Browse Forums Building A New House Re: is this company any good? 2Mar 20, 2008 7:22 pm Hi- we've signed up with NBG and are just waiting for our final drawings for the Carrington 28E.
So far we've had a pretty good experience. All the paper work has been done on time and we haven't had any problems with the changes we wanted (they were quite small though!) We're yet to pick out our colours but will be going else where for all the floorings to get a better price. We've had quick look at the standard range of things like door, skirting, cornices, handles, bricks, bath/sink, etc and we're quite happy with them. The site costs weren't too bad, we're building in a developed area (Greensborough) so there are a couple of extra things we have to pay for, but I think its actually a council requirement for insurance purposes. The build time they've given us for a 28sq single floor is 205 days. Seems like a lot, but at least it 'should' be finished in that time. That will take us right up to Christmas so I reckon they'll finish up before then as they won't get their last payment until they finish and why would they want to drag it out another 4 weeks? All up, I would recommend but we're still in the early part of the process. Good luck, Anthea Rivergum 3Mar 20, 2008 10:21 pm Hi Abbey,
I do know a little about Rivergum, we were looking at there houses when we also were looking at signing with PD, and our main problem with PD was site cost which first came in at $30,000 then they went down to $22,000 then $15,000 in the end we didn't build with them even though I love there houses. Anyway getting back to Rivergum I spent quite a bit of time looking into them, a friend who is a timber supplier said they were good, but there site cost still were way to high at $22,000, and after looking closely at the quality of there work and compairing it to PD and the builder we finially buildt with, we dicided not to build with them. There is a couple of people in our street that buildt with NBG and they are not happy at all. Rivergum do have a web site, and there pricing is quite good. Re: is this company any good? 5Mar 21, 2008 6:46 am Quote: Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:01 am Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- hey abby if your looking for a good builder with good service. JG King homes is your answer. they build exclusivly with steel frame at no extra cost to timber. that means protection agaisnt termites, fire, weather, and structual faults. My cousin built with them ans she loved the quality of their homes. jg king also allows ANY changes to standard plans and they also do fully custom plans. apparently they're the 4th largest builder in victoria but no body knows about them cause they build primaraly in the country where termites are a big problem. but yeah the steel frames is a big plus, that means no squeaky and jamed doors after 10 or so years. wood after a number of years changes in size and anotomy slightly which causes structual faults like jaming doors. this is because wood changes in size due to weather and humidity. steel is the way to go, after all they do build commercial and industrial properties with steel frames. you should check out their website. i live on the east side. so i know the consultants that worked with my cousin(still have their business cards) Michael Bui : 0432606615, and Anil khosla 0405352961. just give them a call and they will be happy to help you out. Did You know that they are a franchise? This could work both ways - the person who own the franchise does the work = wanting to protect his reputation so does a good job. Or contracts out like all other big builders, therefore you never really can tell the quality of the build compared to the dsplay homes. Paula Re: is this company any good? 6Apr 09, 2008 9:40 pm Hi Abbey,
We're building with NG and so far we've only got the signed contracts and paid the 5% deposit. But we have been happy so far with the service provided. We were a little annoyed with the costing of the change of roof pitch (developers guidelines) but overall have gotten a good deal and professional service. Be sure to ask for a list of homes built by which ever builder you go with & check the houses out ) All the best! Re: is this company any good? 7Jun 13, 2008 10:34 am Hi Abbey, we are also tossing between NBG & Rivergum. Both have good prices but at the end of the day it comes down to which is better quality for the price. I know NBG comes down to the builder you get - and I have researched one of their builders and I am happy with them. Haven't even checked out a Rivergum display house...but if anybody who has built with them share their experience that would be great.
