The CARLISLE HOMES & SPECTRA General Information Thread

That's my concern guys. We want things like therate wiring and hdmi wiring and Carlisle are charging $500 each to pre run the cables.

I can't justify it these are way over priced. I'm tempted to word up the site supervisor and the sparky and get them to run it. But if I get a bad supervisor and sparky do I loose my opportunity?

How have people's experiences been with situations like these.


Cheers

I think it would be difficult for the SS to allow you to do the wiring for the theatre. One thing you may be able to do is to contact Argus Technologies directly and ask if they could do it during the build.

It all depends on who your SS is, some will help you out & others won't, like ours.. We are building double storey so one thing we thought of after contract we will now miss out on, as getting a light fitting on ground floor ceiling is near impossible, hence why we thought we could pay cash to the sparky to do, but thanks to the SS, we now miss out. Puts a dampner on the whole experience.

Problem is, Carlisle won't allow it, thats why people ask their SS in the hope they can do it for cash in hand

Has anybody paid particular attention to the framing stage? have just spent over an hour looking at our frame, and the framing looks very messy/rushed.
if i was a qualified chippy, and had that many nails missing their target and spitting out the sides I would be embarrassed...
also noticed all studs and noggins are F5 grade timber, whilst the builder next door is using MGP10 throughout, is this a normal practice for Carlisle to only use F5?

We do have a private inspector booked for frame stage, though we need to wait until the roof trusses go on before we get them to come out!
Theres a couple of noggins in there i might knock out as they are shockingly cut/nailed/poor timber

We found the same, some shocking work on ours too, we have our independant inspector going out next week & there is going to be a lot of things that will need to be fixed. Lots of splits, nails sticking out, noggins half hanging off, massive holes bashed into the back of the wall to make room for the scaffolding :/

Its just not what I expected from this builder... I thought we had choosen a premium builder, but the workmanship looks like something you'd find in a high school woodwork class.
I'm the first to admit I'm over the top anal/fussy, but even joe-blow would find dozens of faults with this work.

Well im not at all a carpenter, tradie or builder, just an everyday girl that can plainly see things are not right, very disappointing.. For those who are still deciding on whether to get an independant inspector, do it, your gonna need one!

Hi everyone,
How is everyone cooling their double storey home? We're building a 41sq home and was offered evaporative cooling on the first floor and heating through both top and bottom floor. My worry is the evaporative cooling wont be as efficient both floor, and due to estate covenant, the unit must be place at the back of the house. Our bed room is at the front of the house, and there is a disclaimer that state the reduction in efficiency etc.
Our option is following:
1. get refrigerated cooling with zoning (expensive min 12K to install and expensive to run)
2. evaporative top floor with a large duct over the stairs so that the cool air travel downstairs, placing a split system in the master bedroom and area that require more cooling
3. post build refrigerated cooling, piggybacking on the heating ducting to provide both cooling and heating via the same duct

what do you guys think as a better option in term of practicality and low running cost

TD

Hi Blue_destiny. We are getting the ice add on for our ducted heating unit for our Sanctuary 48. With such a big house we didn't think Evap would cut it. It was about 17k for us to upgrade.

Hi Blue_destiny. We are getting the ice add on for our ducted heating unit for our Sanctuary 48. With such a big house we didn't think Evap would cut it. It was about 17k for us to upgrade.

We got the ice upgrade in our promo offer , huge part of the reason we swapped builders , we hate Evap cooling so it wasn't an option , making sure your home is well insulated is a priority to help keep the running costs down .
In the end it's personal choice as to which you go for or feel is better suited to you and your home , in my experience refrigerated cooling is better , especially on those really humid days we seem to be getting more and more of every summer , so if you can afford to get it go for it .

Thanks guys; unfortunately because we're building the Granada (T-range) our summer sale offer only include Brivis P22 evaporative system. I had a chat to coldflow guys in Springvale and they were suggesting that we get a good heating with zoning with the builder, then get Coldflow to install ICE addon system later. This way we could save up to 30% of the builder marked up price.

Hi Blue_Destiny, If i was in your position I would go for option 2. Start with evp cooling only if you feel the summer was too uncomfortable and hot, go for a split or ICE add-on.

Any idea on add on ICE post handover cost? already have zoned brivis 5 star heating.

We are thinking towards this option too. On single phase we can only go max 17kw unit.

Apparently you can go with 4-5 kW solar to compensate running cost in those hot summer days.

House has been moving along nicely. Framing to be completed tomorrow with independent building inspector booked in for Tuesday. Hopefully nothing major to be found. Still waiting for a couple of windows to be delivered.

If anyone is getting carlisle to just do the heating and getting the ICE added on later make sure you inform carlisle as I am aware you will then have to upgrade to bigger ducts etc as the std heating ducts are not big enough for the cooling.

Guys - keep in mind you are asking the SS to go outside what he is allowed to do by asking him to allow you to pay cash etc to sparky, etc. For those that are allowed to do this - lucky you - for those that get knocked back - dont be critical - he is only doing his job.

I am not disputing some of the costs are on the high side but if you take the punt on "hoping" the SS lets you get around it during the build - then dont be disappointed that he wont allow you - after all you did take the punt - not him.

we went ICE add on with 4 zones - expensive - yes - do i love it - absolutely. Is it expensive to run - yes - but not too bad with the 4 zones - rarely had more than 2 zones going at one time. Will get solar panels in near future so ive calculated this will make a big difference to cost to run.

If you can afford go ICE add on, otherwise consider
Option 3 - ICE post handover but specify larger ducts for this with carlisle - tell them what you are doing so they provide for it
Option 2 - with evap upstairs i dont think you need a split system in master - the unit being at the back shouldnt make much diff - i would then look at putting 1 or 2 split systems downstairs as friends of mine with double storey and evap complain not much cooling downstairs - get the systems pre-wired and possibily piped duriung the build for neater finish.

We didn't take the punt, this was something we thought of after contract, not something we planned to do afterwards. Considering the way our build has been pretty damn ordinary so far, thought the SS would help us out, especially after damaging our $10,000 double glazed windows by leaving them out in the mud and rain for 3 weeks, don't recall signing for that in the contract, if we want to play the rules game