Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 2Aug 25, 2008 11:00 am Hi to you all,
This is my first post. I was going to introduce myself and my journey first but this topic here caught my attention. My wife and I are currently at the stage of going to full engineering and final architectural drawings for our house with Greater Melbourne Homes or GMH Creations as they have just changed their name to update their image to something a little more modern. So far the experience has been superb. I followed one of their salesman (Russell) over from GJ Gardner. When I heard he was moving I cancelled my build with GJ and took my business with Russell to GMH. My wife and I just love Russell. He has had us around at his home to go over details after hours when it simply was not possible for us to get to their office during business hours, and he even cooked dinner for us on the occasions it was around dinner time. He has made it for us to this point a wonderful experience. Our experience is that GMH mainly do custom designed homes for their clients. They have their own on staff architects which you sit down with in their boardroom designing your home. Our greatest fear with them was they look as if they would have been way outside our budget but to our surprise are very comparable to the major builders. Our Custom designed single story home (me being a Graphic Designer for the last 15 years and always having had the dream to design my ideal home) is 39 squares with real hardwood flooring, downlights, granite, alfresco, internal glass walled atrium(No ceiling above) with spa at centre, lots of feature upgrades and all built around/on top of a swimming pool is costing us under $360,000 plus of course the cost of the pool. The time with their architects is included in the base build price which was $205,000. So as you can see lots of extra's. I find their pricing to be very fair. After reading this forum I have been scared of cost blowouts for extra's but so far everything has been reasonable and fair. The soil test scared me as it showed the developer had place a lot of fill on my land with a 700mm fall. I already knew I needed a H class slab and it was included in the base price but then the engineering came back that I needed piers plus they wished to add a little more fill to level the site. They preferred not to do any cutting of the site as the soil type is pretty reactive and by not cutting it avoids future drainage issues. After hearing all this I had a sleepless night over the probable cost blowout but GMH came back with just an increase for the site costs of between $2000-$4000 with their guarantee the price will not go over $4000. Compared to some of the prices found in this forum that is very reasonable I thought. When I said I expected triple that Russell explained that most builders will make a horrific margin on site costs with the actual final cost of the works nothing like what they will charge the poor client. GMH makes a flat profit of 20% on all they do and nothing more! As far as build quality goes we have not started the build yet but I have travelled around and looked at some of their work. From what I can tell the finish is very good. For me this has so far been a 3 year grind in which I first had a deposit with porter davis which ended badly after I caught the sales guy ****** to me, then it was on to another large builder (also the name of a great aussie cricket player) which after 12 months and still waiting for contracts I cancelled. Then I met Russell who convinced me that a custom designed home was affordable. So far the experience with GMH has been flawless. All phone calls are returned, nothing seems to be too hard for them or inconvenient and the whole process from no plan to just beginning final drawings for building has taken 8 weeks. In another 8 weeks the slab should be being poured. I am a very happy customer! I hope my story helps you out. I strongly suggest if you are wanting to build have a chat with them and take it from there. PM me if you like and I will pass on Russell's mobile. Above all though go and talk to a lot of people and builders as it really is a huge investment you are wanting to make. A little leg work now and a lot of talking can save you a lot of heart ache and create a much more exciting experience. We were so happy my wife has sent her most senior manager to Russell who is now going to tear his old house down and build with GMH too. Finally Designing and building the home I always wanted to! Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 3Aug 25, 2008 11:42 am Daffy Duck Hi to you all, This is my first post. I was going to introduce myself and my journey first but this topic here caught my attention. My wife and I are currently at the stage of going to full engineering and final architectural drawings for our house with Greater Melbourne Homes or GMH Creations as they have just changed their name to update their image to something a little more modern. So far the experience has been superb. I followed one of their salesman (Russell) over from GJ Gardner. When I heard he was moving I cancelled my build with GJ and took my business with Russell to GMH. My wife and I just love Russell. He has had us around at his home to go over details after hours when it simply was not possible for us to get to their office during business hours, and he even cooked dinner for us on the occasions it was around dinner time. He has made it for us to this point a wonderful experience. Our experience is that GMH mainly do custom