Building your own home

[Cruyff14]

Has anybody on here done it? If so, who did you go with, and how did you find the experience with him?

Any tips/pointers you can share?

Pros & cons and all that.

 

[UFO Tatsu]

Built ours couple of years back. Went with SmartHomes (who are part of Ventura Group). It was a pretty good experience for us. The salesperson went out of his way to make sure that the plans would get council approval and the supervisor (and client liaison) were pretty good as well. Had arguments with pre-sales but that was more because I question some of the prices. The experience of building for me was pretty pleasant. Enjoyed seeing the house take shape and it was pretty exciting.

SmartHomes build is what you expect with a lower end builder. Doors are pretty lightweight. Definitely should of gone with an upgrade there.

Tips: Try to stay on the plan as much as possible because variations is where they will try to hit you. And try to get all of your changes at pre-start because any later changes will hit you with variations fees. Check the house every few days to make sure they do not do any major stuff ups and watch out for right-angles on walls

Good luck with your building if you go down that path

 

[Messenger]

I haven't but know plenty that have.

1. Find a builder with a good local network. Plenty of stuff gets done on relationships and goodwill. Good friend of mine used a company based in the outer east of Melbourne to build in Point Cook. Very disjointed.
2. Your builder should have penalties in their contract for failure to deliver.
3. Check everything. Inspect regularly.
4. When they are doing the right thing, so should you. Pay on time.
5. Be decisive. Make your decisions carefully and stick to them.

 

[Cruyff14]

Haven't heard of them - we are considering Burbank or Eight Homes/Urban Edge at the moment. Still a while away and plenty of time for things to change but it's good to see as much as we can right now.

What do you mean by right angles on the wall?

 

[Cruyff14]

I haven't but know plenty that have.

1. Find a builder with a good local network. Plenty of stuff gets done on relationships and goodwill. Good friend of mine used a company based in the outer east of Melbourne to build in Point Cook. Very disjointed.
2. Your builder should have penalties in their contract for failure to deliver.
3. Check everything. Inspect regularly.
4. When they are doing the right thing, so should you. Pay on time.
5. Be decisive. Make your decisions carefully and stick to them.

We are looking at a company who use all their own builders etc

 

[UFO Tatsu]

Haven't heard of them - we are considering Burbank or Eight Homes/Urban Edge at the moment. Still a while away and plenty of time for things to change but it's good to see as much as we can right now.

What do you mean by right angles on the wall?

SmartHomes might be only WA based. Not sure.

It sounds simple but the brickie didn't make the walls on one of our corner perpendicular (90' angle). Lucky it was only a builtin wardrobe and the supervisor got it fixed.

 

[Quivorir]

I have 4 mates that got their houses built. Nothing but trouble. At least buying an existing home you know exactly what you are getting.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

HBF built our house before I came on the scene, I'm sure he'll have plenty to say on it. All I can say is make sure you have enough powerpoints in the bathroom

 

[craigos]

Don't use one of those builders like Simonds, Burbank, Metricon etc etc. Try and find a friend of the family, relative of friends, friend at a sporting club and get recommendations. If you know of anyone in the trades (sparkie, plumber, carpenter, tiler, brickie) they should be able to help you out with who is good.

 

[HBF]

Don't use one of those builders like Simonds, Burbank, Metricon etc etc. Try and find a friend of the family, relative of friends, friend at a sporting club and get recommendations. If you know of anyone in the trades (sparkie, plumber, carpenter, tiler, brickie) they should be able to help you out with who is good.

Not sure if serious.

 

[TheFreshBanana]

Yep, I have a few on my Sims save.

 

[RU_]

HBF built our house before I came on the scene, I'm sure he'll have plenty to say on it. All I can say is make sure you have enough powerpoints in the bathroom

Not sure if serious.

 

[craigos]

Not sure if serious.

I may have been a few glasses of red deep but every person I know that has dealt with one of the house and land package type of builders has had problem after problem. They're usually the cheapest for a reason.

 

[BALKAN]

My mate Marko Draganovic will do you a good deal. cash only.

 

[Sublime]

Not sure if serious.

