Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Our new home- Odyssey 2 141May 27, 2017 9:47 pm there a few things I things i would have changed, when we went though the first stage we were already 200K over budget.... should have just gone for broke I guess JG King Lexington 240 Acreage build https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=87762 Re: Our new home 142May 30, 2017 8:08 pm Its amazing how things can change so quickly, i thought I'd come along to update you guys, I am Princesssarrah06 husband, right now we are trying to find out what our options are have moving forward, but the regional manager shows no empathy while talking on the phone, and it feels his attitude at this stage is that we signed up and signed the paperwork, you have to continue, Everything appeared to be going fine, until we sold our house, and the pressure was on us to build quickly to lock in the price. In good faith, when the regional manager said the only way to get there by the 30th June timeline he created, we should go straight to contract, and we thought ok, its going to save us money ,by doing this we bypassed JG Kings standard process, i think this was the moment things turned sour(although there have been times we have raised "documented" concerns prior to this, about moving forward due to the sale of our house previouslly). Unfortunately due to deadlines imposed by him(regional manager, which I accept to some degree) we cannot meet the timeline, and has put us in a position were we have to decide whether we continue with the build at a price we cannot afford(bank approval won't go through), or he will send us a cancelation invoice. he has indicated charges will include drawings, sales staff time, and colour consultants time and any other costs related to our job. I have repeatedly accepted that we have delayed for quite some time(2.5 years) but the reality has always been that the sale of our house had to come first(when we signed with kings in late 2014) he said that was not a problem and work with us. But now I feel that was a token gesture to get the sale in the books. I have tried to contact the head office to ask if there is any way we can seek flexibility to this at the company level hoping for some empathy. and while the guy that i spoke to there was amazing, he assured me that Kings is in the business of helping people, but the people who need to contact me still have not reached out. I have less than 24 hours remaining to sign a build contract, that our bank will not approve off regardless. and no way forward. When information has made its way to me, it has literally been at the 11th hour, which means i have no way to ask question, and create solutions, it almost feels like this is intentional. I have been documenting all the things that have caused us concern, and the list is currently sitting at an entire A4 sheet of typed notes. Right now my bank is advising me its to risky to proceed with Kings contract, and I absolutely agree, and even if we decided to move forward, if we are having this kind of trouble now, while i have been reassured thats not the process by which kings operate, the thought of trusting them with our build and our hard earned money is literally making me sick. At this stage we are preparing to walk away from Kings, but i am doubly concerned by the unknown bill i have been told will be sent my way. I cannot afford the bill if i need to move forward. I tend to agree with Nicks comments from the previous page that not only a kings tempting me to walk away, they are actually strong handing me into a decision that i will regret. and the financial risk is now to high. Princesssarrah06 and I have worked to hard and to long to be treated like this. Re: Our new home 143May 30, 2017 8:25 pm I would ask for a run down on what the cancellation notice will cost. We had new plans redrawn (we had majorily changed the floorplan), we had attended a colour appointment and our contract was drawn up. We did not have a signed contract. We were charged about $1100 ( which was taken from our deposit) and received just under a $400 refund. We certainly weren't in talks with Kings for as long as you, but we had reached the point where extra charges were being added to our "account" every month. _____________________________ Follow our build with Boutique Homes on Instagram - ourbarcelona_28 Re: Our new home 144May 30, 2017 8:38 pm Jacinta.C thats part of the issue, i was told he would have to "calculate" it, and send it, his tone and comments indicated that it would be quite an expensive invoice. i have waited 36 hours for this, with a deadline at 5PM tomorrow to sign contract, and i have not heard anything, I am refusing to sign any contract at this stage. All I have received in response to issues we had with the contract pricing are token gestures from Kings. An example is a new line item on the contract which is a surcharge for building in our area(JG King told me when i first signed up, they don't charge for regional areas) We have had 2 soil reports done, and drawings done, however the drawings have never been right, and we were also told in our original NHE that drawing fee would be waived. We attended one colour selection with the consultant, and one with one of the admin ladies as the colour consultant was sick the day we were attending, they asked to reschedule, but that was after the deadline for us were set so we asked to continue anyway, also i work for the education department, so postponing it was not an option as its virtually impossible for me to get time of during the school term as it is. Hence the reason for not turning up to contract signing yesterday when so many questions and issue were left unresolved. Re: Our new home 146May 30, 2017 8:42 pm Just prior to getting our building permit and site start we had to provide Kings a copy of the first page of our approved loan document to show that we really did have the finance to start. This was despite owning the land and signing the contacts. But if I were you and knew I likely didn't have the finance backing to build, then it's crazy to sign a contract. You could wind up in a lot of strife. It's also possible that the threat of an invoice for cancellation is a bluff which they won't do or won't follow through on collecting. You could also get legal advice on the fairness of that if it does come. Re: Our new home 147May 30, 2017 8:49 pm bluetitan When he referred to charges ($), are these above and beyond any deposit you've already paid? I can't see how he