After my Sslllooowwww... post I fell for another round of 'email the customer a schedule but then don't actually do anything' for another week. I had been managing our side of the build all the way through to now but this was the straw that broke the camel's back - my hormonal 8.5 mth pregnant wife went coco-bananas with 20+ sobbing, ranting phone calls to the SS, CSO and Fowler Homes Reception. Finally the next day (Friday) she got through to someone who was covering the sick Construction Manager who was shocked by her story, admitted that there were things going on in the office, our SS had been lying about progress and he would not be with the company much longer. She was promised a call from the CM on Monday. On Monday she had to threaten to call the owners to get a call back from the CM. He too was very apologetic, confirmed that the SS was leaving and that he would do his best to get the project to PCI within 2 weeks. He sounded very overwhelmed. More hollow promises???
Today my wife ran into our future neighbour. She asked what the hell had happened because after witnessing months of no action at our site, there had been tradesmen climbing all over each other in the past week and a half. FINALLY!
Received notification yesterday that SS has left and we have been allocated a new SS. Hate to see someone sacked (if that is what happened). But as per Fowler Homes' tag line - 'you deserve the best' - and we were getting far from it.
In this period we have seen doors hung and handled, architraves finished, splashback, painting, cupboard fitout, basin splashbacks, plumbing finish off, mirrors, partial shower screens, internal clean and commencement of flooring. Still to go - under stairs door, ensuite shower screen, finish grouting, install bath and spout, finish flooring, brick rectifications, finish painting, driveway. By Friday? Maybe not... but at least they are having a crack.
A real shame that we had to reach meltdown point before we could get any progress. I am hearing negative rumblings from many, many sources. Fowler Homes will not be in NSW's top 20 builders for long if they cannot improve their completion rate and response to customers.
Monaco 28 with modified Contemporary Facade
Showing posts with label Fowler Homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fowler Homes. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Sslllooowwww...
Two and a half weeks have passed since my ultimatum with the Site Supervisor. I told him that I had faith that he could deliver and that I would not need to escalate my concerns. I was lying, and my true feelings were correct. Initially there was a promise to finish within 4 weeks. By the end of Week 1 there was ZERO progress and the promise was diluted to a defects inspection at the end of 4 weeks. By the end of Week 2 we had benchtops and plumbing, but not the promised plaster touch-ups, painting or shower screens. Mid Week 3 we gain have ZERO progress. A total of about 1 days work done in 12. Way to ramp it up!!!
Like your pet dog cowering in the corner after tearing out your flower beds, my SS stopped returning my calls. No choice today but to try to get in contact with his boss. CSO has promised to pass on my concern and I will get a response tomorrow. Just like I will have my home at the end of October?!? I wonder if they can deliver a phone call on time!
Looks like we have been suckered into a big rush to the 90% progress claim stage and then foot off the gas, leaving us on 90% mortgage, full rent and no prospect of being in our home when our baby arrives. A competitive tender at the start, but Fowler Homes are now costing us big time. Sales people tell you a six month build time but that is just to get you to sign on the dotted line. Dirty, dirty, dirty. Couldn't sell the place for what we have paid so far.
Are they competent enough to sneak it in before the contract period? Probably not.
If you are building with Fowler Homes, don't be expecting to be in your home until they are in the brink of paying you liquidated damages at the end of their bloated contract period - 41 weeks for us, could be longer for you. 10 years ago houses were being finished in 13 weeks. What has happened?
If you are thinking of building with Fowler Homes, don't. The value proposition represented in their tender will be blown to bits when they take a year to finish. I'm certain you can do better else where.
My wife is telling me she is going to picket the display homes (8.5 months pregnant). I hope we get a decent response tomorrow because I'm afraid she means it.
Like your pet dog cowering in the corner after tearing out your flower beds, my SS stopped returning my calls. No choice today but to try to get in contact with his boss. CSO has promised to pass on my concern and I will get a response tomorrow. Just like I will have my home at the end of October?!? I wonder if they can deliver a phone call on time!
