Rossdale Homes - Adelaide

We went all out though and still missed a few things we wanted.

Like our stairs aren't even covered; wasn't in the contract apparently so they are "bare-bone".

becstar - most councils show past and current development applications available to the public on their website. With my council - Onkaparinga - you can type in any address and get any details of any development applications that have been sent in for that address and what stage they are at. check with your council you might have something similar. Might just make it easier for you in the future if Rossdale tell you something has been submitted and you can say "well no it hasnt'!

We signed a contract with Rossdale a couple of months back with a start date of 27th Nov. I must say we have had nothing but ease through the whole process.

The salesman was extremely pleasant and very approachable (he still is). My partner’s father is a builder by trade (just retired) and being able to sit down with a salesman knowing what we want and what we don’t want made life very easy and the process very smooth.

We sat down with the salesman knowing exactly what we wanted and confirmed the design. The salesman helped us find a block of land in the area we were looking at as we required at least 600 sq/m to fit the house on. We got our estimate for the build and once the land was purchased we submitted the paperwork for the house with the deposit.

Our fixed price quote came in 20k lower than the estimate which was absolutely great (the savings were because we allowed lots for the footings and other things).

On acceptance of our fixed price quote we went down the finance road after already having pre-approval and then received formal approval pending valuation. This is where the wheels fell off
see my other thread about valuations http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25049

I honestly can’t complain at all and give credit where credit is due. My dealings with this company so far have been hassle free. We completed our selections very quickly and the added variation was minimal because of knowing what we wanted before we started the process

I think a lot of problems can be solved before you start by doing a bit of research and going the extra mile. My partner and I sat down and went through our whole plan room by room. We check everything from floor coverings to paint on the walls. We costed everything before hand. We purchased some 3D cad software and built our house in it so we could visualise everything.

Rossdale is now waiting for us because of our valuation woe's but fortunately they have still been very pleasant and understand as this finance thing is beyond our control and a product of the current financial climate the world sees itself in at the moment

Remember - they need your business as much as you want your house. Reputation is hard to build but very easy to loose

Ive been very slack and havnt updated this post for a while. I have a question for the brickies out there .. on average how many bricks would a brick layer lay in a day. We have a bricklayer doing our place at the moment on his own. he has been bricking for over 40 years (old school) but it just seems to be going so slow. Today was a perfect day but he only laid 253 bricks and this is becoming the norm. at this rate our house is going to take a couple of months to brick ..

Up until now all has gone very fast.

Dec the slab was laid
Jan - the frame went up and roof was installed.
Feb - the plumbing, electrical and most of the windows have been installed

now the snail has arrived .. a single brick layer bricking a 230 sq/m home. the guy is a very nice guy and he is doing some quality work but we feel we are going to die because its going so slow. So far this week he has done half of a wall off the side of a standard size double garage. I dont really want to complain yet because we feel its either going to be slow but great job or fast and wham bam thankyou mam job so it is very hard

yes we want quality and understand that speed will kill quality it is just very frustrating. my partners father is a builder and he generally lays between 500 to 1000 bricks a day depending on the quality of the job but he does not work for Rossdale .

Up until now all has gone very quick and very smoothly (since fixed price quote was agreed to) the slab come up really well then the frame went up after a few weeks wait over xmas. Our independant building inspector advised us that the frame was "excellent". The roof was put on and looks great. The electrical went in (our first disapointment) it is like spagetti around the house (electricians have no pride these days). The plumbing was installed and is correct then the windows went in.

the bricks are now going up albeit slowly but alas they are going up

all in all upto now everything has been very good and all the processes we were advised would happen have happend. the SS is very approachable and has been very helpful with things we would like to install in the house during the build ie ac.

How is everyone elses rossdale experience going thus far?

Hoffdog have you got your variations yet?

ahh mate .. I know your frustrations

It is a very slow process and I am also at a loss as to why it takes so long its not rocket science. i cant believe they told you 7 months and 7 months .. their motto is 10 months from start to finish ( I thought) 5 months pre-construction and 5 months build time. We worked it out the other day they have actually only spent 8 days working on our site to get our home to where it is now ..

I will send some more pics when we have more to show .. half a brick wall is not worth the hassle of getting the pictures off my phone. We keep hoping that when we go to the house the bricklayer was just kidding us and has got a move on but thus far no not happening

Rang today, they are chasing up a few things. Kerb won't be fixed this week, maybe soon........

Katatonic any follow up?