Our build with Easystart Homes in Carissa Estate (Seville Gr

Woohoo congratulations!
One step closer to slab down haha

Congrats


Follow our build with Express Two Storey (Ventura Group): http://tinyurl.com/jlykgph

Wooo congrats! As long as you have all the documents for your formal approval that's needed then I'm sure it will move fast! I think it was about two/three weeks after we submitted final finance documents to formal approval!

Thank you Natasha, mrsdoe & m0llss

Has anyone else been hit with a variation for works/costings they were unaware of after having finance pre-approved/approved? This whole door leading from the garage to outside fiasco has been so stressful.

We asked for the door leading from the garage to the outside of the home (which we included in the building contract) to be widened. They provided us with prices for a custom made 1200mm wide door and a price for a colorbond roller door 1100mm wide. We signed the variation accepting charges and responsibility for the custom made door as the roller just wasn't wide enough. After that was sent off they then came back and said construction will not install the door for us. So we asked for a 1200mm wide opening so we can fit doors later. They came back and said construction will not do that either. We then decided to go with the roller door because we still wanted access to outside that was wider than the standard door we had there. We were stoked as this came back as a credit as it must have cost less than the door. This was about 3 weeks ago. Now after I have sent back our final documents they have hit us with a $590 variation as the roller door needs a t-bar due to structural & construction purposes.

Do we have to pay the variation straight away or is this settled at handover? We don't just have $590 laying around and I am quite annoyed this was not brought to our attention earlier/ included in the original price for the roller door. I pushed so hard to have all variations in before our finance was lodged so it could be included in our loan and now we are stuck with this variation. Sorry for the rant but tired of the back and forth over this dang door. Wish they had just been upfront in the beginning.

It can happen. We got hit with a variation because our side retaining wall needed to be cut away which ended up costing us an additional $3k

We just spoke with our broker and got the bank to build it into the overall costs. The builder put the amount onto the total build cost we didn't have to pay it up front. Our progress payments were split as percentages of the total build value.

The stuff we got done outside of the loan at prestart wasn't due until the end of the build but we had to show the builder we had the funds available at the start.

What a hassle! I think the best bet is to see if you can get it added into the finance, that way you don't have to try and find $600 now. In my experience with Keystart no variations were allowed after contracts were signed (even if you're paying cash) - so I think getting it included in your loan is the only way to go.

I found Keystart to be very fast and easy to deal with. I think they've had a bad rap in the past, but I think the market being a bit slower probably helps them to stay on top of things better.

Take in to consideration this will be valuated before you get formal approval and any shortfall will need to be paid in on settlement of the land. With keystart/homestart there recently has been a trend of all valuations having a shortfall etween 1.5k - 13k. Also at settlement adjustments needs to be paid in by buyer for rates, water,taxes etc. (alsononly learned this after) Also the soil scraped at start is not included in normal soil removal costs in contracts and is a pc amount to allow for this variations to be added (we learned this only after and it could not be included in loan due to builder not being able to give us an estimate of cist due to too much variables)

Oh no :/ I hope that doesn't happen to us also. The right hand side of our garage is being built on top of our side retaining wall. Thanks for the advice, will have to have a chat to our broker and see what they think and hopefully the CL gets back to me soon on what the go is on there end.



Has certainly been a hassle! Unsure if they will add anything now that the valuation has been done and they are just waiting on FHOG approval. Will have to see what the broker says.

I am quite surprised how quick Keystart have been. Our broker said do not get any hopes around. They lodged our home loan application last Wednesday, had pre-approval on Thursday and have already been told everything is good, valuation has been done by Keystart with no issues and they are just waiting on FHOG approval. So pre-approval to formal approval could be two weeks. Very happy with there turnaround time.


Oh really? We've been told our valuation has been completed with no issues. Our broker has been very good and allowed the costs for rates, water, taxes,settlement etc into our loan prior to lodgement. Will definitely be looking out for any issues with soil scrape/site works as they went over our initial provisional sum allocated by $6k

Our valuation was said to be good when we did pre approval, and just before formal approval a valuation was dine and had a shortfall of over 9k but after a lot of hassle got it to 1.6k .

Oh no,

Thanks for the heads up. I will be sure to keep an eye out for that too. I was quite worried about our valuation being under as I have heard of them being under through Keystart but our broker said they would have informed her if there was any issues with the valuation when they completed it and she has not been told otherwise. Hopefully they don't do another one hahaha Glad you managed to get yours down from the original shortfall, shame about all the hassle over it

Yes, they did not take any upgrades/changes into consideration from the selections or any added elevations ! Not even better flooring (we did not go iver board but changed things like gtters/riif to colorbond; floor boards, security screen doirs, things like that) but hopefully yours wont change think it depends on who you get for valuation

Just been told we have formal approval for our loan eeek :z:

Congratulations!! Any news on scheduling as yet?

Congrats

Wohoo! Congrats!!

Now you can do land settlement yay takes around 2-3weeks (waiting for keystart to get things ready and the vendors bank after you get formal approval documents signed ) and the bd released for construction!(around 2weeks from land settlement)

Thanks Natasha, no news on scheduling yet. Was lodged on the 18th according to our portal page so probably another 2-3 weeks before scheduling is complete. Once that's done, mortgage docs are signed and all that jazz plus permit we head into construction yippee. Any news on scheduling for you?

Thanks m0llss and lovisa, starting to feel real now that the loan has been approved 😬☺️

[quote defaultattr=""]Now after I have sent back our final documents they have hit us with a $590 variation as the roller door needs a t-bar due to structural & construction purposes.

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I would argue this variation fee!
Its not because you just decided to change your mind / add something different on a whim.
Its because they could not actually provide you what you had agreed they would provide you, so an alternative had to be found. In my opinion, this should not cost you money! Aside from potentially additional materials cost (and you've said the roller door is a cheaper option).
If it happened on my build I'd complain....