Browse Forums Building A New House Re: NOT Building the Spotswood 284 by Burbank 10Dec 18, 2017 12:27 pm So it seems Burbank are digging in their heels. We have been told that we can no longer get the Big Deal promotion we signed up with (pay $40k and get $85k in upgrades), and if we want to make the changes to the layout we requested we need to start over from scratch with a new submission, meaning we have to pay the base price of the house as of now ($10k more than when we signed), the "Fixed Price" site costs have increased (estimated at about $3k more), and the new pricing for all of the upgrades which we are already $45k worse off because of not getting the promo - basically meaning they want us to now pay over $58k more, with no guarantees they would now allow the changes we requested right from the start, which was the reason we chose this plan. Hubby just got some legal advice and it seems we have grounds for getting our deposit back but I'm not holding my breath. Had we known this 6 months ago we could have started the process with someone else and locked in the pricing from 6 months ago but of course, everything goes up every quarter or half year, so not only have we wasted 12 months of our time on this (I have spent literally hundreds of hours sketching up the floorplan and going over everything 100 times), we are also financially worse off because of it - both with the deposit paid and price increases in that time. It will be interesting to see how this plays out but I think it's safe to say WE WILL NOT BE BUILDING WITH BURBANK. The worst part is trying to find another builder with a plan that will fit our needs, or can be altered to suit - we've already been through this 12 months ago and I didn't think we would have to be doing it again! Second Time 'Round Re: Building the Spotswood 284 by Burbank 11Dec 22, 2017 11:34 am It seems the head office is willing to work with us using our original pricing and only charge a variation of $1420 (which is $5/m2 of the house) to do up our plans again (would be nice if we had any!) and we will be charged $2000 per quarter past 12 months from initial deposit (which was last month). I think this is fair, but we won't sit down with the consultant until mid January to go over everything and we will only get one shot at it. I've sent them my drawings and notes based on the last quote we received back in July, so lets hope this gets finalised. In some respects it seems a little harsh that we are being charged for a variation when nothing was finalised prior, but with the extra time we have had we have been able to adjust little things, so I think it will be worth it. We are just hoping it can go smoothly from here on. Second Time 'Round Re: Building the Spotswood 284 by Burbank 13Feb 15, 2018 9:53 am To finish off the story, we met with the experienced Burbank sales consultant to go over the plans I had sent them. Firstly the printer wouldn't work to be able to print off a plan for us (if I believed in omens this wasn't a good start), then we were told they had spoken with the drafts person and we couldn't have the powder room smaller because the depth of a vanity is 600mm (which is a kitchen bench depth) and they won't do a custom sized vanity, so I asked her for a tape measure and proceeded to go inside the display which we were sitting in the garage of and measure it's powder room vanity depth, the bathroom vanity depth and ensuite vanity depth, all of which were different measurements, but none as wide as 600mm so this story didn't add up. On the plans I sent I didn't allow enough distance from the boundary to allow the 450mm eaves (I only allowed 1600mm but it should have been 1650mm, despite only needing 1m side clearance) so all of the rooms would have to be adjusted 50mm - wouldn't it be helpful if people told you up front what size is required... Everything else I had drawn and sent to her was ok but we would have to pay the non-refundable $1420 to proceed and have the drafts person go over everything and be approved/properly drawn, and there was no guarantee that any of our requests would be given the ok. We felt like we would be handing over more money with no guarantee that we would end up getting what we wanted, and more than likely would get a response that "it can't be done". To top it off, afterwards the consultant introduced us to the finance person (in the next garage) and her introduction was "these are my nightmare clients" - said tongue in cheek but no doubt with some sincerity. The finance lady then told me I needed to earn more money because we would not be approved for a loan on our current income, which got me a bit worried but after a phone call to our bank we were assured it would not be a problem. She was definitely not my favourite person. All of this combined, we knew we had to rip off the bandaid and break up with Burbank because from the sounds of it, none of us were happy with the arrangement. After forwarding the emails from very early on that stated our initial deposit would be fully refunded if we weren't happy and since the second deposit we made was to have custom drawings done which we never got, we felt we were entitled to a full refund of all money paid. We were sent a cancellation form to sign and after sending it back it took almost 2 weeks, but we finally had our deposit refunded to us yesterday. It is unfortunate that things did not turn out as planned. In hindsight we should have gone directly to a custom builder rather than try and change something to meet our requirements. No hard feelings, just lessons learnt. Onwards and upwards. Second Time 'Round Re: Building the Spotswood 284 by Burbank 14Feb 15, 2018 10:29 am How disappointing after all that time. Hopefully you can find a builder to work with. Hi All, Recently we have signed a contract with Burbank and we are not aware that they have just DORSET, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, KENT, PILBARA and REDGUM bricks from PGH are… 0 3165 go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110576 |