Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Champion Homes 21Jan 14, 2020 9:20 pm My elderly mum built with Champion homes 7 years ago (against our advice), she was so convinced by their 'simply the best' advertising on the radio. I am still shaking my head at how poor the process was. 50k in neccesary additions we knew weren't included, easily another 50k + for variations that could/should have been known prior to the build, eg connecting the plumbing to the street. As the wise adviser mentioned earlier, mum found them the cheapest so went for them, but paid for it later. They actually left her with a finished house that she couldn't get into as the entry was at her chest level, because 'entry stairs weren't part of the contract'! We had to negotiate for the stairs to the porch to be relocated so she could enter the house). At the end of the day, we had a functional house and so, grateful for that - but couldn't recommend the process with these guys from our experience. Hopefully they have improved, though! Re: Champion Homes 23Jan 17, 2020 3:34 pm Sam Guner sandhyasahoo Hi, I would like to check if anyone is building/built house with Champion Homes in Sydney? Yes im building at the moment, and its just been nightmares Happy to chat to anyone about it Hi Sam, We are planing on a KDR with Champion Homes. We have paid the preparation of Tender fee and waiting for the cost and customised plan. As you mentioned that you're having nightmares with CH. Could you please let us know your problems? Thank you Re: Champion Homes 24Feb 01, 2020 11:52 am Sam Guner sandhyasahoo Hi, I would like to check if anyone is building/built house with Champion Homes in Sydney? Yes im building at the moment, and its just been nightmares Happy to chat to anyone about it Sam, Could you please share your nightmares? Re: Champion Homes 25Feb 04, 2020 9:36 am Hi, I'm considering building with Champion Homes (house and land package) in Leppington. I've put down the $3k holding deposit tender preparation. I'd really appreciate if I can chat to anyone who has built with them so i can have an idea of what the build process is. Similar to other people I've read reviews and want to make sure this is the right decision. Thanks for your help. Re: Champion Homes 26Mar 09, 2020 3:53 pm leeroy17 Sam Guner sandhyasahoo Hi, I would like to check if anyone is building/built house with Champion Homes in Sydney? Yes im building at the moment, and its just been nightmares Happy to chat to anyone about it Hi Sam, We are planing on a KDR with Champion Homes. We have paid the preparation of Tender fee and waiting for the cost and customised plan. As you mentioned that you're having nightmares with CH. Could you please let us know your problems? Thank you Hi Leeroy Just want to check , how did you go with the build ? did they add any other additional cost in ? im in the process of negotiation with them at the moment Re: Champion Homes 27Mar 10, 2020 1:43 pm Would love to speak to anyone in Sydney about their experiences with CH. We are in construction with them currently and I've found them very difficult to deal with. Really lacking in communication and customer service... Re: Champion Homes 28Mar 16, 2020 12:04 am jevvyj My elderly mum built with Champion homes 7 years ago (against our advice), she was so convinced by their 'simply the best' advertising on the radio. I am still shaking my head at how poor the process was. 50k in neccesary additions we knew weren't included, easily another 50k + for variations that could/should have been known prior to the build, eg connecting the plumbing to the street. As the wise adviser mentioned earlier, mum found them the cheapest so went for them, but paid for it later. They actually left her with a finished house that she couldn't get into as the entry was at her chest level, because 'entry stairs weren't part of the contract'! We had to negotiate for the stairs to the porch to be relocated so she could enter the house). At the end of the day, we had a functional house and so, grateful for that - but couldn't recommend the process with these guys from our experience. Hopefully they have improved, though! Hi Jevvyj, What was NOT included that were then required for “necessary additions”? Just compiling everything for the bank now (we discovered all the negative reviews too late unfortunately) so just want to be prepared and tell them to have our requested loan amount actually X higher, just in case. Re: Champion Homes 29Mar 16, 2020 12:10 am Geney LucasL it is scary to see all the negative reviews in productreview.com.au. i knew those are quite old news but wondering if it is still ongoing. i really like one of their toscano design and now i am not sure if all the positive reviews are real as well. anyone currently building with champion homes and how is it so far? We are building one of the big builders You hear their adverts on the radio every day. What happens is they get you to get emotionally attached to one of their top of the range upgrade display homes and then get you to pay the 25k deposit and sign the tender and then the contract. From this point on is where your experience becomes very frustrating. Firstly they never tell you about council costs that are about 16k, storm water drain costs which we paid about 30k for application fees to Sydney water, drawings for new storm water drains for our build and labour costs, plus a 25 percent markup that our builder puts on all variations or any additional work.A common thing you will notice on their contract is the amount of work that you would expect to be in the contract price which is not and is clearly stated in the contract that " no allowance has been made" for such works in the tender which you will end up having to pay for. We have already spent an additional 120k on top of the contract price because we were never informed by our builder"s salesman about all these extra costs and I think it is very deceitful trading. They dont tell you and as soon as you sign the contract, your bank account is wide open for them to stick their hands into in whanever they can with so many hidden costs that will cause you major stress and sleepless nights. If you read a positive review it must be by those customers who have access to a million plus dollars and who dont have to worry too much about paying all these hidden costs. I think this experience will be the same with all