Masterton Homes - The new thread

Thanks guys your so helpful, I cant wait to do my colours!!
Is it right that we have to organise to meet with the tile placa before all this ourselves? Im so unsure about what tiles i want in the bathroom, what have you guys done?
Crap about the electrical people, what a pain!!
Squashedrex was that $428 for all mirrored doors or just one? We were quoted $500 each!!

That $428 was just for one set of doors. Pretty pricey.

We are doing a white 600*300 wall tile and its like a stripey black, grey, orange 300*300 floor tile in the bathrooms and laundry.

Hi squashedrex

I noticed that you found an online reference to the rangehood you chose? We haven't done colour selections yet but I rang ahead to try and find out more information about the kitchen appliances they provide and the lady advised that the models they provide will not be in the shop and I wouldn't be able to find any information on the the Internet on them (thereby implying that any model names she would give me would be useless)!

Is she wrong? Should I call them back and get the model names? I wanted to find out the specific models provided with the Mansion pack and what models were offered for upgrade?

Hi buildingbee,

I googled the model numbers (which you can get from your tender) and I found the Baumatic catalogue which you can download. Also if you google the model numbers you will be able to find various websites that have them. Good Guys Auburn were helpful with pricing if you gave them model numbers.

Hope that helps!

I cant remember what models are included in the Mansion Package but they should have given you an info pack with all the details. We were happy with the standard cooktop and dishwasher but the rangehood was awful.

We were told that you can upgrade to any monel in the Baumatic range (for a cost of course). The entire range is online at:

http://www.baumatic.com.au/smart/
http://www.baumatic.com.au/pythagora/

We were also told that you can ask them to price a model from another manufacturer but they cannot gauruntee they will be able to source it. I thought I read elsewhere here that you can ask them to leave off the appliances and receive a credit and then put your own in after handover.

Well I just contacted the Planner at Newcastle Council looking after our DA. We ha ve already been in Council 4 weeks and he is ony just looking at it now. He also said he couldnt give me a timeframe but if I dont hear from him in 8 weeks give him a call. Shocked is an understatement.

I've heard emails to the GM can help in these situations, might give it a try.

I would be shocked as well - that is such a long time to wait!

Which home are you building squashedrex?

I was reading through some of your selections and was curious about a couple of things - hope you don't mind me asking:
Insulation above garage - $252 - please forgive my ignorance, but why are you putting insulation here?
Custom Water Tank - $360 - did you have a special requirement here?
22.5 degree roof - $790 - Are 22.5 degree roofs not standard on all homes?

squashedrex our DA took 8.5 weeks for NCC to approve, and I'm pretty sure from our phone conversations with the engineer along the way that he didnt actually look at them until about the 6 week mark.
Perhaps 8 weeks is pretty standard for NCC
Sounds like you had an awful experience with Sentinel.

Heres a list of our upgrades if anyones interested-
Upgrade Tiles to bathroom and ensuite $1785
External ducting to kitchen rangehood $385
External Gas BBQ Bayonet $284
1 extra TV point $80
2 extra data points $200
Slimline style external alarm siren and strobe (rather than massive big ugly thing that was standard) $50
Reed switch $50
Alarm code pad to VoiceNav style $50
Electrical upgrades - extra light points, extra light circuit & safety switch, junction boxes for external light points, 19 extra internal powerpoints, 3 extra exterior powerpoints, extra power circuit and safety switch, upgrade meter box to 3 phase - electrical total $3465.
we also upgraded our kitchen mixer taps.

We signed off on our final construction plans today and posted them back to M.
Our house demolition starts at the end of this week (hopefully, its been pushed back), then we need the CC and fingers crossed for some building to start before xmas.

So what has everyone picked for:
Bricks
External colours
Internal wall paint
Kitchen benchtop
Kitchen cabinets

I'm curious!

Buildingbee we are building the Sonata.

Insulation above garage - I will be spending a decent amount of time in the garage so why not insualte it for that price.
Custom Water Tank - We are putting it down the side of the house and want that side of the house to be as clsoe aas possible to the side setback allowance. The standard tank is too deep to do this.
22.5 degree roof - The degree of the roof is dertimined by the facade you choose. We needed 22.5 to meet developers requirements.

Novo can I ask how many extra light points you got and did you get them with the standard batten or supply your own fitting to be installed?

Bricks Urban Mist, Caper Roof, Woodland Grey Gutters and Fascia, Surfmist Eaves and Garage Door, Entry door is a dark stain, White windows. Internal walls will be a whiteish colour. Theatre will be a dark grey including ceiling. Kitchen benchtops are 20mm Alpine White. Cabinets are the Ultra White.

We will be morokaing parts of the front after handover if we dont like the brick colour.

Thanks everyone for sharing the info, very helpful for us as we're building with Masterton as well.



squashedrex - I'm interested in your upgrades on the home theatre, so if you don't mind me asking:
- Did you get the soundproof gyprock to the ceiling of the home theatre room as well, or just the walls?
- Did you get any acoustic insulation for the home theatre room?
- What does the bulkhead involve, a dropped ceiling? Or is it a feature bulkhead on one end of the room?

