Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Masterton Homes 5Feb 07, 2009 8:57 am John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: Masterton Homes 8Feb 07, 2009 12:03 pm John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: Masterton Homes 12Feb 07, 2009 3:38 pm We are building the Villina with the Nouveau facade - same facade that the Tempo has on display.
We locked in our price back in November but if our tender does go over (we negotiated 201 days because of the Christmas break) our house has only gone up $2k. Basically after we accepted the tender we paid our initial deposit and it took about 4 weeks to get our first round of drawings in. We had them over the Christmas break and approved them with a couple of minor changes (moving a door and a gas point) and are now waiting for the DA to be submitted. We organised our demo DA ourselves but that took a while to get through council - about 8 weeks (but that's a bit above average - just some issues with our council delayed it). The council DA will hopefully go in in the next week or so (fingers crossed) and we have until the start of June for our tender to be up. Re: Masterton Homes 13Feb 08, 2009 3:13 pm EmoH So how does the process work? You finalized your variations then pay deposit 4k, then get the plans drawn and if all is in order, sign off to put through to council? ( any penalties for last minute changes?) Do you also need to apply to council for demolition of the old house on the land? does that take long to approve? and once the DA is approved you got 180 days to sign otehrwise you may be subject to price inceases? Thanks Hi EmoH, I have split your questions into three sections: - Initial Process, - KDR (Knock Down Rebuild) - 180 day Repricing Initial Process. 1. Firstly you receive your first set of 'Presentation Plans' named 'Presentation Plans A'. You are allowed to make one suite of changes, meaning you can change many things around, but you only can do this once. 2. Then you will receive 'Presentation Plans B' incorporating all of your requested changes, of course if they misinterpret or forget something they will fix it without charge to you. They are cool in this respect. In fairness, people would be making variations forever if there were no charges. 3. Then you Sign the paperwork to submit to Council. It is from now you will have to pay $1000 bucks for variations if initiated by you, meaning if you then decide at this stage that you want a double roller door instead of two singles you will have to pay the Variation Fee ($1000). This fee is charged per change too so beware! You will also pay your $4000 Initial Payment. We were Beechwood Homes customers so this Initial Payment was waived. Now, if the Council insists on changes like dropping the garage floor level to reduce the driveway gradient then this is a 'No Charge Variation', but there is usually other costs like extra brick courses, etc. But, if the Council says "make that window smaller" or "reposition it" then there is no overall charge as the cost would be negligible. 4. Then your stuff goes to Council after a few weeks of Council Planning, BASIX assessments, Statement of Environmental Effects, Site Surveys, heaps of stuff happens prior to lodgement. 5. Then your stuff comes out of Council and the process continues and you eventually get your Building Agreement, which shows all of your progress payment information, etc. 6. Once you sign the Building Agreement and return it (with your deposit) they then start your build within, but usually on, 20 days (they put the ATF fence up and get a port-a-loo which constitutes "Starting"). KDR (Knock Down Rebuild). Yes you do need to apply to demolish the existing dwelling, and if Masterton is doing this for you (the most efficient way) then it will all be taken care of for you. The council just wants to now how you are going to knock it down, will there be traffic considerations for bulldozers and earth movers?, when will the electrical company arrive to disconnect at the pole/underground?, when will the water provider do the same, will there be recycling of any items?, what did you have for brekky, etc, etc As far as how long to approve, it may take a little longer if part of the Masterton KDR process, I expect that the entire approval process will take maybe an extra couple of weeks at the most. 180 day Repricing. Once you have completed the steps as per the initial process you have 180 days to sign the Building Agreement and pay your Initial Deposit (5%). 180 days is a fair amount of time and you will be right if you keep in contact with your Construction Co-ordinator at Masterton Homes and turn around any of their requests without delay. Beechwood Homes had 90 day Repricing, there is no way on earth you would ever have the process completed in 3 months, then they have you hooked, then reprice your contract which was a rip off, no wonder they went broke (sucked in). Feel free to get me to clarify any of this and feel free to ask more about the process...sorry for the long-winded response, I just wanted to be clear. John John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: Masterton Homes 16Apr 13, 2009 7:38 am Hi. We're building with Masterton Homes too. So far our experience has been great. Our Sales Consultant has been attentive and very helpful. I'm a bit concerned about the 180 days though. We got our final tender in February, paid our deposit on 21 Feb. We had our meeting last week to go over plan changes and now we're waiting for Presentation Plan B. If that takes another month, and our council takes over four months to approve (which apparently for our council is quite likely) then we'll have gone over the 180 days easily. Fingers crossed that if our prices rise it won't be too much. Masterton Santorini Grande 23/01/09 First Tender 17/11/09 Contract signed 25/01/10 Slab 27/03/10 Frame 7/5/10 Bricks 1/07/10 Roof 9/7/10 Lock up 24/8/10 PCI 16/09/2010 KEYS! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16418 Re: Masterton Homes 17Apr 13, 2009 11:18 am lizzy stardust Hi. We're building with Masterton Homes too. So far our experience has been great. Our Sales Consultant has been attentive and very helpful. I'm a bit concerned about the 180 days though. We got our final tender in February, paid our deposit on 21 Feb. We had our meeting last week to go over plan changes and now we're waiting for Presentation Plan B. If that takes another month, and our council takes over four months to approve (which apparently for our council is quite likely) then we'll have gone over the 180 days easily. Fingers crossed that if our prices rise it won't be too much. 180 is working days or calenda days Re: 18Apr 13, 2009 11:23 am JohnAndTarin I'm sure they didn't do it intentionally! they are very apologetic even if they miss something. all i can say is our experience so far has been excellent. JohnAndTarin May I ask you a question? What's the difference between Regent 38 & Regent grand if I choose the Prestige facade? Except for the price difference I can't find any other big difference. Re: 19Apr 13, 2009 11:25 am buildingadreamhome We are building the Villina with the Nouveau facade - same facade that the Tempo has on display. We locked in our price back in November but if our tender does go over (we negotiated 201 days because of the Christmas break) our house has only gone up $2k. Basically after we accepted the tender we paid our initial deposit and it took about 4 weeks to get our first round of drawings in. We had them over the Christmas break and approved them with a couple of minor changes (moving a door and a gas point) and are now waiting for the DA to be submitted. We organised our demo DA ourselves but that took a while to get through council - about 8 weeks (but that's a bit above average - just some issues with our council delayed it). The council DA will hopefully go in in the next week or so (fingers crossed) and we have until the start of June for our tender to be up. May I know why you do not choose Masterton's demo? Is it too expensive? How much for you to demolish your existing house? We'll have to do the same thing. Our house is an old one. Re: Masterton Homes 20Apr 13, 2009 1:39 pm My understanding is Masterton no longer do demolitions. We originally spoke to them a couple of years ago but just before going to plan stage we found out we were expecting Baby #2. At that time, the tender included demolition. This time around, we were told that they no longer do demolition but recommended someone to us with whom they normally work (presumably the contractor that used to do demolitions for them). We also got our own quotes and the Masterton recommended demolition co was around $2,500 more expensive. So it's worth shopping around. On the 180 days, I'm pretty sure it's calendar days... so, around 6 months. Masterton Santorini Grande 23/01/09 First Tender 17/11/09 Contract signed 25/01/10 Slab 27/03/10 Frame 7/5/10 Bricks 1/07/10 Roof 9/7/10 Lock up 24/8/10 PCI 16/09/2010 KEYS! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16418 4 16852 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 75946 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. 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