Building with Wisdom Homes

Apr 17, 2017
9:23 pm

Thanks MandM+4 yes I'm comparing the inclusions atm but will definitely check out Di Lorenzo aswell.. I wonder if we can pick the tiles thats on special though.. Did you have to pay extra for your staircase and tiles?

Rocchet

Apr 17, 2017
9:24 pm

I would suggest writing down all the extras and deciding which ones you want.
From memory the things we really wanted in prestige were:
Poly base cabinets in kitchen, full height tiling to 2 walls in each bathroom plus upgraded tiles, under mount sink, soft close drawers, water purifier, dropped kitchen ceiling, microwave inclusion and cabinet, stone vanities in bathroom and laundry, higher ceilings, decorative cornices, taller doors, larger entrance door, endure paint (a must with kids), melamine shelves and non metal laundry tub cabinet.
If only a couple of those are things you really want then opt out of the package and upgrade what you want to save money. If you can't say no like me then I'd just take the package. But then if we had deeper pockets I'd have opted for signature lol

Elle belle

Apr 17, 2017
9:32 pm

MandM+4

Elle belle

Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We also went with luxury essentials. There were a few things in prestige we didn't want and couldn't justify the $25k.
Raised ceiling height was worth just short of $5k
Undermount sink I think was about $700, mostly for polishing the stone bench.
Stone bench tops were included as part of the wise choice promo.
To increase the height of internal doors was about $90 a door
I spent $7000 on tile upgrades, $10 per sqm wouldn't have made a huge difference.
Dropped ceiling to kitchen is worth $950 for our house
Melamine shelving upgrade is something like $25 per metre
The savoy 1200x2300 door I think was $890 (I'd have to look it up). Haven't got the variation back for upgrading to a bar handle yet.
Trying to remember what else is a prestige upgrade- stairs we have changed anyway, roof pitch I am not fussed if it's 22.5 or 25 degrees and supposedly this is worth $6k

I got quoted $7kplus for the ceiling height though
then square cornice $990 and dropped ceiling to kitchen $950, also upgraded the door to Hume XIL21 as displayed in Gregory hills its $920 without the stain.. and everything is just adding up.. do you know whats included in the stair or approximately how much would it be if I only want a glass panel without those chunky timber frames?

Elle belle

Apr 17, 2017
9:37 pm

Rocchet

Elle belle

Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We were going to do what the others suggested and do luxury inclusion and just add the extras we wanted but then we found we wanted so many of the prestige inclusions including tile upgrades that we ended up having the prestige package and removing the handful of things we didn't want which were credited back to us.

Oh thanks that's good to know.. Its my first time building and I'm all over the place with all the inclusions and whats added, whats not and what I need to add. not looking forward for the staircase prices though. Do you know how much you spent on the bathroom tiles? cause it says the prestige has that 2 wall only full length tiles whilst the signature has all the walls covered but don't think its worth the $50k extra

Elle belle

Apr 17, 2017
9:41 pm

Jenifermarie

Elle belle

Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We opted to go for the Luxury inclusions and paid for the individual upgrades we wanted instead of getting the Prestige inclusions. The price difference was about $25k between the two and we worked out it would be about $15k for the individual upgrades that we wanted from the Prestige list. The main chunk of that was tiles. We would have still paid more for tile upgrades even if we had gone with the Prestige inclusions.

If you pop into a sales office they will give you a copy of the most recent price list and the inclusions brochures. They will also be able to advise you if they're expecting a price rise soon.

They did say that they'll be increasing $12k for their double story homes just waiting for their brochures to arrive. I went to the display centre today and they only gave me the list and said that's its 25k for prestige and another 25k for the signature but didn't give me a pricelist for the items. Also do you know how much a standard staircase would be or like how much is a good budget for stairs.

Elle belle

Apr 17, 2017
9:47 pm

BuildingMightBeFun

Elle belle

Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

Hi Elle, it's a 25k jump to the prestige and 50k for the signature from the essential price. It might be worth looking at what youwant from each of them and seeing how much the individual inclusions are.

I am building a Washington 32 and it worked out cheaper to just add in the higher ceilings and other bits that we wanted from the signature than upgrade packages.

