Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 12, 2008 12:32 pm We are in the early discussions with H3nley to build the Ascot 483. We are finding that many of the extras seem to keep adding up and are looking for a way to bring down the $$$$. We are finding that H3nley charge ridiculous prices for electrical work ie: down lights and we know 2 qualified electricians who are more than willing to add in the extras that we want. Has anyone had any experience with H3nley getting extra electrical work done by someone else? Are they flexible? Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 2Jul 12, 2008 5:35 pm I'm wondering same thing for M Con, I can get all electrical items at trade prices from the wholesaler and would prefer to supply all of that myself instead of paying the huge marked up prices the building will be wanting. So be interesting to see how you get on with your builder. I have not broached the subject yet with them. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 3Jul 12, 2008 11:19 pm Guys,
Quite simply you are stuck! Builders wont generally allow other tradespeople into their homes for good reason. "they have to guarantee the work" Say your friend goes in wires the house and leaves an exposed wire and a year later the house burns down because of it. Who would be at fault? It might also have something to do with the ludicrous margin they make on these items!! A bit of planning and paying for baton lights now will enable quick, easy installs of downlights later on. Good luck with it guys! Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 4Jul 13, 2008 7:05 am oh I'm quite happy for their sparky to do the install, what I object to is paying say $85 for an item when I can get same item at trade price for $25.
Hence I will be pushing them for me to supply such items to them, same as I'm supply acoutic batts and a few other items. so unless they want to supply the actual items at trade I will supply. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 5Jul 13, 2008 11:22 am They won't let you do it Peter. This is the price you pay for going with a big builder.
What Matt is saying is right. You're only option is to get batten holders installed where you want downlights and then have an electrician come and change them over to downlights after handover. Peter, if you have a lot of contacts and access to things at trade prices, have you thought about a custom builder? They are more likely to allow the flexibility you're looking for and it sounds like you'll save a bit. I think you're going to have lots of fights with M that you won't win that wouldn't be an issue with a custom build. Just a thought. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 6Jul 13, 2008 11:27 am I agree with Joles. Bringing in your own tradespeople is a big no no with the big name builders. It's the markups on options that they make their money on, so they won't let you bring in your own people to harm their bottom line. You pay what they tell you to pay, that's how they make their money.
If you talk with some custom builders they may let you bring in your own tradepeople for parts of the project and you get the added bonus of having a house designed exactly how you want it, not how they want you to want it. You r signature says never assume anything, but you seem to be making a huge assumption about the flexibility of a builders that makes their money from markups on options. Why else do the houses in On Display have a base price of say $200,000 and a displayed price of $380,000? Markups on options! Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 7Jul 13, 2008 3:14 pm HomeReview I agree with Joles. Bringing in your own tradespeople is a big no no with the big name builders. It's the markups on options that they make their money on, so they won't let you bring in your own people to harm their bottom line. You pay what they tell you to pay, that's how they make their money. If you talk with some custom builders they may let you bring in your own tradepeople for parts of the project and you get the added bonus of having a house designed exactly how you want it, not how they want you to want it. You r signature says never assume anything, but you seem to be making a huge assumption about the flexibility of a builders that makes their money from markups on options. Why else do the houses in On Display have a base price of say $200,000 and a displayed price of $380,000? Markups on options! maybe I'm talking double dutch here. At mno point have I said using my own trademen, what I have siad is for me to supply the hardware and for them to use theiur own sparky to install, I object to paying double price on the hardware itself hope that now is clear. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 8Jul 13, 2008 3:47 pm Peter_OZ maybe I'm talking double dutch here. At mno point have I said using my own trademen, what I have siad is for me to supply the hardware and for them to use theiur own sparky to install, I object to paying double price on the hardware itself hope that now is clear. That is the question I answered. I was giving you an idea of how you could use your own downlights that you supplied. But it would have to be after handover. You weren't talking double dutch but the question had been answered so then the topic sometimes expands. I think HomeReview was simply expanding on the general topic. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 9Jul 13, 2008 4:08 pm Hi Jo
prob witha 2 story is that I need to have downlights fitted to ground floor during contraction as u cant access the floor cavity after it is built, upstairs is no prob and it can be done anytime. But for downstairs I have to get them to do all downlights first off, oh except for HT room as thet can be accessed easily though the manhole. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 10Jul 13, 2008 4:21 pm I honestly think you have no choice then but to go with M prices. But I think there may be a thread somewhere about installing downlights downstairs in a two storey but I think it is tricky. Have a search. Maybe start another thread if you can't find the answer and one of the electrical experty guys may be able to help.
