Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 3Nov 13, 2013 11:51 am Build Threadhttps://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68156 Lendlease/Elderton Cntract:31-01-13 Settled:1-10-13 DA: 10-10-13 CC: 28-11-13 SC: 3-4-14 Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 11Jan 31, 2014 5:23 pm Thanks for your interest. Are you building with Elderton, or considering doing so? On 21st January we called drove past the land and found the SS sitting on the kerb chasing away anyone who wanted to park in front of the site. The previous day a truck with all our frames had been unable to park there and took the load back to Campbelltown. There is no room on the front of the block to allow a truck to enter the site as the front yard will all be used to store the timber. Since then I have visited the site a few time, but nothing had happened. So I left it for 3 days and today we found the ground floor frame is mostly in position and the yellow tongue particle board was in place for the first floor. I hope we don't have weeks of rain now. This happened to a house we once built and the particle board was in the rain for weeks. We had to have it sanded as the edges all curled. The steel beams used to support the floor above the garage and to support the back of the first floor have been erected. Our first floor is shorter than the standard Mitcham house and our ground floor is longer. hence the need for a steel beam. A power pole is now present, together with some electrical wiring at the front boundary and next to the garage where the meter box will be. As the site is fenced and has a couple of locks on the gate opening) we can't go in for a really good look. I would really like to go in and photograph the position of the studs so we can attach things to the walls if we need to later. Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 12Feb 03, 2014 12:23 am Newbie here. Going to follow progress for review on elderton. We're looking to secure land in jordan springs hopefully in the next release and pretty set on a watermark 26. Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 13Feb 04, 2014 8:15 pm oh nice how long until they finished with your build? I am building a extended version of the lifestyle 21.. How have elderton been to deal with? Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 14Feb 05, 2014 7:04 am To Blackenator You asked what Elderton was like to deal with. So far I have no complaints. Everything is straight down the line. They give you a price for a standard home and that is what you get. I have looked wistfully at the other project home builders who seem to throw in a few sweeteners, but Elderton plays it pretty straight. If you want something extra, you can generally have it, but you have to pay for it. The amount that they charge for these extras seems to reflect the cost to them, they don't jack up the prices unreasonably. Communication has always been very good. First the salesperson was A1 (thank you John) and if he had not been so obliging in changing the plans etc, I would not have built with Elderton. After I was passed over to head office, I have had swift and friendly replies. No problem there (Thanks Lisa). Now the building has started, I wish they worked on the site everyday. But I don't know what is going on exactly. The site supervisor gives me confidence. A building company must have preferred teams of tradespeople, and if I have to wait for a week or so here and there for those teams to work on my building I would prefer that than using any unknown or even inferior team. I am now locked out of the site, so I cannot comment on the workmanship. It is too early for that. If I drive to the site daily nothing seems to be happening, but if I miss visiting the site for a day or two, work progresses fast. There must be a moral in this. I originally decided to build with Wisdom Homes, but the salesperson went on holidays, and that display home was closed. The salesperson was then assigned to a different job with Wisdom and later left the firm. I was left floating. I felt I had no one to communicate with. When you are making up your mind about a purchase that is so important and costs so much money, you need to feel there is a line of communication between you and the building company. So I abandoned the $4,500 I had paid Wisdom Homes and went with Elderton where I can talk to someone every day I I have any questions. That is the benefit of dealing with a small company. I feel I am a person, not a job number. Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 15Feb 06, 2014 9:40 am Newbuilderbill To Blackenator You asked what Elderton was like to deal with. So far I have no complaints. Everything is straight down the line. They give you a price for a standard home and that is what you get. I have looked wistfully at the other project home builders who seem to throw in a few sweeteners, but Elderton plays it pretty straight. If you want something extra, you can generally have it, but you have to pay for it. The amount that they charge for these extras seems to reflect the cost to them, they don't jack up the prices unreasonably. Communication has always been very good. First the salesperson was A1 (thank you John) and if he had not been so obliging in changing the plans etc, I would not have built with Elderton. After I was passed over to head office, I have had swift and friendly replies. No problem there (Thanks Lisa). Now the building has started, I wish they worked on the site everyday. But I don't know what is going on exactly. The site supervisor gives me confidence. A building company must have preferred teams of tradespeople, and if I have to wait for a week or so here and there for those teams to work on my building I would prefer that than using any unknown or even inferior team. I am now locked out of the site, so I cannot comment on the workmanship. It is too early for that. If I drive to the site daily nothing seems to be happening, but if I miss visiting the site for a day or two, work progresses fast. There must be a moral in