Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 28, 2011 4:30 pm Hi All! My fiance and I are buying our first home and are looking at house & land packages in & around Berwick. But am totally confused, have no idea which builders to go with, am hearing negative stories about ALL of them, and also dont know what I should be asking. ATM, im leaning toward burbank or porter davis. porter davis has an 18week finish date guarantee (can i trust this??). Can anyone give me any info from own experiences & what I should be looking for/asking???? Any help would me much appreciated! Thanks Process: Land Settlement: 17/02 House colours picked: 20/02 Slab: 25/03 Framework: 28/03 Windows & Roof framing: 01/04 Plumbing: 06/04 Lock Up Stage: 22/04 Paint & Tiles: 14/05 Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 2Dec 28, 2011 4:44 pm Hello! I'm building my first home, but I'm in WA, so can't advise/ give reviews on any home builders. One thing I have learnt is, don't take ANYTHING at face value. Even if you get a few quotes on plans from a few builders, add a few thousand to the original quote (at least $5k, if you're on a tight budget). It's not that the builder's rep is being dishonest, it's just that they're trying to make a sale 'cause they work on commission. Have you got finance approval? Or at least a pre-approval? Good luck with the builder hunt! Carol. Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 3Dec 28, 2011 4:56 pm Hi Blondd I haven't made it very far in the process yet and I've had some small disappointments and some pleasant surprises with our builder. What i have learnt is that this is a very complex and for most of us a very emotional process. Things can and do go wrong. What is most important is not whether things occasionally get overlooked by a builder, but how they act to listen to and address concerns. Don't be put off your dream home by some others' bad experiences. Look carefully at the structures that the builder has in place to communicate with their clients. Any report of unanswered calls or queries being ignored should be taken as a serious warning. Good luck. KDRB Carlingford, NSW Building Garden Retreat with MDJH Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 4Dec 28, 2011 5:23 pm Hey thanks for that. My fiance also said, they may have some bad reviews but if that was all they got then how would they stay in business. especially cos ppl are quick to whinge about bad experiences but not as quick to commend good ones. And yes we've been pre approved & have a formal appointment with our mortgage broker next week. We also have a family friend who is a builder so might get him to complete a check on the house once completed??? Thanks for keeping me upbeat! Process: Land Settlement: 17/02 House colours picked: 20/02 Slab: 25/03 Framework: 28/03 Windows & Roof framing: 01/04 Plumbing: 06/04 Lock Up Stage: 22/04 Paint & Tiles: 14/05 Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 5Dec 30, 2011 10:38 am If you are not sure on a builder do a BSA check on them, this will tell you if they have any formal complaints against them. The most important thing to do when looking for a builder is to compare exactly what is included in the price, go through lots of display homes and sit down and work out what you want in your house. When you know exactly what you want then go to a couple of builders that you like the plans of and get them to give you a quote. Just remember that anything extra costs and it can add up quickly, we had a lot of things included in our original quote but still added around $10000 at the colours appointment. Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 7Dec 30, 2011 11:54 am My main advice would be ignore family and friends bagging builders left right and centre and make a judgment yourselves over which builder to use do some research and work out what is best for you. http://lindeman28.blogspot.com - Our building blog First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 8Dec 30, 2011 2:07 pm We chose our builder based on the plans they had, first drew up a list of builders we were happy with and then looked at their plans and then chose from there. We added roughly $150,000 to the base price but that did include a $40,000 travel fee but we knew it would be roughly that figure from the start so it was ok. 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: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 9Jan 10, 2012 4:36 pm Hey; so we have picked our block & are like 90% decided to build with Henley. We have found a design we LOVE in our price range and still leaving us with room to move if we want to upgrade colours etc when we get to picking all that. How long does it usually take to finish building? We are signing contracts this week & picking colours etc next week but no idea how long I should expect this to all take!!! Process: Land Settlement: 17/02 House colours picked: 20/02 Slab: 25/03 Framework: 28/03 Windows & Roof framing: 01/04 Plumbing: 06/04 Lock Up Stage: 22/04 Paint & Tiles: 14/05 Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 10Jan 10, 2012 4:37 pm blondd_87 Hey; so we have picked our block & are like 90% decided to build with Henley. We have found a design we LOVE in our price range and still leaving us with room to move if we want to upgrade colours etc when we get to picking all that. How long does it usually take to finish building? We are signing contracts this week & picking colours etc next week but no idea how long I should expect this to all take!!! See my signature.. thats for a 29sq house.. Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 11Jan 10, 2012 4:43 pm yeah thats what i was bout expecting. they said 9 months max, but usually 4 -5 espec cos its a whole new estate going up- a lot of builders on site everyday. trying to push through all the paper work stuff so they can start sooner cos our block is already titled & ready to build on. lol plus i have no patience at all! should i be going into the build site regularly once its started to 'check up' on them??? Process: Land Settlement: 17/02 House colours picked: 20/02 Slab: 25/03 Framework: 28/03 Windows & Roof framing: 01/04 Plumbing: 06/04 Lock Up Stage: 22/04 Paint & Tiles: 14/05 Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 12Jan 10, 2012 4:45 pm blondd_87 yeah thats what i was bout expecting. they said 9 months max, but usually 4 -5 espec cos its a whole new estate going up- a lot of builders on site everyday. trying to push through all the paper work stuff so they can start sooner cos our block is already titled & ready to build on. lol plus i have no patience at all! should i be going into the build site regularly once its started to 'check up' on them??? As much as you can.. ie: We visit ours everyday. Also get a house inspector.. Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 13Jan 10, 2012 4:48 pm yeh ive looked into a couple, we have a lot of family who live round the road from where we r building so they can drop in too! Process: Land Settlement: 17/02 House colours picked: 20/02 Slab: 25/03 Framework: 28/03 Windows & Roof framing: 01/04 Plumbing: 06/04 Lock Up Stage: 22/04 Paint & Tiles: 14/05 Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 14Jan 10, 2012 5:09 pm For your selection meeting one of the things that I think makes a difference to a house is the convenience of the lights and electrical sockets. There is some advice here. http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?cat=166 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 15Jan 10, 2012 5:17 pm awesome thanks! Process: Land Settlement: 17/02 House colours picked: 20/02 Slab: 25/03 Framework: 28/03 Windows & Roof framing: 01/04 Plumbing: 06/04 Lock Up Stage: 22/04 Paint & Tiles: 14/05 Re: First Home Owners. So confused!!!!! 16Jan 10, 2012 11:01 pm To answer the "how long" - Henley started on site in June last year and we had handover on 26 October. Once they got going it roared along. What plan are you thinking of? Ours was a KDR, the Talise Q2 with a few modifications. We signed the contract at the end of March, then there was a bit of fluffing around while we had a pool installed and the council refused to ok our garage wall 3cm above standard. The slab was poured after the long weekend in June. We cannot fault Henley at all - the SS was great, our admin was a bit useless, but we had no major issues or drama once we got started. A Porter Davis Waldorf was built around the corner during the same period - it started before us and was finished about the same time, six months or so - big house. Like our site, there seemed to be tradies there six days a week even in the middle of winter. Good luck! 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 6297 Thanks NativeZen! I can't wait to start landscaping, though it's going to be a while away yet. No movement on site yet as of the weekend. 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