Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Project home builder in NSW 3Apr 09, 2019 3:22 pm Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Project home builder in NSW 7Apr 13, 2019 8:19 am alvinhfung Let me know if you have any recommendations. Hi Alvin, I have done some research on project home builders with 'custom' options , I am in the same boat and for once preferred to be on the other end of the table but still wants custom 😂 . PM me for details. On a side note, my friend in similar predicament went with Metricon (not custom) and happy to have made the decision , hassle free 😁 Re: Project home builder in NSW 8Apr 15, 2019 8:25 am I don't think you could list all relevant issue in the project vs custom debate/decision in a single post … however, don't forget that a lot of the project builders will modify their designs for you, and I think it's safe to say that most of those don't charge disproportionately when you make those changes. Our project builder basically said we could rearrange any of their designs in just about any way, as long as the staircase stayed in the same spot (which I suspect is just a rule-of-thumb that's applied to keep changes in check). We grabbed a standard 2-storey design, which had the entry corridor essentially in the middle of the house; we flipped the back of the downstairs floorplan compared to the front, we copy-pasted a bedroom/study/powder module out of another design, and then upstairs is 100% custom except for the stairs. That all cost us about the same as the standard design, because what materials we added were negated by the materials we deleted. In my (limited) experience, it's the inclusions & finishes & architectural flourish (both wow-factor stuff & practical stuff like airflow) that you might not be able to get with a project build. Also the ways to achieve what you want to achieve within the bounds of building codes, we were quite limited to the number of project builders we could use because a lot of them wouldn't use private certifiers that interpreted the floorspace-ratio with relation to our unattached 2nd garage in the way we wanted those rules interpreted. Re: Project home builder in NSW 9Apr 15, 2019 12:50 pm The main aspect of project builds is quality. Project builders and especially their tradies are known for cutting corners everywhere they can (as during most of the build they are pretty much unsupervised). At the same time, you will have quite limited choice of overrated finishes which they will be charging 50-100% margins on.
Forget about composited and energy efficient homes, alternative materials and construction methods - all you get is a standard "stick house" on waffle pod slab and you even if you maintain it well, you might be lucky enough and it will last 20-25 years without significant structural damage. Re: Project home builder in NSW 10Apr 15, 2019 3:20 pm alexp79 you may be lucky to enough and it will last 20-25 years without significant structural damage. Did this start happening 19-24 years ago, which is why the vast majority of homes aren't falling down yet? Re: Project home builder in NSW 11Apr 15, 2019 3:27 pm Forg alexp79 you may be lucky to enough and it will last 20-25 years without significant structural damage. Did this start happening 19-24 years ago, which is why the vast majority of homes aren't falling down yet? Standards have significantly dropped in the last 5 years or so. Project homes built before that generally arent too bad. If you were to compare say a Clarendon home built circa 1995-2005 compared to one built in 2019 you would be amazed at the difference. With the lack of quality in the prefabricated timber framing at the moment I have a genuine fear that if there was an earthquake we would see significant damage in these new subdivisions. I don't believe that there is enough tolerance being designed in 90 x 35mm timber frames and trusses, especially in terms of bracing and tie downs. Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Project home builder in NSW 12Apr 15, 2019 3:41 pm Earthquake is just one side of the story. Strong winds (debris damage), flooding, bush fires, periods of draughts and excessive moisture, (in some areas) freezing cycles - just about anything can break the house apart. How many houses were structurally damaged with slab heave after the draughts in Victoria? Thousands! And those were older homes, I am scared even to imagine what would happen to the houses built recently and what those numbers will be looking like in 20-25 years. Re: Project home builder in NSW 13Apr 15, 2019 3:49 pm alexp79 Earthquake is just one side of the story. Strong winds (debris damage), flooding, bush fires, periods of draughts and excessive moisture, (in some areas) freezing cycles - just about anything can break the house apart. How many houses were structurally damaged with slab heave after the draughts in Victoria? Thousands! And those were older homes, I am scared even to imagine what would happen to the houses built recently and what those numbers will be looking like in 20-25 years. fair points Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Project home builder in NSW 14Apr 16, 2019 7:23 am Forg I don't think you could list all relevant issue in the project vs custom debate/decision in a single post … however, don't forget that a lot of the project builders will modify their designs for you, and I think it's safe to say that most of those don't charge disproportionately when you make those changes. Our project builder basically said we could rearrange any of their designs in just about any way, as long as the staircase stayed in the same spot (which I suspect is just a rule-of-thumb that's applied to keep changes in check). We grabbed a standard 2-storey design, which had the entry corridor essentially in the middle of the house; we flipped the back of the downstairs floorplan compared to the front, we copy-pasted a bedroom/study/powder module out of another design, and then upstairs is 100% custom except for the stairs. That all cost us about the same as the standard design, because what materials we added were negated by the materials we deleted. In my (limited) experience, it's the inclusions & finishes & architectural flourish (both wow-factor stuff & practical stuff like airflow) that you might not be able to get with a project build. Also the ways to achieve what you want to achieve within the bounds of building codes, we were quite limited to the number of project builders we could use because a lot of them wouldn't use private certifiers that interpreted the floorspace-ratio with relation to our unattached 2nd garage in the way we wanted those rules interpreted. This is correct for one of our final 2 shortlist to keep the garage and stairs at the same location. However, I did approach PHB with my own plans (good passive design principles and 'architectural features'), off which 7 builders confirmed can replicate/ cut n paste/ rearranged their standard. I have narrowed down to 2 based on inclusions , building in same area, quality and known construction/ contractual issues and both cost estimates are on par with project home rate minus the extras .. those I have to pay Hi all, Been browsing project builders' website and saw Masterton with attached granny flat design Seeing bad reviews from masterton in this website/facebook, does… 0 18892 As a tradesmen get a private inspector although I don't think there worth it in their profession themselves the reminder they serve to the tradesmen doing the work is… 3 28022 VERY important to understand that each franchise is a independent business, so there are bad franchises out there as well as good (no different from a Bakers Delight… 4 2771 |