Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 06, 2017 12:05 am So I will run thought I would start putting up a bit of a progressive story about our build with Simonds for anyone who is looking to build with them. It started in November 2016 when we signed our tender. With our land due to register in July 2017, we thought if we could get in early, we would have a quick start to our build. How wrong we were. We went through and did all of our colours appointment in April I think it was, upgraded a whole lot of stuff, then it got to Contract signing stage. This was when things started to go downhill. On the 19th of June, we were informed that we could not get in for Contract signing until Monday the 7th of August as they were booked out (This was when we started to realise how overbooked the NSW office was), as we couldn’t make that day we changed it to Thursday the 10th. We went in and signed and all was good. I will point out here as well that when we originally were dealing with Simonds in Newcastle, we were told that we would be able to sign the contracts in Newcastle, but due to staff changes this was now changed to Sydney (No biggy). The weekend of the 12th we went out to our block, and saw met some of our neighbours. I remember them telling us that they were tossing up between two builders at this point. On the 15th of August, we got our homeowners insurance. It was at this stage we were a little concerned as our loan pre-approval was getting due to need renewal by the end of the month. We were told at this stage the plans would be submitted for approval. On the 22nd of August, I enquired to find out if the plans had been submitted to council or private certifier, to which I received a response back saying that they were waiting on reports to come back which had been ordered on the 10th of August (I should have mentioned prior to this Soil testing had all been carried out months earlier). On the 7th of September, I enquired regarding if we had submitted for approval, and was told they were still waiting on a response regarding the reports they had ordered. On the 21st of September, these reports (still not even sure what they were, but they held the process up) came back, and they finally submitted the plans to a private certifier. On the 17th of October, I enquired as to how our approval was going, and was told that they were just waiting on Council to approve the driveway cross over and told that it may be a few weeks. I rang council, had a talk to some guy, and he had it back to me within a few hours. Not sure how long this specific item had been holding up the process, however I really wish I knew earlier as I would have stepped in and done Simonds job for them then earlier. On the 19th of October, we got an email from Simmonds telling us they needed the commencement letter from the bank, and sent us through all of the paperwork the bank would need. Now it was at this point that we may have held the process up a little as the bank was still finalising our second preapproval as our first one had run out, however we had the commencement letter on the 22nd of November. This did take a bit longer then normal apparently. Since then, it appears that nothing has really changed with our build. Those neighbours I was just talking about, well they found a builder, have got on site and have just had there slab put down, the guys next door, well they have managed to get a roof up, bricks laid and should be at lock up by Xmas. Simonds, well, they are now re-looking over the plans to make sure everything is ok before sending it onto there building division. It’s funny, we are now looking at some other land to purchase in the area, and went and spoke to a different builder. When I ran through our progress up to date, the looks on there faces said it all. They then said “Don’t worry, we can promise you to be on site within 60 days of contracts being signed”. Going into Christmas now, I know nothing is going to get done before Christmas. I spoke to a representative today, who promised that my file would be with the build team by January. Not start building in January, just my file be with the Build team by January. I will keep you all updated with my progress of how we go. My advice is to anyone who has strict deadlines building with Simonds in NSW, just be aware that they run their own race, and believe me, it’s not a quick one. Re: Building with Simonds in NSW 2Apr 12, 2018 8:15 am Hi there, How did it go with your build? When did it start ? How is the progress? oldwithers So I will run thought I would start putting up a bit of a progressive story about our build with Simonds for anyone who is looking to build with them. It started in November 2016 when we signed our tender. With our land due to register in July 2017, we thought if we could get in early, we would have a quick start to our build. How wrong we were. We went through and did all of our colours appointment in April I think it was, upgraded a whole lot of stuff, then it got to Contract signing stage. This was when things started to go downhill. On the 19th of June, we were informed that we could not get in for Contract signing until Monday the 7th of August as they were booked out (This was when we started to realise how overbooked the NSW office was), as we couldn’t make that day we changed it to Thursday the 10th. We