designed homes for their clients. They have their own on staff architects which you sit down with in their boardroom designing your home. Our greatest fear with them was they look as if they would have been way outside our budget but to our surprise are very comparable to the major builders. Our Custom designed single story home (me being a Graphic Designer for the last 15 years and always having had the dream to design my ideal home) is 39 squares with real hardwood flooring, downlights, granite, alfresco, internal glass walled atrium(No ceiling above) with spa at centre, lots of feature upgrades and all built around/on top of a swimming pool is costing us under $360,000 plus of course the cost of the pool. The time with their architects is included in the base build price which was $205,000. So as you can see lots of extra's. I find their pricing to be very fair. After reading this forum I have been scared of cost blowouts for extra's but so far everything has been reasonable and fair. The soil test scared me as it showed the developer had place a lot of fill on my land with a 700mm fall. I already knew I needed a H class slab and it was included in the base price but then the engineering came back that I needed piers plus they wished to add a little more fill to level the site. They preferred not to do any cutting of the site as the soil type is pretty reactive and by not cutting it avoids future drainage issues. After hearing all this I had a sleepless night over the probable cost blowout but GMH came back with just an increase for the site costs of between $2000-$4000 with their guarantee the price will not go over $4000. Compared to some of the prices found in this forum that is very reasonable I thought. When I said I expected triple that Russell explained that most builders will make a horrific margin on site costs with the actual final cost of the works nothing like what they will charge the poor client. GMH makes a flat profit of 20% on all they do and nothing more! As far as build quality goes we have not started the build yet but I have travelled around and looked at some of their work. From what I can tell the finish is very good. For me this has so far been a 3 year grind in which I first had a deposit with porter davis which ended badly after I caught the sales guy ****** to me, then it was on to another large builder (also the name of a great aussie cricket player) which after 12 months and still waiting for contracts I cancelled. Then I met Russell who convinced me that a custom designed home was affordable. So far the experience with GMH has been flawless. All phone calls are returned, nothing seems to be too hard for them or inconvenient and the whole process from no plan to just beginning final drawings for building has taken 8 weeks. In another 8 weeks the slab should be being poured. I am a very happy customer! I hope my story helps you out. I strongly suggest if you are wanting to build have a chat with them and take it from there. PM me if you like and I will pass on Russell's mobile. Above all though go and talk to a lot of people and builders as it really is a huge investment you are wanting to make. A little leg work now and a lot of talking can save you a lot of heart ache and create a much more exciting experience. We were so happy my wife has sent her most senior manager to Russell who is now going to tear his old house down and build with GMH too. Sounds great!!! This is generally how small time custom builders operate (well, we do). Hope you have a fantastic build! Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 4Mar 06, 2009 10:16 am hi, i am new in this forum and trying to check out custom builders, like GMH. i wonder how did your build coming along? Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 5Mar 06, 2009 1:36 pm I too am curious to know as my sister built with them just over 3 years ago and is still waiting for her 3 month defects list to be completed. Also during the build they went over by 6 months and in the end my dad told them to stop and take the values off settlement of what was still to be done as they were telling her she had to wait anopther 4 months this was only for painting and carpet to be done and the site clean! 2nd build here we come in Whittlesea! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=92617 1st Build - Henley - Cooper in Doreen! (2009) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17354 Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 6Jul 15, 2011 2:24 pm Have these guys closed down? Website still up but phone number doesn't work ... My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 7Jul 15, 2011 5:43 pm Yep the business had been deregistered warlier this year as to its partner company. 2nd build here we come in Whittlesea! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=92617 1st Build - Henley - Cooper in Doreen! (2009) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17354 Re: Greater Melbourne Homes 8Jul 15, 2011 6:17 pm Thanks CiNnY. Have crossed them off the list! My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Thanks again Simeon for being so elaborate. Appreciate it. Its gives us a very idea. Kind Regards 4 3681 May I ask why you chose not to use GJ Gardiner? I'm actually meeting with one of the sales guys tomorrow for an appointment. Definitely not signing anything yet… 3 13252 I haven’t. But have a Lowe Design home. Not only did I find Matt Lowe patronising and a bully, but the home is NOT TO CODE. I have water coming through the bricks… 1 14380 |