Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 18, 2012 3:57 pm After lots of research we decided we will build our new home with ProCorp. It is a custom design. Sales team at Oran Park was excellent. Designers did not disappoint either. Now the project is in building administrator’s hands. We are little disappointed at the moment with the lack of communication. Our e-mails are ignored, phone calls are never returned. It is very difficult to get any updates, which I think it’s the problem with a certain individual. What’s your experience dealing with them? Are they good? Or would you say to me, what else to expect from a builder? ************************************************************ The best is yet to come...... ************************************************************ Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 2Oct 24, 2012 10:30 am as8401 What’s your experience dealing with them? Are they good? Or would you say to me, what else to expect from a builder? Our experience. Things go ok until lockup, then they pretty much stop. To get them to progress is like pulling teeth (we had handover 3 months after contract date). The tradespeople they were using upon which they had built a reputation for quality are no longer dealing with them, have not heard good things about the tradespeople in use now. Almost all the tradespeople during our job, complained about late or non-payment. Some just walked away from the job altogether (eg. roof insulation guys left it half-finished, air-con guys installed ducts only and someone else had to complete the rest). Its been 3 months since we submitted our 90day warranty list - nothing done so far. That said, they are fairly flexible and accommodating - we had a custom design too. We are happy overall with our house, its just that we had to deal with them to get it. I dont know that things would be much better with anyone else, there seems to be a distinct lack of customer care in the home-building industry from what I can tell. If I used them again, I would play hardball on the contract with things like liquidated damages, and probably use independent inspectors throughout each stage. Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 3Oct 24, 2012 10:56 am I think you will find the same story with most builders. Sales Team excellent, Head Office administration and nightmare..... Customer Service seems to be the thing that most people I talk to complain about with their builder at the Head Office stage. I ended up resorting to getting my Sales guy involved or going straight to the GM of the company to complain at one stage. I know that if I had been contacted on a regular basis (once a week) by Head Office to give an update that would have gone a long way to keeping me happier. With ProCorp we were keen on them at one stage and the Oran Park team seemed very good, we decided against a custom design and went with a builder that we loved the floorplan of. Since the decision I have not heard the best thing about them from b0son's threads and also speaking to a couple of people in Oran Park about the pace of the project once lockup is reached. They go from a good pace to a snail...... and it's not like there is a shortage of tradies or something Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 4Oct 30, 2012 11:36 am Thanks b0son and devstate We have started to realise the real ProCorp now. After the contract was signed, there are no updates. Have to make lots of e-mails and phone calls to get one answer. We are completely in the dark where the things are up to. At one stage the building administrator got upset with us and told that “Your file is in a queue as are many others and will be assessed in the order they are received” an answer typically reserved by the public servants. The contract we have signed is for 36 weeks (tri level house), which I am very confident will run late. It’s all frustrating. I mean, why would they take so many commitments if the they can’t handle. I have to change my signature logo below to ‘the best is over now’ after the sales handover. Talking of good suppliers, I think they are abandoning them. We have already been told that there will be new tiling and kitchen suppliers which they are in discussions with at the moment. We are not happy with them already, don’t know how the things will pan out. If there will be no improvement we will be left with no other option other than to involve the sales person or approaching their top management. By the way dvestate, congratulations, I noted your 500th post on home1. Really appreciate your efforts and sharing your valuable views. ************************************************************ The best is yet to come...... ************************************************************ Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 5Oct 30, 2012 11:56 am No worries happy to help Also being a public servant we are not all like that 2 Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 6Oct 30, 2012 4:21 pm b0son Our experience. Things go ok until lockup, then they pretty much stop. To get them to progress is like pulling teeth Our experience has been similar. 109 days from slab (March) to lock up (June). Communication was mixed before lock up, but has been poor since things slowed down after lock up, once the progress payments were (presumably) not generating the same kind of cash inflow for the builder. It's been 130 days since lock up (so far), with practical completion still a way off. They may finish within the 36wk contract period, but I won't be holding my breath. as8401 Talking of good suppliers, I think they are abandoning them. We have already been told that there will be new tiling and kitchen suppliers which they are in discussions with at the moment. In general, I would assume that frequent changes of supplier are a bad sign. While there have not yet been any issues with the kitchen supplier, the tiling has been an ordeal (so far, and it still hasn't happened): - re-confirmed selections in July (after lock up) following change of supplier - tiles delivered 12 weeks after that (not much happening in interim) - arranged to be on site with tilers to confirm correct selections, but they didn't show (no phone call or anything) - tilers came the following week, but there was no grout or adhesive, so they left - now waiting for grout and adhesive to be delivered Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 8Nov 02, 2012 9:44 am b0son as8401 It’s all frustrating. I mean, why would they take so many commitments if the they can’t handle. the new customers will be paying for your build. That's OK, as long the number of new customers remain in balance. Business growth is good, keeps up with the cash flow. But if they bite more than they can chew, then they also have to put more staff (preferably competent) and relevant resources to keep on top of everything with the new customers. ************************************************************ The best is yet to come...... ************************************************************ Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 11Nov 10, 2012 9:04 am DeanandKerry b0son Our experience. Things go ok until lockup, then they pretty much stop. To get them to progress is like pulling teeth Our experience has been similar. 