Our Oxford 28 with Cl@rndn - Vic. A few iphone pics ;o)

Hello!

Thanks for stopping by... Thought it might be a good process for me to keep a diary of sorts, and this type of 'blog' seemed the best way - might even be able to help those who are about to start the daunting process.

We've built before with D3nnis F@m!ly, was a nice experience, but we are definitely allot wiser this time around, that's for sure.

We are building in Melbourne's north (Pascoe Vale Area), and after spending too much on the land (opps!), our budget was drastically cut. So, the mission was on! Where to find a double storey home, with all the mod-cons, for under $260k? We revised the size of the home we were after, originally we were looking for 35sq, but decided on smarter figure of about 28sqs (convinced myself bigger would just mean more cleaning!) We needed 4 bedrooms, Study, 2 living areas (1 upstairs, and 1 downstairs), and our bedroom or the upstairs rumpus to the back of the house to take advantage of the gorgeous city / Strathmore views), and a double garage. The living area had to be big and open plan. Oh, and did I mention our block is only 13m wide? ;o)

We had orginally signed with N@v@ Homes, but they ended up being about $30k over budget, so after paying initial deposits we cut our losses, took our site / soil survey and went shopping! This ended up being something I would now recommend to anyone building. Pay the $500 yourself, and get your site and soil survey done FIRST. Most of the 'surprise' costs are site costs, so having this information on the table at the beginning of the conversations ensured that our site costs were costed with no surprises. (although we're still to get our contract, so who knows!).

We went through so many builders with our information to find the one that ticked all our boxes. Ch#viot, N@va, Pr3mi3r, BigM, S!m0nds, F0rm^la..... All of them ended up over budget - not so much on Base Price + Site costs, but all the added extra's I didn't want to compromise on. They were: Brick Upgrade, Colourbond Roof, Evap Cooling, Stone Benchtops, Laundry Cabs, Alarm, Tiles/Carpet, Render, Remote garage, Water tank, Down lights...

Big list, big ask - but I knew it was out there somewhere! And it was. I don't actually think Cl@rendn have released the Oxford 28 yet, it's not even on their website. The sales consultant suggested it - and it was a great floor plan (with some minor tweaks!), and we're probably spot on our budget (here's hoping!). We signed 3 weeks ago now, just had the phone call yesterday to book in all our appointments, and that our first draft tender should be with us in 2-3 weeks. Much quicker than the 6 months it took DFH to provide.

I was very skeptical of Cl@rndn, as I had read a stack of very poor reports on them, but I must say the process so far has been seamless. I've been really impressed. Much better process than DFH.

So, we've picked our bricks - Austral Latrobe ($800 upgrade), Our Colourbond (Monument), just tossing up our render colour (Probably a Dune Colour).

I'll update as soon as I have anymore info, and thanks for stopping by. Any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated.

Regards
AV.

Figured it might be a little boring with out a photo at least - so going to have a go at posting the floor plan... fingers crossed. It's not complete, but give's you an idea! I the floor plan - suits our lifestyle perfectly. Great north orrientation into the back too.

Here's the basic colour scheme we're using... anyone else picked similar?

Austral Latrobe



Monument Roof


Dune Weatherboards

Just had a question for anyone who's built with Clarend0n in VIC - what was your ACTUAL build time? They've said 34 weeks, but I am skeptical that it will really be allot longer.... I'm fine which ever way, but it will determine if we rent a serviced appartment or sign a 12mth lease while we build. You're responses are very much appreciated!

AV

How has your thread gone unnoticed for so long?!?!

I couldn't find your plan on the website to see the room measurements, how big is your family/meals area? Also the size of your master?

Its good to see someone else building a double story that isn't 40sq+!

It is a great floor plan you have, Ill be eagerly awaiting picts of your other colour selections after your appointment. As well as the knock down photos!

MY FIRST REPLY!!!! Yehar!!

Thanks Boisefish, you've made me feel loved ;o)

They've not released the plans yet, so it's not on their website 'till the end of the month.

Meals area is 2.99 x 2.88
Family room is 5.31 x 6.09 (to the edge of the island bench)
Master is 3.98 x 4.40

Yes - we struggled to find a smallish double story that didn't waste space. We have a smaller block (490sqm) and wanted some kind of backyard. We were actually looking at the Villa 28 but that feel through because FH couldn't provide us with some referees, and couldn't find any info on the company since it changed hands...but we were still very close to signing with them, and probably would had we not stumbled across the Clarendon floor plan.