Hope this helps,
Cheers

buildingMightBeFun did you get the prestige upgrade though or just the luxury then added from there? Have you picked out your staircase yet? Ive been to the display homes and they all come with those chunky timber posts and Id like a simpler design preferable with glass balustrades

Elle belle

Apr 17, 2017
9:51 pm

Rocchet

I would suggest writing down all the extras and deciding which ones you want.
From memory the things we really wanted in prestige were:
Poly base cabinets in kitchen, full height tiling to 2 walls in each bathroom plus upgraded tiles, under mount sink, soft close drawers, water purifier, dropped kitchen ceiling, microwave inclusion and cabinet, stone vanities in bathroom and laundry, higher ceilings, decorative cornices, taller doors, larger entrance door, endure paint (a must with kids), melamine shelves and non metal laundry tub cabinet.
If only a couple of those are things you really want then opt out of the package and upgrade what you want to save money. If you can't say no like me then I'd just take the package. But then if we had deeper pockets I'd have opted for signature lol

same here! I want everything in the signature range but for the prestige price! haha but yes ill definitely be getting all those that you've mentioned and some more. Also with the microwave can I just get a credit for that or is it a really good microwave that I should keep?

MandM+4

Apr 17, 2017
9:55 pm

Elle belle

MandM+4

Elle belle

Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We also went with luxury essentials. There were a few things in prestige we didn't want and couldn't justify the $25k.
Raised ceiling height was worth just short of $5k
Undermount sink I think was about $700, mostly for polishing the stone bench.
Stone bench tops were included as part of the wise choice promo.
To increase the height of internal doors was about $90 a door
I spent $7000 on tile upgrades, $10 per sqm wouldn't have made a huge difference.
Dropped ceiling to kitchen is worth $950 for our house
Melamine shelving upgrade is something like $25 per metre
The savoy 1200x2300 door I think was $890 (I'd have to look it up). Haven't got the variation back for upgrading to a bar handle yet.
Trying to remember what else is a prestige upgrade- stairs we have changed anyway, roof pitch I am not fussed if it's 22.5 or 25 degrees and supposedly this is worth $6k

I got quoted $7kplus for the ceiling height though
then square cornice $990 and dropped ceiling to kitchen $950, also upgraded the door to Hume XIL21 as displayed in Gregory hills its $920 without the stain.. and everything is just adding up.. do you know whats included in the stair or approximately how much would it be if I only want a glass panel without those chunky timber frames?

Not sure what the credit is for the prestige staircase if you don't choose it. It wouldnt be much as I think it's just a fancier top on the posts lol. Frameless glass is pretty expensive.
Square set cornice is in signature but not prestige I believe.
The ceiling height would depend on size of house, and how much you want to raise it by...$5k was just for us to raise the ground floor 150mm.

Edited to add- roughly add $1k per wall of full height tiling in bathrooms to get an idea of how much that is worth.

MandM+4

Apr 17, 2017
9:59 pm

MandM+4

Elle belle

MandM+4

[quote="Elle belle"]Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We also went with luxury essentials. There were a few things in prestige we didn't want and couldn't justify the $25k.
Raised ceiling height was worth just short of $5k
Undermount sink I think was about $700, mostly for polishing the stone bench.
Stone bench tops were included as part of the wise choice promo.
To increase the height of internal doors was about $90 a door
I spent $7000 on tile upgrades, $10 per sqm wouldn't have made a huge difference.
Dropped ceiling to kitchen is worth $950 for our house
Melamine shelving upgrade is something like $25 per metre
The savoy 1200x2300 door I think was $890 (I'd have to look it up). Haven't got the variation back for upgrading to a bar handle yet.
Trying to remember what else is a prestige upgrade- stairs we have changed anyway, roof pitch I am not fussed if it's 22.5 or 25 degrees and supposedly this is worth $6k

I got quoted $7kplus for the ceiling height though
then square cornice $990 and dropped ceiling to kitchen $950, also upgraded the door to Hume XIL21 as displayed in Gregory hills its $920 without the stain.. and everything is just adding up.. do you know whats included in the stair or approximately how much would it be if I only want a glass panel without those chunky timber frames?

Not sure what the credit is for the prestige staircase if you don't choose it. It wouldnt be much as I think it's just a fancier top on the posts lol. Frameless glass is pretty expensive.
Square set cornice is in signature but not prestige I believe.
The ceiling height would depend on size of house, and how much you want to raise it by...$5k was just for us to raise the ground floor 150mm.

Edited to add- roughly add $1k per wall of full height tiling in bathrooms to get an idea of how much that is worth.[/quote]

The microwave provision is worth $580 for cabinetry and $50 for the power point, plus the value of the microwave. The builder gives small credits for kitchen appliances as they get a cheap deal on them.

ozmonkeyoy

Apr 17, 2017
10:21 pm

MandM+4

Elle belle

[quote="MandM+4"][quote="Elle belle"]Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We also went with luxury essentials. There were a few things in prestige we didn't want and couldn't justify the $25k.
Raised ceiling height was worth just short of $5k
Undermount sink I think was about $700, mostly for polishing the stone bench.
Stone bench tops were included as part of the wise choice promo.
To increase the height of internal doors was about $90 a door
I spent $7000 on tile upgrades, $10 per sqm wouldn't have made a huge difference.
Dropped ceiling to kitchen is worth $950 for our house
Melamine shelving upgrade is something like $25 per metre
The savoy 1200x2300 door I think was $890 (I'd have to look it up). Haven't got the variation back for upgrading to a bar handle yet.
Trying to remember what else is a prestige upgrade- stairs we have changed anyway, roof pitch I am not fussed if it's 22.5 or 25 degrees and supposedly this is worth $6k

