Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 26, 2012 7:11 am hey hey, we've had a couple of quotes on our plans from individual builers and they were pretty expensive so we are considering getting quotes from the bigger companies i.e. orbit, dixon, coral etc. If anyone has had any positive experience and would like to recommend a building company that's be great! Thanks Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 2Apr 26, 2012 9:50 am I am currently building with Hallmark and very happy so far (frame and truss stage) They are very good on price for structual alterations and site costs, some were N/C Also I like the way they cut the block, much better than other builders, please note no provision for import/export of fill so if you have excess soil and a small block you will need it out the front so you can easily get rid of it. They are up front and honest from the beginning and they use the Master Builders Contract which I think is much fairer for both client and builder. I am getting the bare min house for handover and will be organizing the rest myself, driveway ,carpets, floor coverings etc. Redraw Equity in another loan helps with those items. Build time approx 10 weeks and planning 7 months to the start date, xmas included. House size 260 m2. They are very accomodating and help fix problems that are not even theirs ie: supplying my own inground water tank and H.S.T.P. .No mistakes on the plans after my requested alterations so it was good to go from the first set. Only one gripe and I think it is with my build only there is no provision for brick cleaning, I will have light brick and mortar so I will have to get this done myself. At least I can make sure there is no acid burning and ruin the bricks. Still I am very happy, I have saved lots of money building with them and the quality so far is spot on ie: slab, piering, reinforcment, frame, termite protection, under slab plumbing. As with any builder you must read everything and check plans and the contract over and over. It is your build and you will know it the best, plans are to scale so check with a ruler. I will be checking to see if the rest of the build will be as good as the work completed so far. Hope this info helps you in some way. Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 3Apr 26, 2012 10:12 am We have had only good experiences with C0r@l Homes so far. Our site start is tomorrow so we will be able to assess their construction abilities soon I guess! They were very accomodating with changes and we found we could get a bigger house with most upgrades etc for a lot less than other places. To me it seemed they only wanted to help us get exactly what we wanted. My only gripe is that in their admin / contract stages they sometimes said something would only be 2 weeks and it would get to 5 and we would have nothing from them and I would have to call to find out what was happening. I think this is also dependant on how pro-active your sales person is though too. We did stuff around with some choices and the plan so from viewing the display to our site start is almost 8 months but they do say to allow 6 months and we had Christmas and Easter during that period. PM me if you would like to know anything specific or you can check out my blog for some information (not much on there yet as our site start is tomorrow). Em Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 4Apr 26, 2012 10:25 am thanks for the replies! very informative. I have been eyeing up Hallmark homes as well. They seem well priced and coral seeems hard to beat for price. I was looking at the basic 2story home from hallmark for around $195,000. We have our own plans already so will see what they can do it for. Onebuild- when you say 'bare minimum' are you meaning to lockup stage with just things done like the wet areas and kitchen? I was thinking of asking for a quote similar to this as I work from home and would be able to do a lot of the things in my own time like the painting and flooring etc to save money. thanks heaps for the feedback. Much appreciated! Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 5Apr 26, 2012 11:03 am unfortunately Hallmark Homes will not quote on individual plans. Just their own plans. Will still enquire about their Pinnacle 231 plan though. Have sent plans to Nuvo Homes and GM Homes for quotes so far. Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 6Apr 26, 2012 2:12 pm Yes bare min as for what the bank will allow ie, kitchen, plastered, wet area tiled and painted, although I think you can still get the loan with painting deleted from the contract. I kept my upgrades to a min because you do not get much of a credit if any at all when changing from a cheaper item to a dearer one but I made as many additions as I could afford because Hallmark prices are very good for this. Have fun comparing all the quotes, lots to think about Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 7Apr 28, 2012 11:34 am anyone else have any suggestions for building companies that they have had a good experience with here on the gold coast? I have just sent off some more plans to Orbit homes but not sure about them as I can only find a lot of negative comments about them... Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 8May 15, 2012 10:28 am We have built with a small QLD builder here on the Gold coast. Very happy with the result. Very easy process. They just changed their name recently to Outlook homes. Have a read thru my thread though if you like and have a look at the pictures. Re: suggestions for builder gold coast 9May 17, 2012 2:13 pm Hi applesplats, We are a licensed builder on the Gold Coast and would be happy to help you with any questions you may have. There are a number of reasons for NOT using the bigger companies - one being that they usually will not care for your individual needs. There are a number of builders around at the moment that you need to be careful of - I suggest you have a read of the article entitled "Finding a qualified and trusted Builder on the Gold Coast" at http://goarticles.com/article/Finding-a ... t/6516373/. We quite often work with clients who do some of the work themselves. It should not be an issue if the client wants/needs to cut costs of the project. Good luck with the build! Aaron Hennessy Anybody know any good and reasonably priced Air conditioning contractors/companies that could install a ducted air conditioning system in the Central Coast NSW for a small… 0 8985 Hi, Looking to add an ensuite to one of the bedrooms and make it a Master BR. Please see the attached current floorplan. 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