Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 26, 2008 10:05 am Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to say that I think this site is an excellent source of information particularly for first timers like my partner and I. Although I was wondering where all the Queenslanders are! I was wondering if anyone has built or is building with Perry...I would love to hear your experiences. We are just about to put our plans into council...fingers crossed they won't stay in there too long! We are building on an acre in the Western suburbs so we are blessed to have lots of land to play with! The only issue we have found so far is the lack of assistance with colour selection and some confusion around when we should be doing what eg picking out taps etc The sales people tell us one thing, only to find out we should have done things ages ago! Overall though it has been a really positive, exciting experience. We have been told due to the building down turn due to interest rates etc we should be in our home before Christmas (depending on council)... It will probably take me a while to work out how to upload photos etc, but PLEASE I would love to hear from someone building with Perry!!!! Kylie handover happened 15/6/09...love living on an acre but still so much to do! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 2Jul 26, 2008 1:43 pm We've been building with Perrys (in Cooloola). Just about finished. Happy to answer any specific questions you may have. Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 3Jul 27, 2008 9:49 am Hi!!!! Thanks for your post...
We are most confused about the impending colour selection appointment of two hours. We were wondering your experiences of it? We have gone around to the recommended people eg tiles, bricks, carpet (although we are sourcing our own carpet at a much cheaper price!!!). I guess we are concerned how everything comes together as we have been told different things by different people. We are building the Seville 290 with some modifications. Thanks again for replying! Kylie handover happened 15/6/09...love living on an acre but still so much to do! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 4Jul 27, 2008 2:00 pm I can understand your concern, the colour selection process is irritating, inefficient, time-pressured and, given the delay between when you make your selection and when they build, all rather pointless. However, there’s probably no other practical way to do it if you want a firm price for the formal tender. Perrys are no different to most project builders in this respect.
How well it goes seems to depend a lot on the colour consultant. Ours was pretty useless. But then 2 hours is really not a lot of time for anybody to get their head around your personal preferences across an entire house. If I were doing it again I’d try to bypass their system to some degree. Bricks, roof tiles, Colourbond, joinery finishes etc are all pretty easy and standardised so you can probably stick to the selections in their standard inclusions. It’s when you get into tiles, benchtops, tapware, kitchen cabinet finishes, hardware etc that it can get messy. Again, if you’re happy with the range in their inclusions (which mostly isn’t bad), or your budget prevents you upgrading, then it’s easy enough. However, if you want to choose better tiles or something outside of their inclusions (e.g., granite benchtops) then it can get kind of messy because you are under pressure to make decisions when you would probably prefer to shop around. As an example, they prefer you to use Beaumont Tiles. Fine, but, no disrespect to Beaumont’s, their range is not very inspiring. We found much nicer tiles later on that we would have preferred. In hindsight I would have told them that I intended to make selections from wherever I found exactly what I wanted and would not agree to attend a colour selection appointment until I had chosen everything, right down to the handles and toilet roll holders (their bathroom fitting inclusions are awful BTW). I’d then take my time and hunt out exactly what I wanted and make a list. If that’s from their preferred suppliers and within their allowances, fine. But if it was something (a splashback, benchtop, stove, whatever) I really loved then I’d get that. It costs more because the credits you get are silly of course but in the scheme of things it’s not that much extra and it’s those things that make your home what you want it to be. Once I’d done all of that I’d roll up to the colour selection meeting, reel off the list and let the consultant just tick the boxes. They’ll come back to you with a variation price and it’s then up to you to accept it or not. Takes longer and would probably irritate the hell out of them but if you tell them you’re doing it so everything is right before building and there are no variations/changes then it’s actually in their interests as much as yours. Couple of other things I would be very careful to do. One, decide everything before going to the meeting. By that I mean things like which way you want