Friggin eastern states mongrels!

Okay not all of you... just kit home mobs bloody pack of asses earholes! :mad:

Weve spent the better part of 3 months searching for a replacement house for this one... as time is a premium with me workin on the mines and only getting one week of in 3 we thought a steel kit home would be the best way to go

So looking high and low in WA we found that most end up just a shell in that there are no internal inclusions as in walls or ceilings and such just the frame work inside and the outside to lockup... most of the designs here dont include features such as colonial windows and doors bullnosed verandahs etc... so we pushed the search further afield to the eastern states

Man there were/are a lot of steel kit home mobs over there!... so after again a fair amount of searchin a lot of phone calles from the West to the East recieving cattledogs and price lists... we found one! WHAHOO right? wrong :o

Now Id rung an spoke to the mob that calls itself ***** (company name removed in respect for Neils comments elsewhere) in Sydney twice and been getting quite encouraging noises from them and then received their cattledog and pricelist... we were stoked!! perfect designs for our tastes and lifestyle and the inclusions were terrific and the price right on the money... with this mob the price was the same for a design that included everything inside the house bar the bloody floor (includes the cielings wall coverings fittings and such) as it was for just a "shed" house shell here! and the only extra expense was the transport costs NO FRIGGIN WORRIES!!! :cool: to say we were rapt is an bloody understatement

Now in one of my calls the sheila reckoned that we would have to allow about $20,000 for transport ex Sydney... no problems we thought as we factored that cost in and chose the plan we wanted made the alterations we felt we would require then this morning I decided to make another call to check on their ability to make and include subfloor joists as the house will be going up on stumps...

Great eh?... yeah right... so Im happily talking to the sheila that answers the phone alls good... she puts me through to some bloke who when he asks where I am located and I respond "Near Bunbury in Western Australia mate" still happy he says "is that between South Australia and NSW?" laughing at this I say "No mate the other side Im in Western Australia" still happy thinkin hes just havin a lend of me... you know as we do ;)

"We cant help you Im afraid" yeah right I smile at the phone "Why not?" I ask still half smiling to myself "We need to offer a warrantee of our product for 9 years and it was decided to run a line form far north Queensland down to South Australia"... I was to say the least shocked "Excuse me mate but dont you do houses up in Katherine?" "Yes from far north Queensland in a line to Darwin then down to South Australia Im sorry" I was gobsmaked! "You mean to say youve simply made the decision to cut WA of the map of Australia?" "Yes Im afraid so we need to maintain the integrety of our product" "Oh come on! for cripes sake I have spoken to your office twice now over the last couple of weeks and nothin was said in fact it was all positive including a quote for transport costs no problem now all of a sudden you decide NOT to service West Australia? Your having a lend of me right mate?" "No sir its been decided that for us to be able to continue to offer the best product and continue our 9 year warrentee to our customers and for the integrety of our product to exclude Western Australia from our products as its really not in the companies best interest Im sorry sir" CLICK!!

FRIGGIN CLICK!!! :mad:

So it seems once again West Aussie is "too far away" "not in our interests" PHUCK!! :mad: I mean its no further to send the bloody thing from Sydney to friggin Katherine (to a station out in the middle of flamin nowhere no less!!) than to send it to bloody Perth!!! :mad: (:mad: as hell!!)

So seems we in the west are left to the mongrels with sheds :rolleyes: And now I have to tell her bloody highness the bad news and as she had finally found a design that she liked and had spent the last several days pouring over changing this and that on the floorplan... Ive got to break it to her that its not going to bloody happen :mad: hell she had me organized to fly over and spend my week off sorting it out in a few months time!!

SHYTE!! IF a customer is PREPARED to pay 20,000 for bloody transport and has been flamin encouraged by phone conversations sent the bloody stinking flamin cattledog AND pricelist WHERE THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM?? :mad:

This was the ONLY company in the eastern states that I had found that initially said "WA? no problem..." all the others Id spoken to as soon as WA was meantion puckered their sphicters and cried "No sorry we dont service WA" but this one was all for it... till today!! STUFF **** (company name removed out of respect for Neils comments elsewhere) STEEL HOMES! :mad:

Sorry about that but by Keeeeeeeerist I needed a rant! :mad:

ah shyte :(

Wild Dingo,

Sorry to hear of your plight, but I have a potential for you (and there's a lot of but and dunnos to this).

