Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 21May 19, 2017 1:21 pm It seems the same with everyone... We are nine months in and my name is still spelt wrong! I agree completely, their draft team is very very slow. It took us ages to get our final plans. Then there were so many things wrong when we finally did get them so they had to go back and forth for ages. Then they decided to leave it until the last minute to get a bushfire report and do up landscaping plans which took over a month again... they are just very unorganised. Our plans went through a private certifier and not council, it took less then a week. Probably the only thing that went fast with them. I'm not sure if it was valid, I didn't even think about that but they haven't said anything? Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 22May 19, 2017 3:24 pm natalied2701 It seems the same with everyone... We are nine months in and my name is still spelt wrong! I agree completely, their draft team is very very slow. It took us ages to get our final plans. Then there were so many things wrong when we finally did get them so they had to go back and forth for ages. Then they decided to leave it until the last minute to get a bushfire report and do up landscaping plans which took over a month again... they are just very unorganised. Our plans went through a private certifier and not council, it took less then a week. Probably the only thing that went fast with them. I'm not sure if it was valid, I didn't even think about that but they haven't said anything? OH, i think exactly its the same thing happening to us. but just now got a mail from Bellriver that they are happy for us to proceed with any other builder. I heard they are over whelmed with business orders and they have too many build request coming their way so they couldn't handle... Do you think I coming out of Bellriver is good idea or sticking on to them is fine ? Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 23May 19, 2017 4:54 pm JS east 1I natalied2701 It seems the same with everyone... We are nine months in and my name is still spelt wrong! I agree completely, their draft team is very very slow. It took us ages to get our final plans. Then there were so many things wrong when we finally did get them so they had to go back and forth for ages. Then they decided to leave it until the last minute to get a bushfire report and do up landscaping plans which took over a month again... they are just very unorganised. Our plans went through a private certifier and not council, it took less then a week. Probably the only thing that went fast with them. I'm not sure if it was valid, I didn't even think about that but they haven't said anything? OH, i think exactly its the same thing happening to us. but just now got a mail from Bellriver that they are happy for us to proceed with any other builder. I heard they are over whelmed with business orders and they have too many build request coming their way so they couldn't handle... Do you think I coming out of Bellriver is good idea or sticking on to them is fine ? Oh they must be overwhelmed if they told you to go with another builder! Makes sense why they never got back to us, our site supervisor quit yesterday as well. I think if you have time to wait, like over a year or so and you're not too fussed with them getting back to all the time then yes go with them. I don't think I could handle building with them again, but everyone is different. I think they really lack customer service skills and seem to not care all that much about the client but as I said before I think a lot of builders are like this. Sorry I couldn't be more help. I think you just have to weigh up the positives and negatives of building with them. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 24May 19, 2017 5:38 pm natalied2701 JS east 1I natalied2701 It seems the same with everyone... We are nine months in and my name is still spelt wrong! I agree completely, their draft team is very very slow. It took us ages to get our final plans. Then there were so many things wrong when we finally did get them so they had to go back and forth for ages. Then they decided to leave it until the last minute to get a bushfire report and do up landscaping plans which took over a month again... they are just very unorganised. Our plans went through a private certifier and not council, it took less then a week. Probably the only thing that went fast with them. I'm not sure if it was valid, I didn't even think about that but they haven't said anything? OH, i think exactly its the same thing happening to us. but just now got a mail from Bellriver that they are happy for us to proceed with any other builder. I heard they are over whelmed with business orders and they have too many build request coming their way so they couldn't handle... Do you think I coming out of Bellriver is good idea or sticking on to them is fine ? Oh they must be overwhelmed if they told you to go with another builder! Makes sense why they never got back to us, our site supervisor quit yesterday as well. I think if you have time to wait, like over a year or so and you're not too fussed with them getting back to all the time then yes go with them. I don't think I could handle building with them again, but everyone is different. I think they really lack customer service skills and seem to not care all that much about the client but as I said before I think a lot of builders are like this. Sorry I couldn't be more help. I think you just have to weigh up the positives and negatives of building with them. Thank you, it was really helpful Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 26May 21, 2017 12:01 am GregJ Hi, I'm thinking of getting Bellriver's house package at Edmondson Park. Just want to ask if they stuck to fixed price and no extra money for delays on Reg HI, if your reg takes time beyond the said period then they will ask you to go for re-tender. By default the Tender is valid for 3 month. You can pick a lock period of 6 months or 12 months for a fee which will give you time. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 27May 22, 2017 12:33 pm Hello, Our tender was valid until January 26th 2017 but we did not see a price increase. I didn't even think about it until you both said something and I went back to look at the tender date. Bell river have not yet said anything about a price increase which I don't think they can, as all the delays were their fault. Our land registered August 2016 and the tender & contract was signed September 2016 so all the delays from then on were from them and not us. I'd pay the extra money for an extended tender, only because you can't really trust them and its likely they will try to get more money out of you if reg is delayed. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 29May 29, 2017 10:36 pm Did anyone here had more than 1m of land fall in their land lot while building with Bellriver. Did Bellriver charge anything extra during the construction phase for things like levelling, retaining walls etc.? Or any other type of site related charges over and above the package cost? Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 30May 30, 2017 2:48 pm sydney4 Did anyone here had more than 1m of land fall in their land lot while building with Bellriver. Did Bellriver charge anything extra during the construction phase for things like levelling, retaining walls etc.? Or any other type of site related charges over and above the package cost? Ours was more than 1 metre fall. They charged more for drop edge beams and deeper piering please extra brickwork due to the drop edge. Also a retaining wall, which we opted to do ourselves as once the next door neighbours cut into their land we won't even need it. They tried to charge $4000 for a few metres of treated pine. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 31Jun 09, 2017 1:06 pm Natalie how are you progressing?? We are building with BR as well in western Sydney....Aside from the frustrating delays in land registration, Bell River have been a bit difficult to deal with...As others have mentioned on both this, and other sites, their communication is pretty average once you deposit and sign the contract. Also not great at returning calls, and out plans have had to go back and forth a few times due to their errors (but our variations too)...Final plans have been signed and returned so we're awaiting the next step..I'd hope to be commencing by end of June/July... I'm certain most spec builders have the same issues with all the developments arising around Sydney, etc so at this stage I'll give them the benefit of the doubt... Fingers crossed.... Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 32Jun 10, 2017 9:13 am GazMan72 Natalie how are you progressing?? We are building with BR as well in western Sydney....Aside from the frustrating delays in land registration, Bell River have been a bit difficult to deal with...As others have mentioned on both this, and other sites, their communication is pretty average once you deposit and sign the contract. Also not great at returning calls, and out plans have had to go back and forth a few times due to their errors (but our variations too)...Final plans have been signed and returned so we're awaiting the next step..I'd hope to be commencing by end of June/July... I'm certain most spec builders have the same issues with all the developments arising around Sydney, etc so at this stage I'll give them the benefit of the doubt... Fingers crossed.... Hi GazMan72, We're actually progressing pretty well at the moment. The build only started last month and all the brickwork has been completed and the roof, guttering and eaves are booked in for next week and the gyprock the week after. So things are finally looking up. Only took us 9 months to get here haha. We are onto our second supervisor now and he is really great though we've been we will have another one next month... Yeah I really think their main issue is communication and their drafting department. I haven't seen too many complaints in regards to build times and their work after handover. So hopefully now you're through the paperwork stage everything will move more smoothly. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 33Jul 13, 2017 8:12 pm natalied2701 GazMan72 Natalie how are you progressing?? We are building with BR as well in western Sydney....Aside from the frustrating delays in land registration, Bell River have been a bit difficult to deal with...As others have mentioned on both this, and other sites, their communication is pretty average once you deposit and sign the contract. Also not great at returning calls, and out plans have had to go back and forth a few times due to their errors (but our variations too)...Final plans have been signed and returned so we're awaiting the next step..I'd hope to be commencing by end of June/July... I'm certain most spec builders have the same issues with all the developments arising around Sydney, etc so at this stage I'll give them the benefit of the doubt... Fingers crossed.... Hi GazMan72, We're actually progressing pretty well at the moment. The build only started last month and all the brickwork has been completed and the roof, guttering and eaves are booked in for next week and the gyprock the week after. So things are finally looking up. Only took us 9 months to get here haha. We are onto our second supervisor now and he is really great though we've been we will have another one next month... Yeah I really think their main issue is communication and their drafting department. I haven't seen too many complaints in regards to build times and their work after handover. So hopefully now you're through the paperwork stage everything will move more smoothly. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 34Aug 15, 2017 9:35 pm Hi Guys I'm hoping to build with Bellriver at Riverston. Our land is still under development. I've got the tender from them yesterday. They have put 20k extra site costs in addition to the standard site cost. They haven't even done a Site survey/soil test etc yet. I asked, can this be changed after they do the proper survey. They are saying "It's a fixed tender" and won't change no matter what. Under the additional site works, They have put items such as; ~ Excavate, cut, and fill to level off house as required ~ Provide piers to Engineers instructions. etc. Is this normally how Bellriver works. Is the site cost actually fixed ? Thanks IK Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 35Aug 21, 2017 10:47 am Hello! Sorry for the late reply. Yes our site costs were fixed, we also had to pay an extra $15,000 or so. They had to do extra piers, drop edge etc. so we actually got very lucky that ours were fixed otherwise we would have paid a lot more. But in saying that, they did the full site survey, soil test etc. before we were presented our tender. I thought there was a section in the tender that say if your land is unregistered they will re asses costs when it is registered and they can actually do the proper tests? Maybe they have changed it? To be honest, and without scaring you, I wouldn't build with Bell River again if my life depended on it. We are almost at handover and it has honestly been a horrible experience building with them. I hate more things about the house than I like because Bell River changed our plans without us knowing and we stupidly didn't realise when we signed off on them. Since the build stage started, we have been through 3 site supervisors and have only met with all three of them 4 times in 5 months. They don't write back to a single email and are just horrible at communication. If you had another builder in mind I would seriously consider building with them, I wish I did! Let me know if you have any more questions and I can try and help. Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 36Mar 23, 2018 3:41 pm Hi guys, i am building with BR homes and going for my colour selections in April was wondering what to expect from the tiles and is laminate more expensive than tiles? and what sort of selection of tiles do i get to chose from? is there a whole bunch? also any other information would be much appreciated. feel free to pm me Re: Building with Bellriver Homes 37Nov 05, 2019 2:16 pm Hey Everyone, I am looking to build with BRH and was wondering if anyone on here has built with them in the passed 12 months or so. 0 2020 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74708 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 105564 |