Simmonds Villa Modena ( Advice/ Opinions Needed)

Thanks we are STILL working on things

I am so over the selection stage. I sometimes I wish I could buy an unfinished house and do all the finish work on my own. I am sick of being told about suppliers.... broaden your bloody suppliers.

When this is all said and done I think i am going to write an open letter to all the project builders about suppliers. If your suppliers do not supply what the customer wants...... find another one.

Yay you managed to fit I'm your curving stair case I think that will make a real impact

Love your tap wear selection particularly your shower rose we had something similar in our old house over a free standing steel bath it weighed a ton!

I hear you re suppliers and builders that's part of the reason we decided to OB, you would have thought with the amount you are spending with them they would allow you a fair amount of leeway.

I'm on my phone so I can't see your joinery plans in detail I will have to have a better look later.

I really wanted to do that we have the funds to do so but my partner and my father in law convinced me otherwise and I am steaming now.

I am absolutely happy with the layout of the house but its the finish work that is burning my bottom. Every little thing that is not standard requires an email to at least 3 people.

For a builder so large and with such a wide range of houses I do not understand why they do not have a range of suppliers. My thought process is that if someone is willing to pay for it make sure they can get it. Me having to purchase my taps at well over 1k per tap and then having to pay for provisioning and someone else to install it means less money for them. They likely could have made a deal with the English tapware company got it for less charged me the same amount and I would have cared less. Why do they limit themselves to only certain suppliers.

And don't get me started on national tile.

But they are giving us a fair amount of leeway I will give them that. Partially because I am stubborn as hell and the other part is the cost of the build. The carpet guy...who keeps calling my house the monstrosity grudgingly explained that our house cost is around double what they are used to and rising and that is why they keep giving us our way. Most people in our price bracket either OB or go custom but my thing is I always thought custom was best for a specific floor plan and since we are happy with our floor plan why pay someone extra for it.

Yeah money talks doesn't it BB, however it'll be a good investment. IMO if you settle for something less than what you want, it's always going to niggle at you. Calling your house the monstrosity is slightly harsh!

Love the tapware!

Cinder - I am seriously waiting on my partner to punch him in the face.... its coming i'm sure.

Most of the people there are generally nice but this guy said it to us on our first visit and kept it up. We have decided not to get carpet through them because of him. He is a rep for carpet call and the price was ok but my partner can't stand this guy.

He makes snide comments he thinks we don't hear or understand and interrupted our tile appointment with it. He's as my partner calls a d%$che nozzel.

And I can't figure him out. I don't know if its the house itself that bothers him or us. My partner is very sensitive because we are a same sex couple and thinks he is homophobic where I do not like to throw that word around lightly I almost feel like it starts to loose its power if every person who doesn't instantly love everything about you is called a homophobe and people deserve the right to their opinion. For all we know he could be one of those people who think more than one living space is wasteful

Your beautiful mansion is possibly overwhelming the guy and he reverts to sarcasm or derogatory comments to cover his low self esteem and feelings of inferiority. You have a fantastic floor plan, and your house is going to become a magnificent home. If I could afford it, and if I could afford to hire cleaners on a regular basis, I would certainly want to have it. Regarding the suppliers, I think the builders' discount is based on the amount of business they bring to the individual supplier, so they limit what they allow people to have to ensure they get the best ongoing deals. Where things can be swapped over after handover, pick the cheapest. For things that cannot easily be installed later, stick to your guns, as you have been doing. Remember the angst now is worth the amazing home you are making for yourselves.

Thanks Lucinda..

We have been trying to keep that in mind... if it can be changed later then fine but if not I am not breaking. Like my kitchen and tiles.

Maybe he does feel that way. I have experienced men being evil little s$%ts because we are women. It's shocking that my partner is so sensitive though she works in a mans world and as a chef she is confident and no nonsense. But in every day life she's constantly worried about what people think of us. Frankly I have stopped caring.

i will be cleaning my own house with a possible cleaner coming in once a month to go over the fiddly bits I hate. Cleaning a big house is pretty easy if you have a system you could do it i'm sure. But that is the first thing many people say to me...... who is going to clean. Closely followed by how many kids do you have?

Hi BB

I can't say wether the guy is a homophobe or not but he sounds like an a$$hole!

Unfortunately the tall poppy syndrome is alive and well. I've found that is generally the people who are most miserable with their life or the lowest self esteem who attempt to build themselves up by bringing other people down.

It's makes it easier to deal with people when you realise how miserable they must be .....not right just easier!

I love your house and if we weren't locked into the farm style house due to our location and the existing house your style is definitely something I would have looked at.

Cheers

Akb

Ps if you can let then know that you pity them it tends to really burn them up! - not that I would advocate doing that lol :-p

Agree with you on the A$$hole thing.

He is not in the right field if you ask me if he can't deal with people who have more than him and OMG he is about to come across the worse same sex ( who knew the L word would get banned I tried to write lez.... be an and it flagged me ) couple ever in a few weeks. Some mates of mine are like Paris Hilton times 2 and they love our house. I can't wait until one of them asks for my house with another one at the back for a "pool house" lmao.

I actually love your house which is how I ended up reading your whole page. I honestly wanted to go a bit more heritage but we have to be careful because we are building in a new estate and don't want to stand out too much.

When all is said and done I'm writing one longggg letter. Its going to outline the good and the bad. And then I'm going to turn around and send Flowers and a small gift to at least 10 people in the company that worked their behinds off. And i'm sending a copy straight to the owner as well.

Sounds like a plan

Either way, referring to it as that is simply disrespectful. Especially for a sales person, wonderful people skills demonstrated there!

