Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building with Hudson Homes 241May 25, 2016 10:36 am Lexi, Our electrical was finished yesterday, hopefully they are getting to yours next. Plumbing hasn't been started yet but they did move the fridge wall, straighten the wall frames and remove the supporting timbers. they also delivered the cavity slider frames and all the bits and pieces to for the eves.. Lizard, We are only allowed to do it because the original salesman we dealt with said we could, turns out you can't BUT it was a bit late when it was all documented etc.. Our guy has had to submit his licence and insurance details to them to do it. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 243Jun 01, 2016 9:27 am Much the same. Bank should issue the letter of finance to the builder at the end of this week so the file can be released. We have our construction plans to check and sign off on. Also have our electrical appointment tomorrow morning (any tips/hints would be useful - we honestly haven't thought too much about it). Re: Building with Hudson Homes 244Jun 01, 2016 11:02 am Woohoo exciting.. My electrical was very simple so didn't to a lot.. if you are going to do downlights then more your existing lights to be where your downlights are going to go later so that you don't have to patch the ceiling.. If you want to add power points later then you can move your current ones to walls where you can put a second on the other side, just take off the point and punch through the other side and install the extra point.. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 245Jun 01, 2016 3:32 pm Hi guys, Pretty much up to the same as you now Jhiace our Gyprock/plaster is being delivered on Friday with them making a start on it next week and getting insulation in too. It looked like the Hudson at the end of our street is almost finished for plastering on the weekend so they should be able to just move straight down to ours afterwards which would be great. Liz in terms of electrical, - if you are having any ceiling fans get them to put the timber noggin in for you (it wasn't too expensive from memory) - we added a conduit in the wall for media room so when we wall mount our TV the cables run behind the wall ect. - question them to make sure your not charged for things you dont really need e.g. we questioned pricing for our 3 in one heater/fan/lights in the bathroom then she said oh you have whirly birds well we don't need whatever it was and it came out cheaper and they both go on the one circuit so a second one should be cheaper. - If you are installing an external sensor light get them to run the cables for you I'm assuming it would be more exxy afterwards drilling through brick ect. - Light switch next to the internal garage door (if you have internal garage access) I hope that makes sense lol basically if you are walking inside from the garage you want a light switch right at the door so you don't need to walk in and fumble around for the hall light switch. - Powerpoint in hallway for vacuuming. - We added a double PP with double Usb point to our kitchen above the bench for laptops/phones ect worth considering I am sure it will be super handy. - consider adding a weather proof double PP to the patio. - We added a double PP towards the front of the garage near the roller door. Sorry to carry on I hope that helps a little Also does anyone know anything about wall mounting TV brackets? Im worrying over it as we have the conduit ect in the media room but its all backing onto the kitchen and oven ect so theres a hell of a lot of wires and gas pipes ect going on in that wall right where the conduit is and where we are wanting to mount a bracket for the TV later on. How can we safely put one up? Im worried we might need extra studs ect to attach it too but I thought that would have been mentioned to us if we did. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 247Jun 07, 2016 3:54 pm Have you had any progress Lexi?? We got the enclosed stage invoice but we don't even have saking on the wall where the timber cladding goes out under the eves... Needless to say everything there has been getting drenched with all the wind and rain.. Nothing at all has happened for us this week or late last, they mentioned renderer, brick wash and plaster but nope nothing. How did you go with electrical Lizard? Re: Building with Hudson Homes 248Jun 07, 2016 6:10 pm Hey! We ended up changing out appt to Thursday this week. I got treated to go to State of Origin and we didn't get back home to Newcastle until 3am the next morning - so wasn't in the best frame of mind to be making decisions lol Has anyone done a post contract variation yet? And if so did they enforce the $1000 variation fee. We have our final construction plans and have found some minor things I'd like to change (oops). Re: Building with Hudson Homes 249Jun 07, 2016 8:14 pm I enquired on a post contract change, because hudson wanted to make a change with the kitchen and what I wanted to do was also with the kitchen mob and they wanted to charge the $1000. Also a guy near me added two lights to the front of his house and they charged him the $1000 plus an incredible amount for the lights.. What do you want to change? Possibly call the suppliers yourself and get them to do it and just pay them. