Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3961Jun 23, 2016 10:02 am [quote="carla1369"]Has anyone had any issues with neighbours not coming to the party regarding paying for half of the fencing? The suburb we are in stipulates the type of fencing, colour etc so we went through the correct avenues as outlined by the 'Fences Act'. We supplied a hand delivered (though they didn't answer the knock on their door) 30 day notice, the type of fencing and 3 quotes. We even went the extra mile and send a reminder at 14, and now 7 days. We have been told they were hard to deal with when signing for their block originally, spoke very little English and tried to get our of paying for a lot of things. So far they have ignored all our attempts of communication until last weekend when we rang them and they actually picked up. They spoke very little English and the last that was said 'my husband contact our lawyer' then promptly hung up on us. I'm so mad and it's left such a bad taste in my mouth. What a great way to get off on the wrong foot with your new neighbour hey! Our other 2 neighbours we delt with the fencing was a breeze, but the main fence which runs the whole 30 metres along the side of our fence is the most important, and that's the neighbour we are having the issue with. We move in this weekend and have the whole side of our house exposed which is unsettling..not to mention we have a dog so that's made it even harder. I'm currently trying to organise a round table meeting with an interpreter, our other neighbours who are also trying to get these problem neighbours to cough up for their half of the fence, and our land office. I guess short of taking them to court, are their any other suggestions or has anyone else had this experience? /quote] Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3962Jun 23, 2016 10:03 am we are having the same problem - except this neighbour hasn't moved in yet and won't take calls. If they don't respond to our fencing notice we will be getting our friend who is a lawyer to write them a letter. http://www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/fence-laws-0 Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3963Jun 23, 2016 10:48 am puglover we are having the same problem - except this neighbour hasn't moved in yet and won't take calls. If they don't respond to our fencing notice we will be getting our friend who is a lawyer to write them a letter. http://www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/fence-laws-0 oh it's so frustrating isn't it?! Our neighbour hasn't even built yet it's an empty block! They won't take anyone's calls either, our other neighbour and lend lease are both ignored when they try and call. It's making me SO MAD that they won't even acknowledge the fact that it's the LAW they need to put a fence up!! We just rang disputes Victoria and they are issuing them a legal letter so hopefully that might put the wind up them!! Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3964Jun 23, 2016 10:49 am carla1369 puglover we are having the same problem - except this neighbour hasn't moved in yet and won't take calls. If they don't respond to our fencing notice we will be getting our friend who is a lawyer to write them a letter. http://www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/fence-laws-0 oh it's so frustrating isn't it?! Our neighbour hasn't even built yet it's an empty block! They won't take anyone's calls either, our other neighbour and lend lease are both ignored when they try and call. It's making me SO MAD that they won't even acknowledge the fact that it's the LAW they need to put a fence up!! We just rang disputes Victoria and they are issuing them a legal letter so hopefully that might put the wind up them!! They sound like the kind of people who will only respond to letters from lawyers. Good luck with them! Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3965Jun 23, 2016 6:59 pm Juannamo So we had our new home presentation yesterday. Darbecca were fantastic and very thorough. Overall 29 defects were picked up however most were minor cosmetic things such as paint finishes not being up to scratch, missing chalking etc. I highly recommend engaging a building inspector. The peace of mind you get at the end of the build knowing your home has been inspected by professionals and meets all regulations and standards is worth it. Granted all builders have to abide by certain standards, however like my partner says if they think they can get away with it they will. A few things im not happy with: - door jam finishes. I didnt take a photo, but the finish is rough and you can still see the wood grain. We thought it needed another coat of paint however our SS advised that that was the finished look and it was due to the type of wood. To me it lets down the finish of the house to have the rest of the door have a smooth gloss finish. -Blinds. Love the color but they look and feel a bit cheap. Even thought we sort of knew when we started building this house that it was not our forever home, however I now wish we had gone for the custom color apointment and upgraded a few more items such as tiles, undermount sink, bigger bench etc Overall our experience with homebuyers has been pretty smooth. Great communication from start to finish