I live in Sydney and a guy not far from me bought a steel framed house from WA and got it shipped over here. The outside walls looked like polystyrene and he just rendered over them. The kit looked like it came with absolutely everything and it was seriously easy to put up - numbered and colour coded parts - reminded me of my old mecanno set!

So, I duuno the company name and I can't get in touch with the guy because he's since sold. However, maybe you just missed this in your local search.

Good luck,

Mike.

Is it possible to arrange to buy it in the East and for you to arrange the transport? I would have thought a truckie would transport to WA for less than $20,000.

This may forego the warranty but with the money you save and the smile on your SWMBO's face you may be in front.

Sorry to hear of your saga and yes I too would be furious if some #$%ing salesman hung up on me.

I spent a bit of time in WA, and I think that you worry too much about the Eastern States. You have such a great place over there, you don't need the east.

I was under the impression that a lot of the houses over there are cavity brick. Why don't you just get a cavity brick home made? If you were willing to spend $20,000 on shipping, how much more would you need? What I'm trying to say is that a cavity brick home is substantially better than a steel framed kit home. Just my opinion. Good luck with it.

Ross mate to some extent I agree but the time that it takes for builders to build a house here is off the planet! In the Perth metro area its apparently taking up to 18 months to get a house to lockup... as Im no where near Perth and am therefore in the country that time would go through the roof along with the price!... as for us worrying too much about the eastern states and not needing them I couldnt agree more... generally... in this instance theres simply nothing weve found that matches some of those you have for price inclusions and looks

Woodborer... its a possibility I guess say Im in Adelaide or some such and organize my own transport... time mate there in lies the issue with that I go back to the mine in less than a month and then its out of communication for 2 weeks out of 3... as long as they will guarentee that EVERYTHING is as its meant to be when its picked up then I wouldnt have a problem that idea... the 20000 was a nominal figure now I look back on it probably meant to scare me away sorta make the costs too exhorbitant... but as it didnt work in my case they reverted to bullshyte! :mad:

Mike... Id LOVE to know what company that was!!! SERIOUSLY!!... We have as I said spent near on 3 months now constantly looking phoning and going to and fro from Perth to different companies but havent found anything that was nearly as good as what Ive seen ex east coast and hence the reasons weve headed that way... provin to be a bloody waste of time now though :rolleyes:

Seems I may yet have to turn into another Jill :eek: ahem not a Jill per se but a mad homebuilder as she is!! ;) trouble with that is her bloody highness has no interest or intent to start learning the things she would have to do while Im away... sorta the quintisential girl type woman :rolleyes: man Ive tried but its just not within her thought patterns to even consider learning what a hammer is for let alone building a house... could she if she chose to? no doubt at all (and it would be seriously funny watchin her lift a piece of timber bigger than her own 4'5" :) ) its just she has no intention of choosing to :rolleyes: and shes made that adamantly clear in no uncertain terms! :eek:

We were hoping to keep the budget at $130,000 finished (other than floors and transport costs which we have allowed another 40,000 for... so $170,000 all up) and why Id like to do most of it myself but unless we get one of the shed things seems to be about to blow out majorly :( dont know how the bank managers gonna like that idea :rolleyes:

Hey Wild Dingo,
It is a bit harsh that treatment you got.:mad:
Surely there are some steel frame transportable house companies over there. My brother got one on the farm a few years back, nice 3 (4?) bedroom place, delivered near Beacon about 250kms from Perth. if you want, I'll ask him for details.

Cheers,

So all these WA mobs won't do anything for you?

http://www.nash.asn.au/suppliersWABuilders.php#

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andy Mac

Hey Wild Dingo,
It is a bit harsh that treatment you got.:mad:
Surely there are some steel frame transportable house companies over there. My brother got one on the farm a few years back, nice 3 (4?) bedroom place, delivered near Beacon about 250kms from Perth. if you want, I'll ask him for details.

Cheers,

---

Cheers mate that would be appreciated :cool:

Rod that page has only 2 names on it... so I will check and if we havent altready spoken to them before will give them a go thanks! :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

Cheers mate that would be appreciated :cool:

Rod that page has only 2 names on it... so I will check and if we havent altready spoken to them before will give them a go thanks! :cool:

---

There is other links within which you should have discovered these.

