. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 I thought this would be a popular question but I haven't been able to find any similar posts. Perhaps I'm wording my searches wrong? When you have car insurance and the… 0 6615 Hi, We're building a double-storey in Perth and I'm undecided with the kitchen sink situation. I'm set on having the main sink with dishwasher in the scullery - and… 0 20912 2 2983 |