Customers who have used steel frames

smeagol · Feb 28, 2008 12:39 pm

Hi All,

I'd like to set up a working group of people who are thinking of using this builder, people who ARE using this builder and people who have used this builder.

I'm from melbourne and happy to organise a coffee one saturday morning so we can have a good session to vent, inform, advise chat about our builder.

if anyone is interested please pm me with your email address and contact number and i will organise something.

cheers

smeags

mattwalker · Feb 28, 2008 1:53 pm

Not happy smeagol??

Lost your precious??

:shock:

smeagol · Feb 28, 2008 2:52 pm

Hey Matt,

No i'm actually reasonably content with my builder so far, they are far from perfect but its a very slow process...

8 months of negotiations and still no contract...

smeags.

Helyn · Feb 28, 2008 9:46 pm

Excuse my silly question (well, I am from South Australia :wink:

) but is "steel frames" the name of the building company?????

You don't just mean anyone who is building with a steel frame.... as oppossed to a timber frame?????

Perhaps you should clarify this for any other readers?????

vanderlay · Feb 29, 2008 8:55 am

Helyn

Excuse my silly question (well, I am from South Australia :wink:

) but is "steel frames" the name of the building company?????

You don't just mean anyone who is building with a steel frame.... as oppossed to a timber frame?????

Perhaps you should clarify this for any other readers?????

I assume he's talking about J G King Homes??? :wink:

Helyn · Feb 29, 2008 9:44 am

Quote:

I assume he's talking about J G King Homes???

I don't think we have them in SA, but it is common for various companies (my builder is but one example) to build with steel frames while others build with timber frames.
Hence the query.

PS: I notice from photos on this forum that most of your houses are timber framed. Are steel frames rare in other states?

vanderlay · Feb 29, 2008 9:49 am

Helyn

PS: I notice from photos on this forum that most of your houses are timber framed. Are steel frames rare in other states?

Pretty much all the big builders in vic use timber frames - except for JG King - which is why I assumed smeagol was referring to them!

smeagol · Feb 29, 2008 11:15 am

Hey V

You are spot on...

if you search the forums and itnernet there's a lot of discussions on steelframes vs wooden frames...

i'm kinda neutral and don't really mind either...

although i did ask them the question of whatts the point of having steel frames that are on wooden stumps for my house and charging me termite protection...kind of defeat the whole purpose eh?

But so far the sale guy has been pretty good but their back office are sooo slow...so either they are understaff or they do a good job that demand is so high...

smeags.

ChrisL · Feb 29, 2008 9:36 pm

Helyn,
Who's your steel-frame home builder in Adelaide? What are they like?
Weeks and Format seems to be the popular ones. Cavalier (in Adel) is a small operation.
ChrisL

Helyn · Feb 29, 2008 11:06 pm

Hi, Chris!

I'm actually in Whyalla, not Adelaide, and we are building a house / land package with McCracken homes, relatively small builder, mainly SA country areas.
I believe World Concept homes also use only steel frames. The main builders in Whyalla are McCrackens, and Hotondos but Statesman, Hickinbotham, World Concept, Stirling are also doing a few, also a local company Lymington which I think is based in Cowell, huge building boom here on back of the mining boom.

ChrisL · Feb 29, 2008 11:14 pm

World Concept and Weeks are the same company. Weeks actually own the Supaloc company. Statesman and Hickinbotham are the same company also (but the Hickinbotham sales guy I talked to said that they don't do steel). Sterling can build using steel but they mainly do timber, I think.
I see a lot of new homes using steel in Adelaide, but have yet to know someone who's done it, and can give feedback on the builder's performance.
ChrisL

Helyn · Feb 29, 2008 11:42 pm

Chris, my frame is not up yet so I cannot give any feedback.

Some new houses in Whyalla are steel frame and some are timber frame, depending on the builder, also some have Hickinbotham signage and others Stateman and those 2 give out separate brochures with different floorplans, I had heard that both were actually in fact the same company.
Why not just market as one company, I do not know.

Talinsmum · Mar 01, 2008 9:43 am

Our builder does both - steel frame with colourbond roofing is the standard for them but if you want tiled roofing then they go with timber frames (something I think to do with the spacing of the timber vs steef roof beams).....

So ours will be steel frame with colourbond roofing - I love the idea of not having to worry about termites or about having termite poison around my house ....

Most housing companies up here though do use timber frames (and charge additional for colourbond roofing) - McDonald Jones is the only one I've seen so far that offers steelframe and colourbond as standard....

Fiona

ChrisL · Mar 01, 2008 9:58 am

Helyn,
Marketing! Like Toyota and Lexus - same company - one targets Average Joe, and another targets the higher margin business.

Talinsmum,
I am also going for the steel frame with colorbond roof. Not sure about how bad termites are in the various cities around Aust, but termites is quite widespread in Adelaide. Termites is one factor in my decision to choose steel. Haven't selected a builder yet. I'm not worried so much about the steel frame construction/quality, but because only a small handful of companies do steel, I like to find out about (steel frame) builders overall building performance.

Chris