I know what you mean (about thinking if someone doesn't like something you like, they could be a homophobe) - hopefully not! But I'm with you, I wouldn't go with him due to the lack of respect and courtesy he's showing. No one like that deserves your business!

But if your partner does punch him in the face, can you get a video?

Gladly will video tape and put it on youtube and hope she is only in jail for a short time.

It is very disrespectful and such poor customer service.

I think a lot of people get labeled homophobic unfairly so i try to keep it to a minimum. If i proclaim someone homophobic it won't be because they stared at me in a supermarket. Hell I stare in the supermarket its human

Hey BB

It's been a while any more updates?

It has been ages since I have had the time to post on here but I need some advice or rather opinions.

A few things are holding up progress and I want to know If its worth it to just give in and pay the money or seek a custom builder.

Firstly: Costings are overrunning in a most ridiculous manner.

I was given these prices for upgrades:

Original Standard Joinery

The red marks are the only things that have been changed in the original the butlers had just lower cupboards all the way across so its not much of a difference
The upstairs bathrooms and ensuite has not been changed much from the original to the updated either which is good since i can't seem to find a pdf that has the original. The bathroom is the same only difference is the ensuite doors and extra bench.
Updated Joinery



Kitchen = $50,526
There isnt much changed in here structurally. Some drawers added and a few high cabinets. Oh and the molding.
Butlers Pantry = $3470
The only thing changed in here is the two high cabinets but this price seems fair
Bathroom = $3820

Ensuite = $7322

Powder = $1742

Laundry = $6905


The second thing and this is a big thing that I can't really post too much on here about because I am worried it would get someone in trouble. But I managed to see a quote sent to my builder from a supplier by accident and the price difference from what I was quoted when i actually went to Simonds and what was on that quote they were emailing that somehow I got CC'd in on , frankly I'm shocked that a markup that high is even legal.


The third is tiling/tapware/electrical .... because i want marble tiles they will not lay them meaning i would have to arrange for a tiler to come in and lay them while they put the contract on hold...then I would need a plumber for all my tapware since I am getting Perrin and Rowe taps and then I have a ton of kitchen Items that would need to be installed by an electrician and lights. They have credited me for the items but not the labour so I will end up double paying for labour.


I am toying now with going with a custom builder but honestly I really don't want to go through all of this all over again. Fair enough its a business but I almost feel like they looked at our budget and thought lets take them for everything they can afford. How does a build go from $357k to nearing $550k just from finishwork.

My wife has mentioned owner building which I am not keen to do but she has a point the amount of research i have accumulated especially in regards to finish work I would know exactly where to go and I already have several quotes I had requested to have a comparison price point to see if we really were getting the best deal with a project builder. Sad to say we are definitely not. The only part of this that came back pretty similar to the quotes was electrical and some of it was actually lower with Simonds.

Sadly I think what you are up against is not uncommon - as soon as you try to customise things with a project builder costs escalate dramatically. They make their money on volume and if things are non standard it costs them time to get quotes etc whereas using their standard items is quick and easy for them.
Have you considered taking the cabinetry out of the contract and getting it done direct? That way you don't have to start again with another builder.
We are building with a supposed custom builder in Perth and even they had a list of standard items and some of the upgrades have been ridiculous. We ended up taking out all of the paving and flooring. We did end up going with their cabinetry but the upgrade was still quite expensive.
Oh the joys of building!!

Bella butterfly this is what you get with a volume builder. Anything outside their standard is marked up because they, and their subbies cannot operate on auto pilot. The build requires a lot more supervision and hence time. They do not always get the pricing from suppliers that they get on their standard ranges. They have to factor in more in the price because they know they are going to have re working.

We are with PD because they will build us the "shell" of the house we want and we can change or add everything else once we move in. Even to the point that the kitchen is all standard carcasses with cupboard doors and we are getting drawers etc all done after handover. We are putting in our own appliances etc. organising our own feature walls, wardrobe fit outs, taps etc, anything I cannot change I negotiated around and am happy with the compromises.

This is our fourth build and we could not go past them for the quality of the basic house structure. You may find it easier/better with a smaller more custom builder just because they can be more flexible. Just be very careful about checking them out, quality and financially. Our second builder was a custom and went broke two weeks after we moved in (after build time of over 14 months) we had to force the issue to get into the house, they were painting around us, we had two small children and nowhere else to go.

I do not envy you, this is such a hard decision especially as building can put a real strain both emotionally and financially on a relationship and on you both personally. No one can really give you a straight answer on this one only the benefit of their experience, mine, which I admit is coloured by fighting homeowners warranty for over two years to get things rectified that were done/supposed to be done by my builder gone bust. In the end, we had to give up or go nuts. Not something I would willingly do again.

I am going to actually ask about removing all of the cupboards period since I am going to have to have my laminate benchtops removed to replace them with stone might as well take them all out.

I need to find out what can be done.

You hit the nail on the head with my fears about custom build. Just after I joined I found myself reading a forum about NBG and there was another one that went bust as well. It wasn't a small builder but still its scary. Then I switched positions at my job. I work in debt recovery and prior to that role I was working in Credit Cards so when I switched over to business I got the shock of my life. There were so many tradesmen filing for bankruptcy leaving work half finished and the attitude was pretty much ...in 3 years i'll be back up and running.

I love the plan I have and I really don't want to loose it but again you are right with the strain on the relationship. My partner and I are at the breaking point with this whole thing. We are due to start IVF but can't in good conscious even think about having a newborn in our current home. My partner is quite a bit older and time is ticking away. We are just ready to be in our new home starting a new life.

Financially we can more than cover it but emotionally I just don't think its fair. It doesn't help that with all the research I know what these things are worth and I just feel constantly ripped off or being treated like an idiot.

How much were you able to work around taking out?