Anyone building with Homebuyers Centre in VICTORIA?

Wow Niccles! I see what you mean - $108 to upgrade the stovetop and range hood! I've already put down nearly $2k for the Caesarstone so I think we'll let the oven go. But I'm thinking a 600mm oven would look silly under a 900mm stove. I wonder if I can put the oven in the island, so it isn't as obvious. My PWC is signed - I wonder if I can pay for this upgrade during the colour selection appointment?

We are paying for all our upgrades at pre start! So I would assume you can.


Anyone who has had pre start know what the cat1 carpet, tiles and laminates like?

And how much it would be to upgrade?

We are paying for all our upgrades at pre start! So I would assume you can.


Anyone who has had pre start know what the cat1 carpet, tiles and laminates like?

And how much it would be to upgrade?

Hi all,

You actually have to pay for your upgrades at Prestart/selections appointment on the day...anything that isn't included in your PWC.
I found the category 1 carpets to be thin and course. We are carpeting the bedrooms only and changed our second living area and hall to laminates. There were some nice colours in category 1 though. We paid $700+ (can't remember the cost exactly, it might be in one of my older posts?) to upgrade to category 2 carpets. I liked the standard tiles and didn't see a need for us to upgrade. There are quite a few to choose from. The laminate was the same, we chose the standard coffee oak and are really happy with it.
I have my land settlement booked for 2:30pm this Thursday- anyone going through Resolve might be interested to know that I don't need to pay any shortfall of funds as expected. Our loan is covering conveyancer fees/land amount/associated fees so I am quite pleased!

We don't have to pay for our upgrades at prestart on the day, it is incorporated into the contract sum which we will be covered by our home loan. We are not going through Resolve so that may be the difference.

If your items are included in the contract then no but anything chosen at pre-start that is not in the loan/PWC is what I was referring to. They will give you a document explaining it.

I asked for $5000 to be included in my loan for selections at pre-start.... There's no way I'm going to use that much, but had no idea how much upgrades would cost when I first signed the PWC. I'm going through Resolve and they said that was fine. I only thought to do that because my Sales Consultant suggested it....

Hi everyone!

So happy to see that more and more people are building with HBC. We also got our pre-approval last week and we'll do our Pre-Start on the 14th.

So many decisions that we have to make and I have no idea where to begin.

Has anyone done Electricals? How much in total did you spend? I want a few (or more) pendant lights as well.

I'm curious how much extra electrical outlets cost. In the pre-start selections folder we received, I think I read that rooms generally have one power-point each. That is SO not enough!

Yeah power points and some more light fittings are high on my list of things to upgrade. As are changing the TV points so I can wall mount them... My prestart is tomorrow so I'll get you all some prices

Extra single power point is about $55

Single!! OMG! I want double!

Thanks @ez85! I'll wait for your update. Hopefully, you will ask about pendant lighting as well.

Yep! That's why I'm getting extra electrical after handover. One single power point costs a sparky $6.50.

If we do it after handover, is there anything that Homebuyers need to do to prepare for it? I think we'll do it after handover as well if the cost is going to be ridiculous!

No, not at all. They would do things normally and then you would just get an electrician to do the rest. My friend is a qualified electrician that will be doing our work and the only thing my friend suggested is to ask in pre-start (with your electrical plan) to move power points that are located on external walls to internal walls eg. If you have a PowerPoint in your lounge room under a window, move it to the opposite wall that might be the wall in between your hallway and loungeroom. This is because it's easier for the sparky after handover to deal with cabling through external walls. We did this and it didn't cost anything because you are just moving spots. Either way though, it can be done with no inconvenience to HBC and you will save quite a bit of $!

Thanks for the tips Pooks! Did your friend say anything about how to go about extra lighting fixtures?

And do they want a job after my place is built?! haha...

In man speak (no offence guys) he said "easy done" when I asked him about the pendant lights! I am getting pendant lights over the bench and he said they just run the wires from the fitting that HBC will install. He is also doing extra power points/tv points/junction boxes/outdoor lights etc. It might be worth showing an electrician your electrical plan with extras you want and see if they can prove you up a quote.

Hi All, just updating you all...my HBC friends, to let you know that my land settlement was today! Now to enter mortgage world. Woo-hoo!

Nice! I can see the slab coming! Not long now.

Congrats Pooks! So exciting for you

Ok, costings:-
Single powerpoint - $50
Double powerpoint - $59, so if you're going for electrical, it's a no brainier to get doubles!
I asked about downlights, and the response was basically it's super expensive and you'd be better off doing it afterwards. Batten fix light fittings are $43 each if you're interested. I've actually found some awesome batten fix pendants that I like so I added 2 over the kitchen island.
TV point - $90, and it's no charge to have it raised to 1400mm. I added one to the master bedroom. My electrical additions came to about $450 all up, so once I factored in getting a sparky out and the labour involved, it actually made sense for me to just have it done by HBC. Plus, then it's all ready and waiting for me! The only thing HBC couldn't do was a HDMI wall plate (so I can connect a wall mounted TV to a BluRay player etc. without having cords running down the wall), but since that doesn't require any wiring, just holes in the wall I can easily get that done myself.

Other upgrades I did - Caesarstone benches to the kitchen, overhead cupboards in the kitchen, and upgraded to Cat 2 carpet. It feels soooooooo much nicer, and with a cat with a penchant for ripping up loop pile carpet it had to be done

The kitchen and landscaping deals are unfortunately over Hope that gives you a bit of an idea guys!