Ross North, Dale Alcock and Atrium Homes - experiences on ea

Hi all,

We have narrowed down to these 3 builders for our single storey house (~350sqm). We understand that Atrium may not be in the same category but we got a quote from them because my parents built with them a few years ago.

Total costs are yet to come - but my wife and I would love everyone's experiences (both good and bad) with those builders.

If you can tell us the things you liked, the things you didn't like and things to be aware of or things you would have done differently if you had your time again.

Hopefully this thread will be useful to others in the future too!

Thanks in advance

We tried working with DA in 2016 however anytime we asked to modify the sketch it would take 3 weeks and they would change things that we didn't ask for so it went back and forth. They also kept trying to down ground our requests claiming that what we wanted to do was expensive. A few examples that I can recall were reducing the size of the proposed build and building the garage on the boundary, they also kept wanting to keep the cost down for valuation however it was not what we wanted, they also appeared not to care about the house orientation which is fairly common, in the end we gave up with them and spent more time doing our own research. If you have set ideas of what products that you want to use in your build then ask for a copy of their standard addenda from so that you can see what is included as each builder has prefered suppliers and ask if you can speak to past clients etc.

Thanks Choosy!

Nobody else built with RN or DA?

We are currently building with RN. We are at slab down. Have had a couple of minor issues which are in the process of being sorted. The staff were amazing through the planning process, except for the colour consultation. I think the colour consultant was new though. Sales & prestart were excellent. Communication is important. If there's something you are not happy with let them know. They seem to be good so far with addressing issues. My advice is no matter who you build with get a building inspector to inspect at every stage, especially with a project builder.

Shieldsy Couldn't agree more with communications and on site checking.
Unfortunately Sales & Prestart Employees don't build homes that is left to Low cost/ rate subbies.
that work on your build every day. Communications and staged inspections aren't solving the issue that engineers see after the build is completed..by then the repair work is expensive and it's too late
I see industry change as gradual and frustrating...but it's happening