Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 27, 2012 5:49 pm We are looking at using them but have read on the internet some not so great reviews. I would like to hear from anyone that is/has used them and your experience. Also have you been happy with the quality of your home ?? Thanks so much ! Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 2Apr 27, 2012 7:32 pm I am yet to hear a good thing about them... Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 3Apr 27, 2012 9:20 pm Hi magical Looks like Hep is in the process of building with Kurmond - maybe you could get into contact with them - here's the thread: http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41704&hilit=kurmond+homes Building ??? with ??? Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 5Apr 28, 2012 12:08 pm We seriously looked at kurmond but found service seriously lacking, in fact we had a tender and plan we were happy with but after having no communication with them, not even a pone call, we decided to look elsewhere, they have great designs, they have just started building a home in our street so will be watching them closely. I think the issue is huge expansion with not enough support, Hep has had a relatively easy but slow build so he should be able to give you a good indication. At the end of the day, I wanted a company that wanted my business and had good communication, kurmond didn't provide that luckily I found a builder that did. Good luck Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 6Oct 22, 2012 7:06 am Hi Magical, Just thought I would see who you ended up building with? We are in the process of building with Kurmond. So far so good. Bricks just about finished and then eaves and gyprock to go before lock up. Kurmond certainly had teething problems after a large growth spurt I think. We have come through ok though, somehow missed it all, but our main issues came from council. Just keep everything in writing - regardless of who you choose. that's the one thing that has saved us quite a few times with proving verbal commitments and has saved us thousands. Anyway, good luck. Blog: http://cbcbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Building Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62155 Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 7Oct 22, 2012 8:44 pm I agree that their quick expansion has led to a few teething problems. Our neighbours are building with Kurmond. Each one has made comment that they've been hit for some pretty big costs late in the build for things that they had expected to be already priced within it. Apparently their packages now say they are fixed so either these guys have all been unlucky or there are outs in the contract that allow K to charge more throughout the build process. We were going to build with them as the previous owners of our block had a tender with them. But like a previous poster they were very slack in returning our calls so we went elsewhere. I'm in the planning stages of my second build and thought I'd go see them again as they are so prolific around here now. Still waiting for someone to contact me after going to their display home and leaving my details over 2 weeks ago... Land at Chermside At tender stage Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 8Oct 24, 2012 7:22 am Hey Zozo, I would just call them directly - ask for Peter, that's who we dealt with (director). His brother Michael (other director) looks after construction phase. We had items missing from our tender that we thought were included and trusted that they were, but unless they are written in your tender you are risking being hit up for it. We did have a meeting before signing and Peter added everything we felt was missing, but still there were items I forgot about or didnt realise just how specific we needed to be. When it came to colour selections as not all were physically written on the tender, the staff assumed standard inclusions were to be selected so we were told unless the inclusion level is written in the tender it's chargeable. There was no issue in approving the higher inclusions as I had my own list and emails from Peter, but if I hadn't we could have been in trouble, especially as some were around brick and roof tiles (most expensive). We have not been charged for anything additional post signing and I dont know what items your neighbours were charged for but I dont see how as the tender is quite specific. I would be interested in knowing if it's that late in the build as we are not at lock up yet. Unless it's around landscaping, driveway etc as we have pulled that all out of our build and doing it ourselves.. We signed in August last year (major Council dramas) and cetainly looks to be a fixed tender. In fact I have found them extremely accommodating and had some upgrades included for no charge post signing. The only variable is the piering, which can't be guaranteed until construction starts - my advise make sure the included amount is realistic for your build. We investigated our neighbours as homes were similar size. We originally had 100lm included (standard is 50lm but our homes is large) but as our neighbours seemd to use 150lm we asked Kurmond to increase it to 150lm, which they kindly did at no additional charge. We ended up using 152 so only cost us $180 - lucky! Had we not checked first, we would have been up for $4,500. Good luck and I hope your build goes well. If you find any details about the additional charges let me know. Cheers. Blog: http://cbcbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Building Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62155 Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 9Oct 24, 2012 7:42 am Hi All, we are almost at the deciding stage with Kurmond (we do have a tender). We are just waiting on another tender from another builder to compare. Lilac, with Kurmond what should we be looking at to make sure they are included ?? You mentioned making sure that piering is suitable for the house size ... we have not thought of this (not really understanding the process I guess) and our house is quite large also ... probably around 43 squares. Can you please tell me how large your house is as maybe we will need to query this also..." We don't want to get any surprises at the end and blow out our budget. Any advice would be great. Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 10Oct 24, 2012 2:44 pm Yes, we had no idea either, only our neighbour was a concreter. Our home is 53sq, but its single storey so of course we had more of them as they were spread out over the slab plus our soil was very soft so some went down 2m. Only that our neighbour told us he used 150lm and told us to check how much per lineal meter they charge after that, which I think is about $90. For this reason I asked if they could make it 150 for us and Kurmond agreed at the time and amended the tender for us, which was very kind. Items that we had to verify during colour selections that weren't specific were: roof tiles - we had requested Linea colour through shingle tiles but this is gold range and much more expensive but I had written confirmation this was included in our original tender price but I did not get it actually put in there. (this was a requirment of our estate - shingles or colorbond). Bricks - we had to have smooth face - again gold range but didn't say gold range in our tender, just said face brick, which means standard range, again I had included written on my own list that was emailed. distance for connecting services - we knew being on an acre services were further than the standard 8m because our set back was at least 15m but again didnt say that in the tender so needed to send my email confirmation. They were the main ones, but everything we expected got included, it was just a bit of a hassle going back and forth, which I also understand as the colour consultants only see the tender and not my email communications - so if you have any inclusions, make sure they are all written in there or keep all correspondence. who is the other builder you're looking at? Blog: http://cbcbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Building Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62155 Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 11Oct 24, 2012 6:36 pm Hi Lilac, Thanks for the extra information - everything helps at this stage of the process. We are considering going back out to see exactly what is included in the standard ranges of everything before we sign the tender, just so we know the items we may want to upgrade later, so we can factor it into our budget. We feel the same about the documentation ... if it isn't written down (either "in" or "out"), then it doesn't exist. We may not be happy about some of the costs but we'd prefer to know about them all before we sign our life away The other builder we're having a tender done through is Hotondo. We contacted them on a personal recommendation so it will be interesting to see what they come back with. Will let you know how we get on ! Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 12Mar 14, 2013 12:21 am How are the builds with Kurmond going? We are also considering going forward with Kurmond. They have good plans... anything you can share that is an update from October would be appreciated! Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 13Mar 16, 2013 9:37 am Hi doohan777, Your post is quite timely as we have signed with Kurmond, now have our plans in to Council and have almost finished the required appointments for everything. We're hoping that Council don't drag their feet too much so that we can just get underway. I have to say that this has been a very steep learning curve, but forums like this one can be a godsend. Having said that ... anything can be "hijacked" so it pays to try and verify what you read or are told, from as many different sources as you can ! We certainly feel more comfortable now but for awhile there, you feel very out of your depth. Our experience so far with Kurmond tends to mimic what most others have had. We have read that things improve once you get to building stage, so we'll have to see on that score. However, from the earliest stage all the way through to now, I would have to say that communication and what seems to be lack of organisation seem to be the two biggest drawbacks to dealing with them. In his defence, Peter (one of the Directors) is very approachable and will always sort out the issue if contacted directly, which is what he encourages you to do anyway ! However, from the "Customer point of view" ... I don;t think you should need to run to the Director just to get timely answers to questions. What they seem to forget (and other builders may be just the same...) is that while they do this all the time ... you are probably lucky if you have done this once before! We have also learned that you need to READ EVERYTHING you are given. Then when you have finished with it, READ IT AGAIN. I suspect that a lot of the problems people have (and there are some horror stories on this forum), stem from either not reading documentation or assuming things are/are not included, rather than checking it explicitly. We have discovered quite a number of mistakes which we thought were plainly obvious and which would have caused us a lot of grief later on (for example, if Council had have approved the wrong drawings). You simply HAVE to be involved in everything, doen to the smallest detail. How long is the building process ... about 10 months ... congratulations, you just signed up to learn everything there is to know about building a new house ... in 10 months For us at least, upgrades have also been something that we didn't totally factor in - at least, we underestimated the costs. We included quite a lot of items in our budget (we even budgeted for letterbox and plants and furniture for example). However, you need to make sure that you consider the things that you will "more than likely" want to spend additional money