Arden Developments

Hi laaa,

How exciting!

Do you mind me asking what size your home landed at with all your modifications?

We're in the tender process for a 40sq bespoke. Would be really keen to understand the cost of some of your upgrades - how did you go with all the cabinetry? Have you included double glazing?

Would love to hear more about it!

hi katgalle the house will be 50sqm. we're building the larger bespoke plus adding 1 metre. we havent factored in double glazing but it's not noisy in our area so didnt think of it...for cabinetry we'll upgrade in the kitchen as that's what everyone sees. i'll keep my blog updated and put in prices once we've got the set price =)

Laaa, did arden have very expensive site costs?

Hi, its been awhile, since I came back to this thread, i posted on this thread about a year ago to inquire about peoples experience with Arden as we were starting to have an interest to build with them. Moving on a year later, we are at the final stages on moving into a new house with Arden and I just stumbled across this thread and it look like it picking up again, So I thought I would share my experience so far. Our experience with them have been great and all issues we had, were never questions but fixed. I will also post a photo of our house, so people can see how our house turned out and if you like the colour selections I can help you out. We didn't upgrade on a lot of things and kept within the inclusion and the house turned out great, better then expected. I get alot of compliment from our neighbors. I remember going in to colours, we found it extremely hard, to picture how the house will look like with going with the inclusion.

if anyone have any questions, please ask away, i know there isn't alot of thread about arden and could be hard for people wanting to build with them. One thing I could not stress, is make sure you triple check your colour selections and floor plan 100 times and do not sign anything until you are 100% sure it is correct. From my experience, they lack attention to details but are extremely helpful at fixing it if your not happy with it. Please ensure, the dimension of the windows and room are correct, as ours were changed when we moved walls and only notice it last minute and they were happy to fix it. But once the paper work is done, your build should be smooth sailing. It is also important to have a good SS from the very start, it will determine how well, your house will be built. Anyways wont bore you with the boring stuff and good luck with your build.

Oh one thing I forgot to mention is, you need to do your own research here, there was a few things, that I thought was standard, but was overlooked because of my lack of experience. We built the Milan 29. If I ever built again with anyone, I would ensure to have sarking installed before the roof is layed, as this is a membrane and extra protection, that would ensure rain wont get into the house. I always assume, this is standard with every build, but apparently not. I'm just worried that I can see a lot of lights between our roof space, my SS have advise me that the roof is sealed, so I just have to take his word for that.

special_K we're not sure the exact price for site costs but once I know i'll update my blog. but we have been told to expect about $30,000.

fnt0603.....Great to hear you've had a good experience with Arden. We are about to sign contracts on some land and are trying to choose a builder and floorplans. One thing we are finding pretty tricky is the lack of information about people's build with Arden and their experience with them.

I cant speak for everyone else, but from my experience, they have been great and the whole building process for us, have been great. There was a few stress moment finalizing in the paper work, but once that was done, the construction phase have been stress free. There is a double storey home, in front of our house, which is built by Arden, and it has turned out well too. Arden home are quite expensive upfront, but most of their Category 1 or 2 items are quite good and you wont have to upgrade on alot of things, thus this is why they have an expensive base price. Originally we were going to go with Burbank, because their base house were cheap, but when we got to studio, and had a look at their range, their category 1 or 2 were really bad and you had to upgrade to category 6 or 7 items for something decent then when you add all your upgrade, you realized the cost of these items plus your base house, will cost the same as Arden. One thing I do stress is, please budget in an extra 15k aside for unforeseen things. When we were finalizing our paper work with Arden, they realized that our estate was a 7 star rating, so we had to upgrade to double glazed window, upgrade the insulator batts, NBN, water tank etc, to meet council regulation and to get approval. alot of people don't think about this, and this could cause stress, as it did for us. But we are at the final of things and can't wait to move in. If anyone have any questions, please ask away.

Hi fnt0603,

Congrats on the build - glad to hear everything went well!

I would be keen to know what your timeline was through various stages.

Did you change anything directly with the trades, i.e. placement of electrical points/data outlet?

Also did you build with Hebel?

Congrats again, looking forward to see your pictures.

yes would love to see some photos fnt0603!

Hi, I have final inspection in about 2 weeks, I will post photos of inside and outside the house when I have the keys. I didn't build with hebel because of a number of reasons but that is my opinion. We had the promotion but I chose to go against it. I honestly think, brick is the way to go, for solid and security that just of one and many reason.

With the electrical, I am not sure if they still have the promotion, but we had like 26 free LED down lights included for free, and I think I added another 10 more, and I think it was like $110 each. My electrical for the house came under $2k or less because we added batten lights to put our pendant lights, additional wall socket and additional sensor lights around the house. We thought that was quite good, considering people were paying like close to $5-$10k for electrical work with other builders.

We started our build in September last year, slab to framework and to brickwork came up really fast,I think it only took them just over 5-6 weeks to get to lock up. Once at lock up, the process slowed down a bit due to Christmas and new years, and my SS couldn't get any trade in plus there was no work during the holidays and building didn't start again till like 3 weeks into January, but from there everything got done so quickly, its march now and its about done. Give or take, just give it 4 to 5 months for completion.I know it seems forever, but you want your house to be done properly, we never pressured our SS and we gave him space to do his things, and I think it is important to get along with your SS, as I believe, he will determine whether your house will be built at the highest quality or not, not Arden. All the best with the build, I will post some photos soon, let me know if anyone have any questions, glad to help.

Dear Jeeta23,

As I will select Beaumont as my future home, I would be keen to know the additional cost you have made besides the basic cost of Votivo (slightly increase the basic cost quarter by quarter), as you upgrade quite lot items, especially with ensuite to every bed room upstairs, thanks.

Hi I am in planning approval stage for Bespoke. Would like to know if we can choose a SS?

Hi we are close to completing the Votivo43 in April. It's been a long journey for us with so many issues during contruction.

My advise is please engage an independent inspector for at least frame, pre plasters and final inspection stage.

See our journey here https://ourardenhome.wordpress.com/

Hi Guys, I found some old pictures of my house, which I took ages ago. I believe this was when the bricking work just finish and it was almost at lock up stage. The colours of the house if anyone is wondering is;

brick: austral truffle
motar: off white
gutters, facia and down pipe: dulux monument
roof: sambuca (monier roof tiles)
window frame:black

I havent had time to take any new photos lately, as I finish work late. I'm schedule to do a final walk through next week, and ill take updated photos then.

thanks

Hi lzboycn, I paid just under $18k to add the ensuites to all rooms. That includes floor to ceiling tiles, and 1800mmx900mm shower sizes. But I also added niches and mosaic tiling (although that didn't cost much).

That cost is after the offset for deleting the upstairs bathroom.

Hi Androolz,

When is handover?

I have been following your blog over the last few months - sorry to see how much they have stuffed you guys around. I hope you get the fully completed home you deserve.

Hi Androolz,
You have been through a lot with them.
We are also currently going to build with Arden. They are so slack with their work, no one can give us an answer when needed and seem to not know what they are doing at times.
Very frustrating for us, and we haven't even started the build yet!
I really hope at least that goes smoothly.

HI I am new to Arden going to start Beaumont 43. how you guys find Arden so far? does anyone knows about site costs with arden my sales consultant had put $17500 allowance

I will build Beaumont 43 as well, will you do any modification to the design? You are talking with berwick water display home SC, is he good?