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=2 width=496 bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>CTS Engineering Aust Pty Ltd </TD><TD vAlign=top width=82>Esperance </TD><TD vAlign=top width=204>Wall frames, roof trusses and floors </TD><TD vAlign=top width=81>Craig Scoble </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9072 1007 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>Integrated Steel Solutions </TD><TD vAlign=top width=82>Malaga </TD><TD vAlign=top width=204>Wall frames, roof trusses and floors </TD><TD vAlign=top width=81>Eric Birighitti </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9248 6455 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>Roofmart WA </TD><TD vAlign=top width=82>Cloverdale </TD><TD vAlign=top width=204>Wall frames, roof trusses and floors </TD><TD vAlign=top width=81>Kevin Jones </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9365 5416 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>Stramit Building Products </TD><TD vAlign=top width=82>Maddington </TD><TD vAlign=top width=204>Wall frames, roof trusses & floors </TD><TD vAlign=top width=81>Barry Western </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9493 8800 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top>South West Steel Roof Trusses </TD><TD vAlign=top>Bunbury</TD><TD vAlign=top>Roof trusses </TD><TD vAlign=top>Bruce Lynch </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9726 0088 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>Stratco (WA) </TD><TD vAlign=top width=82>Canningvale </TD><TD vAlign=top width=204>Wall frames, roof trusses and floors </TD><TD vAlign=top width=81>Kevin Lewis </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9455 1911 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>Trustek Steel Roofing Systems </TD><TD vAlign=top width=82>Welshpool </TD><TD vAlign=top width=204>Roof trusses and floors </TD><TD vAlign=top width=81>Jim Kenny </TD><TD vAlign=top>(08) 9351 8888 </TD></TR><TR class=bodyText bgColor=#e5e8f1><TD vAlign=top width=180>Uniweld Structural Co. Pty Ltd </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Good luck

Do you have a 'friendly' solicitor or barrister? As them to look at the case 'Queensland Fencing Co. vs BHP". Basically BHP refused to sell star picket extrusion to QFC as QFC did not have ' an existing use' for the stuff. Strangely, BHP only supplied its own wholly owned subsidiaries.

The High Court found in favour of the QFC to the tune of $26 million, holding that BHP's refusal to supply was contrary to law. I think this may apply in your case also, as there is no provision in Australian law to refuse to sell to someone with the money and an intended use.

I think youll find that any business is not obliged to sell goods and services if it doesnt want too.

I couldnt imagine anyone DEMANDING that I do brickwork for them. :p

The BHP thing seems like a monoply related item.

Al :)

The issue is the home warranty insurance once the place is built. They have to provide a warranty, so have obviously decided to draw a line in the sand.

Was it PAAL? We looked at buying from them. Good product too, went and had a look at the display houses at Penrith. Kitome is the other one I looked at, also at Penrith. Not as good, cheaper looking. They do steel frames. Maybe if it was one of these, the other might be worth a try?

You are right in your assumption of the company... we really liked what they offered their designs were right on the money and over the initial contacts there wasnt a problem mentioned regarding our being in WA... well to say were phissed of at that P company is an understatement

Stupid thing is theres very little difference in distance from Sydney to Katherine and Sydney to Perth/Bunbury :mad:

Note here initially I wrote their name in then saw a rant by our legendary Neil in another section regarding ranting venting and otherwise having a go at a company and not doing so here... and thought fair enough ol son fair enough and so came and edited it out

But yeah the P company :rolleyes: and again thats what he said drawn a line from Queensland to the Territory to South Australia thats it... funny I always thought West Aussie was part of Australia? seems with these sorts of companies its apparently not... although its okay to service remote stations in outback NT and other parts of the country its NOT okay to service ANY area of West Australia... that simply shytes me!

Okay no worries you dont service WA fine TELL a person that enquires that in the first place!! dont string them along over several long distance phone calls AND DONT send them the bloody cattledog AND PRICE LIST if your not going to service them!!

Anyway the P company fits their initial :rolleyes: lets move on any one out there KNOW of a company that DOES service the WHOLE of Australia?

Cheers!

Try http://www.kithome.com.au. Cheaper, not as polished, but might do the job.

Dingo
the two we were looking at are:
T&R which was on that link that Rod posted and
Ross Squire homes

... both WA companies at leat one has free dlivery within 200km (yes that's you)

Cheers

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

... funny I always thought West Aussie was part of Australia?

---

That's pretty funny, as I spent half my life over in WA, and we always called anything over the SA border as "the eastern states"! Always been them and us.
A mate used to work in a truck spares company on Great Eastern Hway, and reckoned one day a truck driver from those eastern states called in, and started blabbering "Well back in Australia, we have...etc..."!!:eek: Got my mate offside anyway.
Wild Dingo, I have emailed my brother. Yet to get a reply, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Cheers,

Silent... thanks for that link theyve responded to my initial queery and apparently do service us in the west :cool: am waiting on their cattledog and price list as I type ;) Do you recall what their inclusions were?