Looks like we have been suckered into a big rush to the 90% progress claim stage and then foot off the gas, leaving us on 90% mortgage, full rent and no prospect of being in our home when our baby arrives. A competitive tender at the start, but Fowler Homes are now costing us big time. Sales people tell you a six month build time but that is just to get you to sign on the dotted line. Dirty, dirty, dirty. Couldn't sell the place for what we have paid so far.
Are they competent enough to sneak it in before the contract period? Probably not.
If you are building with Fowler Homes, don't be expecting to be in your home until they are in the brink of paying you liquidated damages at the end of their bloated contract period - 41 weeks for us, could be longer for you. 10 years ago houses were being finished in 13 weeks. What has happened?
If you are thinking of building with Fowler Homes, don't. The value proposition represented in their tender will be blown to bits when they take a year to finish. I'm certain you can do better else where.
My wife is telling me she is going to picket the display homes (8.5 months pregnant). I hope we get a decent response tomorrow because I'm afraid she means it.
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Big Setback
I have not posted for weeks, because no major progress has been made. Over 5 weeks ago I inspected the house and found that the wrong tiles had been laid in the Bathroom, Ensuite, Laundry and Powder Room. They actually went ahead and finished the last 10% of the job after I told them it was wrong (a bit presumptuous that we would cop it!). Fowler Homes' tiling sub-contractor Abruzzo Ceramics had called me the week before and said that they would call me again so that I could meet the tiler and advise exactly how I wanted the tiles laid... but they didn't ring me back. Turns out that the Tile Selection Officer failed to designate matte finish, and polished were ordered and laid. The polished finish changes the colours, particularly the cream which turned a yucky yellow. Plus polished tiles on the floor are just plain dangerous in wet areas. And we paid a massive variation for the tiles that we chose.
The resolution options offered were:
Basically nothing else could continue because the vanities, plumbing, electrical, painting and flooring can't start until the tiling is finished. I cannot for the life of me understand how it could take over 5 weeks to resolve. We are now 7 months into construction (and 17 months since signing on for a tender) and we would probably be in this week had it not been for this. We have paid all but the Final Progress Claim so we are paying nearly full mortgage plus rent. We also have Baby #3 due soon. Any apologies from Fowler Homes? Did they snap to it, pull out all the stops to resolve it quickly. No freaking way! Is this the performance of a good building company?
I am going to have a look this afternoon. If the tiling is not completed I will be forced to depart from my Mr Nice Guy persona and start firing some rockets. Fingers crossed things start moving now.
My brother in law has just paid a deposit on a block of land and is starting to look for a builder. Am I suggesting he uses Fowler Homes? I wish I was typing 'yes' right now, but unfortunately it is a 'no'. Here's hoping that they can change my opinion between now and the end...
UPDATE 6/10 PM: Went to the house and 6 painters were hard at it on a late Saturday afternoon. Tiling had been finished, vanities and laundry tub were in, downpipesd installed. This was probably about as good as I'd hoped for. Luck changing?
The resolution options offered were:
- Abruzzo would lay more tiles elsewhere at no charge - we did not want more tiling
- Abruzzo would refund us some money - we chose to build because we wanted to choose all of the finishes and we were not happy with what had been laid
- New tiles were to be laid over the wrong tiles - floor heights and wall thickness would have been massive and looked stupid, again, this is a new house, not someone's dodgy reno!
- Demolish the rooms and start again - this includes re-sheeting the walls, water proofing, screed... This was the only option we could accept, at massive impediment to the building schedule
Basically nothing else could continue because the vanities, plumbing, electrical, painting and flooring can't start until the tiling is finished. I cannot for the life of me understand how it could take over 5 weeks to resolve. We are now 7 months into construction (and 17 months since signing on for a tender) and we would probably be in this week had it not been for this. We have paid all but the Final Progress Claim so we are paying nearly full mortgage plus rent. We also have Baby #3 due soon. Any apologies from Fowler Homes? Did they snap to it, pull out all the stops to resolve it quickly. No freaking way! Is this the performance of a good building company?