I got quoted $7kplus for the ceiling height though
then square cornice $990 and dropped ceiling to kitchen $950, also upgraded the door to Hume XIL21 as displayed in Gregory hills its $920 without the stain.. and everything is just adding up.. do you know whats included in the stair or approximately how much would it be if I only want a glass panel without those chunky timber frames?

Not sure what the credit is for the prestige staircase if you don't choose it. It wouldnt be much as I think it's just a fancier top on the posts lol. Frameless glass is pretty expensive.
Square set cornice is in signature but not prestige I believe.
The ceiling height would depend on size of house, and how much you want to raise it by...$5k was just for us to raise the ground floor 150mm.

Edited to add- roughly add $1k per wall of full height tiling in bathrooms to get an idea of how much that is worth.[/quote]

The microwave provision is worth $580 for cabinetry and $50 for the power point, plus the value of the microwave. The builder gives small credits for kitchen appliances as they get a cheap deal on them.

[/quote]
We got a credit of $230 for the included microwave (we're installing a combination oven instead post handover)

MandM+4

Apr 17, 2017
11:15 pm

Exterior taps, should these be on my plans? They are on tender but I can't see them in drawings. Did you guys specify where you would like them?

ozmonkeyoy

Apr 17, 2017
11:36 pm

MandM+4

Exterior taps, should these be on my plans? They are on tender but I can't see them in drawings. Did you guys specify where you would like them?

No. I tried to specify but they wouldnt allow. These are allocated by once in construction.
Try hard and get them to put where you want them, as I have ended up with two in the front (each side) and one at the back. The front ones are on the sides of the house but right at the front of each side and will be in front of my side gates which isn't a great result.

Jenifermarie

Apr 18, 2017
6:27 am

Elle belle

Rocchet

Elle belle

Hi I'm going to build the Washington 25 with the essential package and is looking at upgrading to either the prestige or signature range. Does anybody know how much it'd cost or like the breakdown for the inclusions or would it be better to do individual upgrades?
Thanks

We were going to do what the others suggested and do luxury inclusion and just add the extras we wanted but then we found we wanted so many of the prestige inclusions including tile upgrades that we ended up having the prestige package and removing the handful of things we didn't want which were credited back to us.

Oh thanks that's good to know.. Its my first time building and I'm all over the place with all the inclusions and whats added, whats not and what I need to add. not looking forward for the staircase prices though. Do you know how much you spent on the bathroom tiles? cause it says the prestige has that 2 wall only full length tiles whilst the signature has all the walls covered but don't think its worth the $50k extra

It depends on the size of the bathrooms, we're building Aspiration 31 and it cost us $3990 to increase to full tiling to all walls for the main bathroom and ensuite. (We put it in our tender) That's with the standard $25/sqm allowance. Our ensuite is quite long though, I would guess looking at the floor plan of yours it would hopefully be a bit less.

We have paid just under $5k for raising the ceilings downstairs to 2.59m but we didn't bother with increasing the door height. We have about 3m ceilings right now with standards doors and it doesn't bother me at all. We skipped the lowered ceiling in the kitchen, melamine robe shelving, master robe fitout (we're opting for ikea units), water filter, microwave, roof, front door (we have a BAL rating so can't have that door anyway).

We originally wanted a nice staircase, I think we allowed $7.5k to start to copy the Aspiration staircase at Willowdale which has glass balustrades and timber sawtooth capping.

But I want to change all the tapware and put in black sinks to my kitchen. So the staircase allowance we put in is unlikely to be spent on the stairs anymore.

thePurist

Apr 18, 2017
11:11 am

ShuddaBeenATradie

The dream has become reality! Well it's still sinking in actually, we've got the keys now but the feeling is a bit surreal cos it's been a 2 year process all up, my wife and I are still processing. Had a hectic morning meeting up with SS on site to do a final walk through, he still has a list of about 8 little things to do including getting appliances installed but we trust him to get it all done by about Tuesday next week.

Here's some quick pics as promised, all taken at 7am this morning.

Congratulations SBAT... house is looking gorgeous. Good luck for the future

msjovi

Apr 18, 2017
11:22 am

Kirst10

Hi guys, sorry I've been absent for a week or so. We moved in last weekend and I am just buggered!

