Browse Forums General Discussion Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 2Oct 06, 2010 2:08 am I haven't built with them, but there are quite a few that have or are. Some happy, others not so happy. If you search on here I'm sure a lot of info will come up. If you don't need the timber-look garage door, I would just stick with a "standard" colour if you are worried about cost. The island bench is not a structural feature, so you should be able to extend it if there is enough room. Over head cupboards I believe would be expensive through a builder. What plan are you going with? Antennas are not normally included in what you get I don't think, but they can installed for about $200 or less. Regardless of what anything costs, it helps to make a wishlist and a necessity list of the extras you want and need. It would be great to be able to add whatever you wanted, but reality is, it is highly unlikely you will be able to afford everything on your wishlist when you have a tight budget. Have a fun time choosing Built with New Generation (Summit Homes) We own land!... with a slab on it! Plus a shell of a house with stuff inside ! Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 3Oct 06, 2010 11:51 am Are you building in WA or Vic? Site Start: 10th September, 2010 PCI : Friday 27th January, 2011. Handover: 3rd February, 2011 Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37677 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 4Oct 06, 2010 12:17 pm Hi there I'm not with HBC but will try and give you some info based on our experience. Our electrical prestart cost approx 2,000 extra, mainly for about 12 extra dounle GPO's, one extra TV point and about 6 downlights. ( hmm maybe I have forgotten something there...but anyway the double GPO's were about $30 each) If you can I would put in whatever double GPO's you think you'll need and an extra TV point but skip downlights to cut costs. We stuck with builder's range of tiles, most of them we didn't like but we found some fairly plain ones we liked. We got dark woodgrain laminate vanities to jazz up the bathroom/ensuite a bit. Don't worry about number of kitchen doors, just make sure you plan where your microwave and bin can go (if you want the mw off the benchtop) and maybe go for some pot drawers in lieu of one of the cupboards? Our kitchen (when its built!) is definitely not fancy, eg: no upgrades, but I think it will work well. We have a microwave recess in the bench with two drawers underneath, and 2 pot drawers with 1 slim drawer above it instead of 4 equal sized drawers. We don't have enough wall space for overhead cupboards so that was an easy decision. Our bathrooms we upgraded to pivot shower screens and changed the taps in the ensuite to a mixer. We'll put different shower heads on later maybe. Re the crossover I agree with your sales guy, get someone to do it later as a cash job if you don't mind organising it and paying for it separately (eg: not through the construction loan) That's what we'll be doing. There's no need to go over board at prestart if you're disciplined Don't forget all the finishing off stuff eg: paint, flooring, landscaping, window covering etc will all need to be done gradually after the house is built, so it would be fab to have some $ left over to put towards that! ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 5Oct 06, 2010 10:08 pm Thanks for your advice guys! I am building in WA zoe's mama - you mentioning upgrading to mixer taps has actually got me thinking - are standard taps included? I know this is probably a basic question but I don't remember him specifying it and I've never thought to ask. It would seem silly not to include them, but then again they try and squeeze you for every cent you have! I like the idea of the pot drawers, but am dreading how much they will want to charge me to extend the bench and put drawers in instead! Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 6Oct 06, 2010 10:21 pm lilizzy7 Hello all, I am new on here, but I have been lurking around reading everyone's advice and thought that this place would come in very handy for advice! Basically, my partner and I are building with Homebuyers Centre, but I wanted to get an idea from those of you who have built through them, what kind of extras/upgrades you added on at prestart and how much they cost. It is so daunting trying to budget for so many things that I may or may not be able to afford, and it's pretty tough getting any firm prices from them! I don't want to go into prestart and only then have an idea of how much I can afford. The kinds of things I mostly interested are: -Adding GPO's, plus putting in phone line and TV antennae -Tiling in bathrooms - how many chose from the standard range and how much is it to upgrade? - Upgrade costs for things like the timber look garage door, overhead cupboards for the kitchen and any outdoor lights. - I was also wondering about the standard number of cupboard doors in the kitchen - it seems like such a silly thing to be concerned about but in the displays they have 5 doors plus drawers and a dishwasher recess, but in any of the pics I've found on here it's been 4 doors? I have asked my sales consultant, but as nice as he is I don't think he has any idea and he keeps saying "leave that to prestart". I was thinking about possibly extending the kitchen island bench by 1 cupboard length but is that included in the brickwork that you can't change once the preliminary contract is signed? I know there are a lot of questions Here! It's all a bit overwhelming so any help would be much appreciated - before I get thrown into prestart and bombarded with prices I didn't expect. Oh one more thing - crossovers. Our consultant told us that it would be cheaper to just get one of the tradies to do it for a cashie with any leftover pavers he may have because HBC would charge way too much (I loved his honesty), but is this an automatic prestart inclusion because that's the impression I have got from others? Thanks!! Get a price for EVERYTHING you want upgraded at prestart - then go away, sit down with your budget at hand and decide what you really want (within budget) and what you can do without. I would suggest doing and/or upgrading things that are very difficult or costly to do down the track (ie. raising the ceiling height from 28c to 31c through the living area(s) is something you will want to do up-front and not after you have handover if that is on your wish list as it will be nigh on impossible). Things like stone benchtops and fancy shower heads are things you can change later when you have the sufficient funds. I hope that helps (and makes sense!). Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 7Oct 06, 2010 11:07 pm lilizzy7 Thanks for your advice guys! I am building in WA zoe's mama - you mentioning upgrading to mixer taps has actually got me thinking - are standard taps included? I know this is probably a basic question but I don't remember him specifying it and I've never thought to ask. It would seem silly not to include them, but then again they try and squeeze you for every cent you have! I like the idea of the pot drawers, but am dreading how much they will want to charge me to extend the bench and put drawers in instead! Yes standard taps are included and they are perfectly fine The pot drawers hrmmm I think they were under $500, so you might be pleasantly surprised. They thing to remember is that once you go to prestart and start upgrading/changing they won't always have a price at hand. So they go away and cost up a lot of it and you should get a list sent out where you can cross out the stuff that you can't afford or seems over-priced. ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 8Oct 07, 2010 12:12 am See that is something I have been really confused about. I thought prestart was done all in one day and if you went over your budget that was worked into the loan you paid for everything up front. But now that I know we can go away and think about the prices it seems less stressful then anticipated! Thanks so much everyone Any more advice is appreciated if you think of it, but you have all been very helpful Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 9Oct 07, 2010 2:04 pm lilizzy7 See that is something I have been really confused about. I thought prestart was done all in one day and if you went over your budget that was worked into the loan you paid for everything up front. But now that I know we can go away and think about the prices it seems less stressful then anticipated! Thanks so much everyone Any more advice is appreciated if you think of it, but you have all been very helpful Hmm well I can only speak from my experience but we got to choose which upgrades we wanted after the costing came back. We weren't able to borrow any more $$ so we'd have to show proof of savings to pay for any significant extras (although we did have about 5k 'spare' in the loan amount which is long gone now ) Good luck! ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 10Oct 24, 2010 10:20 pm Ah I see, that does make so much more sense then the way I thought of it haha. Well, in the end HBC wont be getting our business anyway. Long story, but I can see why some people on here have some negative things to say about them..Oh well, it's a learning curve! Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 11Oct 24, 2010 10:23 pm Have you gone with anyone else yet, or still deciding? Shame you had to pull the pin. Built with New Generation (Summit Homes) We own land!... with a slab on it! Plus a shell of a house with stuff inside ! Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 12Oct 25, 2010 12:49 am We're seriously considering Aveling Homes. Before we chose HBC, Aveling were our second choice. Now we have given them more thought we're actually finding them much better value for money. I'm starting to get excited about it all over again instead of stressing yay Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 13Oct 25, 2010 6:52 pm lilizzy7 We're seriously considering Aveling Homes. Before we chose HBC, Aveling were our second choice. Now we have given them more thought we're actually finding them much better value for money. I'm starting to get excited about it all over again instead of stressing yay I'm glad, building your first house is meant to be an exciting time! Hope everything runs smoothly (it wont because there is always hiccups along the way, but in general I hope it runs better!) I assume you have a block, whereabouts are you planning on building? Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 14Oct 26, 2010 7:00 pm Huggy_B lilizzy7 We're seriously considering Aveling Homes. Before we chose HBC, Aveling were our second choice. Now we have given them more thought we're actually finding them much better value for money. I'm starting to get excited about it all over again instead of stressing yay I'm glad, building your first house is meant to be an exciting time! Hope everything runs smoothly (it wont because there is always hiccups along the way, but in general I hope it runs better!) I assume you have a block, whereabouts are you planning on building? Yep, we already have our block we're building in Bertram Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 15Oct 26, 2010 7:53 pm lilizzy7 Huggy_B lilizzy7 We're seriously considering Aveling Homes. Before we chose HBC, Aveling were our second choice. Now we have given them more thought we're actually finding them much better value for money. I'm starting to get excited about it all over again instead of stressing yay I'm glad, building your first house is meant to be an exciting time! Hope everything runs smoothly (it wont because there is always hiccups along the way, but in general I hope it runs better!) I assume you have a block, whereabouts are you planning on building? Yep, we already have our block we're building in Bertram Bertrams nice - good investment. My friend lives there, so I troop down every now and then. The school going in looks lovely, and all those trees. I think I saw an aveling home - it had like an open plan kitchen??? am I thinking of the right one? It was in Wanneroo. I am trying to pick upgrades at the mo - we pretty much topped our bidget with Lifestyle, but most upgrades are in there. I am saving money on lights by just doing spot lights, so I will just need the 1 light point. My friend bought her overheads from Ikea, you can also get them from bunnings. Just an idea.... Hope Aveling goes well! Building with Life$tyle Homes in Perth SOR Key Dates on First Page of my Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38761 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 16Oct 27, 2010 4:18 pm Thanks, I hope so too! Good news is we signed with them today! Our consultant has been so helpful over the last few weeks, and