Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 05, 2013 12:27 am Hi Everyone!!! Long time member, first time poster. We are looking at knocking down our house and rebuilding in Whitehorse. A double story around 38sqm.....4+ bedrooms, study, home theatre, alfresco, ceasar stone surfaces including laundry, butlers pantry with sink. Firstly, it's great having the threads on here such as "Things you forget" which benefits newbies like me!!! Last Saturday, we visited Selandra Rise estate at Clyde North with the original intention of also visiting Casiana Grove estate after (original intention as we didn't get there due to time and just exhaustion). I was very excited as there were some displays/builders that we wanted to see. We were quite hungry towards the end so that didn't help the later viewings. The commentary below is also not intending to offend anyone who has built with any of these builders, it's just our experience with the houses and also the salespeople. Really interested in people's thoughts on the builders below as we will need to revisit these at least at other display estates. 1) Boutique - They wanted to charge 3% extra on top of their base for knock down rebuilds........WTF? No one else did.... 2) Carlisle Homes - Houses were ok but the sales staff were a bit lost......will need to purchase a number of their additional packages to get what we want 3) Rawson Hill - Can't really remember, not a good vibe I think....they didn't have any double storey homes anyway 4) 8homes - I was really looking forward to visiting but was bummed when they said they don't do knock down rebuilds........BUT their sister company UrbanEdge did......so onto next door 5) UrbanEdge - This was our best experience by far............... The house we looked at was VERY impressive and felt really nice and natural to us and the price including inclusions was more than we budgeted for but felt it was worth the extra 6 months of saving. The salesman was also very switched on and personable. I know that's what they're paid to do but he was a cut above the rest. If I had to make a decision now (and I don't), I'd go with UrbanEdge. However, I have read in productreview site that there's varied experiences with them which I guess is most likely the case with most of the other cookie cutters. 6) Orbit - Can't remember really 7) Metricon - Didn't really get good vibes for the house and the salesperson was not friendly (I know we are not purchasing a friendly salesperson....haha) Simonds homes - Design was not as good as UE but $50K to $60K cheaper....but inclusions not to the UE level so would have to add more $$$. 9) Porter Davis - These guys were our front runners prior to coming to Selandra Rise. So our 2nd choice at the moment. We are comfortable with their layouts. 10) Burbank - Can't really remember.....I think there was a house where we bumped into this couple and we commented at the same time how they had a full burner/stove in the alfresco area right near the kitchen burner/stove and we all said at the same time, "Stupid, just put a BBQ outside". 11) Henley - They had high tech gear (ear pieces) on their sales staff.....but their houses didn't really inspire Re: Building Double Storey - Visited Selandra Rise Clyde Nor 3Sep 06, 2013 6:58 pm Haha......I can see why you've been back for a month, it's really a big estate. Have you been to Casiana Grove? Congrats on deciding with Henley. I really do think we need to visit the estate again and maybe this time round in the reversed order and with some food in our tummies. We haven't really decided yet as this was the first estate that we've visited. Currently, we may be back on the Porter Davis bandwagon with their Chadwick design. We aren't in a huge hurry as we want to get it as right as possible. Will be looking out for your experiences with Henley. Re: Building Double Storey - Visited Selandra Rise Clyde Nor 4Sep 07, 2013 9:40 pm Visited Salandra Rise estate again today. Our experience was so strangely different this time round. We targeted certain builders and house designs and we went the opposite direction, ie. started with Henley this time. Our findings this time: 1) Carlisle - REALLY good feeling from the house and their prices in this 2nd tier T-Range is very competitive. This is probably now our front runner especially considering general great feedback from the public. 2) Henley - We really like this house too (so different from last time when we were hungry and a bit 'over it'). A little bit more expensive than Carlisle and doesn't have good general feedback. But it felt good. 3) Porter Davis - Will need to add the alfresco option. Also slightly wider houses than the rest which directly impacts how much I can widen the garage. 4) Urban Edge - We fell head over heals for this last time. This time round, it's still a great house but we're questioning if it's worth the extra $$$? Re: Building Double Storey - Visited Selandra Rise Clyde Nor 5Nov 25, 2013 10:03 pm How did you go? have you signed up? We are looking now as well in whitehorse to do a kdrb. Unfortunately in "zone 3" for porter davis which will cost an extra 5 or 10 k. Probably PD or Carlisle at this stage. Build blog - http://hasslingthehoff.wordpress.com/ Porter Davis Hoffman 39 Knockdown rebuild. 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