Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 08, 2015 10:00 pm After bought a block at Beulah Park SA, I had various discussion with Sales Consultant from Distinctive Home, Oakford Homes, Metricon Homes, Australian Classic Homes, Scott Salisbury and Medallion homes, I also got quotes from Distinctive Home, Oakford Homes and Australian Classic Homes.
The consultant from Distinctive Homes is really good, I built two homes with her when she was working for another company, but I really nervous with Distinctive homes, my first home was built with Distinctive, and the experience was not that good, to be honest, the quality is reasonable, but it took ridiculous long, I signed the contract at mid 2003 and they handled it over to me at August 2005. The quote I got from her is a little bit ridiculous for a budget builder, almost the same as Scott Salisbury's initial quote. Product review site had some wonderfull review about Oakford Homes, so I contacted their Sales Consultant for east area, she is also very professional and helpful, she always get back to you on time with all the questions answered brilliantly, the quote is very reasonable, within my budget, I was thinking to sign contract with her. Last week, Lucy and I went to their show home at Nairn and just got their at 2 o'clock, it surprised me that that show home site is opening from 12:00 to 2:00 on Saturday, I saw a lady was locking the door and quickly asked her whether she can allow us for a quick look, I told her we drove more than half hour from Adelaide, she told us she got another appointment and refused me. I am really disappointed, certainly she had done nothing wrong, I worried normal staff from their company does not really care their company and customers. Re: Choose A Builder at SA 3Mar 08, 2015 10:38 pm Hey Mystar! Keep us posted on your developments. I thought all display homes were open on weekends until 2pm ... That's when they get most of their traffic. Homestead are worth checking out too. They have some gorgeous designs. A friend of mine has built with them twice ... Very happy. I loved their Salerno but didn't suit our block. And the 'Zen' at Lightsview is amazing. Re: Choose A Builder at SA 4Mar 09, 2015 11:10 am It's a similar set of builders to who we looked at. My wife had built with Homestead before, and that house isn't too bad overall, but she preferred not to go with them again. Compared with some of the other builders, Oakford aren't so well manned at their display homes, and once you're at all serious, you need to call up first to check when the right person will be there. I had a similar experience to you, where due to a mix-up I turned up at the Oakford Blackwood display when they were closing at 4pm, but the sales person took me on a tour of it and had a fairly long chat. Presumably the difference there is she didn't have an appointment to go to. Since signing up with Oakford, I've dealt with three people for different aspects in planning, council submission, and selections. Two of those have been very good and prompt. The other has felt a bit laggy sometimes - where sometimes I wouldn't know what was going on without asking to check on progress. Even there, I wouldn't really complain. An encouraging thing I've found so far with Oakford is that while doing selections, when talking to suppliers they generally think well of Oakford. One thing that makes a distinction between the builders is the design process. With a lot of the volume builders it seems pretty much all the design help you get is via the same person who does sales, so it comes down a lot to the person you happen to find doing your area in sales. If you find someone with architecture or drafting experience out in the displays, that can make a big difference. But then with Scott Salisbury and Medallion etc, I understand they take you through a design process after signing up. I can see how that could offer much better design resources, but for me it also meant an unknown, as you don't seem to meet those people up front, and I didn't know if that process would be compatible with our ideas. Re: Choose A Builder at SA 5Mar 09, 2015 1:52 pm Yes. If they're great designs to start with even better. That's why we liked Metricon and Simonds very modern/stylish designs. When they came over from eastern states they gave our industry a shake up. Most of the volume builders here are still building the same style plans they've done for the last 20 years (I dont include Dechellis, Homestead or Weeks Group). Make sure to look at the Simonds homes too. They're similar standard/style to Metricon. Our sales consultant was the most helpful sales person I've ever encountered ever for anything. Everyone who's built with Simonds here in SA on this forum whose dealt with him (Haydn based at Blakesview) are mega impressed. Top bloke. Very, VERY helpful and knowledgeable and nothing is too hard for him to price or investigate with no feelings of obligation. In comparison, I found most consultants lazy ("don't worry about that now, you can sort that out at selections") uninterested, untransparent, clingy (oh this was the worst! she just about accused me of leading here on "after all I've done for you, you owe me") ... It goes on thank goodness that bit is long over. Oh and my husband just reminded me of those that don't know their own product. Like the one who told us she had included eaves for the first storey of our two storey home. Really? We questioned that and she took us outside to show us them on their display! We were very interested to see that ... Funny how when we were out there looking she couldn't find them Re: Choose A Builder at SA 6Mar 14, 2015 8:08 pm TomCat Yes. If they're great designs to start with even better. That's why we liked Metricon and Simonds very modern/stylish designs. When they came over from eastern states they gave our industry a shake up. Most of the volume builders here are still building the same style plans they've done for the last 20 years (I dont include Dechellis, Homestead or Weeks Group). Make sure to look at the Simonds homes too. They're similar standard/style to Metricon. Our sales consultant was the most helpful sales person I've ever encountered ever for anything. Everyone who's built with Simonds here in SA on this forum whose dealt with him (Haydn based at Blakesview) are mega impressed. Top bloke. Very, VERY helpful and knowledgeable and nothing is too hard for him to price or investigate with no feelings of obligation. In comparison, I found most consultants lazy ("don't worry about that now, you can sort that out at selections") uninterested, untransparent, clingy (oh this was the worst! she just about accused me of leading here on "after all I've done for you, you owe me") ... It goes on thank goodness that bit is long over. Oh and my husband just reminded me of those that don't know their own product. Like the one who told us she had included eaves for the first storey of our two storey home. Really? We questioned that and she took us outside to show us them on their display! We were very interested to see that ... Funny how when we were out there looking she couldn't find them Ive found the product knowledge to be a problem with some of the sales consultants at metricon too. More than a few times, i have asked about the material or finished used in a display home where they are working and the answer is "i dont know". If they dont know, they should offer to find out. BLOG: http://www.ourphoenix38.blogspot.com.au H1 THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70454 Re: Choose A Builder at SA 7Mar 14, 2015 8:26 pm Shambini More than a few times, i have asked about the material or finished used in a display home where they are working and the answer is "i dont know". If they dont know, they should offer to find out. I think this is fairly common among builders displays. I was guessing they were being cagey because they were figuring you were likely going with a different builder, and just wanted to steal their selections schemes. Re: Choose A Builder at SA 8Mar 14, 2015 9:45 pm I told them that i was building with them and was a carrying a set of metricon plans that were stamped. I figured it might have been the salespeople showing interested because they thought someone else has got the sale and commission. BLOG: http://www.ourphoenix38.blogspot.com.au H1 THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70454 Re: Choose A Builder at SA 9Mar 14, 2015 9:48 pm Shambini, it was the Metricon consultant that was convinced she was giving us eaves Maybe you had the same consultant - from Craigburn Farm. Re: Choose A Builder at SA 10Apr 15, 2015 11:01 pm We were impressed with the Metricon's display home at Light View, and had a second look three weeks ago, was going to walk away and stopped by one of the Sales Consultant, he offered free designer catch-up from his company, I was really happy with that. I found the plan Lincoln 30 closing to our needs, and did a sketch myself. After a half hour meeting, the designer and consultant got back to me just a few days with a plan almost the same as my sketch, after some modification yesterday, I paid deposit. It seems so simple and quick. Re: Choose A Builder at SA 12Apr 21, 2015 10:18 pm Started a new thread as I chose Metricon Homes as my builder, here is the links, http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76966&p=1341069#p1341069 Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20413 Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9565 |