Anyone building with MainVue Homes

jonm88 · Jan 05, 2015 4:36 pm

Amalfi_536

jonm88

Hey all!
First off I must say what an awesome forum!
My girlfriend and I are looking into building the Ivory 232 with garage plus option in Doreen, Vic. In the early stages yet getting the initial quote and site sitting done. Just wondering how people have found Mainvue? Has anybody built with them in this area?

Hey mate. Welcome to the forum. I'm currently building with them at the moment. Not gonna comment on what I think of them but if you read a bit in this thread you'll get an idea of the things I've encountered.

That doesn't fill me with confidence lol I will have to go back and read through this thread.

Amalfi_536 · Jan 05, 2015 4:55 pm

jonm88

Amalfi_536

jonm88

Hey all!
First off I must say what an awesome forum!
My girlfriend and I are looking into building the Ivory 232 with garage plus option in Doreen, Vic. In the early stages yet getting the initial quote and site sitting done. Just wondering how people have found Mainvue? Has anybody built with them in this area?

Hey mate. Welcome to the forum. I'm currently building with them at the moment. Not gonna comment on what I think of them but if you read a bit in this thread you'll get an idea of the things I've encountered.

That doesn't fill me with confidence lol I will have to go back and read through this thread.

There are things you can do which help a lot. One thing we did which was and is the best money we are spending was getting an independent inspector. We did this and he found so many non compliance to Australian Standards and things which would have caused us problems in the future.

We have learnt so much by having our inspector walk us through the build and have even started noticing things ourselves which our inspector then includes in the report.

The builder (MainVue Henley) are obliged to rectify all issues unless they can provide a standard which defends what they have done. We had a major structural non compliance which they tried to tell me was perfectly normal practice. They argued and argued that it was OK. The truss company was brought in to assess and then they suddenly changed their attitude and fixed it as per my inspectors recommendation. I believe they were told it was wrong by the truss company bit they didn't admit it.

I would be happy to email you my three current reports which were given to us?

I'm sure you too would be shocked with the things that needed to be changed.

If I was to give you one piece of advice it would be to have an independent party to rely upon.

chloea_ · Jan 06, 2015 10:02 am

So just booked in for my colour appointment - Feb 10th.

Was really hoping to get in this month but no available appointments. I had to book in at the display as the date for the appointment at Cobham clashed with work.

Can anyone give me an idea of time frames between Colour and Tender/Contracts/Starting on site.

My land is due to title first week of Feb. So will be settled mid feb and keen to get them on site ASAP!

Cheers,
Chloe

jonm88 · Jan 06, 2015 1:33 pm

[/quote]
There are things you can do which help a lot. One thing we did which was and is the best money we are spending was getting an independent inspector. We did this and he found so many non compliance to Australian Standards and things which would have caused us problems in the future.

We have learnt so much by having our inspector walk us through the build and have even started noticing things ourselves which our inspector then includes in the report.

The builder (MainVue Henley) are obliged to rectify all issues unless they can provide a standard which defends what they have done. We had a major structural non compliance which they tried to tell me was perfectly normal practice. They argued and argued that it was OK. The truss company was brought in to assess and then they suddenly changed their attitude and fixed it as per my inspectors recommendation. I believe they were told it was wrong by the truss company bit they didn't admit it.

I would be happy to email you my three current reports which were given to us?

I'm sure you too would be shocked with the things that needed to be changed.

If I was to give you one piece of advice it would be to have an independent party to rely upon.[/quote]

It sure sounds like u have had some problems with MV and it hasn't been a smooth process. Hopefully everything will get sorted. I would be interested to see the report of defects.

I will definitely be getting an independent inspector at stages throughout the build. Being a carpenter myself I am going to be a site supervisors worst nightmare lol Where abouts did u build?

Amalfi_536 · Jan 06, 2015 1:52 pm

I am building in GISBORNE.

North_Sider · Jan 06, 2015 6:18 pm

Hi all, I am new to this forum. We are building the Ivory436 - looking at starting hopefully around April this year. We have modified the plans and have also added an additional room which can be used as a kids retreat.
We are doing a knock down rebuild, still living in the older home and can't wait to get this all started.
We have a colour info night coming up in Jan some time, then our colour appointment is 2 weeks later.
Excited to be building and will hopefully get to chat to you all on the forums!!!

