Hotondo Homes Questions & Answers (page 5 of 5)

No we built with hotondo goulburn they were great

We have used Hotondo Goulburn to build a home for us recently. The quality of the work was above and beyond what was required. We had an Independent builder of good standing check the work and they felt it was faultless and that you don't see homes built like that with such care and attention to detail a that anymore.
Very very satisfied. Highly recommend phil meares.

Hi,
We have paid $2k deposit to Hotondo for initial site works. We were told that the moment we paid the deposit and signed, we have entered into a house and land package. If we decide to go with another builder (before signing any building contract with Hotondo), do we have to pay more to Hotondo to terminate this alleged house and land package?

Hi Brett,
I dealt with my local franchise (Hotondo Hornsby) and received pricing from them, but can't help with any feedback for the Ulladulla franchise as it is totally separate. If you contact them direct I’m sure they can provide pricing for you. Good luck! Anything else please feel free to drop a line via Product Review.

Ritika

Hi I have Built with Hotondo Ulladulla. My home was complete Dec 2012. I was a first home owner and found the team at Hotondo very easy to deal with. they looked after everything, communication was excellent they help me through everystage, that was propberly the best thing about building with a local builder was that i was able to talk directly to builder during the whole build. Even after the home was complete they remained easy to deal with for maintenance and other small concerns I had. Definently recommend building with Hotondo Ulladulla.

Hi there, I would really like a response to this question too. I am about to build a home and have had a look at Hotondo Homes and would really appreciate feedback. I have also been trying to find a price list for Hotondo, I understand different prices for different states and depending on design but there must be a approx. guideline somewhere. Any feedback would be greatly received

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Arizona. Difficult to know where to start. Did you personalise the plan to suit you? Do you find the design comfortable and convenient? We are thinking of widening the garage, with the balcony across the front of the house. Suzanne is looking for a walk in pantry with a sink. Also, more decking for alfresco use.

Hi

Andrew Brown from sketch design did the plan and you can have pretty much whatever you want. He is very flexible.

Regards

Chris

Thanks for the response. We have made contact with [name removed] who is with the van Dam team, and with Christmas out of the way, will be progressing our interest.

Team, what has happened to the Arizona display home at Glenmore Ridge? I've just booked accommodation so I could do a walk through but it's no longer on the list. Please don't tell me that it's closed. If it has, is there another one opening?

Yes. We went to Craigieburn display home, signed a contract with Hotondo. Our home was being built by Elegant Homes and Developments T/A Hotondo by a builder Spiros Falaras. It is a 2 bed home, started in August,2014, it is now Mid April,2015, have barely reached lock up stage, he demanded monies before reaching completed stages, showed up to work, on average, 6 hours a week over this time, had 6 goes at getting slab correct. House has several defects, cannot contact builder by phone or email, and on contacting people have found out he does not return to fix defects. We are in process of terminating contract. Hotondo has offered no support, went to lawyer and found out that even though Hotondo advertise warranty and guarantee,, Hotondo give none, they are purely a franchise and have no responsibility, in fact they have washed their hands of us. Have names and phone numbers of others misled by this company and in same position . Is anyone else in this position? would love to hear from you

@ K.whiteside :

Omg ive also signed a contract with hotondo craigieburn and ive been waiting since November for a building date. The communication is VERY slack!! The person we dealt with at the actual display, Bill, was awesome. Very efficient with commhnication and always got on top of any questions i had, but unfortunately he is no longer with the company. The two we dealt with at epping was not efficient AT ALL. They even organised a meeting at one point for us to receive an update, my husband and i took time off early from work, we got there and the office was closed. We stayed there for 45 minutes thinking maybe they were late, but they never showed. I called and emailed regarding this, and never got an apology or an explanation of why they never turned up. I tried to be as patient as i could, having an open mind that things like building, does take time, but there is so much patience one person can have. Its very unfortunate that an experience ive been looking forward to for a long time has turned out like this. I would like to be in contact to discuss other situations others have had with Hotondo Craigieburn.

You did the right thing by not using hotondo, not sure if who u r using will be much better. As you changed to a flat block why did you not look at macdonald jones or masterton?

after a lot of research and talking to people who had built their homes in the area we are building we have chosen Montgomery Homes. Unfortunately there is not one builder in this area that has 100% positive feedback. We have also contacted an independent building inspector who has checked out our contract, tender and plans and all is well. We have received our approval from the certifer(CDC) and this only took 2 weeks, much better then going to council.
At this stage we are very impressed with Montgomery Homes and staff so hopefully it will continue.
I intend to keep updating our progress on the Montgomery Homes Review site.
Regards
Jan

Hi Lou, I have been delighted with my two builds with Hotondo on the Sunshine Coast. Even finished building 4 weeks ahead of schedule amongst a very wet summer. Most happy to discuss via email: [email protected]

Lisa ...

Hi Lou, would you mind if I contacted you too as we are trying to decide whether Hotondo or Grandview at the moment. I like both and really can't decide right now. Thanks. Nicky.

Hi Lisa, sorry meant to ask you too if I could contact you as well for advice. Thanks, Nicky. My email is [email protected]

Hi, although this may be legal, my advice as a contracts manager who negotiates multi billion dollar construction contracts for a living is - get them to give you a fixed lump sum price, specification schedule and time frame for building with milestone payments attached before you commit anything. You should always be 100% happy with the costs, quality and timeframe before you hand over your money. Remember that your deposit = contractual acceptance.

Hi Kevin, I think you will find that the fixed price is provided BEFORE signing the contract. All they need is the smaller deposit, like all other builders ask for, to get soil tests done, and drawings and stuff. I really think you might have misunderstood the order of things. Call the rep and clarify...

We had to pay a deposit of $2,000 to get a estimate which we did after a site visit and a verbal estimate that what we wanted to build would be within our budget.When the estimate came in it was $35,000 over our budget. They then came back with a revised esitmate (after suggesting a few changes) that was about $16,000 over our budget. After deciding not to proceed we received a refund of $1,500, so it cost us $500 to receive an estimate and a preliminary plan. The estimate was not a fixed price contract - they wouldn't make any commitment until soil tests, etc were done. They builder we have gone with provided a fixed price contact without us having to make any payments, nor did we have to change our basic design to come within budget.
Lynda

We are currently building with hotondo pasco vale branch, fair to OK at the moment but I hoping for a little improvement once strip footing are finished.

Sorry...we did not deal with Blue Mountains Hotondo