Congrats to you and your wife Hashem! It's such an amazing feeling having those keys in your hot little hands!!

I know how you feel SBAT! I have been in a week yesterday and am so tired. I'm glad I took some extra time off work! It really doesn't take long to feel like home.
We had a carpenter in last week to reattach our skirtings last week and he kept praising our home. He said the finishes they have done are superb, the square setting they have done in he entry way is perfect and he couldn't stop talking about our kitchen! He said they have used the best quality of everything. It made me feel so great (knowing how much we spent on that kitchen that's it is great quality!)
Here are some pics (excuse the mess outside, landscaping is on hold till our pool goes in!)
Front view

View from the front door

Master bedroom (front bedroom)

Ensuite shower

Loungeroom

Kitchen

Out the back

Wow!!! Your house is gorgeous! It all came together really nicely and I love your timber flooring! Now it's time to put your feet up, relax and enjoy your new home! Must be such a nice feeling!! Thanks for sharing your journey with us!

Chinoandbebe

Apr 18, 2017
12:53 pm

Kirst10

Hi guys, sorry I've been absent for a week or so. We moved in last weekend and I am just buggered!

Congrats to you and your wife Hashem! It's such an amazing feeling having those keys in your hot little hands!!

I know how you feel SBAT! I have been in a week yesterday and am so tired. I'm glad I took some extra time off work! It really doesn't take long to feel like home.
We had a carpenter in last week to reattach our skirtings last week and he kept praising our home. He said the finishes they have done are superb, the square setting they have done in he entry way is perfect and he couldn't stop talking about our kitchen! He said they have used the best quality of everything. It made me feel so great (knowing how much we spent on that kitchen that's it is great quality!)
Here are some pics (excuse the mess outside, landscaping is on hold till our pool goes in!)
Front view

View from the front door

Master bedroom (front bedroom)

Ensuite shower

Loungeroom

Kitchen

Out the back

Congrats Kirst10!!!! Your house looks amazing! It must be a great feeling finally seeing the end product! Enjoy every minute of it!

Rocchet

Apr 18, 2017
5:41 pm

Hi
Sorry more landscaping questions.
Has anyone had an external landscaper do site prep and fill removal after handover? Any idea of costs?
We need to let them know asap if we want them to do it as they need to do backyard site prep before frames go up next week if we want it due to a lack of access afterwards (hence the early landscaping appointment).
They have quoted us $3140 for site scrape and fill removal to front and back yard. Is this reasonable? I really should have put more research into this earlier!!

thePurist

Apr 18, 2017
5:56 pm

hashem2k3

Finally today is the day me and my wife was long waiting for. We had our handover today!

For all of you in the forum its absolutely worth all the hard work. The new finished house will wash away any sour taste you may or may not have on your journey.

Firstly I would like to thank our SS. He has done an absolute marvellous job. Always kept us posted through out the build. Send weekly pics and a phone call update. And most importantly built the house as if its his own. He made the main difference and delivered the house in a super quick time. He also went out of his way and did extra work which he could have easily ignored. A big thanks to him and if I build again with Wisdom definitely will look for him to be my SS or look for him then choose the builder where he works.

And thanks to all the members here for always helping me with advice, appreciation and listening to the vents when the roads were not smooth.

Best of luck to everyone 😊

Congratulations Hashem... the house looks amazing. Enjoy!

MrsLlamas2016

Apr 18, 2017
6:05 pm

[quote="Rocchet"]Hi
Sorry more landscaping questions.
Has anyone had an external landscaper do site prep and fill removal after handover? Any idea of costs?
We need to let them know asap if we want them to do it as they need to do backyard site prep before frames go up next week if we want it due to a lack of access afterwards (hence the early landscaping appointment).
They have quoted us $3140 for site scrape and fill removal to front and back yard. Is this reasonable? I really should have put more research into this earlier!!

[/quote

Our mate is doing ours and we sent him the quote and said it looked expensive, but if you are going to lose access you might not have much of a choice

How big is your access on each side?

Building Majestic 40 - wisdom homes

Rocchet

Apr 18, 2017
7:06 pm

MrsLlamas2016

Rocchet

Hi
Sorry more landscaping questions.
Has anyone had an external landscaper do site prep and fill removal after handover? Any idea of costs?
We need to let them know asap if we want them to do it as they need to do backyard site prep before frames go up next week if we want it due to a lack of access afterwards (hence the early landscaping appointment).
They have quoted us $3140 for site scrape and fill removal to front and back yard. Is this reasonable? I really should have put more research into this earlier!!

[/quote

Our mate is doing ours and we sent him the quote and said it looked expensive, but if you are going to lose access you might not have much of a choice

How big is your access on each side?

Building Majestic 40 - wisdom homes

900mm and 1300mm