your tiles to be laid – vertical? horizontal? – as well as the tiles themselves. What tile features you might want in showers, bathrooms etc, and where they are to be positioned. Two, I’d look at their tapware and vanity basins etc (which are pretty blah) and decide if I could live with them (we didn’t – changed all the taps and basins, but it was a mission, and costly). Two, I’d look at their appliances very carefully. We supplied our own, which created some minor hassles down the track. Three, if you intend having stone benchtops (or anything outside of their standard laminate) I would go and choose the stone itself (i.e., the actual slabs) and then insist on a quote (NOT a provisional sum) for supply and fit. We had major hassles with this and it ended up costing us thousands more than we had expected. If you do this you also need to make absolutely certain that what you have chosen has been ordered by the builder and physically put aside. That might even mean you having to pay for it upfront but, believe me, it would be worth it. The last thing you want with major items like benchtops, around which you may have chosen an entire décor scheme, is for them to be “not available” 3 or 4 months down the track when they actually come to fit it. Actually, the same thing applies to anything you choose that might be a bit special/unusual. Builders never actually order this stuff until just before they need it and that’s months after you have chosen it. Things go out of stock, get superseded etc. It’s infuriating when that happens 2 or 3 days before installation. Ideally, I think I’d like to say to a builder, this is what I want, you tell me how much you need (so many sq metres of this tile etc), I’ll buy it and store it until you need it and then deliver it to the site. But they don’t like that, and I can see their point. I would also give a lot of thought to your electrical plan. Either just accept their el-cheapo basic plan and do your own thing after handover (cheapest way but inconvenient) or, if you don’t like that, make sure that absolutely everything you think you need is included on the plan and in the tender. And choose your own lights, switches etc, etc. You do get the opportunity to meet with electricians, plumbers, tilers etc before they start work so there's a chance to make minor changes (moving power points etc) or to do a few additions and pay the subbie direct (we added a few lights for instance, and dumped the splashback tiles we originally chose for a better tile that we supplied to the tiler. Other things I’d be careful with include communication. I don’t know that they’re any worse than other similar builders but I have not been impressed with Perry’s communication between their sales consultants and their HO and, especially, with HO communications with building supervisors and subbies. Frankly it’s awful. The builders are good, workmanlike tradesmen for the most part but they seem to get the ‘wrong’ info from Tweed Heads far too often for my liking. In a similar vein, take everything said by your sales consultant with a grain of salt – get everything in writing. I guess this depends on individual consultants but, as an example, if you’re planning to do some things yourself outside of the contract but during construction to save money and you’ve been told that will be “easy, just talk to the site supervisor”, then don’t believe it. Like every other builder, once they start building they “own” the site and the BS is very reluctant to allow external contractors on-site. Fair enough, but, in our case, it created some hassles/delays. If it wasn’t for a decent, helpful BS we could have had major issues. In all fairness though, we tried to do too much outside the contract. Sure, we saved money but, in hindsight, I’m not sure that I would do it again. Taking the easier route of letting them do everything might have been better. But then, those builder’s margins are a killer. I’ve concentrated here on ‘negatives’ because I assume that you want to know the potential pitfalls. I should also say that, apart from a few minor hassles, we’ve been pretty happy with the process. They do a good job, far better than some of the stories of other major builders I’ve seen on this forum, and they build good houses for the price. Overall, they seem to be one of the better project builders and they’re fairly responsive to their customers. Just keep the ‘I’s dotted and the ‘t’s crossed and it should be a smooth process. Enjoy. Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 5Jul 27, 2008 8:32 pm Ancient Mariner Quote: I can understand your concern, the colour selection process is irritating, inefficient, time-pressured and, given the delay between when you make your selection and when they build, all rather pointless. However, there’s probably no other practical way to do it if you want a firm price for the formal tender. Perrys are no different to most project builders in this respect. Yes...we have heard some bad things about the colour selection process, your advice confirms our next move...we are going to everything before we even get there!!!! Quote: However, if you want to choose better tiles or something outside of their inclusions (e.g., granite benchtops) then it can get kind of messy because you are under pressure to make decisions when you would probably prefer to shop around. As an example, they prefer you to use Beaumont Tiles. Fine, but, no disrespect to Beaumont’s, their range is not very inspiring. We found much nicer tiles later on that we would have preferred. Lol Beaumonts have been useless! The girl we saw originally couldn't advise us on anything...it was such a headache! Also, we went to the 'excellent' carpet guy and only to be given a choice of the yuckiest carpet one step away from 'school' carpet. When we went locally we have been able to choose a top quality carpet for the same price as their bottom of the range builders selection! Quote: Two, I’d look at their tapware and vanity basins etc (which are pretty blah) and decide if I could live with them (we didn’t – changed all the taps and basins, but it was a mission, and costly). Two, I’d look at their appliances very carefully. We supplied our own, which created some minor hassles down the track. Yes, we have changed our bowls to square and our taps to flick mixers...we hated the standard shower rose... ewwww!!! Quote: Three, if you intend having stone benchtops (or anything outside of their standard laminate) I would go and choose the stone itself (i.e., the actual slabs) and then insist on a quote (NOT a provisional sum) for supply and fit. We had major hassles with this and it ended up costing us thousands more than we had expected. If you do this you also need to make absolutely certain that what you have chosen has been ordered by the builder and physically put aside. That might even mean you having to pay for it upfront but, believe me, it would be worth it. The last thing you want with major items like benchtops, around which you may have chosen an entire décor scheme, is for them to be “not available” 3 or 4 months down the track when they actually come to fit it. Hmmmm, we are doing essa stone and have been given a provisional sum which is quiet reasonable...however, we might have to get our own quote so that we know what we are in for! Yes, benchtops are major and we would hate for it not to be ordered etc Quote: Actually, the same thing applies to anything you choose that might be a bit special/unusual. Builders never actually order this stuff until just before they need it and that’s months after you have chosen it. Things go out of stock, get superseded etc. It’s infuriating when that happens 2 or 3 days before installation. We are also going for a different entry door, so we will probably have to double check that too!! Quote: You do get the opportunity to meet with electricians, plumbers, tilers etc before they start work so there's a chance to make minor changes (moving power points etc) or to do a few additions and pay the subbie direct (we added a few lights for instance, and dumped the splashback tiles we originally chose for a better tile that we supplied to the tiler. That is good to know...we were wondering if this happens. Quote: Other things I’d be careful with include communication. I don’t know that they’re any worse than other similar builders but I have not been impressed with Perry’s communication between their sales consultants and their HO and, especially, with HO communications with building supervisors and subbies. Frankly it’s awful. The builders are good, workmanlike tradesmen for the most part but they seem to get the ‘wrong’ info from Tweed Heads far too often for my liking. In a similar vein, take everything said by your sales consultant with a grain of salt – get everything in writing. I guess this depends on individual consultants but, as an example, if you’re planning to do some things yourself outside of the contract but during construction to save money and you’ve been told that will be “easy, just talk to the site supervisor”, then don’t believe it. Like every other builder, once they start building they “own” the site and the BS is very reluctant to allow external contractors on-site. Fair enough, but, in our case, it created some hassles/delays. If it wasn’t for a decent, helpful BS we could have had major issues. No offence to our SC but OMG it has been frustrating. We go up to the office when she says to and things won't have been done or she hasn't understood our changes even though at the time she is like yes yes yes, but when it comes back from HO its completely different! Also they informed us of the wrong time as to when to pick taps etc and got us all confused so we went above them and complained and got some really good assistance. In all fairness though, we tried to do too much outside the contract. Sure, we saved money but, in hindsight, I’m not sure that I would do it again. Taking the easier route of letting them do everything might have been better. But then, those builder’s margins are a killer. I’ve concentrated here on ‘negatives’ because I assume