The company we were going to go with pulled out of the race due to the high clay and level of engineering required in the footings and the loft room (they have officially stopped doing lofts or 2nd storeys).
Right now I *think* the race is purely between Ross North and Summit. It's a custom plan so choice isn't down to layout.
FOR Ross North:
- between our first and second meeting, the sales rep took the effort to drive out to our land to have a look - made life so much easier, he knew exactly what we were talking about
- they're building next door (our land is in a Conservation Precinct and under a flight path and so have LOTS of particulars for the builders to comply with - having prior experience of this and the shire is definitely a bonus)
- our design has a loft studio room upstairs - Ross North have a Loft display home and do lofts regularly
- they appear to have a pretty consistently good reputation and we have had personal recommendations from friends in their houses
AGAINST Ross North:
- We haven't had that "WOW!" moment in any of their display homes, seeing things we just loved and had to have, in the way we have with others. Should this really count against the builder considering we now know exactly what we want now having already taken such inspiration from elsewhere?
FOR Summit:
- the sales guy has made a number of suggestions and little things in the plan that really improve it - he also picked up on nuances and details others haven't. though in saying that, Summit were latecomers into the process and so we had a much better and more stable idea of what we wanted and probably explained it better
- they have a couple of display homes with features I love - the Luxxe for e.g.
- I've read a number of very positive experiences from H1ers
AGAINST Summit:
- they only just started doing 2nd storeys so would their tradies be familiar and experienced with the differences?
- hubby thinks *something* about their displays have a cheaper feel than Ross North - he can't put his finger on it
So difficult to decide......