shab008, I hope im not too late to try to talk you out of building with these clowns.
I am currently building (oxymoron in this situation) through dixon/tamawood and it has been one disaster after another. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should start by saying that I was actually relived to see them on 'A current affair' 3 times in the last 2 months, as I realised I was not the only customer to be going through this building hell.

It all started in June last year, when I was told by my consultant (the same idiot Peter from Chermside that was given a good review above) that my home would be completed in 7 -8 weeks after council approval. He gave me a printed timeline showing the various documentation/construction stages and wrote with his own writing that the entire process would be 7 months, 8 maximum allowing for weather etc.
13 months later and I am still waiting, however, before signing with dixon homes, I changed to another consultant because I just could not stand Peters attitude.

I ended up with a very good consultant named Ben from the Rocklea Office. To this day I have no complaints about him, and would deal with him again if he worked for a different company.  After months of waiting for Dixon to complete the appropriate paperwork (despite council approvals taking only 3 weeks to come through), I finally signed a contract in October. Tamawood did not process this until late november! From this time, they cut the block within 20 days of them signing the contract, then shut down for 3 weeks at Christmas, as was expected.

January came… Nothing happened. February came.. the foundations were poured and drainage complete. March came… the slab finally poured (my Neighbours block was cut) ..  April came, frame finally installed. May… windows, doors roof tiles. June: electrical, pre-plumb, gyprock my Neighbours house complete and ready for occupancy). It is July now… the bricks have only just gone on and the painting has commenced, though there is still so much to do.

To top this… There are walls out of alignment, there is a sliding door on an angle by nearly 3 cms, roof tiles are wavy and incorrectly installed, trusses are not properly installed, the brickwork looks like it has been done by a drunk brickie or an apprentice or a drunk apprentice!

If you think these are isolated incidents you are completely mistaken. The tradie that I have hired to do my tiling has told me numerous stories about his experiences with Dixon homes. There have been a number of stories in the media about Dixon homes to date… for your reading:

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/may/23/homeowners-frustrated-dixon-homes-delays/
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-AU&brand=ninemsn&vid=279de14c-53a4-4661-9224-b07f619ae394
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-AU&brand=ninemsn&vid=81456c48-fc61-4b26-92b4-1abce964aba3
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/apr/26/another-coast-builder-cops-criticism/

And that is just a few of the articles. I only wish there was this kind of feedback 1 year ago when I googled dixon homes to see if anyone had experienced problems.. I found nothing.
I am now in the process of setting up a website which tells my story, with pictures, and gives the public a chance to write their 'review' of dixon homes. My solicitor is currently going through the material to ensure nothing is slanderous or defamartory, and writing a discliamer to ensure that Dixons cannot shut down the site, or worse sue me. This site should be online by the end of the month and will come up on the first page of a google search.

BuilderBob, You come across as being a fairly intelligent bloke, and you are probably a guy who takes pride in his work and customer service, but please do not come here trying to defend Dixon homes against those of us who have put our financial future in their hands. Naturally there is an attraction to Dixon homes… Price vs inclusions. Saving 10k on a house is a great thing, but when you fork out an extra 12k in expenses waiting for your home to be finished 12 months later… it suddenly doesn't seem to be such a good deal. I understand that the Dixon crew you know may not be the ones in the limelight here, and that a few franchises are better than the clowns we have here in Brisbane, so I will clarify that  all reports indicate the problems to be with ALL Brisbane Branches, The Sunshine Coast branch, and the Rocky Branch.

Shab008, If you still insist on going through Dixon Homes then I strongly suggest that you amend parts of the contract to ensure less building time, and a higher rate of liquidated damages. I should also point out that liquidated damages are only paid AFTER handover… so don't expect any financial relief through dixon homes when they go over your construction period.
I hope you are wise enough to avoid them altogether and I hope you do not become another casualty.

Before I log off, I should also say that by mistake, Dixons emailed me a 2 page list of homes under construction with major building defects, and locations of each property.. This was pretty scary knowing that so many homes could be built so poorly.
I will post this list on my website when it is online.
Hope this helps you in your quest to build a house. Good luck with your project.