that you want to know the potential pitfalls. I should also say that, apart from a few minor hassles, we’ve been pretty happy with the process. They do a good job, far better than some of the stories of other major builders I’ve seen on this forum, and they build good houses for the price. Overall, they seem to be one of the better project builders and they’re fairly responsive to their customers. Just keep the ‘I’s dotted and the ‘t’s crossed and it should be a smooth process. Enjoy. Yes, thank god all the ones we have managed to have a sneak peak in or walk through before lock up appears to be really well built. We have also heard excellent feedback about the type of home they build. WE have a good friend who is a BS for another well known company and he has heard really good feedback about the quality of workmanship. We will also be lucky that our BS friend is going to be able to advise on the the workmanship as we go along. Perry's are are also cheaper by far from some of the ones we originally looked at and also seem to go up in a reasonable time. So we have our fingers crossed. My partner is in America at the moment and I rang him up all excited because you gave us such an indepth, helpful reply. You have confirmed some of our thoughts but also provided valuable suggestions that we are going to take on board. Thank you so much for your time in answering my question and then some!!! We really appreciate it! Kylie handover happened 15/6/09...love living on an acre but still so much to do! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 6Aug 16, 2008 9:29 am have just finished building with perry homes in queensland I was happy with the quality of the work we did have alot of issues with them happy to let you know Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 7Aug 16, 2008 9:40 am I forgot to tell you make sure you take lots of photos.at handover make sure you check everthing careful.I was so happy to have the keys I didnot see the chip in the ensuite tap at handover I rang next day to late would not fix. Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 8Aug 18, 2008 10:29 am Hi there, we're building with Perrys too in Queensland, Sunshine coast on acreage and Ancient Mariners words are very wise ones! He gave me some useful advice when I first posted. I'm actually just about to call up Head office and give them a boll@@@ing - Communication is SHOCKING. Despite our contract stating that building should commence by end of June, then we were told end of July and then mid August STILL NOTHING !!!! We have the added pressure and complication of doing this from Hong Kong so you can imagine what fun I'm having. My husband works long hours and I have a toddler to look after so it's basically all down to me.
I would tell you though that we have a few friends that have built with already and all have been impressed with the quality and finish of the homes once done. Also good after sales service. The poster who mentioned about taking photos - you said they wouldn't fix up a chip, I would get back onto them because you basically have 6 months to have any faults sorted and they should definitely remedy that. I'm going to be posting again soon and will keep you updated, let me know how you're going with them too. Where are you building? We're building the Bayview (still not on their website!)......oh and welcome to this wonderful forum ! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 9Aug 18, 2008 8:16 pm yvette72 have just finished building with perry homes in queensland I was happy with the quality of the work we did have alot of issues with them happy to let you know We are just about to put our plans into council...once we get them back from Perry's head office!!!!! (we were informed can be up to 2 weeks for changes to preliminary plans - even if it isn't our doing! eg oversights by the draftsmen!) The reason we chose perry was their finish and also their 20 year guarantee. We had also noticed a few homes in our estate and they went up in a lot better shape than some of the other builders. Although they don't have the wow factor we went for the quality of the workmanship and also we did the sums and they have been pretty reasonable... I am sorry to hear you have had a few issues - ours have mainly been through the miscommunication through head office to sales and vice versa. Also, there has been not much light shed on the building process and we have had to run around to all the show rooms eg carpet, tiles, taps etc when alot of other builders have show rooms that make it easier....otherwise so far so good (we hope!!!) Thanks for the tips on the photos too Kylie handover happened 15/6/09...love living on an acre but still so much to do! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 10Aug 18, 2008 8:24 pm Hi Brisvegas!!! We are also building on one acre just west of Ipswich. We are building the Seville 290 with a couple of modifications. Unfortunately, my partner has had to contact head office to try and straighten out miscommunications - it can be VERY frustrating!!!!
