Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 28, 2012 10:40 pm We are planning to build in a battle axe plot in Epping, NSW. As a first timer, we are not sure about the process. After looking through several designs I really like Tullipan designs but I found here that perhaps they are overcommitted. Can any comment on Zen vs Tullipan homes? Also any experience with Rawson building in Hornsby council. What are my council obligations? Will the builder take care of the DA or do I have to chase it? I have been advised to go private certifier- do Zen or Tullipan offer that? any hints etc would be welcome...really nervous yet excited.... Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 2Nov 29, 2012 7:04 am Hi Snakeman welcome to H1. We are also looking at builders to build in the Hornsby Shire.... One person on here you should contact is Apue, he is building in Epping (hand over next week, hopefully) with Zen.... We are also looking at Zen to build for us, plus a few others Hope you don't mind if I follow your thread, it might help us decide on a builder Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 3Nov 29, 2012 7:14 am Snakeman - We're currently building with Rawson, and they use a private certifier. I highly recommend Rawson, we have had a great experience with them, we handover in 2wks time. Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 4Nov 29, 2012 7:16 am We are building with Rawson, but in Port Stephens. Used to live in Galston if that helps, but never built there, We have had a positive experience with Rawson so far. Their admin is slow, but I think that any of the large builders are. Our admin period took 136 days from paying the tender fee to moving to site. We were told it would be 120 days, so not too far over, but I made sure that I kept on top of Rawson so it didn't drag out longer. We have had a slab poured on Tuesday and frames to start going up today or tomorrow. I have found Rawson really easy to deal with. They are happy to make structural changes to the house design and the additional charges are reasonable. We are building the Fernside 38, which we have enclosed the alfresco to make it part of the house and the re-added the alfresco again on the back to make it 43 squares. What i do like with Rawson is their site costs are fixed, there is not an allowance for piering so at least you know that you move to site and there are no additional costs that you will have to pay for. Rawson use a private certifier in every council except for my council, which is a pain as I would have preferred a private certifier. Rawson takes care of all the DA stuff and the DA and CC fees are included as part of your tender. 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: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 5Nov 29, 2012 8:12 am A comment WRT Rawson, from someone who's building nearly next door to you snakeman (we're at North Ryde) ... if the house you want to build isn't near dead-standard, you may wait forever for a quote/tender. Because we wanted quite a few changes made, we forked-out the ~$3500 for what I think is their 2nd tendering stage, after they said they could do everything we wanted. 3 months later they came back with a drawing that had the floorplan we mostly wanted (not quite right), but missing all the things we'd checked about in the first place; and at that point we discovered they wouldn't include some of those things. Anyway that lead to a need to re-draw slightly (raising downstairs ceiling heights) as well as price a few extra things ... that was 3 months ago. About 6 weeks ago we started looking at other builders again, figuring we might have to write-off the ~$3500, and realised we also wanted a shed in the back yard built - so we asked Rawson to add a shed to the quote as well as swapping a bedroom & lounge between upstairs & downstairs. Don't know if that's part of the delay, but we've still heard nothing. So 6 months & 1 week later, we still don't have a tender. If Alkira gets back to us before Rawson does, we're probably going to demand our ~$3500 back; frankly I'm a bit worried that if they can't take an existing drawing & add a shed & increase the ceiling height & include the cost of double-glazed windows in 3 months, they'll struggle to build a house before we die of old age. Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 6Nov 29, 2012 8:37 am thanks for the replies. Rawson seems to have either love or hate relationship. I was very impressed with the quality of their finish in their display homes. However I found Zen has much better inclusions and from what I read here, Zen has better customer service. And I love the designs of Tullipan.. Phew...why can't we have the mix of all three in one builder..! One more query- I did not check the sewerage lines yet for the plot. I know services such stormwater, electricity and gas have been installed. What is my out of pocket cost for installing sewarage roughly, if need be? I think not checking the sewerage was costly oversight. I am now starting to make worst case scenario budgets. Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 7Nov 29, 2012 8:39 am carak777 Hi Snakeman welcome to H1. We are also looking at builders to build in the Hornsby Shire.... One person on here you should contact is Apue, he is building in Epping (hand over next week, hopefully) with Zen.... We are also looking at Zen to build for us, plus a few others Hope you don't mind if I follow your thread, it might help us decide on a builder I will be more than happy to share...anybody else building in Epping.. How can I ping Apue? Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 8Nov 29, 2012 8:56 am Actually, we couldn't get a response out of Zen Homes at all, when initially trying to enquire. We figured if they couldn't respond to a few emails &/or 'phone calls, we'd definitely have issues down the track. Maybe it's just a problem getting through a Wall Of Salesperson. Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 9Nov 29, 2012 9:37 am We spent a bit of time talking with Zen a few months ago. Nice guys and they build well, but it's a small operation and they suffer from communication problems. Have you confirmed with Tullipan if they'll build in your area? They don't want to venture into Sydney very far, but at Epping you may be in luck. By all reports I've read they build very well. My Build Thread: Coral Homes Noosa 279 Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 10Nov 29, 2012 9:50 am thattime Have you confirmed with Tullipan if they'll build in your area? They don't want to venture into Sydney very far, but at Epping you may be in luck. By all reports I've read they build very well. We saw the Tullipan signs up on a site near us (admittedly this was last year), and there's about half a suburb between us & where snakeman is; he'll need to check with them for sure, but it shouldn't be a problem unless they're overloaded & they limit themselves by reducing their coverage a bit. snakeman Rawson seems to have either love or hate relationship. I was very impressed with the quality of their finish in their display homes. The half-finished tender we did get was quite a reasonable price, and I do believe that it's variations & changes they can't cope with. I suspect they're just overloaded in the departments that deal with paperwork, which includes estimating & drafting. If you're happy to get something that's pretty close to standard, I suspect you won't have the problems - however that's just a suspicion, as I feel they're getting worse (the forum members who're annoyed with the admin delays started the proces a little after those who aren't overly annoyed). Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 11Nov 29, 2012 11:52 am I called Tullipan and they confirmed they can build in Epping. But my concern is with them being located in Gosford/Maitland area would there be issues with trying to reach them for anything? Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 12Nov 29, 2012 12:02 pm Do you really need to contact a building-company's office in-person all that often? I'd have thought maybe once or twice for contract signings etc, but the rest is over the 'phone or email except for when you're meeting people onsite (in which case they need to come out anyway). Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 13Nov 29, 2012 1:07 pm snakeman I called Tullipan and they confirmed they can build in Epping. But my concern is with them being located in Gosford/Maitland area would there be issues with trying to reach them for anything? I don't see any issues there. You'd probably need to take the trip up for contract signing and to do colour/finishes selection but not much more. We're building in Sydney with Coral Homes and went through their staff at Hunter/Newcastle. We needed to drive up to sign contracts, and we were able to do finishes selection at Catherine Fields. But it wouldn't have bothered us to take the trip up again - it's worth it for the right builder. My Build Thread: Coral Homes Noosa 279 Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 14Nov 29, 2012 1:10 pm snakeman carak777 Hi Snakeman welcome to H1. We are also looking at builders to build in the Hornsby Shire.... One person on here you should contact is Apue, he is building in Epping (hand over next week, hopefully) with Zen.... We are also looking at Zen to build for us, plus a few others Hope you don't mind if I follow your thread, it might help us decide on a builder I will be more than happy to share...anybody else building in Epping.. How can I ping Apue? Snakeman Here is a link to Apue's thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55844 and Here is a link to the Zen thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=49240&p=951033#p951033 It may take a long time to read all the pages but it is a great way to research about a company from people who have built with Zen. Good luck choosing - understand completely about combining builders - if only Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 15Dec 01, 2012 9:56 pm Today we spent 4 hours talking to Metrcon and Alkira. We go the feeling Alkira is top end.I see Apue has very poor experience with Alkira. But all the poor experiences are with this person called "V". I wonder if the Kellyville office is more efficient? Anyone has experience here with Alkira Kellyville? I want to still go to Camden office and check out their Alicia design. I am not so impressed with Zen's layout. Does anyone know here if they can reduce the Maldives one a smaller 30 sq house?? Also I am surprised some people on H1 managed to get free tender. Alkira is asking for $1000. I want to get at least 3 tenders. I feel it is worthwhile to get as much as knowledge as possible- $3K(assuming 1K per tender) is well invested when considering several hundreds of $K in building. Any ideas? How does one ask for a free tender!?!? By the way we are reconsidering Tullipan. I believe the long distance will be an issue for matters such as fixing up any errors, follow ups or even issues cropping up during construction. Has anyone here built with Tullipan in North shore/Hills district? Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 16Dec 02, 2012 12:22 am snakeman Today we spent 4 hours talking to Metrcon and Alkira. We go the feeling Alkira is top end.I see Apue has very poor experience with Alkira. I like some of the Alkira designs, and they may be aiming to be a builder of a better quality/finish. But I found their prices too steep and not reflecting their communication style. snakeman I am not so impressed with Zen's layout. Does anyone know here if they can reduce the Maldives one a smaller 30 sq house?? When we were talking to Zen they seemed primarily aimed at being a custom home builder. I'd say they would change that design however you wished. snakeman Also I am surprised some people on H1 managed to get free tender. Alkira is asking for $1000. Does that price include a contour survey and soil report for your block? If so it's a very good price. If not, I'd let them know that you're not prepared to pay for a tender... and ask how they produce a tender without those reports. To prepare an accurate tender a builder needs to see a contour survey and soil report for your block. To do these yourself costs thousands, so you should get a builder to organise them for you. Be sure to get copies of the reports and have them available for other builders you may want a tender from. Then the tenders should be free... and fast. My Build Thread: Coral Homes Noosa 279 Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 18Dec 02, 2012 8:21 am Major progress made..!! Between the husband and wife we now have established what are minimum requirements are. (Perhaps most people do this first!!)...This is personally a big leap ahead because I can now decisively veto builders who cant give us the minimum requirements... which currently list as: (i) Study and rumpus in the ground floor (ii) upstairs lounge area (iii) M Bedroom minimum 4 X 4 (iv) No bedroom smaller than 3 x 3 Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 19Dec 02, 2012 9:00 am I have both good & bad news for you ... ... the good news is you've got heaps of choices, the bad news is you've not limited the choices much most builders will be able to cope with that. Re: Zen homes vs Tullipan homes vs Rawson 20Dec 02, 2012 9:11 am Thanks...there are some other restrictions as well...which I did not mention..to the layout..for example we want garage to be one particular way..kitchen etc..Since our plot if a battle axe with the NE facing inside the design must be able to give me tight but doable turning circle etc... But I agree...too much choice is also bad!!! Just started the Build process for Chifley 42 with Rawson homes, will keep you all posted with the Build progress. 0 2463 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74716 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 105591 |