Building new home

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by chich

They are the rules but as far as i'm concerned they're complete BS. At the end of the day I'm the one paying $250+K to build my home on my own land - I have every right to barge in and inspect whatever i want, when ever i want within reason. The large companies simply use the law as a justification to keep you out off the site as long as possible so you don't realise that the studs are 1m apart before the house is closed up.

Thats what frame inspections are for, and also why the builder has to offer a warranty. Do you think they are deliberately going to try and shaft you knowing they might end up getting blasted by the building comission and have to fork out to do the job again??

The reason these rules exist, is like everything these days, to cater to the lowest common denominator! Its because some tripper went onsite and tripped over a stick or timber, brick, length of pipe or stood on a piece of timber with a nail hanging out and sued the builder! The insurance costs enough as it is, ad 1 of the stipulations on the policy is no unauthorised people on the site without permission, ir being accompanied by an unauthorised person.

Personally i dont have a problem with anyone walking onto the site when i'm working there, i've got nothing to hide, but if i aggree to them coming onto the job, and they fall of my ladder then the liability lays on my shoulders.

Also you wouldnt believe how many owners act like the friggen construction police. Plenty of know alls around. And they are keen to judge your work before the job is complete. People don't realise although they are trying to look after their best interest, they really aren't. They make things more difficult for themselves.

Had a mate who used to go around every night and pick the crap out of everyones work. The next day he'd call the builder and complain about everything. did it day in day out. Used to go for a quick look when people were working there, and leave a window the tiniest bit unlatched then go back later with a note pad. It bit him when his house was finished and he wanted the handover to happen instantly. Instead they left it sit until the end of the contract period to stick it up him. He also wanted to get inside to put a floating floor down, but the builder wouldnt have a bar of it, told him to wait until handover. Only reason that got done was because i knew the builder and made some calls. Wasn't prepared to intervene with the handover issue, was well deserved.

[Stealth00]

Hello all, very interesting thread. I'm also looking at building my first home and was wondering if anyone has heard of Barry Walker Homes (Geelong based) and what they are like quality wise. Would really love to hear from anyone that has built through them or done work for them.

Regards
Stealth00

[SB076]

Damn it I signed with Metricon because I liked the layout of the place, tried Porter Davis etc, but they didnt quite have a floor plan I liked. If you want to see some really modern homes with slightly different ideas try NSD too. Not to everyones tasts but they have display homes in Berwick and also Point Cook I think.

Metricon are already running late which doesnt really worry me as all I am after is a finish date (not going to push them just want to know a rough date so I can plan around it) and great quality.

[chich]

Originally Posted by schmidty

Also you wouldnt believe how many owners act like the friggen construction police. Plenty of know alls around. And they are keen to judge your work before the job is complete. People don't realise although they are trying to look after their best interest, they really aren't. They make things more difficult for themselves.

Had a mate who used to go around every night and pick the crap out of everyones work. The next day he'd call the builder and complain about everything. did it day in day out. Used to go for a quick look when people were working there, and leave a window the tiniest bit unlatched then go back later with a note pad. It bit him when his house was finished and he wanted the handover to happen instantly. Instead they left it sit until the end of the contract period to stick it up him. He also wanted to get inside to put a floating floor down, but the builder wouldnt have a bar of it, told him to wait until handover. Only reason that got done was because i knew the builder and made some calls. Wasn't prepared to intervene with the handover issue, was well deserved.

Perfect example why owners should let the chippies, plasterers etc get on with the job. Its one thing going on-site to check out the homes progress but its another going in there to pick flaws in an unfinished product.

As i said in one of my previous posts its all about clear communication. Building a home the most expensive asset people will do therefore 9 times out of 10 they tend to get too emotional.

As you mention above there are plenty know-it-alls but at the end of the day if they knew what they were talking about they'd be doing it themselves..

[MO]

To all those that are looking to build...get yourself...'Punch Five in One home design'...with this prog you can design your own build and have a close to real cost for materials...even does landscaping.

It is yank...but helped me with my final design.

Forget what it cost but is around $100.00 and gives you updates.

