Got a call on Thursday to say that Onley had our revised contract ready (quickest turnaround from Premier yet!), and we picked it up on Friday. The contract was supposed to be a direct copy of our original Romeo contract, but we did find a few discrepancies between the two documents - mainly in terms of the payment terms and the electrical allowances. Put together a detailed document with the differences for discussion with the sales representative on Sunday.
In the meantime, we started having a look at what else is available, keeping our options open just in case. Turns out there is not much available in the Northern suburbs in terms of period home builders - at least not in the same price range as Premier. Basically, we have Premier and Highview Homes as the two key options - all the other period home builders are located in the south-eastern suburbs and are not willing to travel. Highview are nice, but they don't build on stumps unfortunately (our site is cut to suit stumps now, so going on a slab is not an option). In the course of my research I did find a really nice home by Lentini Homes called the "Queen Anne" which looks very similar to the Coventry. However, I called up to enquire about the price and found out that the starting price of the home is more than $100,000 over that of the Coventry by Premier - WOW!
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| The "Queen Anne" by Lentini Homes |
My learnings from all this additional research is that there is definitely a space in the period homes market in the Northern suburbs if ever I saw one! Builders take note...
Feeling pretty disenheartened, we decided to travel down to Narre Warren and Berwick on Saturday to have a closer look at the Premier displays that have been built by Onley (the Canterbury Cottage, the Grange and the Loft). Turns out they are not half bad, so we left feeling more open-minded towards Onley.
Then came our meeting with the sales representative on Sunday. He was pretty apologetic about the whole situation, and assured us that our case had been placed on the "critical priority" list. Given that we had already received our revised contract at this stage whereas I know of other Romeo clients who had only just found out who their new builder would be, we were actually inclined to believe him for once. He also told us that it will be the owner of Onley Construction who will be overseeing our build, not a site supervisor. Apparently he has already been to visit all the Romeo displays to get an idea of the types of features Romeo customers are looking for from their build. Seems like a pretty good way to handle things.
So where are we at now?
We are going to move ahead with Onley - we just love our floorplan so much, we have been working so hard on it for over six months now and we really can't stomach the thought of starting the process all over again with someone new...we just want in this house already!
Apparently our council permit was only one or two days away from approval when this situation happened, so Premier tells us that everything should move along quite quickly once all of this new documentation is organised. Don't want to get too hopeful at this stage, but a June site start was mentioned...
we are in much the same situation as you are with the Romeo/Onley situation. It has been frustrating for sure. We are also hoping to start building in June, just waiting for our final council approval. It'll be really interesting to watch your build over the next 12 months. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda,
ReplyDeleteThanks - what are your thoughts on Onley so far? Are you needing to redo your contract too? I can definitely see a difference already in the customer service aspects between Romeo and Onley...
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWe do have to redo the contract too. Bit annoying but not a major drama. Its really interesting the difference in our experience with Romeo. We didn't find it easy with them in many ways. Impossible to get hold of the person we dealt with there, and lots of waiting for plans and adjustments. These were definitely Romeo dramas and not Premier. We have been assured that this is not the case with Onley, we haven't contacted them personally as we have been busy with getting our final approval. This has been a long process for sure. Blogging about it makes for an interesting read back, although we are glad now that we have had to wait. Would have been harder to be part way through our build and have to change builders I think.
cheers
Linda
Hello there,
ReplyDeleteWe are also in the same boat. Originally with Romeo now waiting for new Onley contracts. I have been trying to find reviews on Onley, not many about.
Linda I think I have seen you blog in the home one forum? (Unless it's another Linda with the same problem lol) Basically I have found a couple of forums with people in this situation.
As I read other peoples' blogs about the reassurance from the sales rep of premier builders that Onley have many awards, and you will be dealing with the owner himself and you are on the priority queue I start to wonder where we REALLY stand.
I have heard the exact same words and I'm really hoping it is true, though with all the jobs in the same boat, I hope that Onley will be able to cope.
Goodluck to all I say!
BEAN
Hi Bean,
ReplyDeleteThat was our number one query too - what guarantees do Onley have in place to ensure that they can actually handle all of this unexpected workload? Frankly, I don't think having the owner as our site supervisor is a "bonus" - particularly if he is taking on every Romeo job. I can just hear the silence now...
I'm also less inclined to believe our "critical" status given that I gave them detailed notes on all the errors in the contract (referencing specific page numbers and clauses) almost a week and a half ago, and we are yet to see anything back.
Hi Bean and Blue,
ReplyDeleteWe haven't seen contracts yet. Where are you building Bean, and yes that is me on homeone. Do you have a blog or any other blogs we can also keep up with.
We do share some of your concerns. It does seem that Onley are going to have a sudden influx of builds, perhaps they have the ability to deal with them, but who knows. We are definitely scoping out our options. Will post on our blog when we get ourselves sorted.
