Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 09, 2011 6:04 pm Hi This is my first time on the forum but it seems to be really informative, got a few good hints and tips. So I thought maybe I'd start my own topic and hopefuly, cross my fingers, get a few answers = ). I live in WA. My family and I are looking to do a home and land package kind of deal, after years of renting. We're all really green at this, and are really uncertain about what were doing lol = S. We're trying to do as much research as we can, asking a lot of people who have recently built houses and just get as much info as we can before anything is set in concrete. We've gone to First Home Buyers Direct and I was just wondering if anyone has built with them, and if they are any good? Also we're looking to buy in Charlotte's Vinyard, in Ellenbrook. Does anyone live in that area and could tell me what's it like to live there? Anything to watch out for? There's a whole bunch of land that right now seems kind of undeveloped next to the lot the consultant has suggested to us. I'm a bit concerned about that. Anyone know anything about undeveloped land near Farmaner's Parkway? Not sure if this is the right forum topic to post in lol, but thought I'd give it a go = ) Thanks = ) Re: First Home Buyers Direct? 2Dec 13, 2011 12:48 am I won't be much help with most of your questions, but I do know that the Perth-Darwin highway is proposed to run right next to Charlotte's Vineyard. I've just had a look on Google maps and it already shows where the proposed highway will be going, it's right next to Farmaner Parkway... construction may be a while off, but you may want to do some research to decide how it will impact on your lifestyle or re-sale values. Re: First Home Buyers Direct? 3Dec 15, 2011 12:17 am Hi BCB, Again, this probably isn't much help, but.... FHBD were my 3rd possible choice for builders. I think they're relatively new, are a smallish, independent builder (ie. They don't have a large parent company) and build fairly good quality homes (from what I could see). In the end they lost out for me because I was concerned by the sales rep's general attitude that because they are a small company they might charge a little more, but you'll get a better quality home out of them.... And that just made me think 'I'd prefer a builder that has a larger, more well known parent company that backs them.' Oh and preferably cheaper I do think they'd be a great choice, but I haven't read any reviews about them anywhere...... I find it hard to find reviews on builders on the interwebs..... Re: First Home Buyers Direct? 4Feb 18, 2012 2:17 am If it helps, I have researched Ellenbrook quite a lot recently. Any of the homes that are to be built near the proposed Perth-Darwin Highway will have to have additional sound proofing in a lot of cases which can add a lot to the cost of any home being built there. As CA1305 mentioned, resale values will probably be affected as in many other areas near train lines, freeways, highways etc. Some of the cheaper builders have very little inclusions and some of their tactics are less than desireable for achieving supposed cheap packages. Lexia and Malvern Springs are the current estates where the best value will be achieved. When looking at packages, some things to consider when talking to the builders: Contract times - some builders can take 3-6 months just to get contracts to you, which will make the time until you get the keys greater than 12 months. (Strangely one of the Biggest that own a lot of building companies) Floor Coverings - It seems that when first home buyers are targeted, some of the low deposit loans require the builder to supply floor coverings in order to get the loans approved....BUT...They use very cheap carpets that are stuck to the floor without underlay and supply vinyl in kitchens. Garages - make sure that you get remote doors with the garage, some are optional. Depending if the design is for 10m wide or lower cottage style with a rear garage, it's best not to enclose them to give more useable space in the back yard. Size of Home - There are a couple of homes from Homebuyers that seem pretty cheap, but are very very small. For the price there appeared to better of options. Homestart had some cheap packages but very basic and not many inclusions. Block choice - Make sure you choose a rectangle shaped block...Sometimes the odd shaped blocks are slightly cheaper but the construction cost goes up a lot when the builder has to alter the designs to accomodate the shape of the block. Cross Over - Most of the builders don't mention the crossover, which is the paved area between your boundary and road. Some give you paved driveways but it usually doesn't include the crossover which you must have done prior