Building @ Harcrest, Wantirna South

Natalie, try posting this in the Carlisle Homes thread, I'm sure you'll get plenty of helpful responses there also. I think it about 2 weeks for us after contract was signed. Hope that helps

Our frame had been completed. Roof tiles are on. Bricks next week. We had an independent inspection done and a number of non-compliant items were picked up. Our SS agreed with a few of them, but dismissed most of them as opinions. My inspector and I had a site meeting with the SS and our SS agreed to rectify most of them. It was a fruitful meeting with positive outcomes. My inspector & SS were great.

Hi cmac,

Great to hear this, I am going to our build later in the day to check progress. I am also getting an independant inspection completed nextweek.

Could I ask which inspector did you use, and was a had written report given by the inspector?

Gren

Gren,

Yes a written report quoting the relevant sections from the building & timber framing codes and photos of the defects was given by my inspector. Our SS agreed that the report was thorough. The inspection was done by a structural engineer friend who has a consultancy. If you want the details, please PM me.

Hi cmac,

Thanks for the offer, but I got independent inspection done today on the frame of our house. Inspection went very well, the inspector only picked up a few issues which I picked out and highlighted to him. Inspection report was given to PD, they have not commented on the things found. Apart from this, we are happy with the work PD have completed.

Should be moving onto the next stage soon.

How is everybody else doing with their builds?

Gren

Our frames will be done by the end of this week. So roof tiles will be going up next week. Looks like our humble single storey is catching up to the others that started earlier

I was thinking about this the other day. Not sure if the NBN will be up and running by the time the first residents move in (earliest connection date is "later this year" from memory). We're hopeless Gen-Ys so we can't live without our precious internet (having no landlines we can handle but not the internet!!). Haha...

By the way the display homes are looking good. Wonder when they'll be finished..?

Hi everyone,

A lot of the homes are coming to life! Yay. Checked out our site today, the frame is partially up so we're making some progress. Hoping to organise an inspection once the frame is complete!
twakky I hear ya, the thought of not having internet scares the hell out of me. Not sure if we could survive with no internet access. Hopefully the NBN will be rolled out in our area by then.

Went and had a look on saturday. We ended up getting my fiance's uncle to take a look at the frame (he's a structural engineer). All was good. We'll probably book in inspections for the pre-plaster and pre-handover stages though.

There were builders (Simonds i think) on site next door working when we were there around 1pm (on a saturday!).

PD had to relocate the meter box to the portico (yuck...) nothing we could do about it though. I'll have to think up of something to hide it later on.

At the moment, I have been able to find enough information to conclude that not all builders are aware of the NBN package.

You should by now receive a welcome pack from Mirvac about the NBN Co itself but what is happening to me is as follow:

1. The smart wiring cost is about $2k. This will vary for individuals because of the number of ports/points you choose to have.

2. You can't have Pay TV/Free-to-air TV, that's why the extra charge for Digital Aerial is now additional. That is plus $470.

3. This cost of $2k is assuming ONT boxes and the ports are worn by you. In reality, NBN provides the ONT boxes and a set number of data/phone points. So if you are following the PD costs, you are definitely being overcharged by this reason but I think this is an attempt to simplify the NBN confusion.

4. Lastly, apparently some Velocity clients can't use VOIP over Fibre. I am yet to find out about this.

Regards

Hi,

Could I please have an advice on those of you who builds at Harcrest?

I am increasingly finding the $4.7k for water tank installation 2000L slimline polythene is a bit excessive...

How do you guys reduce this cost? Porter Davis wants $2.2k for the provision by itself and I am not even sure what "provision" actually means.

Yes we found that to be excessive as well. We're also building with PD and decided to install our own after handover.

We plan to install a 3m long x 0.7m wide x 1.1m high steel tank with a submersible pump (with a rainbank) from Tankworks. However PD is providing the provisions which includes the concrete pad and the plumbing components (things like stormwater overflow, connection to toilet, downpipes etc.)

In the end it'll be around the same price but we'll have a nicer looking and better quality tank. However if you end up installing the same tank as the oen PD is supplying after handover you would save around $1k (depending on where you buy it from). Take a look at http://www.smartwatershop.com.au/ there's one in wantirna south.

You really have no choice with the provision cost PD is giving you but you do have a choice with the cost of the actual tank if you install after handover

Hi Twakky,

Thanks for the tips. I gather I could save $500k for the same spec if purchased from Tankworks.

$1k savings would be good enough but I gather I probably want to have steel tank as you are having.

Oh sigh... i guess no chance to reduce costs on this one.