surprisingly with all the costings he has given us (I asked him to price everything we wanted to add on at pre-start haha) we have come in under budget and got more added in then we were going to get with HBC - go figure?! Very happy with Avelings service so far, I have emailed him so many times asking for prices etc and he has been more then happy to help Hopefully the rest of the process goes as smoothly - probably wont, but at least this is a better start! Btw- the plan we are building is on display at Banksia Grove, so it probably isn't the one you are thinking of - but it does have a lovely open plan kitchen/living area Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 17Oct 27, 2010 4:37 pm lilizzy7 Thanks, I hope so too! Good news is we signed with them today! Our consultant has been so helpful over the last few weeks, and surprisingly with all the costings he has given us (I asked him to price everything we wanted to add on at pre-start haha) we have come in under budget and got more added in then we were going to get with HBC - go figure?! Very happy with Avelings service so far, I have emailed him so many times asking for prices etc and he has been more then happy to help Hopefully the rest of the process goes as smoothly - probably wont, but at least this is a better start! Btw- the plan we are building is on display at Banksia Grove, so it probably isn't the one you are thinking of - but it does have a lovely open plan kitchen/living area Good choice on the plan, but I may be a bit biased as I am building it too Was it Salesperson at the banksia grove display that you have been dealing with? He is very good! ---- Building in Banksia Grove We have keys - 31st March 2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 18Oct 27, 2010 6:44 pm lilizzy7 Thanks, I hope so too! Good news is we signed with them today! Our consultant has been so helpful over the last few weeks, and surprisingly with all the costings he has given us (I asked him to price everything we wanted to add on at pre-start haha) we have come in under budget and got more added in then we were going to get with HBC - go figure?! Very happy with Avelings service so far, I have emailed him so many times asking for prices etc and he has been more then happy to help Hopefully the rest of the process goes as smoothly - probably wont, but at least this is a better start! Btw- the plan we are building is on display at Banksia Grove, so it probably isn't the one you are thinking of - but it does have a lovely open plan kitchen/living area Is banksia grove the one a little further down the road? I missed the turn off once and ended up in it, it had display home flags everywhere... I had a squiz online at the plan, nice especially if North is to the left of the plan and you'll get all that sunlight into the living area. Let us know how you go! Building with Life$tyle Homes in Perth SOR Key Dates on First Page of my Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38761 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 19Oct 28, 2010 1:44 am sidewinder lilizzy7 Thanks, I hope so too! Good news is we signed with them today! Our consultant has been so helpful over the last few weeks, and surprisingly with all the costings he has given us (I asked him to price everything we wanted to add on at pre-start haha) we have come in under budget and got more added in then we were going to get with HBC - go figure?! Very happy with Avelings service so far, I have emailed him so many times asking for prices etc and he has been more then happy to help Hopefully the rest of the process goes as smoothly - probably wont, but at least this is a better start! Btw- the plan we are building is on display at Banksia Grove, so it probably isn't the one you are thinking of - but it does have a lovely open plan kitchen/living area Good choice on the plan, but I may be a bit biased as I am building it too Was it Salesperson at the banksia grove display that you have been dealing with? He is very good! It's ok to be biased :p Not sure if it was the same salesperson as you, but both mine and the guy at the display (which we visited several times) have both been really good Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 Re: For those who built with Homebuyers Centre - Help! 20Oct 28, 2010 1:51 am sheznay lilizzy7 Thanks, I hope so too! Good news is we signed with them today! Our consultant has been so helpful over the last few weeks, and surprisingly with all the costings he has given us (I asked him to price everything we wanted to add on at pre-start haha) we have come in under budget and got more added in then we were going to get with HBC - go figure?! Very happy with Avelings service so far, I have emailed him so many times asking for prices etc and he has been more then happy to help Hopefully the rest of the process goes as smoothly - probably wont, but at least this is a better start! Btw- the plan we are building is on display at Banksia Grove, so it probably isn't the one you are thinking of - but it does have a lovely open plan kitchen/living area Is banksia grove the one a little further down the road? I missed the turn off once and ended up in it, it had display home flags everywhere... I had a squiz online at the plan, nice especially if North is to the left of the plan and you'll get all that sunlight into the living area. Let us know how you go! I will! I'm so excited to be able to start my own build thread, but I probably wont do it until we have done prestart or I will bore everyone with my ramblings! It might be the same display, if you turn off the fwy at burns beach and turn right it's a bit further up. North will be to right of the house- but that's where the living areas are, so we are hoping forl ots of sun in winter to keep the house toasty Slab down 12.4.2011 Bricking started 6.5.2011 Bricking finished 20.5.2011 Roof frame started 30.5.2011 Colorbond 13.6.2011 https://form.jotform.com/240284569218058 Please spare a moment to fill out this survey form for a project. You stand a chance to win a digital gift voucher. Legitimate… 0 3996 Hi, have purchased a house with 2 single garage doors. The Centre pillar one side sits proud to the other. Can I change 2 doors into one. Please see picture. 0 8330 Thanks for your reply! All valid points and I agree with you on many of them. I am in QLD, any recommendations on a construction lawyer would be helpful 3 3719 |