Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane

Looks fantastic, what timber laminate is that? Looks similar to what our will be

Beautiful massive house. I love those bulkheads, they are wider, cant wait to see mine too as we have quite a lot of bulkheads around the whole house.

It's Universal brand Authentic Oak Ash White (wide plank format). When it first went down I was horrified that it would be too light.

Now the furniture is going in it's pretty good actually. Amazing the colour changes between night and day. Looks cold in daytime light, looks warm under the LEDs.

Would probably go a slightly yellow-er tone if I did it again though, just for that bit of extra warmth in the house.

I really like them!
Ours is grey style oak, I think a little darker than yours.

Beautiful!

How's it all going a few weeks down the track? Any chance you can post a photo or two of the front? Would love to see more. Congrats.

Hi Nick,

Wow it has been a crazy ride. No real issues with the house from a build point of view, just lots more work getting it to feel like a home than I'd expected.

Will put some pics up this weekend, guys are building our outdoor area at the moment, crap everywhere.

As a piece of wisdom don't ever lay your own turf. Oh god it nearly killed us!!

Cheers

Hi Brissyguy. How is your new house going?, We are approaching handover. Had PCI on Wednesday

Reviving a bit of an old thread due to interest via a PM about our experience with Simonds, and also some photos of the final product that I ment to post a long time back.

I would recommend Simonds (Brisbane), despite a roof leak drama which took months and the QBCC's involvement to resolve, more on that at the end. The build went fast, our SS was great and the inspections we had done by independent inspectors didn't pick up anything that was a big deal. Finish quality was what we paid for and was done to a good level.

Post PCI there were a number of non-major issues which were resolved by Simonds or their subbies after a reasonable amount of time.

The roof leak drama though... first major rain in Brisbane last year and we had water pouring from the master bedrooms light, a/c duct and fan like a fountain. Simonds were unable to advise what to do at the time of the event what action to take so we called our insurer who sent out an emergency crew to disconnect power. Next morning the insurer's second emergency crew arrived and patched the roof. As they got off the roof, Simonds guys showed up. This created complexity because two parties both 'fixed' the roof, and the Simonds guy didn't really get to see the problem - as insurer had replaced the affected valley which was too short apparently. Long story short Simonds said not their fault, use our home insurance - I said no, it's a building fault and QBCC eventually ruled it to be.

That said, if our insurer would have just shared the photos they had taken with Simonds in the first place I feel they would have immediately agreed to being at fault, as the cause was clear. Simonds have now repaired everything back to 'as new' condition and we are quite happy.

Despite this drama I would build with them again.. I think regardless of builder these types of things can happen. It makes me a bit upset that they would put up such a fight on a 3 month old house having a roof leak though...

Oh quick summary of things that surprised us at handover.. no towel rail, toilet roll holders, etc. Drainage pits had been installed but the PVC pipe sticking out of them hadn't been cut off (oops). We paid for all this to be done without discussing with them after handover because we were in a rush to move in, and greatly appreciated that Simonds hauled serious azz to get it ready for us in time especially in the last two weeks of the build.. SS had his virtual whip out.

Anyway, here's the photos. Archived at http://brissyguybuild.tumblr.com if these don't work

Front



Inside looking back towards the front door. Sitting room on the right. It will be a big bar area later:



Living/dining area. It's enormous!



Living/dining area with some furniture.



Reverse direction of living/dining



Kitchen and giant Island bench (overhead cupboards and ceaserstone replacing melamine in a couple of weeks)



Guest/Spare bathroom (annoyingly small cupboard/bench - don't make our mistake)



Guest/spare bathroom bathtub detail (nice job)



Guest/spare bathroom shower with recess (we installed the showerhead thing post build)



Walking home... ahhhh



If there's interest I can post more eg master, master ensuite but I think this gives you a good idea of what to expect.

Cheers,
Brissyguy

One thing I forgot to mention was that when we first had handover, I was deeply underwhelmed by our colour choices and was afraid we'd made some terrible mistakes.

Once the furniture started going in, some artwork and such the house honestly transformed and I'm now quite happy with it.

Externally I still dislike the brick and the downpipe colours but I'm hoping once I landscape it, those elements like inside will blend together into something beautiful.

Hi brissyguy good to hear from you. It is a shame on the roof saga but like you said because the insurance guy did it they did not get to see it but still that is not an excuse as the house is still new. Your house is beautiful. I love your bath tub, is that an upgrade?, coz i did not upgrade my bath and when it was installed i thought it is a bit small. Nice double shower rail too. You have so many downlights nicely lined up, well done. I never say no to more pics!, Any prob with smelly drains?, as someone mentioned that here on homeone forum regarding Simonds homes and i do not want that.

Looks great Brissyguy. Thanks for coming back with an update. I wondered how you were going I love the colours you chose! Hit us up with pics of the master and ensuite please Your home is super! Love the living areas

Brissyguy could you pls post a pic of your entrance door from outside as it looks exactly like mine but my outside handle seems to be sitting too high and they would not lower it as that is how they install it.

Ah. We had a locksmith install it for us. Initially Simonds installed the regular/standard round knob kind and we changed the whole thing (Gainsborough Omni Tri lock from memory). I'll measure the height tonight for you.

In the very beginning, like before showers had been used a couple of times, there was a slight sewer smell. This only lasted a couple of days, if that.

Ok thats good then.

This is the one Simonds installed for us if that helps!,

defiantly the same door. Measured from bottom of the door, the metal face plate starts at 96cm. The door handle hidden behind is at 110cm.

Maybe yours just looks high because they haven't poured the concrete entryway yet.. We had a huuuge step up from dirt to door until they laid driveway+portico, now only 1 brick step up.

How high is yours?

defiantly the same door. Measured from bottom of the door, the metal face plate starts at 96cm. The door handle hidden behind is at 110cm.

Maybe yours just looks high because they haven't poured the concrete entryway yet.. We had a huuuge step up from dirt to door until they laid driveway+portico, now only 1 brick step up.

How high is yours?[/quote]
I will have to measure next time i go back maybe end of next week as nothing is happening there as they are waiting for the caesarstone delivery to redo our ensuite and bathroom as they are chipped. Thanjs for the info

Theres concrete on the partico but no driveway yet