McDonald Jones Build Tender

Good Afternoon,

My partner and I are currently waiting on a tender with McDonald Jones homes and just wondering if anyone had any experience with them?

We are taking advantage of the 45k off base price promotion and they are even including landscaping/air con/flooring among other stuff in the price because of a special.

The plan we are going for us the Monte Carlo with a triple garage/butlers pantry/extra office upgrades.

They have ballparked a quote of roughly 400k for all extra's we requested and site costs are inclusive. It's a 325 square metre build but a lot of that is open area and garage/alfresco.

Here are extras we asked for in tender:

-60mm stone bench top to kitchen
-2.7m ceiling height with coffered ceiling to living area/home theatre/entry taking it to 3m height
-3rd garage
-butlers pantry
-office
-master ensuite upgrade to include bathtub
-tile to ceiling in both bathrooms
-terracotta roof tiles
-900mm oven/stove top

That's roughly what we asked for in tender.

Can anyone suggest what to look out for? I know we need to ensure 100mm slab, 450mm spaced frame beams (it's a steel frame), 90mm stud thickness, and make sure it's suitable to atleast H1 slab. (That's what the soul test came at motherland though ours might differ slightly).

Other than above my next question is once we get the quote can we strip it back to structural and get bank approval for that amount and pay cash for everything we can at the end of the build? (Flooring, kitchen bench top, appliances, extra lighting) what else would we be able to pay cash on after contract signed?

Thanks in advance!! First time builders so trying to do as much research and not get this wrong like a lot of people seem to do.

I've attached rough floor plan.

Cheers in advance!

Also just did a bit of research on houspect as a building inspector. They sound really good and are roughly $2250 for a 4 stage inspection or $2600 for a 5 stage. (5th stage being waterproofing check of wet areas) would the 5th stage be worth it or should I just get 4 stages?

It seems like a no brainer getting them to inspect it as 2.5k when spending 400k is nothing...especially after the horror stories I've read!

I used housepect on my recent Metricon build and was happy with their service. I would recommend checking the waterproofing is done properly. On my build Metricons waterproofing contractor Dryman had 5 attempts to properly waterproof the wet area floors. Also I suggest checking your contract carefully for how MacDonald Jones Homes agrees contractually to respond to your inspection reports. It’s likely they will invoice you for the progress payments when each stage is complete, irrespective of defects identified in your inspection reports. Basically this provides them the ability to ignore your reports, avoiding correcting defects at the appropriate times before you are obliged to pay.

@christopher_hemmy I have just checked the reviews of Mcdonald Jones Homes on the productreview website. I would be very cautious interpreting these in your research as most of the positive reviews posted there do not look genuine! There is also some quite interesting discussion about this topic in the Q&A section for MJH. Some forum members are questioning their integrity given this situation. If you have not already done so, I would suggest you contact at least 3 recent real customers and speak with them directly about their experiences with MJH before you sign the contract. No build will be perfect and it’s how the builder responds to the issues that arise that will give you some insight into their capability and ethics.

We are currently renting a brand new MDJ home, the quality is as expected, a mid range project build.
They have still not completed all the works following the three month inspection even though we have been in for 12 months.

In regards to finance, yes the bank will just loan you the money for the base price, however, as per most contracts you will have to pay your portion up front, prior to the bank starting to pay anything. Of course there is landscaping & floor coverings etc that you can pay cash with after handover.

Hi McDonald_Jones What is the normal time frame after the 3 month inspection that your customers may expect all works to be completed satisfactorily?

We went through MjH and got our keys in late 2018.
I think you will be surprised at the final cost even though you have factored in some of your selections. There are so many things that will add to the final cost just in site work not to mention your colour/electrical selections. As far as slab thickness and structural details, MJH have a standard design that they generally run with, anything outside of that they will either refuse to do or will charge you an arm and a leg.

We have just started construction with MJH. We are building the Saxonvale 36 and honestly could not fault them at all. I know we are in the very, very early stages of construction but they are motoring ahead and are providing us updates before we've even asked any questions. A few people in our estate have also built with them and have all been really impressed. I think a while ago they had a pretty bad rep but it seems they've had some massive internal changes because they are very, very good.
I'm not too sure on what you can 'strip out' of a build and what they are legally required to do in order for the home to be considered complete. Slab and structurally they will do what is best suited for the type of soil. Flooring and electrical of course you can do later, but benchtops and appliances I'm not sure. We did a fair bit of research (googling) with regards to electrical and found it wasn't too much of a difference if MJH did the downlights or we did it after handover. We are building a 2 storey home so had to do downstairs at a minimum with them for downlights.

Colour selection upgrades and electrical for me were an eye opener. So many things I just didn't consider - like having separate switches for the light and fan in bedrooms unless of course you pay $95 per switch to upgrade. Things like soft close cupboards, polyurethane cupboards, hidden rangehood, bin drawers etc all add up! And spoil removal....the builder will charge you a fortune! If you can arrange it with their contractor privately and it will cost you a lot less. Your slab supervisor will normally provide these details at the time they do the cut and fill(if required).

I'm not even sure if this answers your questions but I hope it's helpful

Hi McDonald_Jones What is the normal time frame after the 3 month inspection that your customers may expect all works to be completed satisfactorily?

you can't just accept the bad reviews and question the good ones. Instead of relying on a google search best to actually speak with someone face to face who has built with them. Most people that review negatively are usually the ones who have done little to no research and complain about anything for the sake of it.

We are on our second build and while there has a been a couple of issues I know I'm going to be getting a quality home with premium inclusions. Internal walls and insulation is about to begin in a few days. Our SS is great and quick to respond to any question and has bought to our attention issues I was not even aware of.

Would I recommend MJH? Absolutely.

oh yeah, and invest in a private building inspector. At approx $2.5k its worth every cent.

Supercharger, we’ve built 4 homes, and rented a brand new MDJ home last year, as i said above it was 12 months and all the maintenance work was still not done. The painting was appalling, however, the standard response was its within tolerances, if it was my home, I wouldn’t have been happy. Check every window and window frame for scratches, as the owner hadn’t noticed significant scratches at PCI they refused to fix them, paint was on the brickwork due to sloppy painting.
We were considering building a hermitage grand and had got to tender with them, but while the house was average, it wasn’t of the quality we expected.
Unfortunately my car caught fire and exploded in the garage in February, causing the house to be uninhabitable, MDJ no longer have to complete the maintenance work and fortunately for the owners the house will have all the gyprock replaced and repainted.

supercharger Agree, best to speak with at least 5 recent home buyers. MJH would have no problems providing plenty of happy customer contacts. Any anonymous 5 star reviews of a builder are meaningless like: https://traveladdicts.net/tripadvisor-fake-reviews/ perhaps only useful as a warning about the builder's ethics. If you check McDonald Jones Homes fluffy reviews you will get it!

If you're on Facebook, there is a Building with MJH page.

Not denying there can't be issues not every build is perfect, and when it comes to post handover maintenance I'm sure all builders drag their feet.

It's very active with dozens of posts each day. Anyone building with MJH should head over there if they're on facebook.

you will be close to $500k once you come out of the studio and electrical appointments for that size house with a 3rd garage and some nice touches... You will sign your contract first and then any of the selections done through the studio are variations, you should be able to pay this out of pocket if needed.

Keep an allowance for basix requirements and rock removal, you may not use it but its there if you need it

Do housepec cover the mid-north coast? If not any recommendation?