I wish I could build with PD but none of their houses fit on our block Re: is this company any good? 8Jun 13, 2008 5:56 pm We're building with NBG and are very happy so far. We've got truckloads of concrete piers on our blocks, retaining walls, plumbing and hopefully a slab next week if it stops raining. There is a rivergum house going up in our street also at lightening speed. It looks pretty good. Fi has moved in!! Re: is this company any good? 9Jun 14, 2008 12:26 pm Hi ken 2128,
do you work for a builder? I think i read this somewhere before? Re: is this company any good? 10Jun 16, 2008 9:45 am Quote: We're building with NBG and are very happy so far. We've got truckloads of concrete piers on our blocks, retaining walls, plumbing and hopefully a slab next week if it stops raining. There is a rivergum house going up in our street also at lightening speed. It looks pretty good. Hi Brittany. Well we have paid our $1K for our quote with NBG, so hopefully we will get it soon, but it does take 14 business days, which is a long time! Rivergum provided us with a quote at no charge, but that does not include site costs. Do you mind me asking what your site costs were with NB if any? do you have any fall on your land? Quote: Hi ken 2128, do you work for a builder? I think i read this somewhere before? Re: is this company any good? 11Jun 24, 2008 3:58 pm We're building with NBG also. Buckingham 36E. Site costs were about 20k for 2m drop and M class soil. They have been pretty good so far, but one frustration I have is that we signed up in November 2007 and we have just got the building permit. When we were signing up, we were lead to believe we could be building in a few months (not 7 months). Just be prepared to wait, wait and wait and don't be dissapointed too much if there are delays. We have just learnt to accept there will be delays. Re: is this company any good? 12Jun 24, 2008 10:03 pm Our site costs are close to $50000. We have quite some slope and a lot of cut and fill. We're about to add to that now and build a rear retaining wall and fill in the back yard too so we don't have a backyard way beneath our house. The $50000 is scary but I took our soil and contour reports to another company and their pricing for site costs were much the same. We have a massive amount of concrete piers on our blocks and lots of retaining walls. We took a long time to get started - some our fault - but from the end of November it took to March to get our building permit. Then it has taken till a few weeks ago to get really started. We now have pipes in the ground and may have our slab next week. I won't hold my breath. Ringing your builder regularly does help. A lot of our holdup was because of the ANZ bank and a very slack person handling our mortgage.
One issue I have had with NBG is the lack of followup in regards to rescode. We had a couple of issues in regards to screening which I kept asking about and was told it was okay. I stated in emails that if I had to screen certain areas that I would prefer to make a change - i.e. from a full window to a small window. There seems to be a lack of information exchange when NBG pass off to the builder. Hence I end up with a big window that I have to screen. There also has been a bit of confusion between deposits paid and what was included in the quote in the pass off from NBG to the builder. I'm not sure if this is the builders lack of back of house skills yet but I've had to watch carefully so far. Still very happy with how things are going - just wish they were going faster! Fi has moved in!! Re: is this company any good? 14Jun 25, 2008 11:30 am wow 50k is scary!
in regards to NBG, our quote still hasn't been submitted, and this was 2 weeks ago! they are still trying to get approval for things - I'm losing my patience with them so obviously this is a common problem, just getting the paperwork done... Rivergum are much quicker in response and their quote was free, not sure about the quality of their houses though.... 20K for a 2m dip...ours is 1.5, so I'm assuming ours would be $15K, better then 40k I suppose. thx for the replies guys Re: is this company any good? 15Jun 25, 2008 8:08 pm We are also currently waiting on final site works costs. We have an S4 rating for the block. One step better than M class. We've been told the average site costs here are 25-30K.
So I understand your anxiety over waiting for costings. Anyone used Rivergum Constructions? 16Jul 08, 2008 2:28 pm Hi,
We are looking at building with Rivergum Constructions but cannot find much information on the web regarding how good they are in terms of quality etc. We had a look at a display home and it seemed quite nice but so do most of the display homes from different builders. If you know someone that has built with them can you please provide information. Thanks in advance. Re: is this company any good? 17Jul 12, 2008 8:53 pm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Did You know that they are a franchise?
This could work both ways - the person who own the franchise does the work = wanting to protect his reputation so does a good job. Or contracts out like all other big builders, therefore you never really can tell the quality of the build compared to the dsplay homes.[/quote] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NBG are not a franchise NBG are a sales marketing company only with display homes were the builder in the group pay them a commision for the sale on the house,they only sell and dont build .So deal direct with the builder who signs up your contract. 9 24791 Thank you. Do I use timber floorboards for stairs or do people use timber treads? Or is both the same? 6 7272 Hi, I have had them in the past and the pros are: Versatile, i.e many different colours and styles to choose… 1 6875 |