Boston 42 with Clarendon

Dec 24, 2019
2:12 pm

lozsyd

sam_syd

Hi Loz

I saw you have chosen 2750 ground floor height and 2600 first floor, what are the benefits of high ceilings ?

Also, how to decide where to put toughend glass and where double glazing?

High ceiling make the room/house look more spacious and luxurious.
The first floor ceiling of 2.4m felt too low for us.
It's also one of the selling points if you wanna sell your place further down the line. It's something that can't be done post handover so we definitely wanted it.

We put in double glazing in all the bedroom windows that are south and north facing. We live on quiet street so it was more to keep the heat/cold out. And was not as expensive as I expected. Also more exy to do post handover as the whole window needs to be changed.

Hi Loz

We are looking to build the Boston 42 in Sydney and are currently waiting on our estimate. Do you mind me asking how much the height increase to both floors was as this is something we want to do as well. Thanks heaps

lozsyd

Jan 20, 2020
11:57 pm

Hi Bearcat,
Sorry just saw this now. I think the cost was about $3k per floor from memory. Think we paid bit over $6k to upgrade both floors .

lkb

Feb 04, 2020
4:34 pm

Hi!

I just found this post - haven't got land yet, but just trying to work out the maximum we can spend as we already know we want to make several modifications to our floor plan. We're really interested in the Boston 42 though!

Would either of you be able to please give me an idea of how much it costs to make modifications to the floor plan?
e.g. 2750 high ceilings, adding a shower to the powder room, moving rooms around?

Thanks in advance!

sam_syd

Feb 04, 2020
5:36 pm

Hi

Boston 42 with bare minimum changes will cost $600k

I made few more changes, the overall construction cost for me is $660K

lkb

Hi!

I just found this post - haven't got land yet, but just trying to work out the maximum we can spend as we already know we want to make several modifications to our floor plan. We're really interested in the Boston 42 though!

Would either of you be able to please give me an idea of how much it costs to make modifications to the floor plan?
e.g. 2750 high ceilings, adding a shower to the powder room, moving rooms around?

Thanks in advance!

lkb

Feb 04, 2020
6:52 pm

Thanks for the quick reply! Are you happy with Clarendon so far? Would you build with them again?

sam_syd

Hi

Boston 42 with bare minimum changes will cost $600k

I made few more changes, the overall construction cost for me is $660K

lkb

Hi!

I just found this post - haven't got land yet, but just trying to work out the maximum we can spend as we already know we want to make several modifications to our floor plan. We're really interested in the Boston 42 though!

Would either of you be able to please give me an idea of how much it costs to make modifications to the floor plan?
e.g. 2750 high ceilings, adding a shower to the powder room, moving rooms around?

Thanks in advance!

sam_syd

Feb 04, 2020
9:48 pm

Clarendon is not great but better than others
I will never build again, it’s too stressful

quote="lkb"]Thanks for the quick reply! Are you happy with Clarendon so far? Would you build with them again?

sam_syd

Hi

Boston 42 with bare minimum changes will cost $600k

I made few more changes, the overall construction cost for me is $660K

lkb

Hi!

I just found this post - haven't got land yet, but just trying to work out the maximum we can spend as we already know we want to make several modifications to our floor plan. We're really interested in the Boston 42 though!

Would either of you be able to please give me an idea of how much it costs to make modifications to the floor plan?
e.g. 2750 high ceilings, adding a shower to the powder room, moving rooms around?

Thanks in advance!

[/quote]

edskii

Feb 23, 2020
10:06 pm

sam_syd

Hi

Boston 42 with bare minimum changes will cost $600k

I made few more changes, the overall construction cost for me is $660K

lkb

Hi!

I just found this post - haven't got land yet, but just trying to work out the maximum we can spend as we already know we want to make several modifications to our floor plan. We're really interested in the Boston 42 though!