[Bucknaked]

I haven't read through the entire thread, but if there's one thing I did when we built our house, was to have all those little things incorporated into the cost. Easier to cost it all up, and get the 1 home loan for everything you need. Things like carpets, curtains, floor coverings and concrete. We did get caught out by some hidden costs. The concrete and the curtains. Builder unestimated the costs, and at the end of the day, there was not much we could do about.

I also got extra powerpoints, light points and had the bathrooms wired up for IXL's. I bought all the exterior light fittings from project lighting as well as the tastics, and gave them to the builder to install at the same time they installed the lights.

I figured it was easier to get it all wired in at construction, than trying to get it done after. Plus it wasn't all that much more to get it all done by those guys. I also had the hole where the fridge went made bigger. We bought a new fridge which is larger than the standard, so we had the kitchen place adjust the area where the fridge goes. They made adjustments to the plan before it went to the machine to build the kitchen.

Finally, I made adjustments to some of the room layouts. I didn't like the layout of the laundry and the bedroom behind it, so I asked for the cupboards to be moved to different locations. Builder was cool with it. They never charged me for the change to the plan.

Just little things we made sure we were on top of early.

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by Stealth00

Hello all, very interesting thread. I'm also looking at building my first home and was wondering if anyone has heard of Barry Walker Homes (Geelong based) and what they are like quality wise. Would really love to hear from anyone that has built through them or done work for them.

Regards
Stealth00

Know their main chippies very well. They are pretty good quality builders. Other blokes i know are mates with their other tradies and supervisors. Good to work for, don't scrimp on stuff, and have a good rep.

Who else are you looking at?

Where are you building?

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by MO

To all those that are looking to build...get yourself...'Punch Five in One home design'...with this prog you can design your own build and have a close to real cost for materials...even does landscaping.

It is yank...but helped me with my final design.

Forget what it cost but is around $100.00 and gives you updates.

Had it, threw it in the bin. Waste of time, and i found it to be way off. Big ****. Better off to just get a copy of someone elses contract and speci and use it like a checklist in my opinion. But, for people that love to see little pictures and spend hours shagging around on a computer, probably worth a measly 100 bucks.

I honestly thing people should just go to displays, look at what they like, what works, try and put it all together into a house they like. So much better if you can physically see sizes and how things work than to just see lines on paper.

I know you can do the 3D walk throughs and stuff like that with the punch software, but can be a little misleading.

[Stealth00]

Schmidty,

Thank you for your response. At the moment I am looking at Barry Walker Homes or Burbank Homes. At the moment am leaning more toward Barry Walker. But I am open to suggestions and thoughts on who are good to build through. Being a first timer it is all abit daunting.

In regard to location am looking at Waurn Ponds or the Grovedale / Marshall area.

Regards
Stealth00

[Stealth00]

BTW Schmidty was that your car I saw in noble street today at around 2pm?

[brenx]

Can't saw I recommend Romeo Homes. The framing etc was excellent. They whined when we spotted errors during the build process and told us to keep off the properly. When I'm paying someone hundreds of thousands of $ I want it right!

1st issue - They put a window in the wrong spot. It was a wind out window which was supposed to be in my study. They had it in my living area which the rest were all slide type. Sent a fax and it was sorted.

2nd issue : No point filling out colour selection charts for your taps etc if they aren't going to consult them. They managed to sort this just before settlement but only because of the way my contract was done. I only had to put a $13,500k deposit and not pay progress payments. If I was paying progress I doubt anything would have been sorted.

3rd issue : The ceiling is plain crap the bloke who sanded it must be blinder than me! Lumps and bumps everywhere.

4th issue : Marks around the wall from not properly affixing the plaster. I ended up sorting it myself.

5th issue : When your settling you get a sheet of paper for things you note that need fixing. We fixed that in sent it off and they never showed to fix any of the problems.

6th issue : Gap under the back door. I sorted myself.

7th issue : Gap under the front door. I reckon it's due to a piece of wood missing from the frame. I've looked at other peoples houses and it's there on their homes.

8th issue : We paid for amplemesh front, rear, side doors and also flyscreens etc. None was done in the end we got crap on all the doors and had to pay again for crap. Should have put it in the contract but it's partially our error for not doing so. It's the 1st house I've built.

9th issue : No dishwasher (was in the contract). Took 2 weeks to sort that out!

10 issue : grout not sealed in tiles. Paid for it. Never got it.