109 days from slab (March) to lock up (June). Communication was mixed before lock up, but has been poor since things slowed down after lock up, once the progress payments were (presumably) not generating the same kind of cash inflow for the builder. It's been 130 days since lock up (so far), with practical completion still a way off. They may finish within the 36wk contract period, but I won't be holding my breath. as8401 Talking of good suppliers, I think they are abandoning them. We have already been told that there will be new tiling and kitchen suppliers which they are in discussions with at the moment. In general, I would assume that frequent changes of supplier are a bad sign. While there have not yet been any issues with the kitchen supplier, the tiling has been an ordeal (so far, and it still hasn't happened): - re-confirmed selections in July (after lock up) following change of supplier - tiles delivered 12 weeks after that (not much happening in interim) - arranged to be on site with tilers to confirm correct selections, but they didn't show (no phone call or anything) - tilers came the following week, but there was no grout or adhesive, so they left - now waiting for grout and adhesive to be delivered Suppliers are abandoning them because those who do their homework realise what's coming, chasing payments , stop credits, talk among the industry. We waves at Procorp Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 12Nov 11, 2012 3:05 pm Portaloo and fencing removed from our site last week. Tiles that had previously been delivered have also been removed from the site. House was left unlocked (someone had assessed it with a key), thinking of getting a locksmith to change the locks. Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 14Nov 13, 2012 6:48 am Does anyone know any latest from Procorp? Please share. I don't have the best feelings, after DeanandKerry's experience above.... ************************************************************ The best is yet to come...... ************************************************************ Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 15Nov 13, 2012 8:41 am WOW!!! Get hold of them ASAP and find out what is going on, I would be holding back if they start chasing payments before they should be receiving them. So glad I might have dodged the ProCorp bullet Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 17Nov 13, 2012 9:36 am I am sorry. One of my friends is a subby for ProCorp and they haven't been paying people. Yesterday was D-Day to either get investors or further bank loans. My friend heard nothing positive yesterday and he has been left with invoices that ProCorp will not pay. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 18Nov 13, 2012 12:18 pm I'm not sure whether they've 'folded' or not. If a liquidator had been appointed, I would expect it to be able to see this on the ASIC's insolvency notices website, but there's nothing there yet. (I think these get updated continuously throughout the day, link below) https://insolvencynotices.asic.gov.au/browsesearch-notices/ Various websites (including homeone) where customers and suppliers have recently shared updates at least indicate that the company is experiencing serious cash flow problems. The cause of these problems is not clear, but if they were going to solve these problems or obtain some funding my guess is that they would have done so before things deteriorated to the point where they are having serious issues with their suppliers (not to mention customers). We were also told by our supervisor that they were expecting a decision to be made yesterday, but we haven't heard anything so far, and my impression is that the staff are in limbo as well, waiting for an update from their management/directors. We have not been to their Narellan office to see if anyone's actually there or what's happening, but I have noticed that their facebook page appears to have disappeared (they definitely used to have one, and there are still links to their facebook page on their main website). In the meantime, no contact at all is probably not a good sign, and I've created an ASIC alert for Holmwood Builders (this is the actual company that trades as Procorp Builders, ACN 094 023 766) - in the hope that this will trigger a notification e-mail if an administrator or liquidator is eventually appointed (link to the ASIC alert setup page below). http://www.search.asic.gov.au/misccgi/alert.html Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 19Nov 13, 2012 1:10 pm DeanandKerry Various websites (including homeone) where customers and suppliers have recently shared updates at least indicate that the company is experiencing serious cash flow problems. They had cash flow problems a year ago. We had tradies complaining to us about non or slow payment this time last year, and a couple even abandoned Procorp during the course of our build. I thought they had traded their way out of it, but it seems that was not the case, sadly. Re: Is anyone building with ProCorp in Sydney metro??? 20Nov 13, 2012 1:14 pm I would be calling Head Office and your SS constantly until I heard something. The thing with the SS would be if they were called to a meeting yesterday and told the company was gone then I would doubt his priority to call the people who's houses he can not build anymore I feel bad for all of the ProCorp clients that are mid build, at least if you were at the very start you could just walk away but once there is a slab your stuck playing the waiting game Keen to hear from people in the area who have got KDRB done on whom they got the build from? Looking for recommendations. Thanks 0 21119 No idea about the driveway question, but your price for a house that size including landscaping seems very good! 1 6205 Hi I live in a 100yr old semi and my neighbour added an additional floor last yr and our architect has advised that we can knock down our semi and build a free-standing… 0 37762 |