Wow, we were told building has really moved ahead due to the drop in people building - you must be very OMG Hong Kong!!!!! I am finding it hard enough as we are dealing with sales people an hour away as the ones closer were very rude! And a toddler.... Yes, we have heard the same storys about the quality of the home - that is why we are willing to endure the initial yucky stuff. We have found the picking of tiles etc soooo difficult as we really have no idea lol! We have stuck with very neutral colours We have felt a little bit unsupported in the overwhelming stage of trying to personalise our home.... Thank you for the lovely welcome to the forum, I hope to share more of our building process once we start building and I learn how to work photos etc!!! Kylie handover happened 15/6/09...love living on an acre but still so much to do! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 11Aug 20, 2008 1:00 pm I am sorry to say that you are wrong they would not fix a chip they are not covered by the six month period you will this out in the end , communication is shocking they donot listen and the over handover service is no good either we had to wait 3 months to fix leaking downpipes. some things are not covered by this . I would say they are very slow took they 6 months to do contract and from contract sign date to end 10 months and yes they keep extending the contract all the time Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 12Aug 20, 2008 2:33 pm Yvette, this is shocking, who did you deal with? Do they say then that unless damages / faults are picked up during the handover they refuse to do any necessary repairs / amendments? Can you advise what that process is, ie is it a meeting with the site super and you go round the house together looking at everything and checking things off a list and then you sign off to say you're satisfied that everything is in order?
My saga is on going. HO are an absolute joke since I advised them that they are in breach of contract I have been told that construction will commence next week, however, they are trying to avoid the issue and they are going to find out that I am like a dog with a bone and am not about to be fobbed off with poor excuses regarding their incompetence. I would be very interested to hear your experience, feel free to PM me if you'd prefer as I'd like to know who is your sales rep, where you've built etc. My sales rep informed me this morning that if I spoke to the last 20 clients they would all give a glowing report on Perrys and there have been no complaints at all. I know from another source this is certainly not the case and I'd like to gather as much info as possible......They have an obligation to ensure that their workmanship, as far as your case is concerned, is to your satisfaction. Given the current economic climate and the publicised downturn in new builds, Perrys would be very foolish indeed to invite bad publicity...... Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 13Aug 20, 2008 2:47 pm Hi Kylie, my advice to you following my experience with Perrys, in addition to Ancient Mariners and Yvette's wise words:
Try and do the 'important' stuff by email so you have it in writing. This way when your sales rep is telling you something and then you are told to the contrary by HO you have it in writing and can use it if necessary. I have kept every email and can't tell you how useful it is to refer back to. If you are feeling unsupported during the colour selection process, make notes about who you've dealt with and your issues and once things are all tied up put a complaint in writing about those individuals. Check, double check and RECHECK EVERYTHING, particularly in the tender and contract. I gave up counting the number of 'mistakes' they made in the pricing and even raising false variations. The thing is that they rely a lot on clients getting caught up in the process and the fact that they'll be so relieved when it's all finished that they won't bother to complain, then it's a viscious cycle and the incompetent staff keep going without ever having to answer. If I was in charge and was getting negative feedback about my staff which was endangering my business I would certainly want to take action. So keep a notebook / diary / of calls and any problems. We are the customers after all and they have a duty to make this a hassle free and enjoyable experience. They are making a big fat profit out of us and they need to know that they are expected to do a good job not just with the actual build but in every other aspect, particularly customer care. As far as I'm concerned HO all need to have some intensive training in how to adminster the jobs and how to liase with their clients. Keep us updated on your progress and I'll let you know what's happening with me too! Oh and if you have any other questions feel free to ask, I can't guarantee I'll know the answer but the forum users are a very knowledgeable and helpful bunch so someone will know and be able to help.. Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 14Aug 21, 2008 9:40 pm Hi I'm a member and wanting to offer you some insight on Perry Homes.