this. I originally decided to build with Wisdom Homes, but the salesperson went on holidays, and that display home was closed. The salesperson was then assigned to a different job with Wisdom and later left the firm. I was left floating. I felt I had no one to communicate with. When you are making up your mind about a purchase that is so important and costs so much money, you need to feel there is a line of communication between you and the building company. So I abandoned the $4,500 I had paid Wisdom Homes and went with Elderton where I can talk to someone every day I I have any questions. That is the benefit of dealing with a small company. I feel I am a person, not a job number. Thanks alot for the information. I just finished paying the $1000 tender fee to elderton. Now I wait for 4 weeks. Glad to hear the communication has been good thats a good company trait to have Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 16Feb 14, 2014 5:49 pm Hi guys, We are also building with Elderton in Caddens. We had great customer service with the salesman (Jason) at Mulgoa Rise who spent about 2.5 hours assisting us with altering house designs. We have pretty much ended up with a custom design. We have our tender appt in a few weeks so I guess we will see what the real damage is regarding cost $$$$$. So far we have no complaints but we are only very early on in the process. Good luck everyone Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 17Feb 14, 2014 6:16 pm Hi Angebaz Now is the time for you to do a LOT of thinking about what you exactly want. At the stage you are at, the house design is the most important thing. But later on you will think of so many more things you want. Somewhere on homeone I found a very long list of things to consider before you sign the contract. However Elderton have been very good about allowing us to make variations after the contract as been signed. As the build continues, we keep thinking of more things. We are currently mentally moving our furniture in and making sure that the power points are where we want them (ie everywhere). We have been seriously looking at lighting, even though we will get the light fittings installed after handover. This week we decided to get matching LED pendant lights over the island bench and over the kitchen table in the meals area. But will the position of the ceiling light we are given be where we want it? So we have been measuring furniture to work out exactly where we want to put it and make sure the light fittings are where we want them. Soon you should consider which windows should have translucent glass, you wouldn't want clear glass in the staircase, and we all have neighbours close by. You have a lot to do before that tender meeting. Have you considered how much insulation you want? Before your tender meeting, get quotes on anything you think you might want and see what you can afford. Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 18Mar 01, 2014 2:09 am Hi everyone, I started the thread and then disappeared for a while. can't really say that I am very happy with the customer service of Elderton in the post tender acceptance period. Client Relations Manager can never be reached via phone. I had to leave message and then follow up with 2-3 e-mails. Then she would reply 3-4 days later with a short e-mail with incomplete information. No matter how urgent the matter is, I just could not speak to her once. I would rather deal with John, however that's not possible or fruitful due to their operational arrangement. We are stuck at the contract signing stage. They are taking ages to answer simple questions/ information request (not even any variation or pricing info). My bank asked for a copy of current builder's license. It took them 3 days to supply that and that also after several phone calls and e-mail. I am not building an expensive house (Modified smaller Carrington Grange 28 sq), may be that's why my project is not important for them. At times I feel so humiliated. I am paying them money to build my house (that also no less than anyone else). Yet I have to beg to get simple information like a copy of builder's license. Funny thing is they are holding off the progress and reminding that there is a 90 day fixed tender period and afterwards, they reserve the right to change the price. I heard really good things about Elderton. A friend of mine dealt with the owner of the company directly back in 2012 and was extremely happy with their service. Apparently the owner himself used to present sales pitches back then. I suppose they have grown bigger in the last 2 years and the bureaucratic nightmares have caught up with their growth. I am now seriously considering pulling out of the project. Anyway good luck to all with your builds. Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 19Mar 01, 2014 2:17 am BTW my contract mentions 34 weeks to build a 2 storey 28 sq house. The contract specifically mentions that Elderton would only provide explanation for any delay (bad weather, industry shut down) after the practical completion. It overrides the clause 9.2 of the standard HIA contract. Is this what everyone else has in their contracts?? Or is it just me? Re: Elderton Homes - experiences & reviews 20Mar 01, 2014 3:54 am Good morning Newbie at Caddens What are you doing up at this time of the morning? Thinking about problems with building with Ekderton as I am currently doing? I have not had any problems with communications at head office. But have run into a problem in the building process. Big to me, maybe that is why most people say they will not be building again for as long time. I hope to solve my building problem in the next couple of days. Keep in touc. We are looking to do a KDR with fairhaven homes, Have seen plenty of good reviews about them pre construction and plenty of negative reviews about them during contruction… 0 18046 Hi starting the process of looking around for Dual Occ builders. Looking to build a home shared with family either as a duplex or front back. 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