Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 30, 2008 1:54 pm Hi all. Wow, what a great site! We are hoping to build and wondering if anyone has heard anything (good or bad) about Ross Griffin Homes? They have seemed the best ot deal with so far and have answered all our questions that we have emailed to them promptly. We had been talking to a couple of other builders who haven't been this forthcoming Regards Marco WA builders 2Oct 01, 2008 1:11 am Hi Marco
Yes great site hey! I am new myself so hope I have replied correctly. We are building our third home in wa. Our first builder was Marcolina & Associates (a division of Atrium) then Summit, now Bluprint. They all vary so much with what they do and don't include but each builder has been great. I would personally go with a company that follows through with what they say from the beginning. If Ross Griffin is getting back to you then great, also look at what they include as standard. Some builders we have enquired with in the past couldn't care less that we were approaching them. And I figure if it's hard to contact them at that stage with a new sale, it would be even harder come a building problem you want solved quickly! I haven't heard any bad reports about Ross Griffin in my various circles... Michelle Re: WA Builders 4Oct 01, 2008 11:42 am Hi Marco, welcome to the H1 forum you will find everyone is very helpful and there is a lot of knowledge to be found.
We have now built with APG and Lifestyle homes which is also Summit homes. I have no experience with Ross Griffin but I have not heard bad things about them. This is probably more of a testoment as usually it is the bad stuff you hear first. I have heard bad things about maybe 8 of the big builders and I have also heard good things from those same builders but if you haven't heard anything I think thats a good thing........does that make sense. No idea was right look at the quality of their display homes especially look at their older display homes(like the one in Stirling) you can see how they stand the test of time then. You will know if they offer what you want within your budget that suits you it will feel right and that said if you start to not feel right about something you will know to move on. Ask about build times and site costs and how much the deposit is in case you ahev to walk away you will know whaether its worth trying them. Good luck Re: WA Builders 5Oct 01, 2008 3:00 pm Hi all,
Thanks for the replies. I think we might go with Ross Griffin. They emailed me the specs with detailed descriptions of every item in the specs ( make/model numbers, quantities, types of waterproofing etc) that they use. They did this at no cost either as they don't charge for initial planing and any questions you want to ask. They also gave us a written quote for the cost of what we wanted. Trying to get this type of information out of other builders was almost impossible (plenty of promises but nothing written down). Most of them want 2k (Riverstone wanted 15k before they did anything!). I will let all of you know when we plan to start! Marco Re: WA Builders 6Apr 22, 2009 3:26 am Hi there folks This is my first post in response to a member wishing to get some feedback on Summit Homes. We are building a new home for the first time - boy what an experience!!! It will be the last. We lived in a duplex and had the opportunity to buy the unit next to us, upon which we did a survey strata title. Incidentally, I believe the government is going to change or put restrictions on such titles??? anyone know anything about this? We sold off the block as vacant possession and knocked down the old units. We looked at Dale Alcock Homes in Osborne Park and paid $1500 dollars for plans. My partner's daughter was also using them to build a new home. Her daughter had a bad experience with the sales woman, who sent her out of the office in tears. Her husband visited Dale Alcock and made it clear they would not be building with them. Whilst we did not have a similar experience, we found the service and response to enquiries less than satisfactory - goodbye $1500. We then looked at a number of builders and settled on Summit Home Projects, as we were contemplating not selling the block, but building two homes and selling one. We decided against this and settled on an architect designed home by Summit and selling the block next door. We found Quentin Lau to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful and based upon his responsive and quick answers to our queries, we chose Summit Projects to design and build the house. The experience was very good until the workmen arrived on site to begin site works. We arrived on a Saturday morning to discover work had begun instead of the following Friday as we had been made to understand. We only found this out by being at the block the previous week, when the site works contractor arrived to have a look at the block. He was wondering why he had to put in pilings as his previous plan showed no pilings. There is a sump and sewerage easement next to our property, hence the requirement for pilings. We had known this to be the case ever since our discussions with Quentin began. On the Saturday morning we arrived, we discovered that a front end loader was there and had dug a huge hole in our neighbours vacant property to replace soil on the pad (they had taken too much away the previous day). Then the cement truck doing the pad backed over the footings for the garage, cracking the footings. (This had to be subsequently removed and repaired.) The communication with Summit was difficult and practically non-existent. We found out that the Supervisor managing our site was on leave for the 3 weeks that the site preparation was being done. We were told that there was a supervisor, from the Southern Area, who was looking after our site. If that was the case we were never advised nor did we have any contact with him. The Retaining Wall contractors arrived and began ripping up the neighbours block next door, damaging and knocking over their brick retaining wall. Damage was then done to the edges of the pad from the bob cat driving over the block. Sewerage pipes were snapped off at ground level and steel rods sticking out of the ground for the piers were bent and twisted beyond use. They were later cut off and replaced. Our neighbour had cause to contact Summit and deliver an ultimatum, that unless their block was cleaned up (including the huge hole with hunks of concrete in it) they would be charging Summit for every day they did not have access. The block was soon cleaned up. Brick up began and we noticed that one internal wall was hanging half a brick into the cavity. This required additional brick ties to ensure its structure was sound. We had an independent Engineer look at this and he stated that it was borderline against breaching the building standards. Another wall on the opposite side of the house had the cavity wall wider at one end than at the other. I could go on about our experiences, but it would take too much space. We had to have the power dome moved from our property to the centreline of the two properties so our neighbour had access. The Western Power subcontractors duly ripped up the ground across our neighbours property, tearing out the roots of their rare south african tulip tree in the process and ripping up the telephone lines. The repercussions from this on our neighbours was horrendous. Our experience with Summit has been less than satisfactory, particularly communication. It would be nice to know what work is going to begin on the property each week. We sometimes feel that Summit are our clients as we are the ones constantly contacting them. I have visited the site each day taking photographs of every bit of work that has been done, but they are now refusing us access to the property without the site supervisor being present. They state that this is because of their insurers requirements and our safety. I recommend taking hundreds of photos of site work each day as we have a record of work done, should there be structural problems in the future. The photos are also handy for wall hangings as wiring and plumbing these days is inserted into the internal walls without any protective conduit. Drilling holes & hanging pictures is fraught with danger without a suitable stud & cable finder. I plan to hire a structural engineer to go through the property like a fine toothed comb. The cost is $750 dollars but I figure it will be worth it. They will obtain the engineering plans from Council and using a theodolite, check the positioning of the pad, as we believe the pad to be out of place. I trust this gives you some insight into our building experience. It has been a nightmare. Kind regards dIZZY PS My apologies to Ross North. We approached Dale Alcock Homes, and withdrew following poor service from the sales person. My partners daughter is using Ross North and is very happy with them to date. They are about to put down the pad. Look at your bill from the electricity company. It should detail the charges. You will need to do some estimating and some calculations. Then charge the… 8 4256 Site works are just about to start on our build with Blueprint in Midvale. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106894 2 3960 Hi all, We are looking to build a new two storey house in western Sydney. Can anyone recommend a smallish builder to go with? We are trying to stay away from the big… 0 12151 |