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 250Jun 08, 2016 11:06 am Yep - as expected they want to charge $1000 to put the laundry sink on the opposite side of the bench (it's currently in the middle of the wall as opposed to the corner as normal, so from left to right will go bench - sink - washing machine). I've been finding Sandra super frustrating lately - from go we haven't had a good impression and it's just getting worse with her communication. There is a complete lack of customer service and friendliness. Guess all we can do is grin and bear it -_- Re: Building with Hudson Homes 251Jun 09, 2016 9:00 am Its very frustrating.. I had been speaking with the kitchen/cabinetry company for two weeks, then they asked for an email. So i sent them the email then yesterday they replied saying they have forwarded it to Hudson Homes because that's who i need to speak with. Needless to say i gave them a spray for their stupidity and my absolute displeasure in their pathetic customer service and put them on notice that any little thing i can find wrong with their work I will be making them fix! So no doubt i will get a phone call from Hudson soon about it, and when i do i will be escalating it very quickly. After all they sent a variation last week which is to go to the same company, why can't they just add my minor adjustment at the same time!?!?!? Re: Building with Hudson Homes 252Jun 09, 2016 12:14 pm Yep. You'll get the "don't go around us! You need to speak to XXX customer rep". Well people would talk to them if their customer service didn't suck! I get the reason for the fee for variations - it's to try minimise people making changes as it uses their time. However, a $1000 fee for minor changes or changes such as in your situation are absurd. Like we're paying them $233000 to build us a house. They cannot justify charging $1000 to change two cupboards around. And they can say that it's to cover the labour for the drafters etc. I'm a drafter. The change we want will take them 5 minutes in the software (if that) and 5 minutes to email to polytec to change the benchtop. Got to have a little bit of give and take. They're quite happy to raise a million variations on us, but we want one small change and it's "sorry contract says you must pay $1000 before we can initiate changes". I can pull out the cabinetry and re-do it myself to be how I want it for less! Sandra has been corresponding about our commencement letter to the bank. She has CC'd me in several of the emails and it seems she doesn't just come across as rude to just me... Like it's all minor things annoying me but it's happened because of her lack of customer service. When we were appointed her as our CRM I expected we would have gotten a phone call to introduce herself. Haven't once got a phone call from her. In the standard intro email we got she sent to my partner's email for weeks without us replying, telling us we were holding up the job without thinking to call us to see why we weren't responding... which was because I asked them not to use that email. Just starting to get really frustrated about the process Re: Building with Hudson Homes 253Jun 09, 2016 7:11 pm Starting to get a little worried we have just signed acceptance of Tender with Hudson and our contact is Sandra. What do we need to look out for before we sign the contract? Also how extra costs approx. Pop up after signing the contract? Thanks for your help. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 254Jun 10, 2016 12:29 pm Hey! So once you get your contract you will have a better idea of costing. Without that it will be pretty hard as you won't know any cost that may arise because of site conditions. Our very first quote was $231200. Azure 19, H2 Inclusions with Ducted AC. Our contract price ended up being $233215. In saying that not much changed between the two. We took out a study nook, added 3m/sq to the house to meet council requirements and had to include some extra piering for problem soil. From then we spent $5700 at colour selections (we had a $5000 voucher so was only out of pocket $700). We just had out electrical appointment and spend another $992 on upgrades that we feel would be best done by their electrician (sensor flood lights, kitchen island powerpoint, provision for 3 fans, extra light safety circuit, exterior PP for alfresco). The good thing about Hudson is the inclusions. Compared to friends building with Clarendon we get a lot of stuff they don't as standard (especially in the electrical package). My other favourite thing is their fixed priced guarantee - once plans are council approved and it all starts there are no hidden costs. Downside - customer service isn't to my standard. It gets pretty frustrating and after a certain someone has breached Privacy Acts with our bank we've finally asked to be contacted by management to pass on our concerns. Today has been such a mess of emotions with what has happened with the bank and Hudson (ultimately the bank REFUSES to talk to them due to the serious breach) but we managed to provide enough documentation for them to release our file for construction. Construction now starts in the next 20 days so fingers crossed communication improves and I pray to the building gods we get a good Site Supervisor. Advice for now: -micromanage them and DON'T feel bad for it. Don't be afraid to be stern either -don't sign off on anything without really researching or carefully going over plans regardless how much she tries to rush you - if we did this we would have been out of pocket $1500 for something we didn't need