I'll never build another house again. Screw going though the headaches again. I'll buy something I can see. I bought this one off a plan well before the land was released. Their displays were nothing like how I optioned the house.

[chich]

Originally Posted by brenx

I'll never build another house again. Screw going though the headaches again. I'll buy something I can see. I bought this one off a plan well before the land was released. Their displays were nothing like how I optioned the house.

Its all a learning curve mate, at least now you've been through it and know well in advance what to expect in the future. Buying something you can see doesn't necessarily mean that it'll all be smooth sailing.. you might unknowingly be buying someone elses problems. Personally i wouldn't feel comfortable buying anything off a plan.. i want the flexibility to be able to change things as the building progresses. No matter how difficult you look at a plan on paper, you'll always pick something up that you'd want changed.

[SWOOP]

try find the last couple of projects (non display)your chosen builder and check em out talk to owners etc. It cant hurt and you are spending a load of dollars. \
when finished researching ,research some more till its one big picture then dive in

IMO with regards to the site access probs
you need manipulation tactics and always factor in a liquid bribe and not just once and youll more than likely have a happy worksite to visit and access
also you must put trust in them and let them know it ,spying and like gets knowhere
Most tradie's I know dont take any critisim from a client (I sure as hell dont)
If it was finished product and not right you have every right to request it be fixed and the good people will rectify it ,but demanding will only fuel the prob.

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by Stealth00

Schmidty,

Thank you for your response. At the moment I am looking at Barry Walker Homes or Burbank Homes. At the moment am leaning more toward Barry Walker. But I am open to suggestions and thoughts on who are good to build through. Being a first timer it is all abit daunting.

In regard to location am looking at Waurn Ponds or the Grovedale / Marshall area.

Regards
Stealth00

BW build a pretty good quality home. Know their chippies well, and they do a good job. Most of their other trades are pretty good to deal with.

Could always build with Pivot, then i'd end up building your house! Could give you the heads up on which tradies to request for which stage so it all comes up schmicko. They are pretty much in the same league as BW, but i'd say with no bias, i think pivot finish off a house a little better than BW. Pivot's office is in Marshall on the Barwon Heads rd.

And yeah it would have been me you saw on noble st. Smashed my face on a piece of timber i didnt see, snapped 1 of my back teeth clean off and had to go to the dentist to get it sorted out.





Hey Brenx, sounds like you had a pretty ordinary but all too common run with your builder. About your lumpy ceilling, i was my sparkys shed the other day when he got a fax from 1 of the main builders he works for stating that due to complaints about ceiling plaster sheet joins, they now have to put chinaman hat light shades on all batten holder light fittings, and max 40w light globes!!!!

How pathetic is that!!

How long ago did you build? With the 5 star energy rating your builder should have been picked up on the likes of your door seals not being put on.


There's always stuff ups, drives me soo wild, but you've gotta realise, the world just seems to be full of brain dead fools these days. And the actions of these fools ultimately fall back on the builder. Had a friend who was told to go to carpet shop x and order their carpet. Went through the carpet with the salesman, he wrote down the code on a letter head for them to hand to the builder. When they saw after it had been installed, it was british racing green insted of blue! The builder cops it over some other tools mistake with everything

[brenx]

my house was completed 3 years ago this Nov.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by charles_wif_xf

Just go for a smaller builder who builds 5 maybe 6 houses a year. Such a builder can't afford to make stuffups and cut corners a la Henley and all the other big builders. I don't know any off hand, since I have never built a house.

I have dealt with all manner of tradesmen involved in housing construction and they all agree that the smaller builder is the way to go if the owner builder option isn't available.

Best advice possible , I have always used a smaller builer with great success , this time It's me buidling it but a smaller builder ( Europeans are best) will be the best choice , and look at some of his work , if he is anygood they will happilly offer a reference.

[ktmconvert]

Well my partner just moved us into our brand new house 17.09.06 (bye bye new XR8 that I wanted) and I have seen it only once.
The final inspection went well, I will let you know when I get back in October sometime. Ours was built by a small volume builder so hopefully the quality is good, we will find out in a few years i guess.

Any builders reading this that want to build me a deck please PM me.

[JPFS1]

Plenty of great advise in here and will definitely take it all on board.