to moving in. Front Design - I wanted render on the front of my design, most of the builders charged a lot for the look to be changed...It wasn't included like the picture shown. The style I chose was up to $4200 extra with one of the builders...It was included with the one I eventually chose. There are many other things to consider depending on the type of home you are looking for and the things that you must have in the home you choose. I narrowed it down to Dreamstart Homes (part of the Content Group) and Easystart (Summit Group) The price ended being similar ... Both the reps seemed quite good. I ended up building with Dreamstart because of the extra value and the rep new his stuff. He spent more time with me more than any other...and I asked a heap of questions!! The house also had the most inclusions. Tiled floors, carpets, Stone benches in the kitchen and both bathrooms, Air con, doors on the robes, venetian blinds, glass doors in the showers, the larger ovens and burners (900mm), fly screens, paving, china basins, dishwasher recess etc I made a few changes to the design, nothing major, but they also charged the least for them. I did ask for a reverse cycle air con (which was way out of my budget) and the dreamstart rep in Ellenbrook gave me a $4500 credit that I used on the house to add more area in my theatre and family room instead of having the aircon that came with the house. The Commodore, WA housing centre & Celebrations companies couldn't get close to the price. The homebuyers rep was very pushy and the others just never bothered to get back to me. Re: First Home Buyers Direct? 6Jul 29, 2012 9:52 pm Hey BCB! I know this is coming way after this conversation was started, but I thought I would provide you with some feedback about my experience with FHBD. We started the process about 18 months ago and it took FOREVER to get our finance sorted out, I would recommend using your own finance broker, rather than the ones they provide. There was a lack of communication and it therefore made the process take a long time. We got our loan through Key Start, which probably didn't help (government agency!). Once we got the finance and did our Pre-Start meeting where we got to choose everything (the fun part!) we then had to wait to get all of our council approval. Surprisingly, that only took about 8 weeks for everything, which is rather quick I've been told. Now to the build...we are almost to hand over, A MONTH AND A HALF EARLY!! This is completely unheard-of in the building industry! I have to admit that whenever we noticed that something wasn't right, they were very quick to get it fixed. As an example, the tilers did the tiles wrong in both of our bathrooms, my fiancee and I went there on the sunday and they tilers were there when we noticed it, I e-mailed FHBD straight away and it was fixed by the Tuesday. Overall, whilst we had a few problems starting out (we were also not told our block was a strata), they have certainly made up for themselves in the build. All the houses around us are at about the same stage as we had to wait for the titles anyway, so the delay in finance didn't end up hindering our build too much. Re: First Home Buyers Direct? 7Aug 04, 2012 12:07 am Hello everyone Thank you so much for the replies : ). I apologize for the delay in acknowledging your helpful replies, but I didn't realise I had gotten any because I didn't get any notifications. I don't know whether I was checking the wrong e-mail address or what it was lol. We decided to go with FHBD in the end, the finance did take a long time, and we had some trouble with evaluation, but we're pretty happy with the price and what we're getting. We just signed the mortgage papers and the settlement, and then the plans will be sent to council, so everything is moving now, exciting lol : ). Hopefully it goes okay : ). Thanks again for taking the time to reply, and be so detailed! : ) Re: First Home Buyers Direct? 8Nov 11, 2012 1:55 pm Im currently building with fhbd, can anyone who is or had build with them please let me know of pre-start costs? Im looking at upgrading the following - - adding 32mm conduits to TV points - upgrading to a glass splashback in the kitchen - roller blinds instead of venetians - upgrading to larger towel rails - adding extra power points - adding downlights - adding a water tap to fridge recess Thanks! Hey guys, what’s everyone opinion on James Hardie linea direct fix to frame? Would this be the most common method and anybody ever had any problems down the track? 0 5138 Thanks Simon, I guess I'm no concerned with the volume of the noise rather that dead and hollow sound and feel that is associated with floating floors. But I'm not sure… 3 6114 So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27478 |