builders because they know they can stich you real good after you sign the contract. If you going to build with any builder and you are a normal.person like me who does not have access to a million plus dollars from your lender then you need to very careful and be sure you have at least 150k extra for your build or you will come close to having a break down and a very terrible experience. I feel for all you guys who have yet to build or are already trapped by the very deceitful building industry. Hi Geney, Thanks so much for this. Getting everything together for the bank as we unfortunately signed on before seeing all the bad reviews too. Did you build with CH? Other than the Sydney Water section 73, was there anything else you waited on? We have a new block of land, we’re you KNRB or new block? Thanks in advance Re: Champion Homes 30Mar 17, 2020 5:39 pm SLA jevvyj My elderly mum built with Champion homes 7 years ago (against our advice), she was so convinced by their 'simply the best' advertising on the radio. I am still shaking my head at how poor the process was. 50k in neccesary additions we knew weren't included, easily another 50k + for variations that could/should have been known prior to the build, eg connecting the plumbing to the street. As the wise adviser mentioned earlier, mum found them the cheapest so went for them, but paid for it later. They actually left her with a finished house that she couldn't get into as the entry was at her chest level, because 'entry stairs weren't part of the contract'! We had to negotiate for the stairs to the porch to be relocated so she could enter the house). At the end of the day, we had a functional house and so, grateful for that - but couldn't recommend the process with these guys from our experience. Hopefully they have improved, though! Hi Jevvyj, What was NOT included that were then required for “necessary additions”? Just compiling everything for the bank now (we discovered all the negative reviews too late unfortunately) so just want to be prepared and tell them to have our requested loan amount actually X higher, just in case. From memory it was things like paying for the slab (and being charged for a much larger slab than seemed necessary), council fees, temporary road base, as well as electricals and things like that. These just came in the form of vague descriptions and so I had to press them for an itemisation rather than just paying ad-hoc bills (which they eventually gave me). Then there were things like having to arrange our own sewerage connection, which was a massive surprise given it was an already existing residence. Hope that helps! Re: Champion Homes 31Aug 03, 2020 9:56 pm Hi guys, Just like you i built with champion homes and they charged me as well for deepend edge beams because the land has slope. Im near the handover and noticed the driveway is half a meter short to the sidewalk. I askes CH and they told me it is in the tender that they will not be responsible for anything outisde the land boundary. Being a 1st time buyer, i did not know anything about this. Do you have the same experience? Now they are saying it’s up to me To find a concreter to finish the job. It is ridiculous! Re: Champion Homes 33Oct 22, 2020 10:07 pm Arginta I am also building with champion homes. I have only now just read the reviews. I have also paid the deposit to get the tender drawn up. Is the tender not 'fixed price'? Nope it sure isnt the final price! Re: Champion Homes 34Jan 26, 2021 10:57 pm We are very close in signing up for a House and Land package with Champion homes and then I saw this thread. I wanted to know if people have the same experience of extra/hidden/variation costs in the House and Land package too? or those experiences are more when you just build with them? Re: Champion Homes 35Feb 14, 2021 1:36 pm grevolution We are very close in signing up for a House and Land package with Champion homes and then I saw this thread. I wanted to know if people have the same experience of extra/hidden/variation costs in the House and Land package too? or those experiences are more when you just build with them? Your cost is the base price with promotion discount (if any) and upgraded appliances, flooring, tiling etc., Most builders include the following but not CH. Not included: Statutory Costs: e.g. Preliminary site cost allowance, Concrete slab variation, BASIX requirements etc., Provisional Costs: e.g. Hydraulic Engineer Stormwater system, Additional fill/Saline Soil Req, Bushfire Alert Level requirements, Drop edge beams, Zone allowance etc Re: Champion Homes 36Feb 15, 2021 9:00 am [quote="leeroy17":qe8nunn9][quote="grevolution":qe8nunn9]We are very close in signing up for a House and Land package with Champion homes and then I saw this thread. I wanted to know if people have the same experience of extra/hidden/variation costs in the House and Land package too? or those experiences are more when you just build with them?[/quote:qe8nunn9][/quote:qe8nunn9] Your cost is the base price with promotion discount (if any) and upgraded appliances, flooring, tiling etc., Most builders include the following but not CH. Not included: Statutory Costs: e.g. Preliminary site cost allowance, Concrete slab variation, BASIX requirements etc., Provisional Costs: e.g. Hydraulic Engineer Stormwater system, Additional fill/Saline Soil Req, Bushfire Alert Level requirements, Drop edge beams, Zone allowance etc[/quote The final payment is not usually the last one either, there will be an invoice of outstanding payments, council fees, traffic control etc Re: Champion Homes 37Feb 15, 2021 10:21 am I went as far as the contract with them. I dealt with John and then his (english) manager, possibly Dennis. It was terrible. Lots of hidden information that resulted in massive hidden costs. Then when we attempted to discuss this with them it become quite confrontational and has just resulted in us losing a massive deposit. I would highly suggest to NOT build with Champion Homes ever!!! Re: Champion Homes 40Feb 15, 2021 1:15 pm Arginta 11k!!!!! I thought it would have been much more than this! Thats why we didnt rip up the contract in fear of veing massively fudged over... but in the long run that would have been cheaper Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74219 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 105129 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 23198 |