The story so far would sound a familiar one. We were happy enough in our house which we had built a number of years earlier, but as time went past the "Young Family"" syndrome started to show.
House getting too small, two young boys arrived on the scene ,we started to think about schools to send the kids, the kind of place we wanted to bring them up in. Then to top it off some undesirable elements moved into the street.
It was time to move.
The cunning plan was to sell the house and buy one bigger and in the area we wanted with as little disruption as possible.
After getting the house selling well under way we started to check out what was available. We were somewhat disappointed, (shocked) at what was on offer. There always seemed to be a major or multiple drawbacks to all the properties we saw. Most issues were around decor and maintenance (or lack thereof) However some things were harder to change such as land size and floor plan. We kept asking ourselves, "they want us to fork out how much ? and THEN fix the place up?"
BTW,This is a sanitised version of our thoughts.
Like many people we had not necessarily sworn we would never build again, but when asked earlier in the year if we would we had said "No we wouldn't"
Well - on a cold very wet Sunday afternoon, drinking a not so good coffee in the Windsor Rd. McCafe while waiting for an open home, we discussed our options feeling very despondent. We noticed there was just enough time to check out the Ponds display village before the open home. So off we went.
We were pleasantly surprised and both of us gained our excitement back. We then attended the open home that was probably the worst house we had inspected. We took it as a sign.
The feeling of excitement was back and over the coming weeks we re-acquainted ourselves with builder selection and land hunting process.
We did originally start looking for a block in Kellyville Ridge, but then in a series of serendipity style events we found the near perfect block at the Ponds.
The builder selection we *thought* we had sorted very early in the process. But it really does pay to do your homework and ask questions.
The particular builder we were dealing with seemed to "forget" to tell us about extra charges unless you asked a very specific question about them, quoted very high prices for additions and upgrades and gave very little in the way of refunds for deletions. Then there was strange stuff, like if you ordered a particular upgrade you were no longer eligible for certain inclusions. Even if they were at opposite ends of the house and in no way connected.
The outrageous charges just mounted, and every time we walked away from a meeting we had even more to pay but with usually less house. For the record we don't mind fair and reasonable profit, but it got beyond a joke. We don't like being looked at like we are $ signs as we walk through the door.
Luckily we had not signed anything. So again feeling a bit like the wind had been knocked out of the sails it was time to choose another builder.
We had already checked out a number of the builders at the Ponds and after deciding not to go ahead with the builder described above we checked out a few more. This time with a bit more of a critical eye.
To cut the story short we are now going to build with Wisdom homes. You can read why in the "Why Wisdom" section (on its way), but in short; very friendly and helpful, upfront about costs (pulling teeth comes to mind with some builders),high spec finishes and the whole process feels a whole lot more comfortable than any other builder we have spoken too.
So at the time of writing. We have moved into our rental accommodation that is conveniently approx. 100m from the land we have bought. We are just waiting for the land to have roads put in so the Surveyors can get on site and the tender can be finalised. Then of course it's waiting for registration and settlement. After which building starts proper.
