rgvlee

Well we're nearly there, we're out of scheduling and onto the construction phase. Earthworks starting around 2nd Feb. Finally

ianhutch1

We are at lockup and cabinets are being fitted already

clayts75

Great news, u r really flying along!! I'm just about ready to shoot my builders!! lol No updates, long delays in returning calls and now the latest is to tell me that the plumber has installed the baths and the tiler is due on site(this was Wednesday just gone)...just been out to the house to find that nothing has happened at all in the last week. Going to be another interesting phone call with the liaison officer tomorrow...if she takes my call!!

tawkins1

Can I ask who you are building with? We have chosen Content living but havent heard anything about them, good or bad!

rgvlee

I think clayts is content?

Clayts your retaining wall has been done, looks like they've done it properly which is good.

We're waiting on the plumbing prelay and then the pad can go down.

clayts75

Yeah i'm building with Content Living. Overall they have been pretty good and things have gone smoothly, but im now on the 3rd supervisor as they seem to go through a few. I met him a few weeks ago and all of a sudden all these jobs got done and things were flying but now nothing.
I called and had a whinge about a few things today and the liaison girl is really pissed at him for giving her wrong information in regards to the level of completion on certain jobs. I don't like having to chase them up but at the end of the day sometimes you have to push them along.
Value for money with Content is excellent i think in terms of size of house and features etc.

clayts75

Yeah i was up there yesterday and the wall looked good, not that i know much about building them!! lol Good to see it done though.
Seems to have been a real burst of activity recently with lots of pads going down and i think there are already a couple of people moved in. Looks like the house behind me has people in it so thats happened really quickly!!

ianhutch1

Ultimate Homes / Peter Stannard for us, not a bad word to say about them up to yet they have been fantastic

tawkins1

Fingers crossed we get a decent building supervisor then? Will they let you have your own tradies go onsite when they are not there to do stuff? We know an electrician who is doing our power points for us but dont know if he can do it b4 handover. We have been told 7.5 months to complete, is this realistic do ya think? Thanks for the info

rgvlee

Getting your own trades on site during construction I would have thought unlikely. The builders have control of the site while the house is being constructed, they have insurance and public liability to cover so I would expect they'd try and avoid having third party trades come in during this time. Speak to your office contacts as you'll need to get it in writing anyway if they will allow it.

We organised for our own tiler to do the tiling, but that was setup before the contract was signed.

I am planning on getting a few things done close to prehandover - paving, rollershutters etc so I am hoping to get permission to do this. I know the soakwells won't be an issue an I can do them myself at any time.

clayts75

From what i've heard i have just been unlucky in regards to the supervisor. Most people i have spoken to who have built with Content have given really positive feedback. As for the electrical points etc...i asked if the tiler could do the laundry and WC floor for me whilst he was onsite(this is the builder's tiler by the way) and i was told NO. They don't like anything to be done outside of the contract. His argument was if a tile got broken by another tradesman then i would be chasing them to fix it and this is something they want to avoid. The only thing i have been able to do is install the soakwells, although i did check with the builders to make sure there was no problem with this as they essentially do have control over the site.
7.5 months for completion sounds about right i think. Originally i was told they were turning homes around in 5 months but i think this is when they are really quiet, even then that is a quick build!! Mine is just past the 5 month stage and i have been told anywhere from 4-8 weeks from this point. I'm putting my mortgage on the 8weeks!! lol
The only thing i would suggest is when you do the pre-start and you have all your chosen taps, toilets etc just make sure you have a back-up selection. I chose a Novelli toilet which had just been released but they said i couldn't have it as it wasn't in their list of available products. Luckily i had seen an almost identical suite in the Caroma range and just had to go and get the model specification for them. The main reason for having the back-up is just to avoid any delays at the pre-start stage. I was also advised at the same time that the brick range they offered and the paving range had also been altered and of course both selections i had made were no longer available. Again, just think about a second choice to avoid any delays.

tawkins1

Thanks for the info

We have had pre start already and LWP rang us today to say the roof tiles were too dark!!!! and they wont accept the tile profile
They have given us alternatives which are almost identical
Not really content livings fault its just LWP being picky.
Lets hope it all goes smoothly from now on, just gotta transfer our money over from the UK to pay the deposit now... At this crappy exchange rate too

clayts75

The exchange rate is a killer!!!

ianhutch1

Had a message today to say that we can expect Practical Completion within the next few weeks, cant believe how fast they are going with ours we are very happy with Ultimate Homes / Peter Stannard

clayts75

Great news Ian. I have been advised late March for mine so i hope that's right. Have you done anything about the landscaping package yet? I had a meeting with the landscapers, Danny from Instant Gardens on Tuesday. Really nice bloke and very helpful but there was an issue in regards to the package on offer. I don't know why, but i had in my head that there was a $6000 front garden package as part of the deal when we bought the land, but apparently this isn't correct. I went and spoke with Tony at LWP and he basically said they install the front garden and there are minimum and maximum quantities allowed for certain things, such as grass. The only problem is they will not tell you what the allowance is in terms of dollars.
Pots, bowls, water features or anything like that you have to supply all the materials. Synthetic lawn is all at your cost. Despite the offer of landscaping your front yard for free(as stated in the contract), the designers are definitely looking to make more money from you. You even have to do your own design...unless you get really stuck and then they will offer advice. Not a problem really, but a little misleading i think.
If you are due handover soon then you may want to get onto this company as it takes a few weeks for them to organise the planting and materials etc.They won't actually start anything until after handover