I am going to have a look this afternoon. If the tiling is not completed I will be forced to depart from my Mr Nice Guy persona and start firing some rockets. Fingers crossed things start moving now.
My brother in law has just paid a deposit on a block of land and is starting to look for a builder. Am I suggesting he uses Fowler Homes? I wish I was typing 'yes' right now, but unfortunately it is a 'no'. Here's hoping that they can change my opinion between now and the end...
UPDATE 6/10 PM: Went to the house and 6 painters were hard at it on a late Saturday afternoon. Tiling had been finished, vanities and laundry tub were in, downpipesd installed. This was probably about as good as I'd hoped for. Luck changing?
Monday, 30 July 2012
Tiles and Ktichen Selections (with Pics)
Our tile quote came back and it was remarkably high. There was an error that I found in the quote too, they used lineal m instead of sqm - lucky I checked! Another example of how we travel blindly through this process with regard to budget. Luckily I had included a few provisions/contingencies and tiles are only going to wet areas as we have floor boards and carpet else where otherwise this could have been a massive variation. I wonder if we could have got the bank to fund the floors and driveway supplied by someone other than the builder? We could have saved heaps here if we had the cash. In the end, I am happy with our tile selections and I hope that the laying is of a high standard.
We also had our Kitchen Session with the Director of Pre-Fab Constructions at the new Studio Fowler. It was a little hard to concentrate on the kitchen as this was our first visit to Studio Fowler (it had not been completed when we did colours in 09/11). Our kitchen guy was very helpful. He talked us into letting him do the pantry instead of Fowler - this would let the colour scheme flow better and the removal of some nib walls freed up space for some more bench area. We also added some drawers to the pantry, and a built in double bin. We got the chance to revise the colour of our vanities, we had chosen a funny brown and now we have gone for a warm grey - good result.
We were worried that Fowler Homes would charge us a plan change fee but the Kitchen Selection should have occurred around the time of the Colour Selection except they axed their kitchen supplier at that time and then forgot to arrange a session later - I had to push to make it happen. They did not apply a change fee so we were happy. Hopefully they have got that ironed out now for new customers.
We also had our Kitchen Session with the Director of Pre-Fab Constructions at the new Studio Fowler. It was a little hard to concentrate on the kitchen as this was our first visit to Studio Fowler (it had not been completed when we did colours in 09/11). Our kitchen guy was very helpful. He talked us into letting him do the pantry instead of Fowler - this would let the colour scheme flow better and the removal of some nib walls freed up space for some more bench area. We also added some drawers to the pantry, and a built in double bin. We got the chance to revise the colour of our vanities, we had chosen a funny brown and now we have gone for a warm grey - good result.
 |
| Final Kitchen Plan - original had a white glass panel door for the pantry, this looks better now |
We were worried that Fowler Homes would charge us a plan change fee but the Kitchen Selection should have occurred around the time of the Colour Selection except they axed their kitchen supplier at that time and then forgot to arrange a session later - I had to push to make it happen. They did not apply a change fee so we were happy. Hopefully they have got that ironed out now for new customers.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Now We're (Gyp)Rocking! (with pics)
Progress rolls on at a moderate pace. Since last update (~3 weeks) we have seen:
Not too shabby.
Great to see the house really coming together.
We also did our tile selection at Abruzzo on Saturday. Quite happy with the support from the Tile Consultant. Would have been better if we could have carried the samples around the showroom to match colours (samples were fixed in frames). We chose 300 x 600 charcoal tiles for floors and feature walls and then 300 x 600 crema tiles for the other walls. For the laundry and powder room we chose a silver grey. A little bit surprised that we still haven't got the quote back from them by Wednesday afternoon so we don't know if we have blown the budget yet.
