Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 26, 2011 5:58 pm So your thinking of building with SIMONDS.... you might want to think again, this goes with any builder I guess. Check re-check and doubly check all paperwork, everything you want done, or ask for have it in writting and make sure all colour selections etc are correct, go over and over everything again and again, get parents, partner and friends to check for mistakes in plans, selections and everything as they will get out of it if you have not done your job right and have signed for it even if it's wrong. These are problems I had building with Simonds. 1. Plan designs changed but new plans not sent to all the trades, trades working off old plans. 2. Electrical wiring hooked up to wrong points, luck I was on site, not that I should of been otherwise wiring would of been wrong. 3. Plumbing wrong in laundry and ensuite, once again luck I was not site not that I should of been to pick up on this otherwise more issues. 4. Poor tiling done in bathroom, did not put in silver edging as requested and when it was finally donr they just the tiles and stuck it in, not even close to the standard they say they do. 5. Wanted external venting for range hood, this was in writing, not done, only noticed 15 months later when I was in roof and venting was pushed under wood trust. 6. Problems with toilet not refilling after flush properly, came and fixed still same proble, ended up getting inside unit replaced as full of dirt, only done during building phase. 7. Brickwork did not come up against the bathroom window, had 5cm gap, all they did was to put vertical black alaminium cover over this to fix it. 8. Had brick work over all doors, front back, slidding doors etc. This was not done, they had infills about the size of brick thickness as they did not get their measurments right. 9. Wrong vanity in ensuit, they had shelves I wanted draws. 10 wrong handles on pot draws in kitchen, they put two handles on each draw I wanted one long handle. 11. I was to have ceaser stone waterfall ends to the island bench and one end of wall bench, did not do waterfall end to wall bench, offered credit notice instead. 12. I had to go and clean the inside of the site at least 20 times to make sure all the saw dust was from out of the walls etc so I would get a good job done when it came to plastering and putting skirtings on. 13. Ceiling in main bathroom slopped at different heights, had to re do. 14. Door jams the wrong height, had to fix up. 15. Walk through into ensuie door not at right angles the eft side is 2cm shorter than right side etc. 16. Stormwater pipes out back fall of dirt and stones, not layed correctly, 16m goes up hill and is full of water and does not drain. 17. Bent all my tap fitting out front which i had to pay for to get fixed. 18. Damaged pantry door and when fixed did not paint in the same colour, still waiting for this to be done, 15 months later. 19, When brick cleaning took place the person who diod the cleaning stripped all the colour from off the Austral Bricks (Zinc) top of the range, especially on one side of the house, still not rectified 15 months on. keep making excusses. 20. Wrong front door was installed, had to be replaced. 21. Guttering not placed in over front fecade so when it rained prior to hand over the front master bedroom was a waterfall, plaster drooping, water stains down wall. I had to paint over the water stainst with proper paint to hide stains so they would not come through final paint job. 22. When air con was installed did not put bird guard on so birds got in and made a mess. I can go on and on, the most important thing you can do when building is take heaps and heaps of photos, this will help at a later stage, I promise you this. Go to the site regularly and check and double check everything, if you can solve a problem at an early stage this is best than weeks later where things have to be ripped out and replaced. Do not hand over any money for for the next stage in the building process if you not happy with the current stage or if it's not completed, eg brick work not done and they are wanting payment for it. Have your plans and contract on you at all times, when you go to work, when your in the car, when you go to the site as this will be a big help to show trades if there are mistakes. Get to know your workers as if they know you and your watching and taking pics they are more likely to do a good job. I wish you all the best, hope this has been of help. Happy to give advise if you want it. Re: Building a new house with SIMONDS 3Feb 26, 2011 7:13 pm stamford sw vic i looove our simonds home!!! me too, i had issues but nothing that no other builder has, and they were straight onto it as soon as we told them Re: Building a new house with SIMONDS 4Feb 27, 2011 9:37 am Hello Miss Piggy and others. Further update. Simonds has been dealing with issues I have faced which I am happy about, but I have had to stay on top of things. Miss Piggy, thanks for the thread, great to see all your pics and what you have done. I am very impressed and like the finish product, great to see. I also built the same house as yours which I thought was quite funny. I did alot of changes to the design / plan, all at a cost of course as I did like the floor plan but tweeked it quite a bit. The study at the front I extended the wall further back into the lounge room and then enclosed the study to make another bedroom. The lounge room I removed the sliding door and moved the whole wall back and got rid of the alfresco area there so the wall is on the same elivation as the kitchen wall and had three long narrow window put in instead. I then had the lounge enclosed with a wall and door put in to make into a large study come spare room, tv room etc. In the master bedroom I deleted the alfresco area and had the wall put along the same elivation as the other rooms. I then made this area a big walk in robe area which is a walk through to the ensuite area now. The door to the master bedroom is now in the master bedroom not where you have it. I then extended the bathroom / ensuite area to the whole length of the current room to include your walk in robe area as well. Thus making the ensuite area nearly twice as big. In the kitchen area I removed the sliding door to the alfresco area as that is now an extention to the extra large lounge / study and the sliding door that was in the lounge I had put in where the window is in the kitchen. In the kitchen area I moved the fridge over to where the first wall cupboard is and extended the kitchen bench along the wall and put in 900 pot draws and extra overhead cupboards. The extra space left from the fridge now made room for an extra large pantry. The island bench I had ceasor stone bench tops and waterfall ends installed and did the reverse layout to yours where I also included an extra cupboard and extra wide draws. The entry to the theatre room I moved towards the wall elivation so its only about 1.5m from the wall and not so far in. The large window in the theatre room I replaced with 3 small square windows as on the opposite elivation in this room. The back three bedrooms I had the long skiny horizontal windows installed instead of the large windows. In the corner bedroom I made the built in robe the full length of the wall by changing the position of the toilet so its not around the corner when you go into the toilet area. In the laundry I had a broom cupboard installed as well. The garage I had extended to a third garage but instead of putting in another roller door I put in the same windows as the study so it appears to be another room and later down the track if needed I can put a wall in and make this into another room. I also put a rear entry roller door into the back yard and also a sliding door. The front door I made to be a wider door with no side window for security reasons. Now if you followed all of that you can tell I made heaps of changes. It cost too...lol but worth it and quite reasonable, sometimes cost negative or credit given. I used the Zinc brick from Austral with a white morta that was flushed. I have completed all the landscaping out front and have done the right side, rear with only a deck and pegola to go out by the kitchen area. If you like I will try and work out how to do this thread thing and upload some pics if you like to see the changes I did. hopefully you will like . Thanks once again for the visit, feedback and thread. Happy to offer advice or assistance to anyone building. Yes well there solution is to blame everyone else while I a 65yr old woman with major medical problems have to just continue to boil water and wash myself in a bucket… 2 16004 If you make sure all taps inside and out are turned off, what does the water meter show if you leave it for a while. 2 20235 13 6631 |