Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 19, 2014 8:20 pm Hi guys We're at pre site with Plantation Homes. We're at the stage of final plans to be approved and to pay the deposit before build. This has been a really bad experience so far. We have found its all about adding more to our price. First of all, the estimating team is SO slow. Every change takes 1-2 weeks and when we finally got the changes back, they were incorrect. This happened multiple times. Then dealing with Your Home Consulting (for electrical) was terrible. We waited 2 weeks to hear back from them. Absolutely no contact and they were incredibly rude when they finally got in touch with us. Also they made incorrect changes multiple times. We also had the fun experience of being told we'd need to get our own electrician to bring power in from the street at our own cost. Then plantation charged us $2000 to bring the power to the house when they're not even doing it. We fought this and they took $1000 off then a couple days later tell us they have to charge us $1000 for the meterbox. Our electrician was providing that already. Our latest drama is the storm water line. Its incorrect and they haven't been bothered to check our land to see that there is no existing line where they put on the drawings. We had originally requested it somewhere else but they didn't make the changes so now they're telling us that we have to pay more to change it and have everything pushed back. If we leave it as is, they'll realise as soon as they get to site that its wrong and will charge us more. I'm so worried about what will happen when we start building. I'm worried they'll find other things to charge us with. We are considering changing to another builder but will have lost all this time and our deposit. Then need to start from scratch. Has anyone else experienced this with plantation? What about at build? Did your price continue to go up? Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 3May 20, 2014 6:27 am Oh, that sounds worrisome. We're going with Plantation as well and have only had our tender presentation, so not as far along as you yet. So far we haven't had too many concerns, but hopefully we don't get the same problems once we get closer to the build itself. =/ Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 4May 20, 2014 6:28 am leave and go to another builder it will be worth it in the end i had a similar experience not with planation but another builder and it just kept going and getting worse . i walked away lost a thousand but in the end glad i made the decision as i found a better builder . if they are like this now what will happen when you are building. Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 5May 20, 2014 9:26 am We are nearly finished our build with Plantation. Yes estimating was crazy slow. I couldn't figure out how on earth little changes would take 1-2 weeks. The admin stage was incredibly frustrating and draining. We considered jumping ship at that point also but we were in so far it felt like we just had to keep going. We didn't have the issues with storm water or electricity though so no major issues, but we had a fairly straightforward block in that regard. My experience with YHC was exactly the same. They were truly horrible. I'm sure I could name the lady you spoke to. She didn't even know what she was talking about, she couldn't answer my questions about smart wiring etc and very obviously I was putting her out with every little question. Plantation has a feedback request a month or so after you finish the admin stage so I was at least able to feed back about that. Building has been very efficient and the people have been more flexible. More in the real world and not so hung up on paperwork so our building stage has been a lot more positive. Not problem free but they've dealt with any problems well so far. Any questions let me know or feel free to PM me. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 6May 29, 2014 10:19 am We've decided to push through and continue building with them. Hoping for a good experience during build. BUT we do hope to get an independent inspector. Has anyone had experiences with independent inspectors? Are they really worth it? Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 7May 29, 2014 11:00 am You shouldn't build without an independent inspector! Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 8May 29, 2014 11:09 am Agree that the initial stages are slow. They are quite pedantic and make sure you know that any changes after signing will cost you more. Clearly they get a lot of people who do this ... We built with them. We found the build side very good. We just had our 12 month check - very little to do. I was searching high and low for things to list. They are doing them all. We found the finished product to be above average. But - as you said - the initial talk bits are slow, and sometimes annoying. BUT - I'd recommend you take your time - think and read things carefully. Study the plan and make sure you have it right. A few weeks or a month is nothing when you consider you'll have the house for 25 years+. We got frustrated at times with the initial process. But we found the contact people during the build excellent and our supervisor also excellent. We still had a few things we'd have done differently - but most were our fault. We missed them on the plan. So - take your time and get it right. And try to make all of your changes at the same time - to stop delays. Good luck. Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 9May 30, 2014 8:53 pm We were going to go with Plantation homes and build the Beckham but decided against it... for what it's worth, all builders are going to have to delays and issues, it's how they communicate with you and rectify those issues. We've certainly had that experience but are hoping we've come out on the other side, now. Communication is key, if you are not happy, try to communicate that with the builder. If they are not listening... there's a big problem. Building a Regatta 2920 with Planbuild in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=71425 Re: Plantation homes - terrible experience so far 10May 30, 2014 8:59 pm cinquain We were going to go with Plantation homes and build the Beckham but decided against it... for what it's worth, all builders are going to have to delays and issues, it's how they communicate with you and rectify those issues. We've certainly had that experience but are hoping we've come out on the other side, now. Communication is key, if you are not happy, try to communicate that with the builder. If they are not listening... there's a big problem. As I said above - I felt the build was good. Waiting for the interest rates to go down is also waiting for the building prices to go up, you will likely lose. Perhaps you can get the builder to lock up stage, but… 4 3670 The OP has gone The latch and striker are definitely not aligned but there was no point trying to help the OP understand that. Hence the reason they are no longer with us. 12 5684 11 41657 |