and a quality house at the end of a build. Will I build with them again, perhaps. The only thing I realized was whilst they market them selves toward first home buyers, they are pretty expensive once you add high ceilings, 900mm appliances, stone etc. A friend of mine built a bigger house with all those inclusions for not much more. But then again it was the floor plan we loved about our home.. Our SS expects all issues to be rectified within a week with a follow up inspection next wends. If all goes well is it too mch to hope to be in by next weekend? how long does bank generally take to do their valuation and issue a cheque? Anyway some pics from the inspection: Facade Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Front entrance Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Master bedroom and ensuite Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kids bathroom Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Living/Dining Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I'm glad to hear that your house is nearly ready for you to move in!!! You must be really excited to be at the end of the long journey. Hopefully your defects are rectified soon. Thank you for posting your house photos too! It's always exciting to see someone else's house. I'm really worried about the blinds. I really wanted black blinds due to our charcoal and grey theme... What would you recommend upgrading (non-structural) ? I've done all the structural upgrades and signed the PWC so I can't make anymore and now I'm scared I have missed something. A few days before signing we decided on upgrading to the double shower... Which I'm really happy about as its now given us a WIL. I know that we are doing custom colour due to wanting the charcoal and grey themes. Did you build the 4 or 3 bedroom? Design option 4: double shower (this doesn't shower any other upgrade on the double shower). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3966Jun 23, 2016 9:30 pm Well our land hopefully settles next week. Finally some movement. How long does it generally take from settlement for the building to commence? Also, I've seen a lot of people have used independent building inspectors for there stages. What's the rough est for them to go? We just want an idea on what we're looking at for costs Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3967Jun 24, 2016 8:54 am tarajbrown we built the 3 bedroom (23sq) version although we debated and kept changing our minds whether to go for the 3 or 4 bedroom. In the end we decided we would prefer a bigger backyard for the kiddies rather than a 4th bedroom. Love your double shower! I remember asking about it but dont remember the reason why we didnt get it. Could you have a double vanity with the double shower option? I think that was the reason why we didnt get it, I really wanted the double vanity. I told hubby when we do build again, we are definitely having a double shower! The other thing I really wanted was shower niches but was advised due to water proofing issues HBC dont do them- Funny though that their sister company Boutique provide them and both Boutique and HBC use the same trades, materials etc. In terms of non structural upgrades I would probably just recommend upgrading tapware, tiling and flooring. Tapware will be easy to change post handover however I found HBC pricing for their taps/shower heads pretty reasonable. On the electrical side of things we didnt upgrade much as we have a sparky friend who will be doing all our downlights, power points, tvpoints. Hubby will be doing all our data points and security system/access control What structural changes did you make? @beebeevb From settlement to building commencement ours took about 1.5 months but thats because we had the xmas break. We used Darbecca because most people on this forum seem to have used them and highly recommend them.You can have a look at their website for pricing but from memory each inspection was about 495 with the final inspection being 630. If you have 3 or more inspections its a bit cheaper. We only had 2 inspections, pre plaster and he final, however i would also recommend pre slab inspection just before they pour the concrete to make sure the footings, reinforcement etc is up to par Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3968Jun 24, 2016 8:58 am tarajbrown I forgot to mention in my list of upgrades - the front door, driveway (standard is colored concrete) upgrading to exposed aggregate looks so much better in my opinion. