Anyone wish to comment re their experience with s*monds?

Hi Tanaka1,

My uncle is currently building with them and I'm pretty much taking care of the process for him as he doesn't speak english that well.

From what I hear from him his sales consultant was pretty good and was helpful in the processes before contract. I wasn't with him during this period so can't comment much on the dealings etc. But can comment on the building progress thus far.

From what my uncle tells me, the problems he experience with them before construction are the following:

1. Contract takes a long time to complete
2. Had few errors with his final drawings but it get corrected by them pretty quick so it's good.

Construction stage:

My unlce is currently have some building issues with the construction eg plumbing pipe in WIR and concreting at back of his garage.
Let's just say that it's very frustrating to get hold of the site supervisor when you want to talk to him. Also this is my uncle's third site supervisor in a couple of month. The building process is taking a while I think it is due to the lack of site supervisors. Let just say the house across from my uncle's house started like a month after his and now they are ahead of him.

Positive things I can say about them is the CSR is pretty helpful and calls you back most of the time. My uncle has a new site supervisor which he met last week and said the guy was friendly and approachable and told him what will be done to fix the problems. So hopefully will go smoothly after having this new supervisor. Also their Accounts Receivable guy is pretty understanding and good in regards to my uncle's situation as he defer the base stage payment until the concrete is fixed (but you have to regurlarly fill him in as to what is happening with the situation though).

Let me know if you want further info on S.

Hope this helps.

i have just signed up with them as well, and waiting for color selection etc.... but so far my experience with them is good...
as one of the volume builders, of course they would have good and bad feedback, i have heard a lot of stories too... so my decision is based on the floor plan (do i like it) and the price (worked out they are the cheaper for us)
... once the construction begins, i will know whether i can be the lucky one to put positive comment... good luck to me

It's the name of the house that I'm looking at building, in contract stage at moment

Hi BB,

Building in Victoria

Hi we are also building with them. We've done all the appointments and signings and site start is booked in for next month. We weren't happy at all with how things went in the beginning (had to chase and hassle them every step of the way) but after throwing a mega tantrum and speaking to an area manager things have been alot better since. My advice is to make sure you know exactly want you want before the consultant prepares the tender (and you sign it) because the hassle if you want to change things has been for us ridiculous!!! Also just ask plenty of questions because in the rush to get us to sign we weren't told anything about the process and what to expect.

I sent a stern email to our CSR on Monday expressing my disappointment at the delays (we're about 8 weeks behind according to their "Home Building Journey" brochure).

Since then we've had our contract appointment changed to a PQ instead, with the colour appointment booked for the same day. So, if you're unhappy with the service you're getting, my advice is to write a polite, but insistent email about what you want.

We signed up with them in January, but quickly got out because they changed the specs within 2 days, and then refused to compromise

Basically they agreed to build a paricular house (with a nice floor plan) for a particular price, but two days later came back and said they made a mistake and we have to settle for different version of the house which had a crappy floor plan, and which was not even on their sales brochures/ website; the plan given to us looked like an incomplete internal draft.

We reluctantly agreed, but asked them to make few minor changes to make the layout more tolerable; they flatly refused, despite our offer to pay for any increased costs.

May be they made a genuine mistake with the original quote, but then you'd expect them to make a compromise and try to retain the customer - not them!

would you believe that our contract meeting got canceled again!?!

and they said that the drawings will be started tomorrow!!! did they think that would make me happy? drawings should have started 3 months ago. and they gave me 2 appointments already that they canceled.

I wonder how long it would REALLY take to create a contract.

Ans we haven't had color selection yet. According to the CSO, it would take longer to draft the contract if colors are added!

Question to Djelibeybi:
When did you last meet with them regarding floorplan add-ons? When is their PROMISED contract date? What's been completed and what's the next step for your house? Just wanted to know if we are experiencing the same delays.... thanks

Thanks for the info Djelibeybi.

I'm now doubting anything S is telling me. Especially when it comes to dates. Well, I've actually lost interest about building with them because of the way they are treating us. Just can't move to a different builder coz it would cost us a lot more as the prices have now increased to at least 10k. Even the house plan we are building with S has increased 12k! So we might as well bear with all the delays and frustration.

We first met with them around December 2007. We had a lot of meeting with the Sales officer on the display home. She was very helpful and all looked really well. The scheduled first contract signing was 4th week of Feb 2008. At first I thought that this was too far away as it was almost 2 months from when we made our last changes. Then 3 days before that date, they canceled. And I they told me that they got confused with all the add-ons we did so they they didnt do the plan/contract. And then they blamed me for adding a 3rd car garage. Because according to them, they needed to redraw the entire plan because of that add-on!!!

Then after a lot of discussion, they have set another date 4th week of March. Then 3 days before the sched, I called them, only to find out that its canceled again. And I recently found out that they havent started drawing our plans!!! The CSO told me that they will start drawing today. And she expects me to be happy about it?! So I'm expecting another month. Wouldnt be surprised if that gets canceled again! Its so annoying and frustrating at the same time... I wonder when this would end?!

BTW, what floor plan are you building? Ours is Langham 34.

Thanks.