Thanks in advance for any info!

The soundproof gyprock is just to the internal walls not the ceiling. No accoustic insulation, but it was an option. With the placement of my theatre though I think it would have been overkill.

The bulkhead is similar to this.

Basically a drop down in the ceiling around the edges of the room with a recess in it. I will be putting LED strip lighting in the recess area.

squashedrex we got 4 extra light points to the front exterior of the house, and an extra light to the study nook, from memory, with standard battens. oh and extra lights in the bathrooms above the vanity so we can put some strip lighting in.
I cant find the paperwork right now though.

We also got acoustic insulation added to our home theatre, and also the wall that separates bedroom 2 and the family room, right where the lounge will be. Our daughter likes to play music in her room so we thought we should insulate this wall so we can sit on the lounge and not be blasted by her music!

Hi squashedrex

I think we got a quote for something similar in our home theatre (4.2m x 3.7m) i.e. bulkhead with a recess for lighting - except we were quoted ~$2900 (just bulkhead, no lighting)!!! - we asked for something similar to one in the Merlot display - there's a picture of it here http://www.masterton.com.au/designs/double-storey-designs/merlot/ - are we being majorly ripped off or what??

Thanks Novo, we are putting in 45 odd downlights so I guess were up for huge bill.

Building Bee thats exactly the style we are getting and our room is very simliar in size. I would say you are being a taken for a ride. Definately question that with your consultant as for that price I would be expecting quality lighting installed as well.

We got our Construction Certificate today

Now tell me, do M have 20 days OR 20 working days to begin construction? Anyone know for sure?

Working days. Hope the rain eases up for you.

Our demolition is starting today! Not sure how long its going to take but we are supposed to give Masterton access to the land within 7 days (10 days from last Friday when they received the construction certificate and we signed off), so hopefully it will be finished this Friday or next Monday. Fingers crossed. Please no rain this week!! We want a slab down before Christmas....

How is everyone else going?

Good to see the rain is holding off for you Novo. Hopefully the demo wont take long.

We got a tile selection price back (took a week) and it is costing us an extra $2500 roughly. Mainly for an upgraded floor tile to the bathrooms. Its rectified porciline which apparently costs extra to lay on top of the extra base cost of the tile.

We also found out Council will be rejecting our plans due to the front setback. We have 3.5m to the front column of the facade and 5m to the main wall of the house. This was approved by Landcom before going to Council and is in line with every other house in the development. Now NCC are saying we have to be 5m to the column. They have to be one of the most incompetent councils in NSW.

Ohh no squashedrex!
How long is your block? do you have plenty of length to push it back and still have a decent yard?
From the front, our front column of the portico is 5m, and the front of our garage is 7.19m.
I'm surprised M put your plans through at 3.5m from the front (even if Landcom gave it the go-ahead) because they told us that with NCC it has to be 5m.
The positive about being 7.19m from the garage is obviously more room to fit cars in the driveway, 5m is pretty tight really.
So what happens now?

Hi Guys,

It's been a while since my last post pre-colours and appointments - we have been busy engrossed in our selections and now that I have a breather, I thought I would list our key upgrades in case you guys were interested.

Colours appointment:
Upgrade staircase from wooden to vertical s/s balustrades and round maple handrail - $1,740
Phone connection from meter box to the street - $443
External ducting of rangehood - $385
2mm quantum quartz stone tops to bathroom and ensuite vanities - $390 x 2
Upgrade all three toilets to wall-faced toilets - $255 each
Adjustment of internal kickplates and skirtings to allow for 34mm floorboards to be installed post-handover - $450
One additional wall colour (for the rumpus plus a few other walls) - $250
Upgrade to pyrolytic oven - $252

Electrical
Convert bathroom and ensuite to 4 lamp fan light heater - $380 each
Upgrade meter box to 3-phase - $480
Dimmer switches for rumpus - $90 each
4 x LED downlights (wiring only) - $50 each
PLUS various others including additional power points, external light points, door chime wiring, etc

Airconditioning
Upgrade to Daikin 20kw inverter system - $4,800
3 additional zones - $400 each

I'll have to get back to you re: Sentinel Alarm upgrades as I don't have the quote on me at the moment. We spend $20k in total during the 4 appointments. Prior to that we had already included a few upgrades in our tender:

Upgrade to Diamond range bricks at PGH - $7,369
Terracotta roof tiles (Nouveau) - $6,280
Medium duty sarking - $2,527
2 x whirlybirds - $540
4 x snap vents to eaves - $180
40mm stone benchtops to kitchen - $1,600
Soundscreen acoustic insulation batts to rumpus ceiling and walls - $710
Double-sliding door to rumpus (in lieu of sq set opening) - $780

Hope that helps!

We lodged our DA for demolition last Thursday and went in for CDC last Tuesday. Looking forward to both of the approvals coming through!