well we are getting very frustrated by very slow progress of getting options and pricing with M con and thinking of walking away. Saw a couple of AV J houses so was wondering if they are any good?
Good, bad, same old S ***
Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 26, 2008 7:46 pm well we are getting very frustrated by very slow progress of getting options and pricing with M con and thinking of walking away. Saw a couple of AV J houses so was wondering if they are any good?
Good, bad, same old S *** Re: What is AV J like? 3Aug 26, 2008 9:13 pm donuts Sorry can't help youwith AVJ Peter, my parents built with them 30 years ago but I'm sure they've changed since then Sorry you are having trouble with the big M yeah me too, getting very tired from it all and walking away is looking very inviting right now. Re: What is AV J like? 4Aug 26, 2008 10:01 pm Peter,
We had dealt with AVJ before we went back to M3con. It's the other way for us. We were dealing with them for 6 months. Changed houses 2x (the 335 then SAvoy). But at last stage, before finally signing the contract, we had some disagreements and we didn't like how we were treated by our SC. After 6 months huh! In total, we had paid $3K already.. no refund anymore as they had done drawings, etc. We don't have building experience with them, as we didn't proceed. But as per the SC, she said they have the best slab and framing! But that's according to her.. hehe. What house are you interested in? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built the Nevada 42 Next project - landscaping! Re: What is AV J like? 5Aug 26, 2008 10:04 pm Oh BTW, I admint M3con is very slow with quoting and very high mark-up for changes.
AVJ is quick with quotes, because SC does the quoting herself, but subject to final approval by another department. At least you get the idea during discussion with SC. But that was our experience with our SC. And from her quotes, normally it was overpriced by a bit and when you see the final quote, it's normally lower than the SC quote. Their houses are also cheaper per sqm and upgrades are definitely cheaper. We were even allowed to choose our own tapware outside of their range, which was good. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built the Nevada 42 Next project - landscaping! Re: What is AV J like? 7Aug 26, 2008 10:05 pm VJ Oh BTW, I admint M3con is very slow with quoting and very high mark-up for changes. AVJ is quick with quotes, because SC does the quoting herself, but subject to final approval by another department. At least you get the idea during discussion with SC. But that was our experience with our SC. And from her quotes, normally it was overpriced by a bit and when you see the final quote, it's normally lower than the SC quote. Their houses are also cheaper per sqm and upgrades are definitely cheaper. We were even allowed to choose our own tapware outside of their range, which was good. ok might have to check them out as we are really getting ripped off with M at the moment on the changes we want our developer of the land is AVJ too so that would make approvals etc smoother as one company to deal with. Re: What is AV J like? 8Aug 26, 2008 10:09 pm just don't request for structural changes..
they are soooooooooooo slow when it comes to drawings. really! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built the Nevada 42 Next project - landscaping! Re: What is AV J like? 9Aug 26, 2008 10:11 pm VJ just don't request for structural changes.. they are soooooooooooo slow when it comes to drawings. really! sloooow with everything sme of our changes are structueral we wanted to extend b1 anbd HT room out under the eaves on the grandview design but they came back and said we could do one or the other but not both? Why the heck not me thinks? No explanation. Go figure. Re: What is AV J like? 10Aug 26, 2008 10:12 pm Peter, we dont have rave reviews about AVJ, but thats us...we bought a H&L package with them and walked away as they were too inflexible. No changes etc. even if we were willing to pay the extra.
But as the house and land were 2 seperate contracts, we kept the land and walked away from the house contract (losing our $1000 deposit too). We returned the contract docs to them signed saying not accepted. And then, one day before settlement on the land (30days), the sales consultant had the nerve to try and sell our block from undeneath us to someone else! Tough, its ours.... and we walked across the road to Henley instead! Hey it might be different up there? Don't know. From a contracts, colour selection etc process, it was pretty good, had to wait only 2-3 weeks for a colour/selections appt from leaving a deposit. Thats very good compared to the big boys. We have an AVJ home being built behind us, have not seen anyone on-site for 6 weeks! And one in our court has come to a standstill for about the same time? Maybe they had a shortage of tradies? not sure why? but i'd be upset if i was not having anything done in my new home for 6 weeks!!! I think its all about communication....i understand that its hard to know what to do...if you love the house then persevere with M, if you love what AVJ are offering then go there instead? Sorry i'm probably no help, but thats my 2 cents worth. Re: What is AV J like? 11Aug 26, 2008 10:22 pm Peter, one thing about this with M. They were spoton.