went in and signed and all was good. I will point out here as well that when we originally were dealing with Simonds in Newcastle, we were told that we would be able to sign the contracts in Newcastle, but due to staff changes this was now changed to Sydney (No biggy). The weekend of the 12th we went out to our block, and saw met some of our neighbours. I remember them telling us that they were tossing up between two builders at this point. On the 15th of August, we got our homeowners insurance. It was at this stage we were a little concerned as our loan pre-approval was getting due to need renewal by the end of the month. We were told at this stage the plans would be submitted for approval. On the 22nd of August, I enquired to find out if the plans had been submitted to council or private certifier, to which I received a response back saying that they were waiting on reports to come back which had been ordered on the 10th of August (I should have mentioned prior to this Soil testing had all been carried out months earlier). On the 7th of September, I enquired regarding if we had submitted for approval, and was told they were still waiting on a response regarding the reports they had ordered. On the 21st of September, these reports (still not even sure what they were, but they held the process up) came back, and they finally submitted the plans to a private certifier. On the 17th of October, I enquired as to how our approval was going, and was told that they were just waiting on Council to approve the driveway cross over and told that it may be a few weeks. I rang council, had a talk to some guy, and he had it back to me within a few hours. Not sure how long this specific item had been holding up the process, however I really wish I knew earlier as I would have stepped in and done Simonds job for them then earlier. On the 19th of October, we got an email from Simmonds telling us they needed the commencement letter from the bank, and sent us through all of the paperwork the bank would need. Now it was at this point that we may have held the process up a little as the bank was still finalising our second preapproval as our first one had run out, however we had the commencement letter on the 22nd of November. This did take a bit longer then normal apparently. Since then, it appears that nothing has really changed with our build. Those neighbours I was just talking about, well they found a builder, have got on site and have just had there slab put down, the guys next door, well they have managed to get a roof up, bricks laid and should be at lock up by Xmas. Simonds, well, they are now re-looking over the plans to make sure everything is ok before sending it onto there building division. It’s funny, we are now looking at some other land to purchase in the area, and went and spoke to a different builder. When I ran through our progress up to date, the looks on there faces said it all. They then said “Don’t worry, we can promise you to be on site within 60 days of contracts being signed”. Going into Christmas now, I know nothing is going to get done before Christmas. I spoke to a representative today, who promised that my file would be with the build team by January. Not start building in January, just my file be with the Build team by January. I will keep you all updated with my progress of how we go. My advice is to anyone who has strict deadlines building with Simonds in NSW, just be aware that they run their own race, and believe me, it’s not a quick one. Re: Building with Simonds in NSW 3Apr 15, 2018 11:29 pm I'm bulding with Simonds Queensland now and are confronting a similar situation with Oldwithers. As my bank pre-approval was due on 31 December 2017 and couldn't be renewed due to some reason, I had to signe the HIA contract with Simonds in early December 2017. However, to proceed to the next step, which is the gallery appointment, Simonds advised me that the earliest available date for the appointment was late January 2018. After gallery appointment, I did request a few minor changes which resulted in PCVs. but every time I requested an variation or ask about the pricing for the variation, Simonds took at least 3 business days or even over one week to get back to me with a response, which I think should be solved in minutes by making a call to relevant supplier directly. By doing this, Simonds successfully dragged off my construction start date to their targeted date of late April. Even I've signed off all required documents last Friday, Simonds still advised me they will only deliver my documents to their construction department next Friday and the construction will commence 5 business days after the construction dept. receiving those documents. I really think Simonds has some problem in managing the orders internally, the reason cause this problem may be because of the imbalance between its constrained human resource and overbooked orders. having built on acres several times i suggest that you also need to add the cost of a sewerage system and any associated fencing, water tanks with associated extra… 2 1106 In NSW the maximum deposit for building work is 5% until the builder provides HBCF insurance 1 4831 Hi All, see above image. The required setback from the rear boundary in my case is 5m, as you can see the shape of the site and location of the boundary is slightly… 0 8463 |