Some people have concern with their site costs. Mine is a M modified class slab as per compaction and PD's soil test reports. Site costs is about $10k ($5k excavation and stuffs, $5 for services like drainage,etc)

Regards

No worries, glad to be a help

Our site cost was around $24k (I nearly died when I found out) and with PD's promo we only ended up paying $14k. Concrete piers were included but it looks like they were never put it in as it wasn't needed in the end, same story with the retaining wall... :S But I guess that's what we get when we sign the contract with a fixed site cost (we didn't really have a choice)

When you think about it.

Most of the land in Harcrest are relatively flat (less than 0.5m fall) mainly because of the compaction activity Mirvac has done. Also the base price of the house includes the fall of 0.3m too.

Theoretically, those who are with PD on Promo which includes 0.5m fall should technically have zero site costs. But I think they have a different understanding of what the promo is all about which is just a $10k discount on site costs.

Additionally, none of the landowners should really have any class other than M modified (at best) because we're all meant to be the same.

Therefore, my point is none of the purchasers here should be charged more than $5k-$6k of site costs, let alone $27k as you quoted twakky...

I always knew site costs would be one area that are prone to abuse. Fortunately, I made site costs a variable costs (subject to variation) instead of a fixed price thingy.

Yes I think PD has taken advantage on the site cost. A bit annoying, but nothing we can do about it now. We were told at the start that we would get a refund on the site cost when they did the final soil testing. Unfortunately we didn't get it in writing and so PD had the upper end and got away with it as it was technically 'fixed' :S

How much was your site cost if you don't mind me asking?

Hi Twakky,

To be precise,

Excavation building set back 4000mm to front house and setback from left hand side boundary to garage of zero
Balanced cut and fill to an approximate reduced level of 1025 to the house has been adopted with a 74mm step down to garage
Provide restricted site allowance
Provide cut and fill up to 800mm fall across excavation (Up to 500mm of site fall included as per promo)
Provide cartage of any excess soil from site (Up to 300mm of fill included as per promo)
Provide rock removal
$4,810

Slab upgrades
Assumed from M to P. With a note providing credit if assumption is wrong.
$4,919

Services
Upgrade of stormwater to 100mm under future driveway concrete
Agricultural drains to base of site cut
2x silt pit for connection of agricultural drains to storm water drains
Re-establishment survey
Second soil test due to incomplete subdivisional work
$3,218

Out of this, $4,919 should be refunded because the soil test and the compaction report came back M. In fact, the fall is virtually zero according to the second soil survey but I am yet to read it and PD has already promised to send me the copy.

I am in Honey Avenue.

Mind if I ask how do you arrive at $3k for driveway? Mine came back $4.8k (6.6m length x 7 width). Which mix are you using?

Regards

Hi everyone,

Not much activity in the forum over the past few weeks. Our bricks starting going up on Monday, great weather for it too. Our house is slowly starting to take shape. Has anyone looked at fencing? Anyone know when do you normally organise to get that done? Our neighbours on either do not look anywhere close to starting so not sure when fencing should be organised. Has anyone started getting quotes or prices on fencing yet?

Sorry to display my ignorance, but is this a telstra velocity "community"?

To have this optic fibre connected to your lot, it costs the developer about 2-5 grand per lot

This is too much to pay for most developers... so they usually choose to go with either nothing, or some sort of "subsidised" connection through another company like telstra. That way telstra pay most of the infastructure cost but redeem it by charging exclusive crazy high monthly charges.

Mirvac do not want to pay for this connection, lest they spend money on things they dont have to.

Ask the sales consultant why such a leader in property development cannot pay for basic Optic Fibre internet themselves and let me know what they say.

Hi there All,

Well we have started with the bricks, hopefully, they will be finished soon depending on the weather, just needs some dry weather for a while.

We have not even started looking at fencies and driveway yet.

How is everybodies else build going? Would be good to share if you have any issues.

Gren

Hi All,

Looks like brickies are working hard on quite a few houses already
I went there around 7pm today to take photos of the rough-ins (for future reference) and there were still tradies working on the roof tiles across the road. Talk about dedication!

Haven't really looked into fencing yet. But mirvac is meant to give us contact details of our neighbours so we can organise the payment for the fencing if we were to organise the contractor. We're going to use 1300 CONCRETE for the driveway.

A bit nervous about our meter box at the portico. PD didn't seek approval from Mirvac about the new location before they installed it. So I had to chase PD up to send the plan with the new loc to Mirvac for them to approve. 2 Weeks later and it's still not sent, no idea what they're doing... getting a bit frustrating!!

On another not gyprocking next week for us. Yay!