SS told me that he would not estimate an end date because Kitchens had been delaying his jobs lately. He asked if we had done a Kitchen Layout yet, which had never been offered to us. Had to push our Fowler Homes CSO to get a Kitchen Session booked, but this is now locked in for tomorrow.
- Lower level roof tiles
- Rendering
- Electrical and A/C rough in
- Commencement of gyprocking
Not too shabby.
 |
| Rendering (and the offending incomplete roof above the garage!) |
 |
| A/C and electrical rough in |
 |
| Master Bed with Soundscreen insulation |
 |
| Same wall as above with Gyprock commenced - starting to look pretty now! |
 |
| Central area on top floor (and my eldest monster's head!) |
 |
| Is this wall starting to pop now? |
Great to see the house really coming together.
We also did our tile selection at Abruzzo on Saturday. Quite happy with the support from the Tile Consultant. Would have been better if we could have carried the samples around the showroom to match colours (samples were fixed in frames). We chose 300 x 600 charcoal tiles for floors and feature walls and then 300 x 600 crema tiles for the other walls. For the laundry and powder room we chose a silver grey. A little bit surprised that we still haven't got the quote back from them by Wednesday afternoon so we don't know if we have blown the budget yet.
SS told me that he would not estimate an end date because Kitchens had been delaying his jobs lately. He asked if we had done a Kitchen Layout yet, which had never been offered to us. Had to push our Fowler Homes CSO to get a Kitchen Session booked, but this is now locked in for tomorrow.
What Part of 'Complete' Don't You Understand?
We received a progress payment claim that included 'completion of roof trusses, bricks, roof tiles and plumbing rough-in', however brick laying to the back corner of the garage, and roof tile laying to one corner of the garage roof had yet to be completed. I declined the claim on the grounds that the work was not complete, and that the bank may object and place my loan at risk for me signing before works were complete. I received a return email from Fowler accounts the following afternoon to say that the brick laying was completed that day and that the roof was 'all but complete' so the claim was valid. I reconfirmed my commitment that I would not accept the claim until the roof was complete. The Site Supervisor responded via email after midnight to say that he would suspend the job until given further instruction from accounts! This certainly caused some heart palpitations when I checked my emails in the morning.
I tried to call him to discuss the reason for suspending works as I was pretty confident that he was stepping outside of what was allowed under the contract, and I thought it was important to maintain the positive relationship we had developed up to that point. After a nervous day I received an email late in the afternoon to say that the roof tiling would be completed by close of business! I got my Dad to check the next morning and then lodged the claim and they were paid two days later.
A few interesting points related to this saga:
I tried to call him to discuss the reason for suspending works as I was pretty confident that he was stepping outside of what was allowed under the contract, and I thought it was important to maintain the positive relationship we had developed up to that point. After a nervous day I received an email late in the afternoon to say that the roof tiling would be completed by close of business! I got my Dad to check the next morning and then lodged the claim and they were paid two days later.
A few interesting points related to this saga:
- I got some advice from NSW Fair Trading that I was most likely to have been within my rights to decline the claim, but would need to see a solicitor if the dispute reached a stalemate.
- I have been very positive and responsive in my dealings with Fowler Homes to date. I was particularly disappointed with their lack of communication, and particularly threatening to suspend the job on such dodgy grounds.
- A more customer focused response would have been to either explain to me why their claim was valid (even though it wasn't), or commit to completing the work quickly (as they did when pressed).
- The use of strong arm tactics makes me worry that Fowler are having cash flow problems. I hope that I am reading too much in to this.
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Clean Your Act Up! (with pics)
This week brick cleaning has been completed on the upper levels as well as painting of the eaves. I am quite happy with the colour of the Austral Metropolis Topaz bricks, and the laying quality. The bulk of the scaffolding has been removed so I guess the rest of the cleaning and the lower level roof tiling can proceed this week. Looking forward to this so that the internal work can get cracking.
Our internal brick wall was cleaned too. I think I made a mistake going with raked joints, they should have been flush to make it look more rustic. Hopefully the white ceiling and floorboards will make this wall 'pop'. These bricks came from The Brick Pit at Smithfield. The owner was very helpful and the bricks were delivered within a few days.