Ramps will check them both out well okay Ross Squire then as Ive already checked out T&R I thought RS was more the builder type that you choose a design and they take a century to erect it for you... like the other mobs?

No worries thanks fellas! :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

I thought RS was more the builder type that you choose a design and they take a century to erect it for you... like the other mobs?

---

We have there pamphlets and price lists ... lock up price, lock up built, complete fit out kit and complete fit out built so my understanding is that you have the option to get them to build.

Cheers Ramps... will give them a hoi and get their info :cool:

Hope all works out for you Dingo, makes me a little ashamed of being in N.S.W. But they do things like that to us here as well, last year I needed 4 sheets of c/bond roofing from a mob 5klm's away, they where 4.5 mtrs long a bit big for me to handle with my 6x4 trailer.

They wanted $85 delivery, they go past my door every day, ended up getting a car trailer and up bright and early before the traffic got to heavy, just glad the boys in blue wheren't about as I had a bit hanging over but safe other than that. So your not on your own, I know how frustrated you must feel.

Ref. the BHP case - the judgement was that if you are a SUPPLIER, and sell your goods to ANYONE, then you DO have to sell to EVERYONE. Retail service such as bricklaying is not affected, but it basically means that Boral or Monier HAVE to sell you the bricks, they can't sell them to the selected few.

Of course, Wild Dingo probably doesn't have the tame legal eagles to drag this thru' the courts, but it would be 'amusing' for some wealthy Westralian with nothing better to do with his time or money.

Quote:

---

Do you recall what their inclusions were?

---

It is all totally negotiable. They'll give you as much as you want or as little. From memory it's three stages - lock up, interior finishes, everything else. I don't remember the full details of stage three but it had all the obvious stuff like hot water, kitchen, bathroom, electrical etc. No carpet, curtains or shower screens. Pretty sure paint and floor and wall tiles were included.

We were going to get stage one and two only and buy the other stuff ourselves. I talked to someone who built one up the road from here. She said they weren't impressed with the tile selection and the bathroom fittings etc, so they bought their own.

They will give you bits and pieces if that's what you want ie. supply kitchen but no paint or tiles. I found them very helpful up front. Didn't get to see the after sales service but the lady I spoke to said they were OK but they had a couple of delays and definately not as helpful as the sales staff. Nothing unusual there.

One thing to keep in mind. If they make a stuff up on the frame, which they could easily do, you'll have a fair delay getting it sorted out. With the timber frame jobs, you can fix any stuff ups yourself (even though you're not supposed to because it's covered under warranty). With the steel, it will be a bit harder, especially if there's a bit missing. Just something to keep in mind with the distance.

BTW, I should point out that the reason I didn't go with them in the end was that a mate of our's was convinced we could build cheaper using local suppliers, so he took our plan around and got quotes on the frame, windows, roof etc. He was right.

http://www.kithomes.com.au/200-au.html

Shane
you thought about getting the kit delivered within their service area and then on shipping it to your place??

ian

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

You are right in your assumption of the company... we really liked what they offered their designs were right on the money and over the initial contacts there wasnt a problem mentioned regarding our being in WA... well to say were phissed of at that P company is an understatement

Stupid thing is theres very little difference in distance from Sydney to Katherine and Sydney to Perth/Bunbury :mad:

Note here initially I wrote their name in then saw a rant by our legendary Neil in another section regarding ranting venting and otherwise having a go at a company and not doing so here... and thought fair enough ol son fair enough and so came and edited it out

But yeah the P company :rolleyes: and again thats what he said drawn a line from Queensland to the Territory to South Australia thats it... funny I always thought West Aussie was part of Australia? seems with these sorts of companies its apparently not... although its okay to service remote stations in outback NT and other parts of the country its NOT okay to service ANY area of West Australia... that simply shytes me!

Okay no worries you dont service WA fine TELL a person that enquires that in the first place!! dont string them along over several long distance phone calls AND DONT send them the bloody cattledog AND PRICE LIST if your not going to service them!!

Anyway the P company fits their initial :rolleyes: lets move on any one out there KNOW of a company that DOES service the WHOLE of Australia?

Cheers!

