missdaisymay

Hi Sarah, welcome to Hervey Bay.

It must be so scary trying to find someone in your position to put your faith (and money) into such a huge project.

My advise is to find someone who has been here for quite some time, not just the past couple of years when the boom was on and we had a huge influx of "builders"

There are different types of builders. You have project home builders who do a large volume of homes in a year. They have pre designed plans, set specifications and large staff numbers. There are good ones and bad ones. Then you have other builders like ourselves, which are smaller companies. Some may have plans that they reuse, but i think the majority are like us, and design individual custom homes to suit each family and land sites. These types of builders tend to do less volume of work and work more on a one on one basis. You tend to have more flexibility with design and what they include. Again you have good ones and bad ones.

Probably the main thing that you need to be careful of (apart from shonky workmanship) is if you are getting prices from different types of builders, is to carefully look at what the price includes. Generally speaking, say you are looking through the paper, you see a house plan with a price next to it, it pays to check exactly what that price includes. Sometimes with project home builders, tiling allowances may only cover wet areas (bathroom, laundry etc), fans, flyscreens, carpets driveways, patios may not be included. If you then go and get a price from a custom home builder then you are more likely to see a huge difference in the prices. This is due to the different styles in quoting. Our custom home business will always price a home to include everything so that you walk into a completely finished home. This is more the style of the custom home builder.

I may not do myself any favours here, but homes are costing around the $1100 to $1200 /m2 at the moment. We have all been hit with huge price increases, steel being the main contributor and of course, fuel hits everything.

It's very hard to make the decision between builders, so my advice is to also talk to an association like the Qld Master Builders Association as they have members lists that they can give you (both project and custom builders) and help you on the way.

If you would like more detailed info, please pm me. Our business name is Mikiah Homes, ooh if you want to purchase ready made, our contract fell through on our own beautiful home at Dundowran Beach, its listed on our website. Hope that wasnt too cheeky of me.

Hope that helps,

Donna.

goosefat

Hi Missdaisymay,

Me and my family are coming to Hervey Bay in Jan , after turning a job down in Sydney. As I can really see us there . As every thing I have have read I love . Even though we have never been!!!! I may have a job at a hair salon in Torquay hubby nothing yet . Our children 2 girls are 4 and 5 . I have been looking at the different schools around and really liked The Frazer Island Anglican college . Do you think its worth paying for a private school or are there any you would recommend please? I have looked at some of them and the annual reports are not that great . If I can find a good state school I think it would be better on the pocket and less of a long term commitment. As we dont know what we will be earning yet. Also if you dont mind where do you think would suit a family best to live ? without the sand flies lol!! Sounds like you have a great life and I hope we live there as long as you have .

Thanks Tam

missdaisymay

Hi Tam,

I'm sure you and your young family will love growing up here. I will pm you with the names of my favourite public abd private schools. Private school vs public schooling is always a great debate. I have friends who have children in both. As with most things in life, theres always the good ones and the bad ones. Both my two have been in public schooling, and we've been happy with the choice.

Donna.

Lisa_Mick

In May we moved to Oakhurst, about 30mins drive from Hervey Bay. We love it here, and everyones so friendly and have made us feel really welcome. Our only concern is that we have not landed jobs yet. I am looking for an administrative job and OH is a carpenter. We have both registered with employment agents and have applied for positions advertised on hbjobs, careerone, seek and search4jobs etc but nothing as yet. OH has also been round in person to numerous cabinet and kitchen companies and a couple of builders with his resume in hand, but no one has a position available on the books at this moment in time. He is currently getting his City&Guilds qualification recognised as a Cert III in Carpentry here so he can apply for a licence and is taking a business management course at Master Builders in Hervey Bay later this month.