Also completed were the frames for the kitchen and cinema bulk heads and a cavity door frame was installed for our ensuite.
Getting there...
I notice Fowler Homes have updated their website. The plans for the Monaco have changed, there are some new house designs , and the upgrade packages have changed (including the upgraded roof tiles and stair balustrading upgrade that I negotiated into my tender). They make mention of new processes - it sounds like they really are working to improve their service.
 |
| Red bricks will be rendered and painted in Taubmans Vintage Lace |
Our internal brick wall was cleaned too. I think I made a mistake going with raked joints, they should have been flush to make it look more rustic. Hopefully the white ceiling and floorboards will make this wall 'pop'. These bricks came from The Brick Pit at Smithfield. The owner was very helpful and the bricks were delivered within a few days.
 |
| Recycled brick internal feature wall after cleaning |
Getting there...
I notice Fowler Homes have updated their website. The plans for the Monaco have changed, there are some new house designs , and the upgrade packages have changed (including the upgraded roof tiles and stair balustrading upgrade that I negotiated into my tender). They make mention of new processes - it sounds like they really are working to improve their service.
Monday, 18 June 2012
Bricks and Upper Roof Complete
I have been struggling to get to the block before dark hence no photos, but:
I am following an Eden Brae job blog which is cracking along. I'm sure Fowler Homes could be a bit better organised and be progressing my job faster. I bet that speed of build would be a big draw card for most customers stuck paying rent or living with family! The other suggestion I would make would be around communication. A fortnightly email would be enough to keep me happy, and might quell some of the angst I read on other blogs.
We visited the new Homeworld Display at Kellyville yesterday. Although it is listed as 'open' on the website, only one of the three homes is finished which was a bit disappointing given how far we drove. I was hoping to see some of the package inclusions (particularly the kitchen) but most of it was non-standard. The two houses yet to be completed are massive. I hope that all of the tradesmen are not tied up on this job at the expense of mine.
I am at risk of sounding whingy so I think it is time to sign off. Hopefully a happy post to come shortly with some pictures...
- Bricks are complete bar the back corner of the garage - I think there is some scaffolding in the way. All looks pretty good, especially the piers and parapet in front of the Cinema that I added to jazz up the Contemporary facade (I should have been an Architect!).
- Upper level roof tiles have been completed - Bristile Classic tiles in Gunmetal looking really good.
- Soffit linings have been installed on the eaves
I am following an Eden Brae job blog which is cracking along. I'm sure Fowler Homes could be a bit better organised and be progressing my job faster. I bet that speed of build would be a big draw card for most customers stuck paying rent or living with family! The other suggestion I would make would be around communication. A fortnightly email would be enough to keep me happy, and might quell some of the angst I read on other blogs.
We visited the new Homeworld Display at Kellyville yesterday. Although it is listed as 'open' on the website, only one of the three homes is finished which was a bit disappointing given how far we drove. I was hoping to see some of the package inclusions (particularly the kitchen) but most of it was non-standard. The two houses yet to be completed are massive. I hope that all of the tradesmen are not tied up on this job at the expense of mine.
I am at risk of sounding whingy so I think it is time to sign off. Hopefully a happy post to come shortly with some pictures...
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Busy Bunny Left Us a Slab (with pics)
The concretors delivered the goods on Thursday and finished the slab, just in time for Easter. Now we really get a true picture of how much yard space is left and it looks pretty good for a nice flat space at the back and quite a large side yard because of our 20+ m frontage. Now we are up for our first big progress payment :(.
Fowler Homes got in touch with us this week about removing the excess dirt. They offered to do it at $550/12 tonne load. I found another contractor to do it for $300/load, starting first thing Tuesday morning. They will also move some up the back to use later in levelling the yard.