in the end -budget for colour selections. We didn't go too overboard with upgrades and have a really small house but it adds up quickly. Also budget for electrical - glad we're fitting out after handover as it is REALLY expensive Re: Building with Hudson Homes 255Jun 10, 2016 2:24 pm Yeah Hudson are really not that bad, Infact i know people building or have just built with other big builders and they were worse. Hudson are true to their word of a fixed price contract, once signed it won't go up. Along the way they may raise variations which if the price is greater it will be no charge to you, but if it is removing something not necessary then you will get it as a credit. Be prepared to spend money, if you want a nice home. We are building the Sienna 27 which is now 30sqm, we upgraded to a H2 facade as well as the H2 inclusions, we spent a bit extra in colour selections (i think around $2 - 3k) but we spent an extra $5k on tiles! We deleted carpet and are doing it ourself, same with drive way and aircon. The driveway they quote was $11000 and was narrow, the one we are getting is $4500 and is double car width and coloured concrete opposed to Hudson's painted concrete. Double and triple check everything, because unfortunately once signed the final contract they won't change a thing without charging you the $1000... Communication is definately the biggest barrier, I don't have many issues with Sandra as we have already locked horns so she is very good now. The SS can be hard to measure, have had good and bad dealings with him. Biggest issue is poor trades, but they are everywhere and working for every builder unfortunately. Hudson are very busy, so their staff seem very stretched! But they are true to their word that you can contact the owner if you have an issue, he emailed the other day. Unfortunately for us we had bad dealings at the start so the owner called me many months ago now about it but since then things have been good. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 256Jun 15, 2016 12:26 pm Exactly. As much as I complain (most of it is probably because I have nothing to compare to as I haven't ever bought or built before) compared to stories I've heard our build is going really well. Just excited for construction to start. Jhiace - I know you pick tiles at slab down. Is it the same procedure as electrical - pay before they will commence ordering etc.? That is the one thing I'm worried we haven't budgeted enough money for as the partner wants polished porcelain Re: Building with Hudson Homes 257Jun 15, 2016 12:36 pm Lizard, We did our tile selections last year! so a long time ago. Your partner might change his mind when he realises the cost, laying 600 X 600 tiles is charged at the porcelain tile cost PLUS in your case the cost of the actual tile itself. We went with a 450 X 450, it was nearly $10000 to do a 600 X 600. You can get gloss 450 X 450 as they are already included. Why does he want porcelain? And yes it is the same as electrical as in you need to pay the tiler direct and you only have 5 days to make the payment! We spent $5k there, weren't expecting too but! Re: Building with Hudson Homes 258Jun 15, 2016 1:11 pm Hi Guys, thanks for all your feedback im finding it most helpful for the do's and don'ts when we build. With the additional cost for electrical and tiles don't the bank pay Hudson???? I'm a little confused??? We are still stuf on trying to pick a brick lol! Where are you building??? We are building at Silverdale NSW. Thanks Cherie Re: Building with Hudson Homes 259Jun 15, 2016 1:49 pm Hey! So you have two ways you can do it. 1- The bank pays for the build, this is what is included in the final "contact price". Keep in mind tiles & electrical are picked after this through external companies - therefore you will need to pay for any upgrades with these yourself. This is what we've done. 2- Put provisional allowances into the contract for upgrades. If you think you're going to spend $5000 on upgrading tiles and you want it included in your loan you can ask Hudson to put it in as a provisional allowance. Then I assume you'd forward the invoice to the bank for them to pay when you do electrical & tile selections or Hudson will let the company know of the extra money allowed for upgrades. We've done this with our driveway. We were able to get quote for ours from a concreter to include in the bank loan so it is already paid for - when the time comes we will forward onto the bank and ask them to pay it. We're building in Cliftleigh (Hunter Valley), NSW. Re: Building with Hudson Homes 260Jun 15, 2016 1:51 pm Hi Cherie, it is always to go in with as much information as possible.
Unfortunately the bank don't pay for the electrical and tile upgrades, seems backwards that Hudson doesn't pay those company's then you just pay Hudson in your first payment but the bank won't release any funds until construction starts, and that can't happen until you've done and paid for everything else prior (electrical and tiles included) Any changes you make through Hudson the bank will pay for. With the bricks we upgraded to the Blackbutt brick and it only cost us $800 extra. We are building in Gillieston heights. Insulation has been partially installed today, appears as though they have run out. Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 76183 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 106836 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 24719 |