Hotondo Homes Questions & Answers (page 3 of 5)

Remember if you build with Hotondo you are building with an independent builder - Hotondo take no responsibility for any problems you may have and will tell you to take your problems to the Master Builders assn or legal avenues. You may be better off with a company that takes responsibility for its builders work.

Just remember the builder is a Hotondo franchisee - as such Hotondo do not warrant any of his work and will not step in to help if you have problems - you are on your own! We built with Hotondo in Victoria and when problems occurred were told by Hotondo they could do nothing to help - we were advised to take the normal channels you would against an individual builder (master builders association, VCAT, legal avenues). I would nowadays use a major builder that has control over its workers and actually oversees the work.

We are currently building a dual occupancy in stages with Brian Roby. The first house is being clad and roof fitted and we expect occupation by winter. We have had no problems with Brian Roby and found him meticulous in his attention to detail and his sub-contractors have all been very pleasant and do a great job. We would be happy to recommend him.

Yes. 3 words. Don't do it.
We're building now. Huge regrets. Have built with other cos before now. Would never use this franchise again.
Happy to share the disappointing and costly details, if yr interested.

We have built a Kirkby267 in Wadalba which we are about to move into.From land settlement late september John and Lindsay Clarke have been amazing,recomended a fantastic broker did the colours and materials in their office and then all we have had to do is sign papers and answer yes or no,and watch it rise up from the ground.We would recommend John,Lindsay and the Hatondo team to anyone who wants a top build and a pain free ride to the final product.very happy customers,Harold,Cherie and Samantha Toia.

Thanks so much for your prompt reply. Did you have a lot of amendments to the original design? If so, how was that whole process?

Wouldn't recommend the port Stephens franchise. Cant speak for the maitland franchise but port stephens have a display home at homeworld thornton. Highly recommended to stay away. Nothing but issues and poor quality.

Did you go ahead with Ballarat? What are your thoughts please

Hi there, i didnt end up going with them as the way how salesman quoted me on things were always lack of details (e.g no measurements, unclear, unwilling to explain price per meter 2 and just rather say 5000 here and 7000 there, etc). I ended up going with Classic Home who is diligent and transparent with their quote. I have just started with them and going to colour selection soon. My colleague who just built with them not long ago is very happy with their custom home and said they were honest and kept to the quote. Would happy to share with experience here with you if you want.

One of my children had a house built by Hotondo Ballarat.
They have been appalling with their time estimates. I would not recommend them to a sick cat.
Here are some things still outstanding after 'finishing' the house.
The windows need repair. They need to fix the render colour
Floors not level and walls bowed...two doors hit the floor when opening due to that
Insulation still not properly installed.
Soft mortar in brickwork.
Just substandard all round.

Hello Polly i have not but i ave built with metricon shepparton in Tatura and they were very good and professional. They didn't deal with changes very well/ at all but if you found a plan you liked they were very good and fast and building that house

I have built with Hotondo Shepparton, any changes I wanted were not a problem
and I am happy with my new home

Hi, thanks for the replies.

We have our own plan as metricon didn't have one we liked. Hotondo is willing to quote on it and give flexibility with inclusions.
JG King willing to quote on our plan also. Appreciate any feed back on their building in this area if anyone has built with them??
So far the pricing we have had from private builders in our area have been way out of reach. Has anyone else found that?

Hi Prince,

I am currently building with Hotondo Homes Bendigo (Andrew Ralph builder).

I am doing a custom build. The sales office and the builder were very helpful and worked with me in designing my home.

My house is at plastering stage (6 weeks since start) and so far I am happy with the build.

Andrew has a fantastic team to work with. They do fixed price quote and are very flexible.

Please let me know if you need more information or have any specific query.

Cheers,

Thank you for your response KB. Would you mind if I ask which part of Bendigo are you building? Hotondo has only have 1 display home which is in Strath but wasn't really impressed with it. They told me they only build 20 homes per year (?), I just need to see some of their work before I sign up with them.

Hi Prince,
Apologies for the delayed response.
Hotondo now have a new display home in Strath. Is that the one you visited?. They said the same (20 homes per year) to me and it made sense to me. They are local builders and not volume builders. You can request the sales rep to provide references. I am happy to walk you through my build (I need to confirm with the builder).