---

Wild Dingo, we are closer than you but cop the same shyte from many mainland businesses. they always bleat about how bad things are but won't get off their collective ar##s to give the customer what they want.
Even local Tassie businesses will not give service. I live 40 to 50 minutes south of Hobart and do you think the city people want to come out this far? I think they are making too much money by over charging everything. I have list of those unhelpful mongrels and time will come when things get tough and I will get great pleasure in watching them go down the drain.
With this mob on the east coast, why don't you tell them you will sign an affidavit to forego the warranty. Warranty is like insurance, no body pays up anyway. Hope you get the home you want. Hang in there and kick the shyte out of them.

Presently looking at that one Ramps directed us to and with wombles link am waiting for monday for the phone call

Ian... I would but I know no ones address I could have a couple of semis load of gear taken to and dropped of at... thats a lot of gear to lumber on someone!

As to the warrentee side of things it really didnt bother us... not an issue since to get anything on the thing would take a donkeys age to achieve we would just move on... but no after their hanging up I got phissed off and decided theres far more companies out there than to worry about one pathetic mob who cant be bothered so I moved on... so they loose what essentially could have been a ^ $200,000 sale tuff shyte

Ern mate Its a pain in the ass isnt it? You would think given the vocal whining and carry on about buying Australian and companies going to the wall cause people are going overseas to buy what they need that Aussie companies would be bending over backward to provide a service thats second to none! but they dont... they dont give a shyte! Amazing really see theres just one example of a business loosing a 200000 sale how many others would they loose or doesnt it matter to them? I guess it doesnt eh if they cut WA of the map... and in those cases Tassy as well... bloody amazing actually its not a bloody shamefull! :mad:

We have given much thought to getting a house moved here and stumping it much like those Queensland mobs do... but figured if weve got a shyte house full of shyte problems now why buy another?

Okay style of house... Queenslander or Homestead type you know large verandahs all round large bedrooms main up one end of the house others WAY down the other end large open type living areas... doesnt need to have a garage couldnt care less other than as more shed space for me! :D but definantly absolutely has to be able to be stumped... it needs to go up at least 2ft... shire requirements on this peice of land so I found out on Friday also found out that because its under 2 zonings we can still live in this place while the new place goes up as long as we demo it after the others finished a thing Id been advised that this shire does not allow... but due to the zoning thing we can... also as the zone where the house will be is "general rural" or farming apparently we dont need their approval to put up more shed!! WHAHOOOO!! :D how right that is is yet to be tested and verified by the wally whos the god of engineering and building at the shire who doesnt deem my messages and questions worthy of his time :rolleyes: ooooh I can see a fun time coming on oh yes I can all the while Im gonna be some 3000klicks away at work and out of range of the bloody mobile... ah well no biggie that the missus cant handle ;)

Anyway onwards and upwards!!

"yet to be tested and verified by the wally whos the god of engineering and building at the shire who doesnt deem my messages and questions worthy of his time :rolleyes: ooooh I can see a fun time coming on"

I had to deal with one of those when I was an owner builder- after a couple of "minor" run ins a local builder suggested i "ask him (council fella) for his advice" when wanting to do or change something. So what I would do is come up with 2 or 3 alternatives that either one we would be happy with and go to him and ask his opinion on which would be the best way to go about it. He would think he was in control and we were happy :D

Quote:

---

As to the warrentee side of things it really didnt bother us

---

Mate, it's legislation - they HAVE to give you a warranty. Only way around it is for you to make it yourself. If they are providing a frame, there has to be a warranty.

Well there we go then mate... they dont want to give the warrentee even though its legislation that they do have to give one so to circumvent that legislation they cut WA of the map... easy eh :rolleyes:

Id have no problems at all if they had
a) told me right up front
b) there was some sort of disclaimer on their web page
c) if they had not encouraged and sent their cattledog and price list
d) if they hadnt then waited another week for me to ring them to tell me

Instead they didnt tell me right up front instead choosing to lead me on and encourage us to look through their cattledog there was no disclaimer on their website and I had to ring them to ask a question to be told that WA no longer exists for this company! THAT shyte me

Anyway the missus seems reasonably taken with one of the Ross Squire homes and were still waitin on the kithomes cattledog so I guess you could say weve moved on... fookem or as I like to say... PHUKET! not worth the bloody bother... this thread will remain as a lasting reminder to any west aussie (dont know if they dont service Tassy but somehow doubt that they would be bothered) or anyone else considering buying from this mob

Cheers