Deciding on a home (Builder) !

Our adventure for the whole process started with exploring display homes. We decided to visit the display homes in Ambrosia (A good range of companies and there was two other decent sized display areas not far away).

We went in with no real knowledge or what we were looking for. On the day we would of gone through well over 50 display homes and often knew fairly quickly if we didn't like the design or workmanship on the home. We were hounded by two builders - who seemed extremely pressed to make a sale - instantly turning us off the company (and the homes they built we

re well below average).

The best types of displays were the ones who provided a great deal of information upfront (a detailed booklet and pricing up front, etc) and were there should we have questions or needed assistance. They allowed us to work through at our own pace/method and didn't dictate what or how we should buy a house right then and there.

After the day was over, we short listed a few places and planned to return the following weekend to look at the places a second time. My partner booked to see the preferred builder we had looked at.

In the interim week, I decided to do some research on the building companies - as you hear of horror stories as well as perfect stories about different builders. I found product review  http://www.productreview.com.au/c/home-builders-vic.html handy in looking through experiences. Obviously i kept in mind that is a user generated online source of information and that the majority of times, people post due to having issues with something - praise can be less scarce (Especially on the internet!).


With the research above and looking at display homes online/booklets, we were considering another builder, Carlisle Homes. There was a design in the booklet they had provided and it was also one that we happened to have visited on the day - a design we were also happy with - the Winslow 33.

We attended the appointment with the first builder we had considered and it was similair to the experiances I had read of / not the kind of customer interaction that we were interested in. They didn't allow us many questions, skipped over many of the costing aspects and very little was actually included in a place that had a fairly high price tag included. They were also somewhat pressing a sale, gently nudging us to commit to things and then rough in some cost later. The site cost was ambiguous, even if it was fixed. The house itself had a great design - however the headaches that would come with it would  not be worth the trouble.


 With this, we continued onto looking at the Carlisle display again. We were just as happy with their design of the house and prefered the much more openeess about things. The documents provided by Carlisle clearly outline the inclusions (and they have houses aimed at low, middle and high end of the cost scale - with defined inclusions to suite different buyers) and the display home was only upgraded on a medium level in regard to inclusions (We were not interested in most anyway (fireplace, fancy TV indents in walls, etc - so no harm at all!).

Talking with the sales consult was a good experience and to the point with things. The processes were explained well and they were happy to let us work at our own place and ask questions. If a cost or accurate assessment of things couldn't be given - it wasn't - meaning that we were only provided with hard facts - and not mislead with wild ballpark guesses or things skipped over that can be costed later when your locked into things - such as we experienced elsewhere.

Given the above, we felt that we had found the right builder - costs were reasonable (a bit more expensive in some areas - however you pay for what you get and customer service/support is a aspect that we consider very important. Another thing we considered important was build quality (i.e. Carlisle has 3 coats as standard for paint) and the post sales support is good for fixing issues.

From here we moved onto meeting the next weekend with the sales consultant to really start drawing up a specific quote to us. At the same time we were also sourcing land - of sufficient size and one with not to many covenants that we would have to change so much of the house / at a great expense.

Following the above we went to the second stage of the quote / initiate despot - which I'll cover in later posts.

One of the facades on display - Ambrosia