MrsT12 · Jan 07, 2015 8:46 pm

Hi all! Looooooooooooooooooooong time no see! We've been a bit busy around here. We moved into our place at the beginning of June, and had a baby three weeks later. Fair to say the garage and theatre are still an unpacked mess :lol:

Just wanted to give a quick update. We LOVE the house. There were bugger all issues upon moving in (condensation in a double glazed window which was fixed the week after reporting it, power point in the roof was apparently in the wrong spot for the air con guy to hook everything up which was fixed as soon as he told us, and the front door latch is a bit dicky) and seven months later we havent had any faults show up.

I'm just going to copy and paste this update in my thread, but hopefully will get some time to come back soon and babble a bit more about the house

MRS_TLG · Jan 13, 2015 11:57 am

We are planning to build Amalfi 532 in Craigieburn highlands.

Our land will be entitling in July. MV told us we have to pay for 2K per 3 months to lock down the price.

Is this usual practice in construction industry?

chloea_ · Jan 13, 2015 12:11 pm

MRS_TLG

We are planning to build Amalfi 532 in Craigieburn highlands.

Our land will be entitling in July. MV told us we have to pay for 2K per 3 months to lock down the price.

Is this usual practice in construction industry?

Yes. Usually you pay $850 to lock in the price (refundable), then a further $650 (total $1500) to I guess, committ. The $1500 you pay, as I understand, gets MainVue to complete your plan drawings, do initial site survey/soil testing. You then go select colours then you go to tender (which has all your upgrades/changes), if happy you then pay another $1650 to get to contracts. Once contracts are signed, MainVue requires the balance of 3% deposit (less the $3150 you have paid).

Hope that helps

I am at Colour selection stage.

MRS_TLG · Jan 13, 2015 3:10 pm

chloea_

MRS_TLG

We are planning to build Amalfi 532 in Craigieburn highlands.

Our land will be entitling in July. MV told us we have to pay for 2K per 3 months to lock down the price.

Is this usual practice in construction industry?

Yes. Usually you pay $850 to lock in the price (refundable), then a further $650 (total $1500) to I guess, committ. The $1500 you pay, as I understand, gets MainVue to complete your plan drawings, do initial site survey/soil testing. You then go select colours then you go to tender (which has all your upgrades/changes), if happy you then pay another $1650 to get to contracts. Once contracts are signed, MainVue requires the balance of 3% deposit (less the $3150 you have paid).

Hope that helps

I am at Colour selection stage.

Thanks for reply. Sorry but my question is a bit different. In my case

1. I pay 850+650 In Feb.
2. No soil testing as land is not titled. But i have Fixed site cost in quote.
3. 1650 for contracts say in Mar-April.
4. Get bank finance formalities etc done by End of June
5. Hopefully Land Entitles in July.
6. Construction starts in October (3 months for MV preperation,admin,soil test etc). + 3% deposit

Thats 3150 + 3% deposit

But MV asked me to pay 2000 for locking in price till July and then 2000 more for locking in price till October

Is this extra 2000+2000 normal practice. Can anything be done about it?

comfortablywacky · Jan 13, 2015 3:22 pm

MrsTLG, MV does ask for a deposit to lock in the current price, it will simply be deducted from the total deposit. Bear in mind, by locking in the price you're typically also locking in the current promotions. So should 5 months down the line a promotion comes along you wont be able to avail that using current prices.
Its a catch 22 situation. We were in the same boat and preferred to lock-in the price (but we didn't pay anything extra).

P.S. We build our home over 2 years ago, the base price for the same house hasn't gone up anymore than 10k, although there are few more options thrown in in the same price for which we paid extra.

Amalfi_536 · Jan 22, 2015 8:28 pm

Thought I would provide an update on my build.

I wish I could say it has gotten alot better since the problems we had at frame stage but unfortunately things just kept going from bad to worse...

Here are pictures of the workmanship you should expect with MainVue. I have learnt that although they have been awarded Builder of the Year 2 years in a row, the quality of the house will significantly depend on the tradies who they employ to undertake the construction.

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The capping sits about 20mm from the brickwork. Easy fix, but shouldnt have been finished like this.

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All that trouble to waterproof the backing and then its ripped into for final connection....

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Speaks for itself...