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3969Jun 24, 2016 11:56 am Juannamo @tarajbrown we built the 3 bedroom (23sq) version although we debated and kept changing our minds whether to go for the 3 or 4 bedroom. In the end we decided we would prefer a bigger backyard for the kiddies rather than a 4th bedroom. Love your double shower! I remember asking about it but dont remember the reason why we didnt get it. Could you have a double vanity with the double shower option? I think that was the reason why we didnt get it, I really wanted the double vanity. I told hubby when we do build again, we are definitely having a double shower! The other thing I really wanted was shower niches but was advised due to water proofing issues HBC dont do them- Funny though that their sister company Boutique provide them and both Boutique and HBC use the same trades, materials etc. In terms of non structural upgrades I would probably just recommend upgrading tapware, tiling and flooring. Tapware will be easy to change post handover however I found HBC pricing for their taps/shower heads pretty reasonable. On the electrical side of things we didnt upgrade much as we have a sparky friend who will be doing all our downlights, power points, tvpoints. Hubby will be doing all our data points and security system/access control What structural changes did you make? @beebeevb From settlement to building commencement ours took about 1.5 months but thats because we had the xmas break. We used Darbecca because most people on this forum seem to have used them and highly recommend them.You can have a look at their website for pricing but from memory each inspection was about 495 with the final inspection being 630. If you have 3 or more inspections its a bit cheaper. We only had 2 inspections, pre plaster and he final, however i would also recommend pre slab inspection just before they pour the concrete to make sure the footings, reinforcement etc is up to par Yeah we have the 3 bedroom too, our block wasn't big enough for the 4 bedroom... Our backyard will only be 3.7mtrs. But we are near so many parks and a massive historic park in walking distance too. Upgrades, theatre room to have sliding door to alfresco, a door from family room to theatre room. Sliding door to hallway to bedrooms The duke facade Double shower Window replacing kitchen splash back I upgraded the whole kitchen (stone benches, overhead cupboards, appliances). I am almost certain that we are upgrading our floorboards to cat 2: the light grey ones. And possibly Shower heads in ensuite Cupboards (I want them all dark) Render on facade Luckily my partner was a sparky so we are getting out lights on corners of the rooms and then he's going to put in downlights, power outlets etc.. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3970Jun 28, 2016 12:45 pm How long did it take for construction to start from when you titled? They are telling my daughter 3 months before construction starts Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3971Jun 28, 2016 2:15 pm FirstHomeBuyer88 mamba Hi firsthomebuyer88, I am new to this thread and we are building our first home in Manor Lakes too. Land titles in Oct this year. We've purchased in lollipop hill stage 137. I've heard short fall is an issue in terms of building valuation, specially in Wyndham Vale? Is it true? Thanks Hi Mamba, Yes, that is true. My valuation came 9k less. A friend of mine is building with boutique, and their valuation came 15k less. We got the property valuated again from a different bank and then everything was sorted. Sorry for the late reply. Regards Thanks firsthomebuyers88. We are building with Henley and our broker says anything under 475K should be fine. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3972Jul 01, 2016 9:16 am is anyone building in the new Atherstone estate in Melton South Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3973Jul 01, 2016 10:58 am We had our 2nd NHP yesterday and so frustrating to see that issues since our pre plaster inspection still haven't been fixed. Sigh, I was kinda hoping to be moving in this weekend. It's been nearly 7 months since our our site was scrapped and it's not like we're building a McMansion or anything for things to take this long. Hopefully things are all fixed next week as having darbecca there for all these reinspection a isn't cheap! Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3974Jul 01, 2016 4:03 pm Juannamo We had our 2nd NHP yesterday and so frustrating to see that issues since our pre plaster inspection still haven't been fixed. Sigh, I was kinda hoping to be moving in this weekend. It's been nearly 7 months since our our site was scrapped and it's not like we're building a McMansion or anything for things to take this long. Hopefully things are all fixed next week as having darbecca there for all these reinspection a isn't cheap! Wow that is completely unacceptable! It's not like they haven't had time. What defects have they not rectified? Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3975Jul 01, 2016 5:26 pm puglover Wow that is completely unacceptable! It's not like they haven't had time. What defects have they not rectified? Tell me about it! I thought part of his role was to make sure these issues were done and HBC were the ones that asked to delay the 2nd NHP to a day after.You would think if they were the ones to delay it it would be because they were trying to to get all the issues fixed in time. -There were still a few issues with painting that we let slide as they were very minor but things like paint bubbles/drips on some of the internal doors was very obvious so we couldn't let that slide. -Some down pipes need to be replaced as they had scratches on them. HBC did a bad patch paint job that it was obvious where the scratches had been. -Kitchen bench top is not level, it's about 4mm off. HBC are refusing to fix this as they say there is no tolerance for this? - Debris to be removed from gutters - Debris to be removed from drains - LHS of site needs to be reworked as ground is slopping toward the house. This was a biggie and should have been done back at pre plaster stage Hopefully these are fixed by next week. Is there some avenue we can take should these issues not be fixed as having a 4th NHP would just be ridiculous. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3976Jul 01, 2016 5:30 pm Juannamo puglover Wow that is completely unacceptable! It's not like they haven't had time. What defects have they not rectified? Tell me about it! I thought part of his role was to make sure these issues were done and HBC were the ones that asked to delay the 2nd NHP to a day after.You would think if they were the ones to delay it it would be because they were trying to to get all the issues fixed in time. -There were still a few issues with painting that we let slide as they were very minor but things like paint bubbles/drips on some of the internal doors was very obvious so we couldn't let that slide. -Some down pipes need to be replaced as they had scratches on them. HBC did a bad patch paint job that it was obvious where the scratches had been. -Kitchen bench top is not level, it's about 4mm off. HBC are refusing to fix this as they say there is no tolerance for this? - Debris to be removed from gutters - Debris to be removed from drains - LHS of site needs to be reworked as ground is slopping toward the house. This was a biggie and should have been done back at pre plaster stage Hopefully these are fixed by next week. Is there some avenue we can take should these issues not be fixed as having a 4th NHP would just be ridiculous. OMG I would consider it a BASIC expectation that your kitchen bench be level - at 4mm water or any liquids will just pour off the side. I'd personally escalate this right now given the issues have been raised multiple times, it's really not good enough. Our SS was right onto getting the defects fixed ASAP and personally walked us through mid build to show us how the defects had been rectified. It was a very positive experience. It sounds like you have a dud site supervisor. I'm sorry this is happening. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3977Jul 01, 2016 10:54 pm Sorry to hear that your having trouble Juannamo. I thought any defects that were found/ identified especially by darbecca were required to be fixed. Where are you building? Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3978Jul 02, 2016 11:53 am Hi all, We have just signed up with Homebuyers Centre and will have our colour selection appointment in 2 weeks time. We have absolutely no clue on what to expect. Can anyone please share your experience and would love to know if going for a standard colour scheme appointment is good enough? Thank you in advance Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3979Jul 02, 2016 12:15 pm Rinku Hi all, We have just signed up with Homebuyers Centre and will have our colour selection appointment in 2 weeks time. We have absolutely no clue on what to expect. Can anyone please share your experience and would love to know if going for a standard colour scheme appointment is good enough? Thank you in advance We have our colour appointment on the 18th. I've asked for a custom appointment that is 4 hours. I didn't like the themes that are offered. We decided on this appointment as we are changing the flooring (laminate), bricks and render (we have chosen the duke facade). We are also upgrading the kitchen cabinets to all dark as I don't want white and also changing shower heads. Well that's all that I have thought about so far. From what I've read on the forum it really depends what you want to change to what appointment you should probably go with. Hope this helps. Re: Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA? 3980Jul 05, 2016 9:12 pm Hi, Thank you for your response. We are having duke facade too. We are building in parks edge estate in cranbourne east. Where are you building? tarajbrown Rinku Hi all, We have just signed up with Homebuyers Centre and will have our colour selection appointment in 2 weeks time. We have absolutely no clue on what to expect. Can anyone please share your experience and would love to know if going for a standard colour scheme appointment is good enough? Thank you in advance We have our colour appointment on the 18th. I've asked for a custom appointment that is 4 hours. I didn't like the themes that are offered. We decided on this appointment as we are changing the flooring (laminate), bricks and render (we have chosen the duke facade). We are also upgrading the kitchen cabinets to all dark as I don't want white and also changing shower heads. Well that's all that I have thought about so far. From what I've read on the forum it really depends what you want to change to what appointment you should probably go with. Hope this helps. I havent, and i havent looked to much into it, but on face value its not the saviour its trying to make out to be. Shared equity in your home is never a good idea. The… 1 3974 Hi, have purchased a house with 2 single garage doors. The Centre pillar one side sits proud to the other. Can I change 2 doors into one. Please see picture. 0 6353 For reference, this is the Austlii reference. My take on this is, that they would be breaking the law denying access to a homeowner in Victoria, or their agent from having… 1 9098 |