Yes I totally agree with all of you that the communication between their salemen and Head Office is extremely poor but this is just the tip of the iceberg. We built our home with Perry last year and moved in December. The saleman at Calamvale was hopeless and everyone, including our colour consultant, knew. He advised we were receiving things that we weren't receiving at all, like the post out the front of the house. We were advised by the sales rep that we were getting timber but in actual fact we received steel posts. The 3 coats of paint that they sprout on about is only on the inside of the house. The outside is only 2. All the paint was watered down and looks like nothing more than undercoat (we chose a light neutral colour). Our water pump didn't work. It took 6 months and some very angry phone calls to finally get this fixed. Our hot water system did work properly and we were getting scolded and then frozen in our showers. This took a good month to fix. There were other niggly things like the grout and some of the siliconing being mixed. The door handles falling off and doors not closing properly. To insult our intelligence they told us at our 6 month review, where I had complained among other things that one of the security screens had a big gap and the bottom, big enough to put a crowbar underneath and rip the screen off, that the gap was deliberate to "let the water out when it rained". What the ^%$# But far and away the worst and most maddening and what p$#@%ed me off the most was the fact they have knowing supplied NON AUSTRALIAN STANDARD SECURITY SCREENS TO OUR WINDOWS AND DOORS. Putting my family and my possession in danger We asked for security screens, they charged us for security screens and supplied us nothing better than flyscreens. The security screens they provided can be ripped off by hand. How do we know you may ask. Well... We were burglared. I can home to disturb them in our house. Entry was gained by ripping the "SECURITY" screens off by hand. BY HAND. When we asked Perry for our money back they hid behind the fact that there is nothing in any Queensland legislation to govern that Aust Standard screens have to be installed. They also called us liars and said that there was no way the screens could have been removed by hand. BIG BIG BIG mistake. On the day we had all our security screens replaced (at our expense) I took footage of my husband ripping the screens off by hand (keep an eye on utube, as soon as I can work out how to download it from the mobile phone that is where I will be posting it). The guys who put the new ones in were mortified at what had been supplied at "SECURITY" screens. Is this the kind of quality that a Master Builder should be providing??? I will let you be the judge of that. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer. Michelle Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 15Aug 21, 2008 11:57 pm Good grief Michelle sounds horrendous. We have only asked and paid for flyscreens, certainly won't be asking them for security screens then! I am assuming they fixed up all the other problems you had?. What was your experience with start date - I started my own thread on this topic because of the issue I am having at the moment with them over the actual commencement of construction. It should have been end of June according to our contract.
The reason we went with Perrys is because we know a number of people that have built with them and asides from the 'admin' side of the process they were happy with the quality of the build and after sales service but I doubt that there is a builder out there who has a perfect record. The whole thing frankly feels me with dread as we are looking to rent out the property until we return and the idea of trying to sort out any problems such as faulty hot water systems etc from overseas and having irrate tenants or indeed tenants who don't even notice other types of problems and then the 6 months warranty passes and we're left with big issues. Wish we were in a position to just move in to it ourselves as soon as it is finished.... Perry Home Start Date 16Aug 22, 2008 8:07 am Perry were reasonable quick to start cutting the block but getting the slab down took ages because they "could not get the tradies".
All I can say is don't annoy your site supervisor. These guys play God. Our site supervisor had no problem telling us that we should not have the mortar flush because it would look awful. We told him we were having the house rendered so we wanted it flush. He argued with us on it and basically told us that everyone says that but then they can not afford to render it and it looks awful. He really put the pressure on for you not to have it done that way. We stood our ground. So be careful. Our guy has OK about from a couple of issues were we found him to arrogant and controlling but lots of other people have found that if they annoy their site supervisor nothing gets done. This applies to all builders. Do you have anyone who could inspect your house for you to make sure that they fix all the problems before your warranty expires. If not get a building inspection company to do it for you. Michelle Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 17Aug 25, 2008 8:05 pm Wow...we put security screens in thinking they would be the normal ones you see everywhere...do you remember what brand Michelle??? I am starting to get a little nervous....