on - like tiles, carpets etc. We're big on budgeting ... but that's a separate topic Tiles in particular, if you have a lot of open space, can be quite expensive to upgrade (as we are finding ...). This has been a bit of a ramble, so sorry for that. However, we now think that: a) You cannot believe everything you read (about builders) b) You need to do your homework (which includes looking at their houses, inclusions, meeting the staff etc.) c) You have to be totally involved (you can't just pay your money and turn up later to take possession of just what you had planned on getting) d) Be the squeaky wheel (if you think something is wrong, you need to know something, or you have questions or concerns - speak up. After all, it's your money) Would we build with Kurmond again? At this point, yes we would. We don't think they are any worse than anyone else, but it's a two way street. We'll see how they go with the construction phase, but I think they would do well to have a Project Manager assigned at the beginning, because I suspect this is where they are falling down (no single person is really "in charge" of your build till construction ... at least this is how it seems). Apologies for the long winded post. Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 14Mar 16, 2013 10:01 am Hi Magical, Good luck with Council, I hope everything goes well during this next stage. Construction certainly is the fastest stage. We have handed over now and just completeing out post handover items we did not get Kurmond to do such as tiling and flooring (internal) external such as drive, landscaping, we will do as we can (not required for interim OC). I just posted latest photo's on my thread so you can see but the quality is excellent and over all thrilled with our outcome. Even our tiler who is a friend of DH, said he has not tiled in a 'project' home that has been done so well, and he has done a few. He is very high end and mainly works in your $1m+ homes so for us that was so reassuring. All the walls etc, he said were all square, which is normally a problem when you go to tile, but he said their work is very good. I agree completely, you need to be on top of everything, there were certain things that weren't right but picked up on immediately so even through construction stay on top of everything and as you say, if something doesn't seem right, pipe up! I think I got so vocal toward the end my SS asked me to stay away hahaha.... poor SS, I think I drove him nuts as I would just say every little thing, even though he already knew about it - being his job and all however there were some things he didn't know and as I apologised to him, I also mentioned being a custom build, I have looked at our plans for 2 years and know every little measurement so in some respect will know more than him, so if I notice something, I am going to say. Our SS was lovely too BTW. Anyway, good luck through the next stage - we started about July/August last year I think, our home is 53.5sq and was completed in 7 months BUT take out Dec/Jan so realistically I would say 6 months. Our contract was written for an 8 month build so about 7/8 weeks ahead. Another Kurmond up the road completed in 5 months against a 7 month build. We however were very lucky as we only had 1 rain day. If you start a thread let me know would love to follow. Blog: http://cbcbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Building Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62155 Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 15Mar 16, 2013 10:10 am Hi Lilac, we are new to this blog stuff so we are still getting our heads around it. Our blog is invite only and the address is http://dreamhomeanxiety.blogspot.com.au ... 97eb20568e We had not thought of doing a building thread .... might look into that one. If you have any problems with the blog just send us a PM. Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 16Mar 16, 2013 4:00 pm No worries, I started a blog, which I still have, but being mainly one way I started top spend more time on H1. So I maintain the blog for a timeline and to look back on what we have done and went through, but the continual advice and comments back off H1, I found I was then spemnding more time on here. I highly recommend a thread if you have the time, there are such lovely people on here and to share the experience with others going through the same thing I have found so great, especially sharing experiences with those at the same stage - invaluable.. See how you go! Blog: http://cbcbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Building Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62155 Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 17Mar 17, 2013 10:59 am magical Hi doohan777, Your post is quite timely as we have signed with Kurmond, now have our plans in to Council and have almost finished the required appointments for everything. We're hoping that Council don't drag their feet too much so that we can just get underway. I have to say that this has been a very steep learning curve, but forums like this one can be a godsend. Having said that ... anything can be "hijacked" so it pays to try and verify what you read or are told, from as many different sources as you can ! We certainly feel more comfortable now but for awhile there, you feel very out of your depth. Our experience so far with Kurmond tends to mimic what most others have had. We have read that things improve once you get to building stage, so we'll have to see on that score. However, from the earliest stage all the way through to now, I would have to say that communication and what seems to be lack of organisation seem to be the two biggest drawbacks to dealing with them. In his defence, Peter (one of the Directors) is very approachable and will always sort out the issue if contacted directly, which is what he encourages you to do anyway ! However, from the "Customer point of view" ... I don;t think you should need to run to the Director just to get timely