Building with Metricon...Good or Bad?

Thanks Chris,
I think you are right.
Where can i get such a person in Melbourne and how much do they charge?


Friends!

If you are building with a spec home builder such as Metricon homes. I highly recommend you use a building consultant / handover person.

We used a guy here that covers from the Gold Coast to Brisbane and he was worth his weight in Gold.

At each phase we reviewed everything with him and forced the builder to fix things. It was well worth it because you can prevent most problems after handover by paying attention during the build.

In QLD even the HIA contract states , "Its your responsibility to manage quality."


Chris
 
Thanks guys...much appreciated.
What about Glenvill.
Talking to them also..
Any experiences?
There products looks for better...

From a MB's point of veiw and having dealt with both, I'd say Metricon for sure. I must admit I've had more dealings with them than Glenvill but client feedback has been better from a larger sample.

I'm also not a fan of Glenvill's contracts for non-residents and the hidden fees they add to arrange residency.

Regards
Steve
 
Another option you might want to consider is Paulding Homes. They are a fair bit smaller, but have some nice designs and are large enough to be price competitive. There is a new display village at Marriot Waters, Lyndhurst, that has a lare number of builders in it. It only opened about a month ago, this would be a pretty good place to visit if you are loking at volume builders.
 
Had friend building with them.
Guy with bobcat came to level block, the block he was given to level didn't match the block on the plans he had. They had sited house on wrong block. Resite the block it didn't fit with the shed that was there, (yes they knew about the shed). They did offer to knock the shed down, never mind that it houses furniture, they even wanted to do it straight away. That was the start of the problems.
 
Steve are you saying you would go for Metricon than Glenvill?

From a MB's point of veiw and having dealt with both, I'd say Metricon for sure. I must admit I've had more dealings with them than Glenvill but client feedback has been better from a larger sample.

I'm also not a fan of Glenvill's contracts for non-residents and the hidden fees they add to arrange residency.

Regards
Steve
 
We did a pull down rebuild in the burbs. It will be about 15 months from initial discussions to handover for our Metricon home. The display homes are optioned up by a lot and have fancy furniture. We added about $30k of extras and will do the carpet, drive, decking and render after handover, to save some $.
We have used an independent inspector, Kevin, for a frame, pre plaster and final inspection. Worth the $400-500 each time (www.newhomeinspections.com.au)
We looked at a lot of builders and it came down to two for us Metricon and Porter Davis, you get value for money, however we have had better quality fittings and fixtures when we have built, previously with boutique builders (at a cost also)
Do your research on what is offered, ask lots of questions, correspond via email / fax and keep all you documentation.
You can get a great house if are prepared to put in a bit of effort and keep the B@stards honest

Good luck and go for it

Cheers
PP
:)
 
we bought a newly completed metricon home in 2003, metricon bought a whole court in a subdivision and sold them off. we had a few small problems nothing major. my main recommendation when building with metricon would be to supply your own good quality paint. as 5 years later the paint in the house looks very worn. other wise they are a great house well designed and yes I would go with them again. cheers
meggala
 
Paulding query

Hi Scouse,
Just wanting to clarify - are you referring to Paulding here?
I've been having some trouble with Paulding....
Regards,
Posnow

Had friend building with them.
Guy with bobcat came to level block, the block he was given to level didn't match the block on the plans he had. They had sited house on wrong block. Resite the block it didn't fit with the shed that was there, (yes they knew about the shed). They did offer to knock the shed down, never mind that it houses furniture, they even wanted to do it straight away. That was the start of the problems.
 
Been looking for a builder to do a couple of town houses on one block and spoke to several including metricon.

Metricon gave me a 8-10 month time to keys hand over and a price of 350k which was long and expensive compared to others such as national builders who have a 4 month completion guarantee and 50k cheaper.

So metricon was crossed of the list of potential builders.
 
For an extensive standard inclusions list and value for money, guaranteed display home quality of finish actually written into the contracts you should check out Carlisle Homes, especially if you are comparing to other display builders in Melbourne......i must admit i am biased, but considering Carlisle won a couple HIA and master builders awards last year...i think Carlisle is well worth a look...PM me if ya want some details :)
 
aren't they the largest builder in Mlb? my bro says that they're too popular and the problem is that all the houses in the estate tend to look the same.

they're not big in qld, price not competitive enough and a lot of builders here to choose from. i don't see many metricon homes here at all. we did visit their display oncebut what put me off was that everything in the display was an upgrade. I wanted to see standard inclusions and the quality of it. I prefer display homes where what you see is what you get. Or if they are upgrades then they have a special offer where for $3k more you get all the things in the display...but Metricon has separate costings for every single upgrade and it was very very expensive.
 
Pls do not go with Glenvill.
I have never came across such a non professional sales guy before in my life.
He cannot even get the variations right.
Maybe i was just unlucky but its been a shame so far.
You never get a call back from them anymore after you sign the contract...
Keep u guys posted


Steve are you saying you would go for Metricon than Glenvill?
 