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Aust. Standards says wiring needs to be 100mm from downpipes. It was agreed that this will be fixed, but it took me 3 times to ask them before they agreed.
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Alfresco door fully closed

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90% of windows were like this. i know it gets covered by the architraves but it still doesnt give me that "good workmanship" quality I was expecting

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Will have to run conduit down to my feature lights to give it that industrial look i guess....

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Nailed timber scaffolding to the brickwork. Interested to see how this gets repaired.

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Again I know it will not look like this in the end, but not what i was expecting with MainVue.

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Tile fell off the wall. I hope more dont fall off after hand over.

Yes there are some things we are very pleased with but the overall journey has been so physically and emotionally draining. I have learned alot from this build and when I decide to build again in the future I now know what to watch for before and during the build.

Ive said it before and Ill say it again, get an independent inspector to help you because the builder will tell you what you want to hear, or tell you anything to pull the wool over your eyes.

Ill give an update as things near final inspection.

joshd · Jan 22, 2015 9:17 pm

Hey sorry to see you're having such troubles. I hope it all gets fixed properly and you move into the house you wanted. I understand it must be tough though... These things shouldn't be happening.

We've just signed up with MainVue. You haven't deterred us but definitely made us think to get an independent inspector. We have close friends that are site supers for some competing builders around Geelong that are going to help out, would you think an inspector would still be a good idea?

Where are you building if you don't mind me asking.. So I know if I have to watch out for the same tradies.

All the best.

Cheers.

Josh

Amalfi_536 · Jan 22, 2015 9:24 pm

Hi,

Don't want to deter anyone from choosing this builder. I just want people to be aware of what to expect. You are most likely to encounter these things with any builder.

It depends on how well you are friends with the inspectors and how well they know the standards and how much support they are willing to provide.

The money I have spend on my inspector has been the best spent money so far.

chloea_ · Jan 24, 2015 8:37 am

Amalfi_536

Hi,

Don't want to deter anyone from choosing this builder. I just want people to be aware of what to expect. You are most likely to encounter these things with any builder.

It depends on how well you are friends with the inspectors and how well they know the standards and how much support they are willing to provide.

The money I have spend on my inspector has been the best spent money so far.

Did they rectify all those issues for you?

Amalfi_536 · Jan 24, 2015 9:13 pm

chloea_

Amalfi_536

Hi,

Don't want to deter anyone from choosing this builder. I just want people to be aware of what to expect. You are most likely to encounter these things with any builder.

It depends on how well you are friends with the inspectors and how well they know the standards and how much support they are willing to provide.

The money I have spend on my inspector has been the best spent money so far.

Did they rectify all those issues for you?

Not as of yet. But as you can see, some of the issues can't be fixed, and will just be played with or "dressed up" and made to look a bit better....

Tudu · Jan 29, 2015 7:55 pm

Amalfi_536

Hi,

We are building with Main Vue. Sorry to hear about your experience, your photos don't instil much confidence, the tile that fell of the wall, was that stuck onto plasterboard? Is that to code?

Amalfi_536 · Jan 29, 2015 8:55 pm

Tudu

Amalfi_536

Hi,

We are building with Main Vue. Sorry to hear about your experience, your photos don't instil much confidence, the tile that fell of the wall, was that stuck onto plasterboard? Is that to code?

It doesn't look like it but I think they waterproof the plaster and that satisfies standards. It's another cheaper shortcut which they take in order to keep costs down.

Can I ask where and what you are building?

jonm88 · Jan 30, 2015 5:37 pm

Amalfi_536

Tudu

Amalfi_536

Hi,

We are building with Main Vue. Sorry to hear about your experience, your photos don't instil much confidence, the tile that fell of the wall, was that stuck onto plasterboard? Is that to code?

It doesn't look like it but I think they waterproof the plaster and that satisfies standards. It's another cheaper shortcut which they take in order to keep costs down.

Can I ask where and what you are building?

It's not really a cheaper shortcut. It's fine as long as it has been waterproofed properly. Having villa board is always better in wet areas but there is nothing wrong with the WR plasterboard. Looks as tho there was hardly any glue on that tile which fell off! Hope u can get all your issues sorted!

Tudu · Jan 30, 2015 8:17 pm

Building the Ivory 436 with North_Sider KDR in Reservoir. Our block is 14.6 wide, it was hard to find off the plan single story with all the rooms we wanted. Be listening to see how they dealt with your issues.