answers to questions. What they seem to forget (and other builders may be just the same...) is that while they do this all the time ... you are probably lucky if you have done this once before! We have also learned that you need to READ EVERYTHING you are given. Then when you have finished with it, READ IT AGAIN. I suspect that a lot of the problems people have (and there are some horror stories on this forum), stem from either not reading documentation or assuming things are/are not included, rather than checking it explicitly. We have discovered quite a number of mistakes which we thought were plainly obvious and which would have caused us a lot of grief later on (for example, if Council had have approved the wrong drawings). You simply HAVE to be involved in everything, doen to the smallest detail. How long is the building process ... about 10 months ... congratulations, you just signed up to learn everything there is to know about building a new house ... in 10 months For us at least, upgrades have also been something that we didn't totally factor in - at least, we underestimated the costs. We included quite a lot of items in our budget (we even budgeted for letterbox and plants and furniture for example). However, you need to make sure that you consider the things that you will "more than likely" want to spend additional money on - like tiles, carpets etc. We're big on budgeting ... but that's a separate topic Tiles in particular, if you have a lot of open space, can be quite expensive to upgrade (as we are finding ...). This has been a bit of a ramble, so sorry for that. However, we now think that: a) You cannot believe everything you read (about builders) b) You need to do your homework (which includes looking at their houses, inclusions, meeting the staff etc.) c) You have to be totally involved (you can't just pay your money and turn up later to take possession of just what you had planned on getting) d) Be the squeaky wheel (if you think something is wrong, you need to know something, or you have questions or concerns - speak up. After all, it's your money) Would we build with Kurmond again? At this point, yes we would. We don't think they are any worse than anyone else, but it's a two way street. We'll see how they go with the construction phase, but I think they would do well to have a Project Manager assigned at the beginning, because I suspect this is where they are falling down (no single person is really "in charge" of your build till construction ... at least this is how it seems). Apologies for the long winded post. Hi Magical, congratulations on signing with Kurmond and good luck with council. We are in the process of getting a tender from Kurmond, we should have the final tender by the middle/end of this week. Which council are you with? I have heard that a lot of them are very 'picky' about things... Also which house are you building? Did you make lots of changes? I agree about Peter, very approachable and nothing seems to be a problem (hope this continues if we build with Kurmond). Understand what you are saying about reading everything, we are also trying to make sure we have everything in writing (this advice came from Lilac - thanks Lilac) so we email questions and then they email the answers, therefore it is in writing and on record. I don't think this is an issue just with Kurmond, I think this is something that everyone who is building should do, all builders can forget what they say. Also agree about the squeaky wheel, use your voice, ask, ask & ask - if you don't ask - you don't get. We are in the process of researching inclusions e.g. what we can take out, what credit we get etc. Did you take lots out of the tender? Are you supply some items during the build and doing things after? I agree with Lilac about starting a thread of your build, would really love to know how it all goes (the good AND the bad). Sorry about all the questions. Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 18Mar 18, 2013 2:01 am Magical, thanks for the detailed answer! The only inclusion that I can't be sure we would get "like for like" compared to another preferred builder are the tiles. Any idea if there are websites etc for their tile suppliers? We have another preferred builder, however Kurmond are impressing us, and their pricing is significantly better. We have been dealing with some other guys for a while now, and everything has impressed the pants off me, except we have had a big surprise on pricing (despite being open and honest all the way through). So I figure, as long as we can get a similar house with the same specs for significantly less, then we have to look at that. I'm expecting a full tender from our preferred builder and a new set of plans from Kurmond this week sometime. Fingers crossed for both. Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 19Mar 19, 2013 9:15 pm Hi Doohan, Kurmond use Manago tiles in McGraths Hill. You can go in and look around to see your options. We got them to tile our wet areas and we have just completed our main floors post hand over ourselves. We did this to try and keep our tender costs down in the beginning. We actually didn't spend much additional money on our tiles. We just upgraded our ensuite and powder room floor to polished tiles. Our main bathroom we kept standard and have a Matt floor for DS. All bathroom wall tiles and feature shower strip is from their standard range. My thread is below if you want to take a look at the bathrooms (pg 7 for bathroom pics) Blog: http://cbcbuild.blogspot.com.au/ Building Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62155 Re: Has anyone built with Kurmond Homes ? 20Mar 19, 2013 9:35 pm What a fantastic bath you have!! I have looked at your thread and your house looks brilliant, you must be very happy. The kitchen is great. Did you find that you saved money by doing the tiles afterwards, or did it work out roughly the same as if you included it at first instance? 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