I certainly dont have anything bad to say about Hervey Bay and the surrounding area and I dont want to put anyone off moving to this beautiful place, Im just a little frustrated and needed to rant. Im sure we will both find jobs soon, its just taking a while and more involved for OH, but we dont regret for one minute moving here. We love it, and if this is winter - GREAT! The rain water tastes lovely and our 10,000gallon tank is full!
Lisa

Cookster

Evening Lisa,
good to hear your settling in. Give us a call next time your in town and I`ll meet you for a cuppa at Aqua View or Enzo`s. Wed and Thurs good for me!!
Oh and im organising a girlie night out on the 23rd of August so hope you can make it.
Angela

Lisa_Mick

Hi Angela
Thanks for the invite, have PM'd you. Look forward to meeting you soon. Lisa

kiwinow

HI there
I'm so jealous of those who are off the HB soon. We visited in June and also went to Brisbane, Perth and Bunbury, but HB was the place we loved best. On our first night, arriving at dusk in our camper we drove to Toogoom beach as it seemed a likely place to park and not be asked to move on and we fell in love with it. That's where we hope to head in January, but while we originally thought we'd rent our house here, we've come to realise we need to sell it before we leave. A bit stressful as now we can't definitely say where we'll be next year until we sell the house. We have a son starting high school and one starting year 11, so subject choices are important and I'm really hoping it all works out so that we get there in time.

It is a beautiful friendly place and the climate was great while we were there. Jobs may be a problem but we're versatile.

Lil Lis

Hey there Lisa_Mick,
I really hope you guys have found jobs by now, but just to let you know I did a property managers course in may, & got a job with a real estate here in hervey bay & I am now a registered property manager its great & you can do the course here in hervey bay. The REIQ office is in bideford st, torquay.
Hope you enjoy living in hervey bay there is some really nice people here.
Lisa

Safin

Hi Lisa

Welcome to BE and especially the Hervey Bay thread. How long have you been here?

Safin

kiwinow

Hi Lil Lis
Did you have previous real estate experience before doing the property manager's course? Are you paid a salary or commission or both?
Just keeeping options open as OH has started to panic again at the lack of jobs advertised in HB.

Lil Lis

I have been back in Hervey Bay for about 4 years now....you just cant complain about our gorgeous weather

Lil Lis

I have always worked in the building/construction industry & i thought with that knowledge I would try this angle, i am actually really loving it i am paid a wage.
Keep looking there are always jobs out there for those who want them, what sort of jobs are you looking for, maybe if i know i could keep my ears open for any vacancies around.

isle

Hi all,
Well it is my day off today and I am just having my daily dose of BE before I start calling all the people and companies we need to advise that we are leaving for Oz. We have to be out of our house by the 30th sept ready for the rental people to move in. We are off to visit family and friend in the uk and perth before arriving in hervey bay around the 1st week of November.

Just been reading about work, seems Admin jobs are hard to get so I might have to fall back on my old qualifications as an Insurance broker or Dispensing Optician Assistant. Do you ever see many of these jobs advertised. OH is a painter decorator wall & floor tiler so if you need any of these doing we will be there soon.

Glad to read there are so many people there already.

Well better get to it, god I hate listening to YOUR CALL IS IMPRTANT TO US, PLEASE HOLD AN OPERATOR WILL BE WITH YOU SHORTLEY).

Have a nice day now

Mandy

bobbyftm

Visiting Hervey Bay next month for the weekend and would appreciate any info anyone has about the golf courses in the area please regarding availability to public and best conditioned courses .Thanx in advance

kiwinow

Hi Lil lis. Not sure what I want to do yet. I've worked with the elderly for ages, and don't mind doing it for a while again, but would really like a change. Honestly I'll work in a restaurant or cafe, or anywhere. I also do some freelance writing but will test that out when I get there. Every now and then I see a job in Maryborough for directory enquiries which would be OK. However, I have also been considering paramedic training. Just sussing out the info.

OH is a printer with 20 yrs experience, has a business diploma, is a photographer, has a heavy vehicle license and a passenger vehicle license and has been building garages and kit-set homes for the last two years. We won't be over until January, but OH will probably go in November to try to land work. We won't be able to last long without work and that's the worry, but something has always turned up before.

If anyone hears of any likely opportunities I'd be grateful if you'd let us know. If OH has to move earlier than November that would be OK. I would rather pack on my own and have the peace of mind that at least one of us has a job.

Lisa_Mick - have you guys had any luck with jobs yet?