Thought it would be worth while to share my story so far with Fairmont Homes. They are a small to medium sized home builder in NSW, and it's awfully difficult to find anything about them online except for a few positive reviews.
I thought I'd share how things have been for us so far, and will share pictures / thoughts as we progress through our build.
Deposit Paid - 5th August 2018
Initial Tender - 26th August 2018
Final Tender and contract signing - 14th November 2018
Land Settlement - Jan 14th 2019
Council Plans Submitted - 12th Feb 2019
DA Approved - 8th March 2019
Final Construction Plans - 30th April 2019
Construction Commence - Hopefully next week
We settled on Fairmont Homes after visiting a few of their display homes, what really sold us was their apparent quality, friendly staff and that "wow" feeling when we walked into the home. When we visited one of their older display homes, we were quite impress how good everything still looked from a construction standpoint (quality paint work, tiling, kitchen cabinetry, sliding doors etc) - to me a sign of a well constructed house given the abuse its probably taken over the last 3-4 years.
I will say, staff have been amazing, quality of product looks great, though they have been let down by process's not really being clearly articulated and we've had a few hiccups along the way (one because we went to Europe for 7 weeks Oct 2018-Nov 2018, thanks for WiFi I was able to work through some of the quotes and items to finalize) but others that could no doubt be avoided.
As they are a small builder, there is no "selections studio" like MJH / Clarendon / Eden Brae etc, most of this is handled by there construction partners - Beaumont Tiles, Styleline Kitchens, Jade Electrical etc. The process seemed simple enough, Beaumont Tiles were great and provided a lot of information, although we did find out that one of the tiles was discontinued when I questioned an item on our tiles selection. Fairmont Homes, and conversely myself where significantly let down with the time frame it took for Styleline to provide pricing on the kitchen layout we selected, From making contact in late November, it took until April 2019 to get out first quote back. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but I'm hoping this isn't a reflection on their kitchen build times.
I wouldn't really suggest they are geared to first home builders / buyers, their process seems more for people that know what they want, vs needing help to get a great outcome, in saying that there are plenty of facebook comments / reviews suggesting they are good here too - so perhaps its a little bit down to me researching most of the things we wanted.
All up for some randomly generated ratings:
Staff: 5/5
Quality of workmanship: 4.5/5 (which says a lot for me as I'm not expecting 5/5 from a project home builder, will update this when my build is complete!)
Process: 3/5 (not for the uninitiated)
Attention to detail in planing process: 3/5 (pretty average experience here to be honest, many mistakes in the drafting of plans and tender process, nothing that can't be fixed but stuff that would easily flow through to construction and cause issues if not flagged before hand)
Pricing: I can't really compare but I hazard expensive, maybe $$$ out of $$$$, my friend is building with MJH and comparably things or similar but many items a bit pricer with Fairmont, this is likely down to supplier purchasing agreements, Fairmont are extremely flexible in items to be used during the build (and we have gone for a lot of expensive options, (Kitchen, Staircase, Flooring, all premium etc), but then you get what you pay for.
Total so far: 4 / 5, let down by their Kitchen department and lack of attention to detail in the tender / plan creation process. Staff have been flexible, friendly and really supportive in the process, though it does feel like there is a lack of urgency to get anything done.
On to the more sexy stuff
Plans:
We made a couple of minor alterations from the base plan
- extended the alfresco slab by 1.1 south
- removed bath from ensuite
- added enclosed toilet to ensuite
- added double shower
- widows moved to sides of vanities
- changed the size of the en suite (door openings and the width to add an extra 20cm to the master bedroom
- added step down to lounge / dining / kitchen / pantry (3.08m ceiling height)
- 2.74 ceiling to rest of house down and up
Ground Floor
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1st Floor
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Colours / Facade (after playing around in Sketchup)
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Kitchen Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
Laundry:
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Kitchen and Laundry Colours will be:
Doors / Cupboard etc - Black woodmatt Polytec
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Benchtops - cloudburst concrete
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Tiles:
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Unfortunately Icon Dove Stacked MOS tile (second from the right) is now "discontinued" this was going to be our facade tile, we've since changed this to the same colour tile, but in 600x300 format so its not longer a mosaic but is bigger, ended up being slightly more expensive (presumably the old tile was at run out price) but given the size of the facade this kind of makes sense.
From left to right:
Bathroom / Powder / Main - Walls + Laundry Floor (600x600)
Bathroom / Powder / Main - Floors (600x600)
Laundry Splashback (mosaic)
Feature Facade Tile (600x300)
Patio / Alfresco tile (600x600)
For some strange reason we like the Matt Black look in a few of the display homes so have opted for Matt Black Tapware / Accessories including the amazing looking Methven Aurajet system and sweet sinks by Franke . Dual Bosch ovens (in blaak) / induction coocktop / integrated dishwasher.
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Staircase
This was a tough one as we don't want to go with glass, its just to impractical with dogs / finger prints etc, we were impressed with the design in the display home and opted for one similar, but with Matt black posts, vic ash handrail and steel wire balustrade.
My crued example:
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as displayed:
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So, that's our journey so far. We are due to break ground in the next 7 business days
Weather permitting of course. Super excited to start, and hopefully the process will be pretty smooth sailing from here. We are currently renting 5 mins away from out new block, so we thankfully we are close by to be able to keep on top of things as they progress. Despite some setbacks, I would be happy to recommend Fairmont Homes NSW based on my experience so far, hopefully the end product is outstanding!