Fowler Homes Site Supervisor told me that the external plumbing should be completed next Thursday (1 week for slab curing) and then the frame should be delivered within the week following that. We also confirmed the mortar and joint type for our internal recycled press brick wall in the Meals Room - off white with a raked joint. Nice, nice, nice...
Although I'd love it to be quicker, progress has been reasonable so far. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Fowler Homes got in touch with us this week about removing the excess dirt. They offered to do it at $550/12 tonne load. I found another contractor to do it for $300/load, starting first thing Tuesday morning. They will also move some up the back to use later in levelling the yard.
Fowler Homes Site Supervisor told me that the external plumbing should be completed next Thursday (1 week for slab curing) and then the frame should be delivered within the week following that. We also confirmed the mortar and joint type for our internal recycled press brick wall in the Meals Room - off white with a raked joint. Nice, nice, nice...
Although I'd love it to be quicker, progress has been reasonable so far. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Piers Me Off! (with pic)
Piering occurred today. Nice to see the progress but was given almost no notice to go and verify the depths. Watched for a while when a 3 m pier was dropped and started to think the worst regarding a variation - there was only an allowance for 50 lineal metres in the contract and I find out today there are 55 piers. Once we assessed all of the depths it came out as 89 m, 39 m over the allowance x $80/m = $3,120 unbudgeted. I am a bit 'piers'ed off! I reckon Fowler Homes could have predicted this. I had a look at my Wisdom Tender and they had given a fixed price! A definite trap for first time Builders. If you have a site affected by fill, consider the potential for piering variations.
The concrete pump arrived before I left so the piers should be filled today. Formwork, plumbing, reo and then lay slab - could all happen this week weather permitting and Fowler being on their game. Here's hoping.
The concrete pump arrived before I left so the piers should be filled today. Formwork, plumbing, reo and then lay slab - could all happen this week weather permitting and Fowler being on their game. Here's hoping.
 |
| Piers drilled, setting up for filling |
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Expectation
Somehow I deleted this post and I know I shouldn't say this but it was one of my best. It went along these lines:
Building is a slow and complex process. Some people will not deal with it well, getting frustrated and angry, making it painful for themselves, their family, their builder, and sometimes me their blog audience. They are likely to enter their home with negative feelings, which is really sad because your home is such and important place, probably the most important place in your life. An alternative way is to expect problems and delays, from this position you can only be pleasantly surprised. The final outcome is likely to be the same via either path - a beautiful home - but the journey can be a positive or negative one.
Now one would need to be the Buddha or Gandhi to not get frustrated from time to time, and I am realistic enough to know that I will fall onto the negative side from time to time, but I will strive to stay positive.
Building is a slow and complex process. Some people will not deal with it well, getting frustrated and angry, making it painful for themselves, their family, their builder, and sometimes me their blog audience. They are likely to enter their home with negative feelings, which is really sad because your home is such and important place, probably the most important place in your life. An alternative way is to expect problems and delays, from this position you can only be pleasantly surprised. The final outcome is likely to be the same via either path - a beautiful home - but the journey can be a positive or negative one.
Now one would need to be the Buddha or Gandhi to not get frustrated from time to time, and I am realistic enough to know that I will fall onto the negative side from time to time, but I will strive to stay positive.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Negotiations
We sent off emails to both Builders telling them that they were really expensive and listed the features that the other Builder was beating them with. I also expressed some concern with Fowler Homes about their attention to detail after the tender fiasco.
Fowler Homes assured me the error was a one-off (a few pages got lost in the fax machine) and threw in for free a few of the things that Wisdom had in their upgrade package.
Wisdom Homes refused to negotiate. When I told them that we were going to walk they rang the wife and asked for a copy of Fowler Homes' tender so that they could be sure it was a fair comparison. They said that they would match Fowler's tender and take $1,000 off. She told them that we wanted their best offer, not just $1,000 better, and that we would not give it to them because then we were giving up our competitive position. They then rang me to see if I'd break but I held firm.