Simonds and Metricon are definitely the 2 worst builders in our area through experience. Obviously it varies depending on who is running it and building for them in whatever area, but yeah, many horror stories from them. In my line of work we're continually going into new homes and their quality control is awful. That said, another big chain builder down here that is run by a quality local builder actually put out really great homes, so it's definitely situation dependent. My recommendation is to just go and talk to as many as possible and go with your gut and who is easiest to deal with. Biggest mistake is using price as your defining point imo. A good builder will always be reasonably flexible and willing to help you out where possible.

*If you want any fancy wiring or home theatre sort it out before you start building. Even if you just get the bare wires run before plaster goes in etc, DO IT FIRST. Even if you never use them in the end, it doesn't cost much to do and it's so much easier than trying to do so afterwards. Will save a lot of time and money in the long run.
*Similar to what MEB said you can never have enough power points anywhere in the house. Too many is definitely better than too few and you almost always find a place when the house is built where you'd need another one.
*Try and get an idea of which furniture you'll be wanting ahead of schedule. Make sure it'll firstly fit in the room and also that you'll physically be able to get it where you want it to go. Narrow doorways etc sometimes don't fit massive couches etc. Seems common sense but it happens more often than people would like to admit because it can be difficult to gauge size off a plan.

 

[Hendersloane]

HBF built our house before I came on the scene, I'm sure he'll have plenty to say on it. All I can say is make sure you have enough powerpoints in the bathroom

We're renting at the moment and don't have any powerpoints in the bathroom. Definitely on the list for when we buy/build [emoji106]

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

We're renting at the moment and don't have any powerpoints in the bathroom. Definitely on the list for when we buy/build [emoji106]

You whaaaaaa? That's ridiculous.

 

[Hendersloane]

You whaaaaaa? That's ridiculous.

I know! Didn't even realise until my partner's sister wanted to use her hair straightener in there while we were away and asked about it. Good thing I have short hair atm

 

[HBF]

Agree with everything you said Sublime. I built through Carlisle Homes and couldn't be happier with the result. No horror stories i can report.

 

[Sublime]

You sure learn a lot of things when building your first home, that's for sure. You'll always have things you wish you did differently unfortunately, but that's all part of the process.

Purchased an existing home and slowly renovating it this time around. Older places are just so much more solidly built than so many new places, hardwood frames etc are just fantastic. Will be standing long after so many of the newer ones built for sure.

 

[RolandF1]

I built as well and there will be a lot of dramas in the months ahead. Things you won't even think about (shower door going to be big enough for a 6 foot person?) until its too late. Not to mention constant checking to make sure things are being done and the pricks building the joint aren't leaving dirt, paper wrappers and apple cores in the frame to end up being a nasty surprise later. And the hidden costs! Yeah, won't be doing that again. Good luck!

 

[Baldy Head]

I built as well and there will be a lot of dramas in the months ahead. Things you won't even think about (shower door going to be big enough for a 6 foot person?) until its too late. Not to mention constant checking to make sure things are being done and the pricks building the joint aren't leaving dirt, paper wrappers and apple cores in the frame to end up being a nasty surprise later. And the hidden costs! Yeah, won't be doing that again. Good luck!

Did you get storage built in for barrels?

 

[UFO Tatsu]

We're renting at the moment and don't have any powerpoints in the bathroom. Definitely on the list for when we buy/build [emoji106]

One of the requirements the missus had when we built the house. Strange how other "requirements" pop up after the house is already built

 

[Twoslabs]

We built 11 years ago with a builder that only works in the SE of Melbourne.

By and large wasn't a bad experience and the stamp duty saving was well worth it.

My Brother in law is a sparky that lives near us so he was checking the building as we went with some of his builder/ plumber mates so they could report to us if anything dodgy was being done, which of course there were subbies trying to take shortcuts so we were able to get in touch with the building company and get them rectified

 

[Gough]

I did some labouring for a mate who did his own reno while working a full time job. He did it well, and the finished job is lovely, but he had to live with the in-laws for eighteen months which I know was hard work, not mention having to put with incompetents like me as helpers. It blew him out physically as well by the end of it.