Is anyone building at Mawson Green, Meadows SA?

Hi -arty- I was reading your post and wondered what area you are in as we are just doing selections right now then must get our house sold quickly as if it doesn't it will push back our build date. Which block were you in Aurora and are you not going to be able to resell your house? Thanks for the info on the bins that's what I thought the builders are responsible for the building waste disposal. Good luck with everything hope you can still do your build.

Hi Vogue, I am sure you won't need to worry about your place selling. I have an agent waiting when we are ready to sell (probably a year from now) and he is itching to get our house on his books he said straight up to us that the area that you and I are in sells really quickly as it's close to so much and a safe neighbourhood. Good luck

Hi Jakki!!!

I took a pic of your block today well I hope it was the right one lol

Not sure if anyone here is Lot 47, the timber as well as windows/sliding doors are still sitting there

Hope you're having a good holiday Jakki

prutherford we were really lucky with our council approval, it took 10 business days but that was back in jan when they returned from Xmas holidays.

I've been up to our block again this afternoon & they've just started the edge of the brickwork! Can believe how quick it's going now... Mind you I've heard that lock up stage is the longest

Wow, bricks already! Ours really seems to be flying along now too - now we are waiting for the delays to start!
So glad yours has started Jakki, we were going to go down there in the morning and check on progress so I'll let you know if there's been any changes!
Prutherford, our council approval took almost the full amount of time, I think it was around 10 weeks? Depends on the time of year when you submit and how busy they are. From memory we submitted ours in April and it got approved at the very start of July...

Cool thank you guys

I like all the progress on everyone's build so far, can't wait to get to the build stage

Oh wow! Thanks soooo much!! There was no sign of anyone there yesterday morning at 8:30! So happy!
Thanks Mahalia- would love some more pics? Pretty please?
That's great news vogue-I think ours was 8-10 weeks in council
Good to hear about the bins too!
Which block are you arty?

Sorry I didn't get anymore Jakki... I had a screaming toddler in the car lol I'll get some more this weekend

Hehe treechange! I gave our toddler the DVD player so I could have a look without tantrums this morning! I took some pics for Jakki but it was raining so they aren't the best! Weather down there was so on and off and it was pouring when I was there... They were still bricking away on yours treechange and Jakki's frame was going up and we had guys putting the roof up on ours - craziness! But of course I'm happy that things are still progressing.

Sorry I didn't get anymore Jakki... I had a screaming toddler in the car lol I'll get some more this weekend

Hi Vogue,

I think we are 48 but right now it escapes me as I haven't looked at our contract/build for over a month now. If we can't build I suppose we get our deposit back from Devine and lose the money we have spent so far with the builder so hopefully that doesn't happen.

A questions that has risen over the process so far is the extra cost for Bushfire Attack Level (BAL). Meadows is rated at 12.5 which apart from BAL LOW is the lowest level. I argued this with the council but gave up once I knew they wouldn't change their mind but was shocked when our builder charged us nearly $4K extra. Apart from sisalation in the roof or notching the flashings and better than fibreglass screens on the windows/doors there is very little else required. Has everyone else been charged this exhorbitant amount?

Hi Arty...

Ours was $3275 then I think an extra $500 after for a variation of contract... Not sure if this helps

Thanks Mahalia! Great to know they're still working in the rain

Hmm arty, interesting point! I don't think we 'had' to do anything extra (or if we did we didn't know about it!). We looked into getting sisilation but by the time we thought of it we would have had to pay the variation fee and we didn't worry... Is it compulsory?!

Hi Mahalia,

Sisalations isn't compulsory provided the ridge capping (if corro roof) is notched around the sheets so that there is no bigger than a 3mm gap. The theory is that will help stop ember attack. Sisalation does the same thing by stopping the embers getting to the internal timbers.

Thanks for the reply tree change. When I questioned our builder about it they said that's the price and every builder charges the same (or more). I just don't like being billed nearly $4K for something that would cost the builder less than $1K.

Arty we are away so don't know exact figures but we think ours was around $1400 which included sarking on the roof and copper fly screens.

Treechange- oh don't worry at all!! I SO appreciate what you got for me!! I really really do!
Mahalia also got some and so did my Mum yesterday. I'm blown away that they started Tuesday and end of the day yesterday the entire frame including trusses and wrapping(I'm sure there's a proper name for that) were done! Hoping the windows go in today as they were sitting there yesterday ready.
I'm really hoping they start some brickwork before we get home Monday night!

Hi Jakki we just did our electrical selections today and you were querying about the cost of installing ceiling light fans well our electrician is charging $150 per fan (provided by us) if it wasn't for the fact I want switches where I want them I think I would have waited until after handover but then wires can only be run down cavity walls. The selections are really adding on to the building cost. hope this helps you.

Hi Vogue- wow that is very cheap!! I'm sure ours were more than that just for the wires and battens! What a good deal you've got there!
My friends hubby is going to install our fans for a carton of beer and a BBQ tea if hubby helps him hehe! He said as the builder is doing the battens and wires, it's not hard or time consuming to connect the fan and control panel. He said the electricians quote was taking us for a ride.
How did you go with selections? What colours did you choose? It adds up fast doesn't it! Most of our expenses was in electrical as we added a lot of powerpoints and lights both inside and out

They started the brickwork on ours today! Windows are in but no roof as yet

Hi Jakki We haven't been to final selections to get final amount on all upgrades but with what the various suppliers have given us I think we are close to $15000 extra and only went to the cabinet maker today and have a feeling this could be quite a bit as I have gone for silk finish Laminex to all cupboard doors and different colours for bench tops outside the builders range but being older don't want to go backwards in quality on what we have achieved over 40+ years if we were younger most probably would have settled for basic range and upgraded later on. That price I gave for the fans was per fan and we supplied the fan.

That's a lot but it is worth it to have exactly what you want! Cheaper to do it now than later anyway
Yeah that's cheap, we are paying about $260 per fan and supplying the fan but the $260 isn't connected- that's something we have to arrange ourselves after handover