Schmidty

I've spoken with Pivot homes for a development i am thinking of doing in Portarlington. Have the land (half acre), on St Leanords Road.

Will PM you.

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by JEM

Plenty of great advise in here and will definitely take it all on board.

Schmidty

I've spoken with Pivot homes for a development i am thinking of doing in Portarlington. Have the land (half acre), on St Leanords Road.

Will PM you.

Small world hey!

Yeah PM me some details, would be good to hear how you went.

[JPFS1]

Just a quick update on this and to get some feedback and advise from those in the know.

Architectural stage almost all done. Working drawings completed, i'm just going to go over them before we get structural engineering works started.

The other thing i wanted to discuss was the use of water tanks and solar hot water units.

Anybody have experience and advise with these systems?

I will have to implement atleast one or the other...

[rodderz]

Good to hear Jem that it's on its way

I heard last week some news regarding the rainwater systems that people are installing now and then are eligable for a rebate off the government. Apparently (maybe someone can confirm) that while you do receive a rebate according to the size of the tank, you also get slung by the council for having a water storage facility. Similar to how farmers get slung for the size of their dams and the catchment area that fills it. The guy who told me said it may be cheaper to not apply for the rebate!

[AU-MUSTD]

Needs to be at least 2000ltr for your rating and is alot easier to hook into your laundry toilets etc at the framing stage than after house is complete. PM me for more details as this is the area of work myself and family have recently got into as plumbers and we will happily beat other quotes you have and offer good advice that these few lines can do. Or call james at superior tanks www.superiortanks.com.au. Good luck.

[JPFS1]

Originally Posted by rodderz

Good to hear Jem that it's on its way

I heard last week some news regarding the rainwater systems that people are installing now and then are eligable for a rebate off the government. Apparently (maybe someone can confirm) that while you do receive a rebate according to the size of the tank, you also get slung by the council for having a water storage facility. Similar to how farmers get slung for the size of their dams and the catchment area that fills it. The guy who told me said it may be cheaper to not apply for the rebate!

G'day mate...

Are you serious?? Talk about giving with one hand and taking with the other.

Thanks for the great tip Rodderz.

[JPFS1]

Originally Posted by AU-MUSTD

Needs to be at least 2000ltr for your rating and is alot easier to hook into your laundry toilets etc at the framing stage than after house is complete. PM me for more details as this is the area of work myself and family have recently got into as plumbers and we will happily beat other quotes you have and offer good advice that these few lines can do. Or call james at superior tanks www.superiortanks.com.au. Good luck.

Thanks for Advise. PM sent.

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by JEM

G'day mate...

Are you serious?? Talk about giving with one hand and taking with the other.

Thanks for the great tip Rodderz.

Not 100% sure on details though, penny pinching at its worse though

[tickin]

up here in sydney, we had to get a water tank as it was compulsory when building a new house. Size depended on a hydraulic engineers report on the total roof area. But we had to get a 3000 litre tank.
We ended up going for an underground one... because they look terrible above ground. Cost more but worth it i think.
with basix, all fees, tank, pumps etc... cost was around $17,000 in the end.. and the rebate up here anly applies to tanks puton existing houses, so you dont get any of that.

[JPFS1]

Originally Posted by tickin

up here in sydney, we had to get a water tank as it was compulsory when building a new house. Size depended on a hydraulic engineers report on the total roof area. But we had to get a 3000 litre tank.
We ended up going for an underground one... because they look terrible above ground. Cost more but worth it i think.
with basix, all fees, tank, pumps etc... cost was around $17,000 in the end.. and the rebate up here anly applies to tanks puton existing houses, so you dont get any of that.

Thanks for that Tickin!

Good to hear what other people have done. I like the idea of the underground tank also. 17K, geez, do you guys get stictched up there or what. Down here should be about half that... :voldar02:

[tickin]

nah thats about right unfortunatly... when i say $17,000 thats whats called a BASIX package.. which includes everything to do with making the place energy efficient.. so its not like thats just the price for a big plastic tank and pump... lol
and that is connected up to the washing machine, all toilets and the back outside taps. Obviously when the water level gets low to a certain point it refills off mains... agian not full just to a certain point. So you cant really just go out and water plants, wash your car etc.. whenever you like. you still have to obey the water restriction laws...