In the meantime we went back to Fowler Homes and told them that Wisdom Homes had given us more and dropped their price. Fowler gave us a few more things which gave them a couple of grand price benefit and some nicer features.
Our No 2 Tip to date - there is room to negotiate (with some!)
Wisdom Homes had presented very professionally and we felt confident that they would do a good job. Their unwillingness to negotiate lost them our business. I get the feeling that they are doing a lot of work already and didn't need to chase our work and blow their margin.
On the other hand, Fowler Homes presented less professionally and we knew we would need to ride them but we were going to get more for our dollar and for this we were prepared to do some hard yards.
Fowler Homes it is...
Fowler Homes assured me the error was a one-off (a few pages got lost in the fax machine) and threw in for free a few of the things that Wisdom had in their upgrade package.
Wisdom Homes refused to negotiate. When I told them that we were going to walk they rang the wife and asked for a copy of Fowler Homes' tender so that they could be sure it was a fair comparison. They said that they would match Fowler's tender and take $1,000 off. She told them that we wanted their best offer, not just $1,000 better, and that we would not give it to them because then we were giving up our competitive position. They then rang me to see if I'd break but I held firm.
In the meantime we went back to Fowler Homes and told them that Wisdom Homes had given us more and dropped their price. Fowler gave us a few more things which gave them a couple of grand price benefit and some nicer features.
Our No 2 Tip to date - there is room to negotiate (with some!)
Wisdom Homes had presented very professionally and we felt confident that they would do a good job. Their unwillingness to negotiate lost them our business. I get the feeling that they are doing a lot of work already and didn't need to chase our work and blow their margin.
On the other hand, Fowler Homes presented less professionally and we knew we would need to ride them but we were going to get more for our dollar and for this we were prepared to do some hard yards.
Fowler Homes it is...
The Fowler Tender
Starting the Fowler Homes process was far more laid back - our requests were recorded on a scrap of paper... We had to put the heat on to get their Tender within the 3 weeks promised. It was presented in one of the display home sales offices, open to other customers and disruptions. We turn to the first page to see that the split was wrong (tall at back, short at front, despite a block sloping to the front). Then we find that 80% of the inclusions that we had asked for had not been priced. Very disappointing and frustrating. The Sales Rep was apologetic and promised to get it corrected quickly. This was a Saturday, we got the update on the Monday. Almost exactly the same as Wisdom Homes ! The Rep also let on that there was room to move. Despite their error, Fowler Homes were in the game.
How it all started (with Pic)
After battling with an older home for a few years we wondered whether we could afford to build. We were always wary of the base price vs actual price unknown and assumed it would be out of reach. We took the plunge and got an indicative quote from Wisdom Homes ($0) using the contour plan of a block of land in an area that we liked. Here is a dodgy panorama from the block. We liked the elevated location and the green views. Also the area was nicely established and family oriented.
Even though it was a bit slopey we were surprised to find that it probably was within our reach and we felt that Wisdom Homes had been thorough and honest so we put our home on the market.
 |
| Panorama from our block |
Even though it was a bit slopey we were surprised to find that it probably was within our reach and we felt that Wisdom Homes had been thorough and honest so we put our home on the market.
Lucky for us our home sold on the first day, $50 above the list price! The wife had really played the Agents against each other to get a low commission too so we were off to a great start.
We signed on with Wisdom Homes for a tender ($700) as we liked that their homes had good open plan access onto Alfresco areas and were small enough to leave us some yard space. We were keen to tender with Eden Brae but all of their designs had way too big a footprint. We got indicative costs from Clarendon Homes who were cost competitive but their designs weren't quite right and their tender was pricey ($1,000). Finally we found Fowler Homes who use the same architect as Wisdom and chose to tender on a house that was almost exactly the same - hopefully a good 'apples for apples' comparison.
Our Number 1 Tip to date - get at least 2 tenders as the Builders will realise that they have to give you competitive pricing. We had a friend who was quoted $40k in site costs. When he walked they knocked $15k off without blinking an eye but he ended up buying something established he was so turned off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)