can hold you accountable for any costs beyond that if you haven't signed a contract. I would certainly write the deposit off and walk away. Don't look at it as money wasted, think of it as a lesson learnt and an investment in your long term peace of mind. Re: Our new home 148May 30, 2017 8:55 pm Doc Freeman, thanks for the reply. Thats exactly where I'm at, I have written the deposit off in my head, just fearing the worst now based on the attitude i got when the cancelation invoice was brought up. Certainly has been a lessoned learned. Princesssarrah06 has expressed concerns for a while, but i thought from what I had read, it was to get better. Unfortunately that has not been the case, regretfully i didnt make this decision earlier, but now its time to make it right for us, not for Kings Re: Our new home 149May 30, 2017 9:54 pm I don't see how they can charge you beyond your deposit. You haven't signed a contract yet, so you are not legally tied to them. We had signed up with Coral, but ran into problems before we signed the contract. They kept $840 just for preparing the contract (we made no structural changes to the home at all), and we did not have any soil tests etc. done yet. We got $910 refunded and learnt a costly lesson - but I'm glad we won't be building with them! Good luck with what you decide to do. - B A vue of the pines on the Gold Coast forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=87210 Re: Our new home 150May 30, 2017 10:10 pm I have been where you are, wanting to walk away but fearing the costs and all the lost time, and dreading the heartbreak of letting go of our house that we put so much effort into. It's a horrible place to be. Based on jacinta's experience I'm thinking they are bluffing a bit. I don't think that if there is a bill it will be too bad. And I would argue every charge you can. We had a huge number drawing revisions and I told them at one point that there was no way I was paying for their mistakes if we needed to walk away. If you decide you want to stay, surely they could be patient enough to wait for you to get pre approval on the new amount before you sign. After all they did make you skip the building quote stage. We had a long bumpy ride, but so far I don't regret staying, I love our house. However we felt our office were always supportive and wanted to work through the issues to build our house, your manager sounds like a bit of a d1ck. Re: Our new home 151May 31, 2017 2:22 pm Hi Bank, my wife would tend to agree with your last note. I am trying to see it from their perspective, but the reality of the situation is it doesn't help us move forward whatever way we choose, and his refusal to help us move forward with something that is more than token gestures (even if its not his intent) feels like we are being strong-armed.. He isnt even showing any empathy to our situation. We are now only 2 hours away from COB which was the timeline we had to sign to have them honor the contract price(which i will continue to point out, is beyond what we are willing to get a loan for, and quite frankly non of his business of our financial capacity to get a larger loan regardless) I have spoken to consumer affairs this morning, and while he wouldn't comment directly, he said that he would say its time to walk away. I have had to make another call in an attempt to make contact with JG King customer care line, as i still have not received all the information i need to make a decision regardless, and informed them, since they have not follow even JG Kings standard procedure, that I am walking away from them at this stage, and told the guy that i would not be paying any cancellation invoice as due process has not been followed, and the lack of information(engineering report, cancellation invoice costs) that I was told I would be provided by the area manager has not been forwarded to me within the time frame to make a decision on what is right for my wife and I, that alone makes me feel they have breached the contract themselves, not the other way around. We have spoken to another local builder, who is willing to help us as much as possible with a build, we will have to make a few sacrifices, but ultimately I am doing what is right for my family. Unfortunately JG King has not been the family builder they have claimed to be, for us. [EDIT] we have not signed anything other than the NHE, and the JG King journey document , color selection, and drawings(that again, were not correct, but for the sake of delay, it was easier to settle and move forward), We did not turn up to contract signing, as i refused until issues were resolved Re: Our new home 152May 31, 2017 2:30 pm In all honesty, i wish when i contacted the regional manager in 2014 had said to me, no i think we should wait until Titles, and your house is sold before we sign you. For the most part this would never been an issue In hindsight it feels the signing back then was more important than what was truely the best option for both us and JG King Re: Our new home 153Jun 01, 2017 1:35 pm Another 24 hours, still no contact from JG King HO, I did receive an email from local office asking when are we going to come and sign the contracts, and i replied simpy saying that the information i was told i was going to be provided hasn't been sent through, the price is to high, and i am seeking further advice. The response was, who am i waiting for information from ...... I have not replied , and wont now until HO call me back Re: Our new home 154Jun 09, 2017 9:31 pm To fill you all in , I finally received an email from the regional manager with the apparent costs of the cancelation invoice, the total figure is $6500. this figure is due to multiple soil reports and engineering reports (due to time) 4 drawings charges(even after we were told no drawings fees would be part of our build, this doesn't account for all the times the drawings were wrong) multiple charges for color selection, and a few others( all of these things they asked us to redo). The most frustrating charge in the whole breakdown was a $400 charge for report and consent they had applied for on our block. According to the JG King journey document, were we had already been asked to bypass step 2, had us prior to step 3, Report/Consent/Buidling Permits come in at step 5, so the question is, why was that applied for before we had even signed the contract. surely even though they were saying we want to help you get onsite before due 30, why would you do that before you had our signatures on the dotted line. But