Would either of you be able to please give me an idea of how much it costs to make modifications to the floor plan?
e.g. 2750 high ceilings, adding a shower to the powder room, moving rooms around?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Sam.... mate was the 660k with the grand alfresco included? 60k worth of upgrades sounds like a lot. Did you have to do much for landscaping?

avedi

Oct 05, 2020
10:44 pm

HI Sam_syd and LozSyd,

Your discussion and the experience you have shared has been immensely useful so can't thank you enough. Can i please ask if your houses have been built and have you moved in ? How was the experience for last 8-10 months with Clarendon ? Any more insights or experiences that you can share during the build phase ? Is your house shaping up to be what you thought it will be ? Colours , styles and designs, etc ? Were there any other unexpected price increases ? Quality and duration of their construction ?

I am about to sign the contract with Clarendon and will be building in Epping soon as well.

Thanks heaps in advance.

wekin

Oct 08, 2020
12:43 pm

avedi

HI Sam_syd and LozSyd,

Your discussion and the experience you have shared has been immensely useful so can't thank you enough. Can i please ask if your houses have been built and have you moved in ? How was the experience for last 8-10 months with Clarendon ? Any more insights or experiences that you can share during the build phase ? Is your house shaping up to be what you thought it will be ? Colours , styles and designs, etc ? Were there any other unexpected price increases ? Quality and duration of their construction ?

I am about to sign the contract with Clarendon and will be building in Epping soon as well.

Thanks heaps in advance.

We are building with Clarendon, just started 2 months ago, it's been good so far.

Regarding unexpected cost, be aware that some quotes that the sales told you may not be the same of what you have in the tender. We have some price difference in windows and some extra costs that the sales said no cost.

DanC

Oct 09, 2020
3:48 pm

avedi

HI Sam_syd and LozSyd,

Your discussion and the experience you have shared has been immensely useful so can't thank you enough. Can i please ask if your houses have been built and have you moved in ? How was the experience for last 8-10 months with Clarendon ? Any more insights or experiences that you can share during the build phase ? Is your house shaping up to be what you thought it will be ? Colours , styles and designs, etc ? Were there any other unexpected price increases ? Quality and duration of their construction ?

I am about to sign the contract with Clarendon and will be building in Epping soon as well.

Thanks heaps in advance.

In terms of our experience, I just say be aware of the cost of upgrades when you go to selections. We could have spent almost $100K above our Sapphire Inclusions (45sq two storey). It can be seen as there is a lot of scope to upgrade however you need to have a fair idea of your fitout level and for your consultant to be transparent with this cost right from the start, also make sure you know the extra costs you cannot see (eg. extra insulation/Anticon). A heads up, upgraded/additional cabinetry is expensive.
I hope this helps.

kevdev

Jan 07, 2021
1:28 pm

sam_syd

lozsyd

oh interesting about your modifications! Do you have your plans? would be interesting to see it! Although we can't change anything now!

So we got the sapphire range and we also got the EOFY promotion; so all the kitchen appliances got upgraded to Miele appliances and got about 20k off the build price due to promotion offers.

We are doing floor post handover so should get about 10k credit back for taking out tiles and carpets completely.
We wanted the classic fascade but got told it looks bit dull and bit 'flat'. I like pure brick look so didn't want to render etc. Opted for Oxford which I still don't like that much but was prob the next best option. Not having the rendered wall like the pictures thou.

In terms of upgrades;
7k at colour studio; upgraded all the internal doors as the standard one looks so cheap and tacky. (about 2k in total), 2x whirly birds put in, Double glazing to south and north facing windows, upgraded the cornices downstairs only etc
15K for kitchen; for putting in butler's pantry (no sink), extend the kitchen island to 300mm overhang, extend vanities etc.
Alarm about 3k; got the smarthub which i knew wasn't necessary but we can't be bothered sorting thru that stuff post handover etc plus not very good with handyman stuff, Got remote controls for the alarm system and also the module so we can access alarm through our phones. The bloody antennaes alone cost $660!!! I know ppl have done it post handover but figured just easier to get it done through Clarendon.
Electrical bit over 7k; Ended up upgrading some of the upstairs to downlights, put in the Fan/light/heater combo in bathroom, fascade light, external junction boxes etc, have about 3 powerpoints in each room.

