Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 02, 2008 3:51 pm Hi all, I'm new to the forum and was wanting some help if possible.
My partner and I have located some land in Werribee and are in the process of searching for a builder, we've looked at Simonds, Met9icon, Porter Davis etc and now stumbled across Marshall Baker Homes, I love the resort theme they have going and they seem to include quite a few upgrades as well, I was wondering if anyone has had experience/dealings with them and what were they like. The block we're looking at is in an established estate on a corner and is a bit of an odd shape, so the standard (long) style homes don't really work, which is the other question do you know if MB change floorplans at all to suit, also can you get the driveway, window furnishings etc done through them as well like you can with Met9icon. Its hard doing research at this time of the year with everyone closed and I just couldn't wait any longer to find out more, so any comments good or bad will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Re: Marshall Baker Homes 2Jan 02, 2008 3:55 pm I cant seem to think of anyone on here that has built with them - nothing useful comes up in the search either.... sorry....
Anyone else? Built Porter Davis "Dromana" 2007. Re: Marshall Baker Homes 3Jan 04, 2008 5:33 pm Hi FHB,
We're building a custom double storey in East Bentleigh with Marshall Baker at the moment (slab's just been poured and one brick wall for the garage is up). Rather write an essay about our experiences, can I suggest you P.M me a phone number and a suitable time that I can contact you on. I'd be more than happy to ring you and fill you in on our experience to date. Also, I see that Marshall Baker are included in the list of builders that Kevin from New Home Inspections has consulted upon. Perhaps you could give him a call. Cheers, Justin. Re: Marshall Baker Homes 4May 13, 2008 9:40 am Justin,
Just wondering how that home build of yours is going? Re: Marshall Baker Homes 5May 13, 2008 12:34 pm Hi
I am new to the forum and building with Marshall Baker - would also be interested to know how your house is going and how you have found them throughout the building process. Courtney Re: Marshall Baker Homes 6May 13, 2008 1:22 pm hey courtypaulie..
Where are you building and which design are you building? Re: Marshall Baker Homes 7May 13, 2008 1:50 pm Hi Matt
We are building the Daintree 30 - with a few slight modifications. Our land is in the Edenfield Estate in Caroline Springs - hopefully we can start building late June !! Re: Marshall Baker Homes 8May 13, 2008 4:02 pm Ohhhhhhhh we came very close to building the Marshall Baker 'Daintree'. Beautiful, resort style home! It didn't fit our block so couldn't go ahead but I still think about that house!! Reminds me of tropical holidays! I think their two displays in Cranborne are now sold but they have new ones in Doreen?? Re: Marshall Baker Homes 9May 13, 2008 5:22 pm Marshall Baker will have, I believe 4 or 5 display homes in the Marriot Waters estate....
Probably doesn't help you out at the moment as they wouldn't be completed for another 4- 5 months anyway... Gav & Vanessa Building In Melbourne (Sth East Suburbs) http://www.arkraider.blogspot.com/ Rawdon Hill Construction - Canterbury Heritage Re: Marshall Baker Homes 10May 13, 2008 10:08 pm Hi Guys,
(This was co-written with Mrs Justin, so if some parts sound a bit girlie you know why....) Jac08: The Daintree is a beautiful house, as is the Port Douglas. They have made some changes to the interior of their display homes at Doreen but they still look great. A feature in one of the houses is the mini bi-fold window that opens out from the bedroom to a small pool. Obviously not something everyone can have but it looks great and really builds on the “resort” look. Courtypaulie: I hope I have covered it for you below but feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want any more info. We are building with Marshall Baker so I’ll give you an update on our build so far. We will be at lock up this week and on track for end of July handover so it’s getting close now. We chose this builder because of a few reasons: • They would build a custom home. • They were a good balance for us between a custom and volume builder. • Both myself and my wife saw their houses (initially in the MBAV magazine) and loved their particular style (this hadn’t happened with any others so knew this was the one). • Quality and workmanship of build. We did quite a bit of research on this. • Salesperson at their display homes. (We always felt bombarded when looking through display homes of other companies. The moment you walk in the door they are at you, it’s all about sales). There was no hard sell, we were given all the information we needed. Called heaps and visited the display homes often. Really relaxed atmosphere but extremely professional. Issues, a few, but after reading this forum for a couple of years, who hasn’t. That just seems to be the nature of the building industry. Delay has probably been the biggest issue but things are moving now. The important thing is that they are acted on and rectified and to date has been the case with our builders. We had quite a few issues before building even started (not related to the builder) such as demolishing a house, having to move the electricity pole on the naturestrip to accommodate moving the driveway and update a Telstra pit. Good luck if you ever have to do any of those things. We are having Kevin do inspections for us, he has inspected homes of this builder before and said he has never found too many problems, and they have always fixed any problems. This has been the case for us so far. Kevin will be doing pre-plaster next week. Courtypaulie, the only thing I would add is that they do use the HIA Contract which is really vague in terms of starting dates. Even though it says “within 21 days after receiving building permits”, this is quite a vague clause. It may be worthwhile actually negotiating a start date and having that stated in the contract rather than leaving it open ended. In terms of colour selection, we mainly went with the interior colours and façade colours of the Daintree from the display home at Cranbourne because it works so well. We did change the wall colour to Porcelain ½ strength (Wattyl is the paint brand they use) because we wanted it a bit more neutral to start with and then add colour once we move in. How many shades of white are there?????????? They use Beaumont Tiles for tiles, Truloc for floors and Maceys Carpet Court for Carpet (you probably already have these details). It’s really worth going to those places and having a good look (tell them who you are building with and they can show you the range), because it really helps for the colour selection meeting (tile choice is actually done at Beaumont and not at the meeting). We ended up going with LaTrobe (Austral) for our bricks and it works great with the night sky colourbond roof. Hope this is of some help. Cheers, Justin. Re: Marshall Baker Homes 11May 14, 2008 8:55 am Thank you Justin (and Mrs Justin)! Appreciate you taking the time to discuss your experiance - as I wasnt able to find much feedback on here!
I agree that some of the 'features' in the display home our lovely but not very practical!! Would love to see some photos, as we have also chosen the la trobe brick with a black (tiled) roof. Cheers Courtney Re: Marshall Baker Homes 12May 14, 2008 7:25 pm I remember looking at the Marshall Baker displays when we were looking for a builder. They are beautiful homes.
courtypaulie and Justin, as you may know we love pictures in here, and I would be very interested to see your houses progress. Do either of you have blogs or any photos you would like to share? donuts MBH 13May 14, 2008 10:40 pm Hello FHB and welcome
Unfortunately no reviews on Marshall Baker Homes on BB so it's hard to tell. There are quite a few for the other builders you mention so hopefully that will help in some way with your decision. Sounds like a few comments here though so hopefully you will get some idea of any problems you might come up against. All the best with your building! Regards Re: Marshall Baker Homes 14May 15, 2008 9:15 am Hi Donuts
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