Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+

60 days? We've experienced 2 project builders & I've been reading what others have been saying on this board ... if you expect anything less than 6 months then I think you'll be getting frustrated very quickly!

Will be discussed on contract day. So we'll see...

In regards to refunds, they just credit you back. I didn't argue or negotiate. I think the general consensus is builders will refund you back the cost to them minus their margin.

In regards to plans/changes. My experiences were the changes were done quickly. Questions were answered on the same or the following business day depending on the time I emailed. Plans took about one week to change (get new revised drawing). The longest wait so far has been from paying the tender fee to receiving the colour pack / first set of plans for revision.

In regards to 60days from tender to construction. I don't think so. Have a look at the timeline above... Im about 3 months in, no construction yet Most reps will tell you to allow approx 12 months for a double storey house (tender to handover). Keeping in mind, construction is stopped in December normally.

Hi tony.
we are at the initial stages of building with allcastle and love your input in regards to your experience so far. We too have paid the initial $995 and are thinking about building the grandworth 42.5 and would appreciate your opinion in regards to a few things as it seems you have come a long way so far compared with us. Did you expect all your extras or variations to be at that cost or were they relatively reasonable?? We too have made a few changes but are still waiting on our first tender to come back. Was he sales consultant thorough when you got your initial tender back i.e did he/she walk you through the house and indicated which were the inclusions and which were not??
Can you tell us the site where we can view the door range as we are paying extra for the Milan or Corinthian doors but you have chosen another range which I would assume is even more costly. also we do they ask you to choose the carpet and tiles from. is it form a particular store or do they have their own range when you go to Arndell park to choose from. Just wanted to be a step ahead so I know what I can expect and whether or not it meets our budget.
You have made a few very important points in regards to costs that we have not accounted for yet so if I need to budget a little more for upgrading different tiles, carpet, brick. Which bricks have you chosen and façade.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers :

Hi Bob,

IMO I thought the costings came back higher than I had anticipated. In particular, the high ceilings, changing any woodwork to bricks and doors. In saying so, our sales rep was pretty good (probably the best rep I've come across). The sales rep is more than glad to walk you through the house to show you what is standard and what is not. The good thing about Allcastle display homes is that its pretty much standard, and I think you get more in the package than what is currently displayed.

Allcastle deals with Corinthian doors now (so you can check out their website. Keeping in mind, that the standard is listed in the infinity package - anything else will incur an extra charge).

Carpet wise - you can have a separate appointment at CarpetCall. The guys there are very helpful. The best carpet upgrade will cost an additional 6k. 10mm underlay is standard.

Tiles - you can have a separate appointment at Beautiful Tiles. I spoke to a lady there, and she told me most people spend a few thousand extra. (ceramic tiles are standard).

I think our facade was called the Boulevard.

Brick and Rooftile-wise - we stuck with standard bricks. You can choose from Boral, Austral and PGH. If you go there, they can tell you what bricks are standard for Allcastle homes (Grandworth). The Princeton etc will have a better range to choose from.

With building, I think its a good idea to be conservative. It will probably be a good idea to leave 10k aside for electricals, plus any carpet and tile upgrades.

thanks tony , very useful info ,we will keep you informed on how things pan out , I have asked sales rep for price sheet regarding extras eg; extra lights ( downlights ) I know they will give you a batten holder or oyster light , but we are looking at 4-5 downlights in every room downstairs , extra p/points ,tv points ,external lights ( front, side and back of house ) under stair case etc , do thy charge like wounded bulls or they are reasonable.

Expect to pay at least 25% markup when building with any builder.

We are doing something very similar, yet to get back our electrical variation. Will tell you how that goes.

cheers , one thing I have noticed if you own a 4wd or ute as a car , it just scrapes in the garage with about 75mm clearance front and back , I think I will need a can opener to get in and out of our cars , would be great if they made the garages a metre bigger both ways , although anything can be done at a price ,tony ...... with upstairs lights , they can always be done after completion as you can get into roof space to alter things .

tonyattheponds, any update to your progress?

still waiting for tender ,with all of our wish list eg ; quote , should be some time this week or next

Hi All,

Just an update on where we are at with our build. I cannot stress enough how important it is to check and re-check EVERYTHING at everysingle stage. DO NOT let them rush you through the process. My experience with them has been that they delay, delay and then delay some more so that you are frustrated and pushing them. Then, after weeks/months they suddenly have everything ready to go but the only appointment they have available is the following day or so and you will rush through your checks and in my case, miss the slightest little word or plan changes that result in things being removed from your build. They may also recommend the use of certain words be used in the tender that may translate differently in the actual build and again, remove something from your build yet not notify you it has been removed.
If I had my time over, I would have walked away from the money we had already invested with them and gone with another builder!
Here's hoping the build quality is good and this was all worth it in the end!
FYI - we start gyprocking next week

What are you building?

High grove Mk4 which is a modified grand worth

updated. still waiting for something to happen... hopefully my experience isn't like that of Bowski

I know what you mean by checking and rechecking again.
eg1. My first plan, had something to the effect of garage wall only to be "x" metres high (instead of the whole height). I questioned this. It was deleted from the next set of plans.
eg2. Allcastle has just sent me a tender with this added on "if your job site has vegetation growth within 3m of building area, it will have to be removed by owner prior to commencement of construction." (better to tell me than later I suppose).

Bowski - keep your feedbacks coming. very useful stuff

I suggest getting your own carpets laid. You can still get Carpet Call to lay them. You will be getting better carpets for the same price you pay if going through the builder.

I would but the refund the builder is giving me back for the tiles and carpet is peanuts compared to the price of doing it all after handover.

My choices are pay the extra 5k for the carpet i sort of want (Godfrey Hirst Eco range - Allcastle's one is called perfections) instead of the Harvey Norman Smart Strand @ $60/m^2 (with only a small refund from Allcastle).

I see you went for the easy build package. Do you know if you choose to upgrade all the items included in the package it will come up with the same cost as selecting the package? This way you have more control on what you want.

What material is the carpet provided by AllCastle?