Our sales quote, including all our structural changes was within $200 of the prelim contract price. That's pretty good in my book. I'd rather wait and then have something realistic to work towards than have some quick quote and then get to prelim and be blown away by charges I didn't see coming. And that happens a lot!!! As for mark ups. You'll get them anywhere and everywhere. Part of the build unfortunately. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: What is AV J like? 12Aug 26, 2008 11:07 pm **Phoenix** Peter, we dont have rave reviews about AVJ, but thats us...we bought a H&L package with them and walked away as they were too inflexible. No changes etc. even if we were willing to pay the extra. But as the house and land were 2 seperate contracts, we kept the land and walked away from the house contract (losing our $1000 deposit too). We returned the contract docs to them signed saying not accepted. And then, one day before settlement on the land (30days), the sales consultant had the nerve to try and sell our block from undeneath us to someone else! Tough, its ours.... and we walked across the road to Henley instead! Hey it might be different up there? Don't know. From a contracts, colour selection etc process, it was pretty good, had to wait only 2-3 weeks for a colour/selections appt from leaving a deposit. Thats very good compared to the big boys. We have an AVJ home being built behind us, have not seen anyone on-site for 6 weeks! And one in our court has come to a standstill for about the same time? Maybe they had a shortage of tradies? not sure why? but i'd be upset if i was not having anything done in my new home for 6 weeks!!! I think its all about communication....i understand that its hard to know what to do...if you love the house then persevere with M, if you love what AVJ are offering then go there instead? Sorry i'm probably no help, but thats my 2 cents worth. Hi Nicola, guess we are just very dissapointed and let down as the changes we wanted on the newhaven are coming back with ridiculous prices on them. I said as much tothe SC today they you guys are putting outrageous amounts on these changes with the attitidue that it is all too hard for them but lets put a huge price on and they will either forget that idea or if they agree we have got ahuge pile of cash for SFA. I was very candid with the SC today, not she she is sued to such forthright candor to be honest but that is me. I've worked as a PM for far too long to play namby wamby, especailly when it is our cqash we are playing with. Cant beleive that arrogance of them trying to sell the block from under you, what were they thinking? We haven't really looked at other bulders at this stage, we have been through the plantation homes displays up here, think that is what henley are marketed under here and did not think a lot of them. We saw one really nice house down the coast but forget who the builder was and most like the price would be through the roof. House on the block next door is a2 story AVJ and it is only 3 weeks since slab went don and they are 90% framed already. Looks a good job too. Bit confused at the moment so will take sometime to think it all through and hopefully M will get the grandview pricing too us but if they have stupid numbers in that too we will walk. Re: What is AV J like? 13Aug 26, 2008 11:09 pm joles Peter, one thing about this with M. They were spoton. Our sales quote, including all our structural changes was within $200 of the prelim contract price. That's pretty good in my book. I'd rather wait and then have something realistic to work towards than have some quick quote and then get to prelim and be blown away by charges I didn't see coming. And that happens a lot!!! As for mark ups. You'll get them anywhere and everywhere. Part of the build unfortunately. Jo well my issue is that the PC prices are way off what we were quoted during our pricing walk through in several areas and I'm really ** off about it as I feel we are being taken for fools. They are bascially saying take it or leave it Re: What is AV J like? 14Aug 26, 2008 11:14 pm Mmmm sounds like your changes are in the too hard basket doesn't it? Interesting....
I can't figure it out why it would change so much. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: What is AV J like? 15Aug 26, 2008 11:19 pm joles Mmmm sounds like your changes are in the too hard basket doesn't it? Interesting.... I can't figure it out why it would change so much. Jo these are changes straight from the options sheet, the PC came back with higher prices. Aslo some of the varaitions came back with higher then originally quoted and others were just damn well ludicrous. We wanted a staircase like in the display at perigine and it is actually less material in it yet they want $3,700 for it!!! I was actually expecting to get a rebate back for that one. Bloody greed of them. They wanted $1100 to put acoustic batts in just the HT room, I would expect about $half that based on what others have paid down your way. Re: What is AV J like? 16Aug 26, 2008 11:22 pm Do you have the original quoted prices in writing?
We had a couple of things that were a little off at PC and one thing that was right off! Original quote for one item was $3,200 and then at PC it was $5,600. I told them to honour the original quote price as I had it in writing and after much discussion they did. I'd demand the original prices are honoured. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: What is AV J like? 17Aug 27, 2008 4:29 pm joles Do you have the original quoted prices in writing? We had a couple of things that were a little off at PC and one thing that was right off! Original quote for one item was $3,200 and then at PC it was $5,600. I told them to honour the original quote price as I had it in writing and after much discussion they did. I'd demand the original prices are honoured. Jo yes I do and they refuse to honour those prices, I had a lengthy phone call with SC today and was told theat they can alter those prices right up to PC. not at all happy. just got off phone with SC, got adjustment in a few areas, will till it comes back though to update you. Re: What is AV J like? 18Aug 27, 2008 5:23 pm No personal experience but there are 3 AV Jennings homes in our small estate, the one 3 down from us started building about four months before us and finished about 2 weeks before we did, approx Aug 07 to June 08 build time. The other two didn't seem to go up any faster...
When I spoke to the owners a couple of weeks back they said they would never use them again, mainly due to how long it took to build Re: What is AV J like? 20Aug 27, 2008 8:58 pm Quote: They wanted $1100 to put acoustic batts in just the HT room, I would expect about $half that based on what others have paid down your way. That's way too high! We also put in acoustic batts in our HT and it wasn't that high! I think it was half or even less! But your HT is bigger than ours ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built the Nevada 42 Next project - landscaping! No the fireplace doesn’t work. It’s been enclosed. I’m not sure what was removed, as it was done quite some time ago - well before what I can see with photos online… 2 11569 |