No didn't get someone to review contract, but I had a copy of another builder's contract and the NSW HBA contract to compare. Clarendon's progress payment schedule is so crap compared to other builders, you're paying lot of money upfront as they ask for payment BEFORE the prelining stage too. Wanted it changed but Clarendon adamant that they will only change if bank was unhappy with it and our bank was fine with it so let that go.
Which insurance are you talking about?
Yup, ours in KDRB. Haven't demolished yet, still living in it, our CDC not lodged yet. Got quote from 4 different demo companies, ended up going with Sitedemo; 2nd cheapest surprisingly as lot of ppl say they are most exy. will be bit over 20k.

No TV cabinets in theatre, i'm sure you can ask for it to be done thru Clarendon but we didn't bother.

upgraded the aircon to inverters and yeah ended up upgrading to like 7 or 8 zones can't remember. upgrade was about 5 or 6k for the aircon. Got the myzone 5 thingee too.

Had 20 downlights included in our promotion, just in process of forking out more money and changing upstairs leisure and corridor lights to downlights too.
Initially was going to get the downlights done upstairs post handover, but after looking into it, probably only saving about $30 per downlights by doing that, and we're only adding in about like 10 downlights as extra so figured not worth the hassle. Depends if you really wanna watch your budget or just would rather fork out bit more money and not have to worry about it after.

Thanks for sharing the details.

see the preliminary plan attached. My tender is on 20th Sep. Bit worried about the site costs which is ranging around 70k at the moment due to 1m slope

Due to this unexpected site costs, Im planning to do butler's, WIP, downlights, fan, timber floors post handover.
what else can we do post handover?

I found a good checklist on this website, lot of interesting stuff for first home builders, check this

https://www.statecustodians.com.au/checklist-for-building-a-house

https://1stbuild.club/

can you help me with few questions? sorry for a big list, Im panicking before the tender ....

1. did you went through the colors appointment before the contract?
2. How will you deal with skirtings if will do the floor post handover? will you remove and reinstall or put extra skirtings?
3. are you also planning to get the tiling done in bathrooms post handover?
4. tiling till ceiling with them or later?
5. how long did it took from tender to contract to CDC approval? i think I might not be able to get the slab done before christmas
6. do we need to take any kind of insurance incase clarendon goes bankrupt and doesn't complete the project?
7. which aircon model did you upgrade?
8. can you share your floorplan, Im confused about my window sizes
9. are you leaving the standard shelves only in WIP?

Hi Sam,

I would love to see you plans for the modified Boston 42, especially the void over the family room. Any chance you can share them again as i cannot see them in the original post?

How did your build turn out?

Thanks heaps.
Kevin

Lily88

Jan 13, 2021
5:59 pm

lozsyd

Hi everyone,

We are just starting our process of building Boston 42 with Clarendon in Sydney. This design seems relatively new. Anyone else building Boston in Sydney?
Looking forward to spending many hours browsing this forum for ideas and tips!

Hi, I’m new to this this forum. I am too wanting to build Boston 42. Would you be able to tell me the tender price? Thanks

union

Oct 23, 2021
7:51 pm

my tender price is 690k, but that includes a 30k step up in the house.

It also includes some provisional allowances for colour selection, around about 30k or so.

Chess

Oct 28, 2021
3:21 pm

union

my tender price is 690k, but that includes a 30k step up in the house.

It also includes some provisional allowances for colour selection, around about 30k or so.

Hi Union,

Can I ask when did you get the tender? Is that a recent price?
Thanks.

J Smith

Nov 16, 2021
11:31 pm

union

my tender price is 690k, but that includes a 30k step up in the house.

It also includes some provisional allowances for colour selection, around about 30k or so.

Hi Union, What was your site costs vs base cost + upgrades. I am looking at Boston 42 as well? I have a 2m drop from front to back and they are estimating over $115K in site costs, drop edge beams, storm water tanks etc etc? Looks very high.