the real things to point out is that the breakdown of charges did no arrive until the Monday, 4 days after the deadline he gave us to sign the contract or the price would no longer be valid. Mind you, I'm still waiting for details regarding why the site costs were so much, compared to other identical sites in the estate(especially since they have maintained the price being $8k all along). Its frustrating that what they say they will do on the phone, versus what they commit to, is two completely different things. I have a text message from the Admin lady saying that the regional manager would honour the price, but his email says final day is Wednesday(how do you make a big decision like that when the information conflicts). I should also point out, the email he sent informing us of the breakdown , he asked us what we want to do, that frustrated me more, because the friday prior, i sent them written notification of our intent, its like he was baiting us back to signing the contract, or he just completely ignored our response. Regardless, moving forward, I have spoken to both Consumer Affairs, and the Building ombudsman about what to do moving forward, and their advise was good, so much so that I'm sleeping at night again based on that information, and we have moved on to a new builder, who is doing amazing things for us. The new builder spent time with us talking about the issues, and when we let them know one of the issue that was never dealt with was the site costs, they reviewed our soil report, and the house design, and told us the site costs are not justifiable, in fact based on them visiting the site, and reviewing the report, have stated that the site cost to 300mm that Kings include in the base price of the house, is sufficient. (I have had 3 different builders review the site, and they all have said the same thing) On the 19th,we have a color selection with the new builder, so i suspect you will be hearing from PrincessSarah again with what we are doing, the new builder are hoping to be onsite no later than mid July, and have suggested as long as there are no delays we could be having the best christmas present we have ever had. Re: Our new home 156Jun 10, 2017 8:53 am So is it just an email with costs to make you feel bad or do is it actually a legitimate invoice? Surely building 300-500 houses a year worth an average of $300,000 they could absorb these costs. Re: Our new home 157Jun 10, 2017 8:56 pm at this stage, it was just an email with the costs, my guess is that it was sent to me, to make me think the more economical way forward was to continue the build, especially since the final line in the email says, let us what you want to do moving forward, even though i sent an email 4 days prior that was very concise about our decision. ... the entire email only solidified my reasoning for walking away.... Re: Our new home 158Jun 16, 2017 10:38 pm FLOORPLAN 2.0Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is the new unmodified floor plan. Ill post the new one when we get drawings back. So from our original plans the house is missing a room for the kids to play, the garage is regular sized, the alfresco is smaller (tiny , the house is narrower and overall smaller by 4sq? The changes we have made to the plan; the garage and master bedroom area has been flipped, and the minuscule difference gained from the flip has been added to the study, the garage door now enters onto the hallway. The laundry door has been moved to the hallway, rather then set back where it is in the plan. The shower and toilet in the ensuite has been rotated 90 degrees, onto the theatre wall, the vanity is just a single vanity 2 cupboards and a set of draws, the door to the WIR now located between WIR and ensuite where toilet was. Apart from that we have changed much else however had added doors to theatre and study. We took a drive to the volume builders display home (FYI Carlise) just so we could walk through the house to make sure it was right for us in 3D not just on paper! We noted they had extended the master bedroom into the porch, so I will be taking this idea to the builder to see how much extra it will cost, I wouldn't have thought too much more. It will give us a little extra room in there, they had like an ottoman seat there in the display. We also wanted to check out the size of the alfresco, they had extended it out around the corner out to the end of the house. We took some photos of how they did it as we both quite liked it. They had done all the floor in wooden decking and the extension they had built the shelter with decorative screens for the roof so it still let a fair bit of light in. The ensuite and WIR was huge, a little bigger then in the old plan and I think the WIP is slightly bigger as well if not more shelving. The linen space isn't as big but still so much bigger than what we had. The kids rooms were a little smaller then original plan but then there is the WIR for them which is kind of cool. We won't be putting doors on them so hopefully we won't regret that decision later on! Re: Our new home 159Jun 16, 2017 11:28 pm As mentioned the house is narrower and garage smaller, but plenty of room to drive out the back now. We believe we will put in a single car garage at the side of the house later on, with front and rear access so to make up for the smaller garage. It will be the garden shed, tool shed and storage for bikes etc. more room in the back yard for kids and garden Re: Our new home 160Jun 17, 2017 9:48 pm The fans we have chosen. I wanted four blades but they didn't have them with regular lights, but rather with LED lights built in. This fan means we can change globes when needed rather then having to replace the whole thing if it doesn't work. We will use LED globes in it anyway. They are only small 122cm, I thought will be fine for the main bedroom but may look a little small in the living room? Oh well. They aren't fancy or anything just cheap and will do the job hopefully. I really like the colour of them and at least they were cheap enough that we could change later on if they look horrible or aren't any good. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 36 24184 Is it just a report written to give to the bank initially and it is based on what and how your payments are made up for, or is it a full service where they go out and… 2 5781 Skjm You might want to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKx-bsOr2jg If that link doesn't work go to youtube and search for Zac Homes ACA I am really… 1 4107 |