I haven't read all of the posts so I'm sorry if i post a similar comment.

My experience is that it solely depends on two things..the quality of the products the company uses and the tradies they employ.

A worker should never blame their tools...but they can blame the material....

Great material does not guarantee a great house... give me top notch quality material and i'll build you a dump...
 
From a MB's point of veiw and having dealt with both, I'd say Metricon for sure. I must admit I've had more dealings with them than Glenvill but client feedback has been better from a larger sample.

I'm also not a fan of Glenvill's contracts for non-residents and the hidden fees they add to arrange residency.

Regards
Steve

What do you mean by "non-residents", and "to arrange residency"? We have a block of land on hold and are considering one of the Glenvill designs?

We met with them and they seem to have a good range of inclusions, including fences, driveway, upgrades in the kitchen and wet areas, etc.
 
As in non australian residents. They do some funny stuff which i'd say is on the shonky side.



As in prices including no building work let's say.
 
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Metricon builds do look good but the hubby thinks it's the furniture everyone falls in love with and not the design...The design we saw had the main bedroom right near the front door.....I don't think I could put up with that (If I was living there that is)

Ems

ems, I am the same with your hubby then.

I totally agree. The presentation of the display homes are fantastic.

I don't necesarily put it down to the design either.

Plantation homes is another one that looks great on paper (and in showrooms)....don't know what they are like though.

Cheers,

F
 
Our experience is a bit different to others here

Paid Metricon $1000 in March 06 to commence work. House will be finished before xmas that year

Another $2000 the next month, still looking at xmas

Balance of 5% deposit in May (around another $11k), funds cleared now we are looking at April 07 all of a sudden. Person I've been dealing with says it's not his problem as I'm now dealing with someone else. That someone else says there's nothing that can be done xmas should never have been promised

We give notice at our rental as per confirmation that house would be finished but of course it was a major stress to have it done in time. We accept we are moving in with a heap of stuff not done, and no occupancy permit

Last day of March 07 and we take handover. Now the problems start

Solar hot water breaks first day. To their credit was fixed same day

First night we decide to have a spa together been looking forward to this for over a year. Spa jet from behind me flies out. Hits the wife in the head (at least I saw the funny side - she wasnt hurt) water is now flying out of the bit in the spa the jet came out of and floods ensuite

Dog destroys termite protection after spa incident. We have a young boxer he destroys everything. If we had of been told termite protection didnt mean having the house sprayed and instead was the plastic thing that sits above ground and goes around the house I would have had someone spray the house outside of Metricon. Accept it's my fault for not asking the right questions. Wife is pretty upset at this stage and worried for dogs health and makes me call that poison info line in the middle of the night. By this stage romance is out the window

A month or so later the french doors leading out of our bedroom into a courtyard stop closing. Accept that that's part of the house moving or whatever. Then they fall off. Dont accept that that's part of the house moving

Master bedroom door handle/latch breaks and wont open. We are in the bedroom at the time so I break through the door like in the movies. Metricon refused to fix this

Front door refuses to close (this has happened a few times since). End up putting dining chairs

None of the bedrooms hooked up to the heating unit

Solar hot water breaks continously throughout winter. They dont like frost. Happened at least 3 times that winter, and has just happened again for a different reason though

Aircon breaks. On inspection birds have also caused damage to the inside (but were'nt the cause of it breaking). Great it's under warranty but guess what? Your 12 month old $8800 aircon didnt come with bird protection so it has to be retrofitted at your expense

Oven recently broke

Ensuite shower has been re-tiled twice

Sorry for the long post that's all I can think of at this stage. Metricon (and any sane person who hasnt put up with this crap) argue that it's all third party products that are the problem. And of course everything bar bedroom door and the bird related aircon problem has been fixed to Metricon's credit. I cant compare their after sales customer service as this is the first (and most likely last) house we've built but eventually things do get fixed. But after spending close to $300k on construction (at 2006 prices) you kind of expect better

As for the house itself, it's our palace. When we have the "what would we do if we won $30m from lotto" talks, selling it isnt really on the cards

I wish i had never ever choosen Metricon to build our house. So problems and we not even half way through. Our building supervisor never retruns calls, in fact the office never returns calls. They are impossible to deal with even when the mistakes are theirs. Dont build with Metricon, you will be disappointed. I hope by writing on this forum i can save somebody the stress and frustation of building with this company. The displays looks great, but the house you end up with is not what you thought you would get.:mad:
 
Is that because much of what you see is extras, but you assume it is a standard inclusion?

I think Metricon have the best display homes I have seen, great layouts, fantastic kitchens and very well presented.
 
having looked thru a display village in nsw recently (metricon are only just starting to build in nsw) - the metricon house was miles ahead of the others in terms of finish, layout, size etc etc.

if i had the slightly extra money, and was thinking to build (we're renovating - again) i would definately go with them. they were a little more expensive, but the result was infinitely better.
 
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