Hotondo Homes QLD, Caloundra

Fantastic builder and experience! – My experience with Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast was fantastic. It was the first time I have built a house and Alyssa (builder) helped me from the start, from researching land for me and then designing a beautiful home. Anything I didn't understand, she explained it in layman's terms. She suggested ways to utilise all my space on a small block… Read more ·  1

and designed a home that was spacious and functional and truly beautiful.

I was wanting an outside entertainment area and with a small block it was a challenge but Alyssa suggested a way to have a large outdoor area as an extension of my inside living space which made the front of my house stunning. The fixtures and fittings are high quality and the finishes are exemplary. Choosing colours can be quite daunting but Alyssa made it easy suggesting colour palettes that complimented each other.

She listened to my vision on what I wanted to achieve and include in the house and made suggestions to make that vision a reality within my budget. She even researched and delivered on some of my out-of-the box ideas and made it such a good experience. Her knowledge is endless and she keeps up-to-date on current trends and best-practice.

Alyssa met with me whenever I asked and the whole experience was actually fun and exciting. She kept me up-to-date on progress and her contractors were courteous and professional. I still drive up to my house and smile every time I see it. Anyone who visits has the first reaction of saying it's stunning and when they walk in the front door they go 'wow'! It was such a positive experience, if I build again I would not use any other builder but Alyssa and Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast. I would highly recommend Alyssa to anyone wanting to build.

Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast - Exceptional! – We had an extremely positive experience building with Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast. The result is an outstanding and beautiful home of high quality and great workmanship. From our initial discussions, and throughout the build process to completion, Alyssa (the Builder) was more than accommodating. Dealing directly with the Alyssa help us achieve… Read more ·  1

our dream home and made the experience pleasant and stress free. We had one-on-one consultations during the entire process. Alyssa’s quality expectations and eye for detail delivered us a home of the highest standard. Alyssa went over and above for our build.

Having built and renovated a number of homes previously, I found Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast to be by far the easiest to build with. Alyssa is very knowledgeable of the entire design and build process. In designing our home direct with the builder we ultimately finished with a fantastic home that exceeded our expectations and was on budget. Alyssa took the time to modify an existing floor plan to suit our location, our preferences and our lifestyle perfectly. With a completely different façade, our home became more of a custom build.

The selection process was simple and easy. The options were great and fixtures and fittings are of high quality.

To make the process more challenging we live interstate, so good communication was of utmost importance to us. Communication during the build was excellent, I knew exactly where the home was up to through regular updates, photos and phone calls. The attention to detail was second to none.

We had extras added to finish off the house, being a pool, a lovely front fence and full landscaping around the pool and house. Alyssa accepted these additions and took them in her stride to make it happen. We found Alyssa to be true to her word and she really did go to great lengths to ensure we were happy clients and completely satisfied with our new home.

A very big thank you to the team at Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast - we absolutely love our new home. We have had a lot of people come through and visit. The feedback has been fantastic and everyone absolutely loves it. We would definitely recommend building with you.

Absolutely fantastic – As a First home buyer and building a new home it was real daunting too take the path of building, you hear all the risks and all the stories... However i would never question building with hotondo homes. Alyssa at the Caloundra hotondo office is fantastic, no task too small or big, she puts all your worries to rest almost straight away, very… Read more ·  1

organised from start too finish, great communication during the whole process which is very important. Great eye for detail with everything that's built. Great quality and fast build.

With a great team of tradies behind her she truly does make your house a home, not too mention a personal interior designer too help you make the right decision on how you would like your home too look.

Alyssa has made our home a place we will always enjoy and love, hotondo have exceeded our expectations and will be keeping them in mind for our next build

Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast – We are very happy with the quality of our property The build was managed above our expectations, which made the experience not stressful & confident things were going to be done well They went above & beyond to help us get into our house within 11 weeks & helped with any questions we had at any time We lived interstate while building so they… Read more ·  1

also made the experience less stressful since we had a lot going on with a huge move

I would highly recommend building with them

Terrific builder and excellent service! – "We have found the whole experience building with Hotondo Homes in Caloundra an enjoyable one. The team at Hotondo Home Sunshine Coast South have provided us with a beautifully finished quality home. From the designing process to the actual build, our builder Alyssa was in regular contact, meeting us on many occasions on site as our new home was… Read more ·  1

being built. This allowed us to be kept up to date with the process as we approached the finish date. Hotondo Homes use very good quality fittings and their assistance in choosing the colour scheme etc. has made our home even more enjoyable to live in. I couldn’t recommend Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast South more highly. So pleased we chose to build with them."

A disappointing and frustrating building ex perience – NB: the comments below are specific to Hotondo Homes Sunshine Coast (Matira Dev.) and should not be generalised to other Hotondo Home franchise holders. They have been crafted in good faith to enable prospective clients to perform their own due diligence in relation to the construction of their new home. How was the workmanship and build… Read more

quality of your property?

• Mixed, some parts were excellent such as most of the painting, tiling, flooring and carpentry.

