Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 21, 2011 2:25 pm So the story goes that we are finally starting the building process after 3 years sitting on our land. When it came to chosing a house plan we chose through statesman as they had they type of house we wanted. However after looking at the plan we origionally wanted on our block it just wasnt going to fit the way we wanted to, so we had to get i tmodified so much that Stateman referred us to another company to draw up the plans so they then became our plans to do with what we wanted. We were however happy with the quote we had been given by Stateman and didnt enquie further with any other builders.......until we recieved the "preliminary" contract in the mail and it had many things wrong on it (names, ceiling height, roller doors etc) that we were told just to sign it anyway......we didnt feel right about this and decided to seek another quote through Fairmont as a friend had built there house with them near our block and were very happy. There quote has come back costierably cheaper mostly due to the cost statesman charge to travel out to us ($21k) as apposed to fairmont $12k. We are now wondering how they can justify such a cost if another builder can do it so much cheaper. Stateman are also saying that based on houses they have built in the area our footings would be around the $25k mark (the house accross from ours was charged $14k 2 years ago though statesman for a similar sized house). Fairmont are saying based on what they have done in the area footing would be $16k (our friend was charged $9k for there house 2 years ago through fairmont for footings and was a slightly smaller house). The soil isnt the best we know it is quite clay. Also when origionally asking them to send out the contract for us to sign (statesman) they took our credit card details for the deposit which i assumed woud be taken once they recieved the signed paperwork back from us. However they have already taken the deposit!!!! This makes us even more weary of signing with them now. After speaking with the consultant he said it was taken to "hold" the $21k promo we were apparently given wich is definantly NOT what i was told on the phone. They have said if it is refunde then we will loose the 21k promo deal.....which is interesting because i thought i was ona gain through them anyway...... and Statesman now want us to email them the other quote so that can match it for us......... So i guess im just asking your opinion would you now stear clear of Statesman or is there nothing really wrong about what has happend? This is our first build so we are very wary of being taken for a ride...... Sorry for the long winded post!!! TIA Re: Statesman or Fairmont Homes.........so confused now 2Dec 22, 2011 9:47 pm Wow TIA, I would be thinking the same way as you, and questioning Statesman. I received a quote from them several years ago when I was thinking about building but never ended up signing up or doing anything else about it. I however did recently sign up with Fairmonts to build my first built home which I made a custom plan. Statesman are a side of Hickinbothams and I know they are difficult with changing quotes etc, but didn't think they were struggling. COuld it possibly have just been the sales rep, can you contact another one. All in all though, I would be sticking with Fairmonts (probably biased till things start to go wrong with my build ) Keep us posted with wht you decided etc. BB Barossa Bubbles Building own design Fairmont Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=51265&hilit=Barossa+Bubbles Roof on-bricks next Re: Statesman or Fairmont Homes.........so confused now 3Dec 23, 2011 9:25 am we built through fairmont, and we were really happy with how the house turned out Statesman or Fairmont Homes.........so confused now 4Dec 24, 2011 12:54 am I'm building with hickinbotham. In regards to the footings it's only an estimate, I know some people who were quoted $14,000 and when it was done the cost was $30,000 and some the other way around. I would prefer that they over quote for their estimate as some companies will deliberately under quote knowing you will have to pay the full price and can't do anything about it (unless it's a fixed quote) plus it makes them look more competitive to someone comparing quotes. Some sales people are very **, the guy we had was lovely and up front as we wanted some changes and he advised us he would not do a proper quote with out us paying the deposit, which was fine as it was what we wanted and weren't shopping around but if we were it would of made it difficult. Being your plans I would keep shopping around (no harm) and ask to see some of their work (lots of sales people will take you through a half completed house) that way you can see a sample of their work. We paid $40,000 fr our travel allowance. Jasmin Hickinbotham Belmont - modified Signed: February 2011 Slab should go down before 2012 My build thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52310&p=799483#p799483 Re: Statesman or Fairmont Homes.........so confused now 5Dec 24, 2011 8:38 am When we built through Fairmonts, people across us paid 20k for footings. They quoted us 10k but it came in at 12.5k. They gave us a 2k goodwill so we only paid $500 extra above what we got quoted. Not too bad compared to other people in the street Re: Statesman or Fairmont Homes.........so confused now 6Dec 27, 2011 7:35 am I had a quote done with statesman and they were going to charge around 25 grand for footings nd they were very unprofessional by bagging out all the other builders, just felt like they were desperate. We ended up getting a quote done with fairmont nd the footings were around 12 grand. They were also more easy going nd didnt charge a fortune even for fancy upgrades. We are bout to have the footings done nd im so excited bout having a nice new home. I think the proofs in the pudding, we looked at alot of fairmont builds in our estate nd vry very assured ours is going to be awesome If this is a custom build then I would expect the builder to set out the door frame closer to the wall to avoid the gap between architrave and the wall and or specify… 9 8324 9 24814 This is one of the reasons I decided to go overseas for my double glazed windows. As the builder indicated, he's worked on many upmarket builds, these were the most well… 13 19255 |