Linda
PS any other handle you both go by other than bean and blue, seems weird calling you that....LOL
Hey Blue, we are waiting for our new contracts which we have told will be exactly the same except the name. I will definitely be reading them over and over. Our sales consultant told us to hold on to our original contracts for a future reference. Today we received a letter about the cancelation of romeo homes to give to the bank. Will be ringing the sales rep tomorrow to find out when our contracts are due out and what is out timeline.
ReplyDeleteHey Linda, we are building in Whittlesea where are you building? We are building the Carlisle (on display in Doreen). I don't have any other blogs, I have been watching the home1 site for months and decided after seeing your post to join and keep updates going. Seems like a good idea to share info and tips! Obviously this is a set back and gives time to think over about building with these people... I feel at the end of the day, we have been dealing with premier builders for some time now and it will just feel like a waste if we don't proceed.
Hopefully I will have an update by the end of the week :)
Here's to hoping all goes well :)
Bean
PS just bean :)
Sounds like PJ is about to have a busy day today, because we are going to be chasing up our contract too!
ReplyDeleteWhen you do get your revised contract, make sure you go through it line by line with a fine-tooth comb - particularly in the payment section. Onley's "standard" here was a bit different to our original Romeo contract, and all in favor of Onley (e.g. Number of days to make progress payments has decreased from 10 days to 7 days, while penalty for late payments has increased from 10% to 15%). This will all need to be changed though since we are supposed to be signing an "identical" contract.
P.S. You can call me Isobel if you wish ;)
just a quick note PJ's mobile phone was stolen from the sales office in Doreen. Be patient whilst he gets back to you. regards David (Linda's hubby) We are building in greensborough our blog is www.thehalls.com.au
ReplyDeleteWell I am pretty annoyed... Just found out our contracts are due out on the 10th of June. We had signed our original contracts with Romeo on the 10th of April- so there's 2 months wasted.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on receipts we paid our initial deposit on the 29th August 2010. Makes me wonder where the time has gone?
Not to mention the 5% deposit we put down in April, money that could of been left in the bank offsetting our loan or earning interest.
Thanks for the tip Blue, I am annoyed to know that might be the case. I will email our sales rep now and make sure they are to be exactly the same like he said so we don't run into MORE delays.
Blue have you got your contracts? Is it the final contracts that come out first? I don't want to be mucking around with preliminary contracts as that is more time wasted. We are expecting the same contract with just a different name as we have been told.
BEAN
Hi Isobel and Bean,
ReplyDeleteWe are building in Greensborough, doing an extended version of the Jamieson Attic. i think PJ is going to be hugely busy today you are right. I am waiting to hear what he says, I am concerned about the Onley reviews I have heard. please email me via our blog and I can elaborate.
Hi Guys, just been reading through all your comments and my heart goes out to you all....... We are one of the very few that are still building with Romeo Homes in the northern suburbs. And let me tell you it has been rollercoaster ride!!!! All problems arose from one very incompetant site supervisor that ran Romeo to the ground and caused much stress on Chris ( director ) . After 3 months in hospital we are actually meeting him onsite tomorrow morning, i have my list of questions ready for him, i'll keep you posted....... Sally ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Sally,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have had an interesting experience with Romeo too - have you got a blog? I love reading about other people's experiences during the home building process!
Isobel
Hi Isobel,
ReplyDeletesorry i don't have a blog, but i'm sure it would have made for interesting reading if i did!!! Met with Chris this morning and it was great to hear that Romeo Homes will continue to trade, however just not in the northern suburbs :( After much stress our home should be completed within 2 months....fingers crossed!!
Hi Sally, which Romeo home are you building, and what are the major dramas you have encountered? How long has your house been on the go for? We are two months in and apart from incorrect mortar which meant they had to knock down what they had done, so far pretty good. Cheers Janine
ReplyDeleteHey Janine, we're building the Delatite Cottage in Lalor, we started in August last year and the plasterer is just finishing up so the painter can 'hopefully start' next week!!!!!! It's been a rough trot, our slab was half the height it should have been and too short in length, which meant all our walls were out (i had half the shower base in my wardrobe!!!!!) It all came down to our site supervisor, who when we confronted him, got the arse!!!!!!! I'm sure your build will b fine now Chris is back, all the issues we've had was because we're in the Northern suburbs!!!! Overall we are very happy with the way they have handled our concerns along the way, and the outcomes have always been in our favour!! Good luck with the months ahead ;)
ReplyDeleteRomeo are back on the scene and it sounds like the same issues that were around in 2011, are still around today. We've been waiting over 17 months for our home to be built. Our supervisor was shocking, but I'm more disappointed in the management by Chris and Julie, as we raised many issues with them over the past year and a half and they either don't have the capacity to care, or really have no idea what they're doing. We've finally got another supervisor over our house and he's fixing up the mess that accumulated over the year +. Running a business is challenging, and I really don't think that Chris and Julie have what it takes to cope.
ReplyDeleteThey had a number of negative reviews on their Google account, but somehow managed to clear those. Disappointing that there will be more blind customers walking into something they will regret.