My partner and I recently moved into our Hontodo home and cannot recommend the team at Hotondo Albury highly enough. The entire team including the trades were fantastic to deal with. Jim and Julie assisted with finding us a great block and Jim made some great suggestions on how to place the home on the block and helped us make adjustments to the floor plan to suit our lifestyle and offered us a fixed price from the start. The display home made it so easy to pick our home design and the hostess was not at all pushy, Elise just let us walk through & ask any questions we had. A standard list of inclusions gave us confidence that what we saw in the display was what we would receive in our home. Julie's help with our colour selection was great. She stepped in to offer assistance when we were not sure but let us make our own choice. Our site supervisor Shannon made everything onsite easy and was always available to answer and questions and made the small adjustments we requested last minute. The quality of work is of a high standard. The local trades used were easy to deal with and were happy to accommodate any additional requests we made. We often get comments from guests that the paint job is great. - We cannot wait to build with Hotondo Albury again!! Do yourself a favor and go and see them :)

Working with Jim, Julie and the team at Hotondo Albury was great. Could not fault their service or standard of work at all. The fixed price was competitive with nothing hidden. Jim was able to accommodate us and easily change the floor plan that allowed my partner to have the kitchen she had envisioned and positioned the house cleverly on the block to allow for the shed I had always wanted. Communication were great, we always knew what was going on and what the next stage was. The walk through at frame stage with the electrician was great. It really helped us to map out where we wanted power points and lights. I highly recommend J&J Carroll (Hotondo Albury) and will be building with them again.

Have just completed my beautiful new Hotondo Home from the guys at the Port Stephens office. The job went seamlessly with all aspects exceeding my expectations. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be happy with the end result but it's beautiful. The staff in the office go out of their way to help and Dom the supervisor (tad cute too) was always keeping me up to date.
Can't recommend them enough!

We build with Hotondo Greater Port Stephens starting September 2015 when plans were approved through council to completion date of August 2016. We cannot speak more highly of Paul Chapman at Hotondo Sales office, he modified an existing Hotondo design to align with our budget and was a wealth of knowledge and experience. From the start we told Dom (our site supervisor) we wanted quality not a rushed house, and we truly got a quality home.
There was an error with our ensuite bathroom window put in the wrong place and affecting the larger shower we paid for, however Hotondo came up with a favourable idea and we could not be happier with the finished product.
During the build we felt every emotion, all the highs and the lows, however upon reflection we have seen so many horror stories with other companies come to light so we are grateful for our experience.
Dom was down to earth and approachable and Jaimee-Lee as client liaison was brilliant and I could not recommend or praise her higher. Every question I asked (and there was many) was answered in a professional and timely manner from Jaimee.
The house itself we are very happy with, quality finishing and overall a lovely home. It would be unfair to not list our negatives which was the time taken to build the house, and at times lack of communication. We aired our frustration with the Jason directly at one stage and he contacted us via phone that same day to discuss our issues and concerns which said a lot for his character and pride he takes in his business.
Reflecting over the build and the ups and downs that everyone gets when they build a new home, we moved in very happy with the finished product and the workmanship that truly exceed our expectations.. Our really only negative was the time it took to build the house. We have discussed this and have said we would build with Hotondo again.

If you want to know how many months it takes to build it depends on your house . But it started for me when they laid the foundation .you need to ask your builder It took 6 months to build my house .You need to ask as many questions as you can they also should be telling you when things take place . Good luck with your build

I my question is we have sign a contract when do the 290 days start ticking over

Hi Unhappy
Did you get this resolved? How much have your costs escalated?

I did request a project schedule, although Hotondo Melton never committed to providing it. Their response was, if required, that they would keep my updated on a weekly basis.

We are currently building with Hotondo in Ocean Grove. Will provide answer here later today as we have been told of start date twice and not happened. Shuffle the letters in HOTONDO and you get OH DO NOT. Is that an omen. Will answer later today, hope it's favourable.
Good news is after 6 months from buying block of land trades finally on site. The only schedule provided is verbally given, which is ok, but contractors could be delayed. I hope that as build progresses past the slab stage a more detailed schedule will be provided. We are renting nearby so can keep up to date on progress. The best advice given to us by another builder was ask questions, no matter how trivial you think they are, because it's the questions before and during the build that you do not ask that will come back to bite you. Also, take photos, lots of photos and keep a daily record of conversations . Email everything as well.
And BTW can add to the HOTONDO shuffle. It should read OH and DO NOT stress. It will all happen and in the required time frame.

I have been building with Hotondo the last 6 months and I was provided with stage by stage schedule and when they starting to get delayed on the roofing stage by 4 weeks they tried to get away with the schedule but I got Hotondo head office involve then they provided a revised schedule with recovery plan to complete as per contract .However nothing has improved and bad news is they are almost 2 months delay for locked up stage. I have a low confidence that my project will be completed on as pe contract given how things have progress to date. I"m getting to a point to write a review they deserve. Any thought out there from other Hotondo current client?