We put our prelimanry plans in 2 weeks ago now...after saying that it would only take a week and a half for changes we get a call last thing Friday afternoon saying there is a problem with the plans of our land and they have to contact the council for the right plans (we gave them ones originally, but they needed verification of the building envelope or something)...still haven't heard back....we are not being too hard as we think it might be the council's fault, but given the HUGE down turn in building...it seems like they have done it last minute in the time frame that they gave us... We are trying to stay optimistic and throwing ourselves into colour selections etc.... I am sorry about your experiences Michelle...fingers crossed we get a good site supervisor! Kylie handover happened 15/6/09...love living on an acre but still so much to do! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 18Aug 26, 2008 8:24 am Hi,
Please ensure that you check that the screens you are getting meet Australian Standards. I can ensure you that unless you asked you are getting the same garbage that we did They will not automatically tell you and you will be ripped off. ASK ASK ASK. Make them put it in writing if they are so that you have some evidence when you get the wrong stuff. As for the problem with the land. Our sales guy said that the house we wanted would not fit on the block we wanted. So we chose another block which he said the house would fit on. After we put the deposit down and they did the soil test etc they then told us that the house wouldn't fit on the block. None of the houses of the size we wanted would fit. He then told us that we could put a different style house of a similar size on the original block that we wanted. Unbelievable. We then had to negotiate with the developer to allow us to change blocks. We were fortunate that the block we originally wanted had become available again. But of course we were out significant money for the soil testing and plan drawing on the block that they advised us the house would fit on. Perry just can't seem to get it right. Watch it in colour selection. We selected all of our laminate from the brands they specified only to be told 8 months after colour selection that the laminate for the kitchen would cost an extra $3000. They said it was becuase it was from the premium not the standard range. We pointed out that 1. the documentation only said that we had to chose from particular brands ie Laminex etc not that we could only pick from standard. 2. Colour selection consultant said nothing 3. Our whole house was designed around the kitchen and all the colours for the living areas were choosen around the kitchen including the tiles. 4. It was 8 months down the track and they were only just telling us this. They didn't care, they didn't apologise just told us to change it or pay the $3000 extra. Make sure you know exactly what you want and take all the laminex / tile samples with you. Not that that helped us as we did all that and still noone told us anything. Sorry wish I could be more positive but unfortunately Perry don't help themselves. Thanks, Michelle Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 19Aug 27, 2008 8:50 pm Yep, there seems to be a common complaint here about them, the communication difficulties that they seem to have between Sales, Head Office and site staff. We too were told things before the contract signing just to find that it was the exact opposite during construction. Then when it was made known to head office they referred us back to the sales team that misled us in the first place. Most of the staff in Tweed Heads are at best, abrupt, at worst, down right rude and almost never helpful. We have sent in requests and concerns only to get either no response at all or a response with undertones of a threat (mentioning contracts and the like). I have never been so insulted as a paying customer and I’m in absolute shock that the company owner allows his staff to behave in this manner. I’m not unreasonable and I have on many occasions given them the benefit of the doubt, but they have now crossed the line with me and im not going to put up with their unprofessional anymore. Unfortunately they dont respond to communications so what does one do...! Re: Is anyone building with PERRY HOMES in QLD or Northern NSW?? 20Aug 27, 2008 9:12 pm Hi .. I am horrified at the remarks here concerning Perry Homes.. Our neighbour has almost finished his house, which is built by Perry Homes. I havent been able to meet up with them since building began, so i'm not real sure how things are progressing as far as they are concerned. We have looked in their windows and it seems quite nice.. Things seem to be going at a good pace. The only thing I can see that might be 'wrong.'. is the tiles in the ensuite look like they are meant for the kids bathroom (colourful fish design), and the main bath tiles are more 'adult, formal tiles. Maybe they asked for them this way.. not sure.. I will be interested to hear their remarks when we next meet up with them.
We almost went with Perry, as the house next door seemed well built, but since the horror stories here, I am glad we chose another builder.. hopefully they will be better All the best with your builds... - Sha Hi, I am wondering if anyone has built with Montgomery in the last few years on the Northern Beaches? I don't see the see them around, as I would love to ask how happy… 0 3189 Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5015 If so what were the "special circumstances" under which it was granted? "Note: If the development consent is for 'dual occupancy' an owner-builder permit can only be… 0 14069 |