• Other aspects were poor such as an uneven floor resulting in crooked window/sliding door, gaps under door (where there should be none), blocked sink, crooked and chipped tiles. These 'defects' along with the poor presentation at handover, gave an otherwise good job a sloppy, un-professional feel. This also fueled anxieties about what other aspects of the build might not have been done properly (for which we might become liable) or nasty surprises that might greet us at a later date i.e. when selling the house!

• Design decisions were difficult due to the lack of transparency around pricing/tendering process (design decisions are financial decisions and visa versa). Initial design/specification session was chaotic and disorganised leading to issues later on in the project as per below (see comment below re: kitchen cabinets).

• Design decisions were reinterpreted or misinterpreted due to lack of process around these. E.g. kitchen cabinets finished in black instead of white because our preferences had not been properly documented.

• Internal steps are unsafe despite being built to code and will have to be replaced/revised by ourselves because the contractor says “they are to code”.

• Have spent 100s $ post-build re-configuring site to ensure that when it rained, water flowed away from house rather than toward it as per care instructions for waffle-pad constructions.

How well managed was your build?

• The build ran over time by 2 months.

• Above quality issues reflect poor project oversight. Never sure who had oversight? The contractor or Site Manager?

• Our project was put on the back-burner while the contractor focused attention on the new show home in Pelican Waters - questionable task prioritisation and time management?

• Communication (esp. by way of email) deteriorated as build progressed - become more confused and disrupted e.g. contractor spent most of time on mobile phone during site visits rather than discussing the build with us the clients who had driven two hours to attend the meeting.

• Site visits were poorly planned and unfocused (as per above) e.g. not structured purposefully as an opportunity authenticate of stage completions prior to payment and discuss outstanding construction issues.

• Poor documentation of variations and inattentiveness lead to errors.

• Deceptive, sloppy paper work/invoicing/tendering practices. E.g. Initially, supplier quotes and contractor’s mark-up were seldom included in final quotes - were often well-above the market price e.g $11k for a driveway which we had re-quoted and installed for $5k. Correct invoicing and quoting provided eventually but only after these were actively sought by us. Not billed for some items (after we asked to see the invoice), were incorrectly billed or not refunded for others e.g. cavity slider and door payed for but not included in final build.

• Contractor adopted an adversarial approach during times of conflict as per below.

• Completion and handover was mismanaged and became adversarial due time over-run and contractors unwillingness to commit to completion date (while still demanding final payment). Forced to seek advice from QBCC and requested that Hotondo head office intervene to enable us to take possession of an (incomplete) build due to our having to move out of existing home (despite having organised 90 day settlement to accommodate time over-run . NB: Hotondo head office were very professional but ultimately sided with the builder saying that people sometimes take possession then default on the final payment. Although sympathetic to this scenario - we felt a bit insulted by the implication that we were being cast as one of 'those people' esp. when it was the contractor who had failed repeatedly to meet their obligations and in accordance with Queensland's Code of Ethics for the Building and Construction Industry (2000).

How was customer service and support?

• Contractor appeared unaware of obligations under the terms of Queensland's Code of Ethics for the Building and Construction Industry (2000) which emphasises the importance of ‘trust’, ‘cooperation’, ‘equity’ and ‘honesty’.

• Started out good but deteriorated as build progressed consistent with a business model that privileges 'sales' over 'service'.

• Notable Imbalance between ‘sales and service’, ‘strategy and operations’ in favour of sales and strategy. E.g. construction of the show home was bumped ahead of ours, which was already underway and paid for, Hence, the show home, although started after ours was completed sooner and completed too a much higher standard.

• Trust in the relationship was compromised by the contractor telling mis-truths, sloppy business practices and over-quoting (? to re-coup losses associated with mistakes made during the build .g. wrong frames ordered, damage to termite barrier, wrong window installed). Trust was completely destroyed when the contractor went behind our backs to contact our mortgage broker seeking information about our financial situation after we refused to pay for unfinished work (on the recommendation of the QBCC and HIA contract). Up until that time, we had always paid promptly except for work that had not been done.

• As above - aggressive in pursuing payment for incomplete work.

• Seemed inadequately informed of some common building products e.g termite protection, the terms of HIA contract and National Construction Code (2006) relevant to the build e.g. the need to provide variation orders, correct tendering processes, retaining walls and storm water management, respectively.

• Because of the domineering stance taken by the builder on occasion, we felt at times, that it was not our home but someone else that we had funded!

Outstanding service and quality – Sunshine Coast branch - I have just finished building my second home with Hotondo and I simply couldn't be happier. I have received outstanding service and value for money. The quality of finish is higher than I expected, and even with horrendous weather conditions, construction ploughs ahead. I started with a standard house plan and modified to… Read more

suit my needs.

Hotondo were very happy to amend plans and kept working the design until it was exactly what I wanted. I have been kept informed of construction progress on a weekly basis with photos emailed through. I have looked at other builders, but I keep coming back to Hotondo - simply can't fault their process, design, quality, flexibility and service Quality, value for money and customer service