Peter, if you can access a lot of gear and tradies etc I would seriously explore the custom build option before I signed with M if I was you. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 11Jul 13, 2008 4:42 pm joles I honestly think you have no choice then but to go with M prices. But I think there may be a thread somewhere about installing downlights downstairs in a two storey but I think it is tricky. Have a search. Maybe start another thread if you can't find the answer and one of the electrical experty guys may be able to help. Peter, if you can access a lot of gear and tradies etc I would seriously explore the custom build option before I signed with M if I was you. to be honest we do not have the time to do the reserach on a custom house builder, the little bit I did do led me to beleive the costs were far above what we can afford for what we want. Hence why we are going down the volume builder road. As for access to tradies can only access trade for electrical hardwre items. Don't know a sparky but 2 of my best mates are house painters and wife's brothjer is a plasterer and ceiling hanger. I used to have a Class B elec ticket and Austel licence but they lapsed years ago and I never did renew them, I have the knowledge and skills to do electrical work quite easily but not the bit of paper. Quite aware of limitations of trying to pull cable after construction, have done it myself before and it is a nightmare, no thanks for downstairs. Upstairs I can quite easily pull cable, cut the holes and fit the downlights and the safety covers then just get a sparky to terminate them so all is legal. That is easy stuff. anyway I can be quite persuasive so will see what transpires. To be honest the market is tightening up considerably so I really do not think they would risk losing a sale of the size of ours for a few bits of hardware. Why do you think they rushed out a new promo straight after the Expressions promo ended? It is nearly the same items but half the cost, tell you something?? You dont push promos like that unless the market is slowing and you need to maintain sales. We will ask the question and see what happens. You dont ask you never no. What is the worse that can happen? They say no and we walk? So what, many, many great houses out there to choose from In fact we saw a gorgeous 2 story on Sat that was in fact nicer then the newhaven in many ways tough the upstairs of the newhaven was nicer. I'm sure the builder would have happly changed upstairs around to suit what we wanted. but downstairs was magic, so much so I was nearly tempted to walk then and there. So we have options and if M think it is a done deal at this stage then they are kidding themselves. We have the land, we have the soil and contour report, we have lost nothing at this point but they have invested a lot of time and effort and may not see a result if they mess us about. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 13Jul 13, 2008 11:26 pm I think you will find a custom builder will have a better price than M Con. People going with big names often think they are saving money, when they are paying very high base prices and even higher prices on top of that for options, just for the privilege of having less choice. It's all about giving the perception of saving money, such as using promotions that throw in extras that should have been standard in the first place.
There are myriad of decent reputable mid size builders out there that will do exactly what you want, such as Brad McLachlan Homes, Metro Homes, Auzland Homes, etc etc. Sure their display homes aren't as sexy, but their displays are often a lot closer to what you get for the base price, unlike the big name displays, where they hire a myriad of interior designers to dress up mutton as lamb, with higher prices to boot. The Big Name No 14 might have a base price of $170k and an display price of $300k, while the Mid Range No 27 will have a base price of $190k and a display price of $250k. This is because their displays are often far more representative of what you get for the base price and not mutton dressed as lamb. The designs are more creative, the flexibility is there and the workmanship leaves the big names for dead. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 14Jul 14, 2008 10:40 am Spot on HR.
We went with a smaller builder - Fernhaven, and he was more than happy to let us do quite a few things ourselves. Re: Doing own electrical with H3nley 15Jul 15, 2008 7:28 am I have built 5 homes now and always used a custom builder, i find they are flexible obliging and typicaly dont mind you doing some things your self.
as for lighting, carpets, tiles, tapware etc.... isnt that a choice that you get, you should have the option to buy what ever you want and from where ever you want, the builder will just drain your bank balance because of the changes and they wont miss you either. The DIY project can be broken into two major steps. Planning and Design and Construction. Both of these steps are as important as one another to ensure you give… 0 5175 Hi group, have some damage to the door frame and skirting board. It's a side door to the laundry area. Only has a security door. I had a termite inspection (note drill… 0 5059 0 2023 |