Have enjoyed reading your thread, too!!

Lisa

Yeah I recall you mentioning Formula previously. Did you find the cost comparable?

We totally hear you when it comes to back yard, our block is 525sqm and we too wanted some yard thats why went went with the double.

Yeh the costs were very comparable. In fact, Formula may have been a few K cheaper in the long run, as we found the 'upgrades' were much cheaper than CLRNDN (I remember reading about your vinyl wrap kitchen, for example is $4k with CRND, about half that with FH).

To put a similar sized home, single story, on 500sqm gives you diddly squat backyard. We looked into Lofts aswell, but there was really no cost advantage (infact, ended up being more expensive as we required a P class slab.... more slab = more costs!).

When do they think you'll be in BoiseFish? You're lucky you live around the corner! BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING! ;O)

Lisa

Hmm well the contract building days are over on 28th Nov, so maybe 27th? lol.

Hi AV, we are a knock down/rebuild a little south of you near the Western Ring Road. We looked at Clarendon but could not get their sales rep to return our phone calls, let alone discuss the design of the house we liked. We went with Burb@ank and so far not bad and the house we chose is exactly what we liked in the Claren@on design only a little bigger.

We got hit with un expected costs such as $2,000 to disconnect sewerage, $3,500 for an underground power pit, plus other stuff. Any how we have slab and frame and a date for the brickies. I expect some more cost to restore foot paths etc as the trucks really tear up the old nature strips.

Best wishes for your build.

I really like your plan! We are building a two story as well around 30sq's. I've always been a fan of having all the bedrooms upstairs away from the main living area, I suppose because that is like the house I grew up in. Look forward to seeing your build take shape.

Thanks Mummamichelle! What are you building? do you have a thread too? I love looking at other plans and getting inspired!!



Thanks for the heads up Dove on those additional costs. Sewerage disconnection hasn't been factored in at all...EEKK! I do know about the underground pits, and luckily our council said we can keep the overhead power... otherwise it was going to be over $5k to pit under the road to our side of the street! EEEK! What were your others costs that suprised you? We've factored in $25k for site costs, given we require a P slab also.... I'm hoping we're not over budget, otherwise it's goodbye colourbond roof! So you're building the Dove 30 with Burbank? I did look at that plan actually, but ended up being outside our budget. Are you down near Keilor?

Oh Sorry Mummamichelle.....just saw your thread link! Will have a stickybeak now!!

Went to the Oakleigh Be@umont tiles on the weekend to have a look at the tiles range.

Not impressed at all.... there are 40 in our range, between floor & wall tiles - so really not a great selection (ok compared to some other builders though....). So, here in ****** my dilemma.

Of course, the tiles I liked were $100sqm. TRUST! Found another I loved, and they were on special for $50sqm. The other tiles in our range had a **price tag** of $40sqm. So, here little old me was thinking "great, just a $10sqm upgrade" BA-BOW.

No siree! To begin with, specials don't apply to the builders range. Secondly, the builders get the tiles at a discount rate (I knew this part), so the **credit back** if you choose outside the range is $25 sqm. What you end up paying is the difference between $25 and the FULL RETAIL COST of your upgraded tiles (so ours were actually $65sqm), PLUS "$5 for good measure". WTF!!!!

Ok, so I always knew upgrading costs a fair whack to your back pocket, but $6k to upgrade my tiles just seems ..... (insert profanities here).

I guess this is were the tile company make their money??

Tile upgrades suck, agreed. We were lucky ours only cane in at an extra $3k. If thats lucky?!?

Hi A-V, just picked up your questions. We are building an Evolution 23. The Dove tag refers to our camper trailer. When I signed up to this site I just used the same identifiers as used on a van site. $25k for P class is about right. I think a lot depends on how many pillars they need to put in the ground. We had 6. Yep, Essendon side of Keilor. Regarding costs I can't think of any other significant supprises. I am waiting for foot path repair costs. Estimated at $250 per panel. Demolisher and builder have torn up 4 panels and the nature strip.

Hi AV

Oh my god you sound so much like me and my husband. We were looking for a smaller double storey house for a budget of around $260-$270k, and we have a small 580sq/m block that if you had a single storey on would leave you with no backyard at all. We chose the Cl@rndn Lansdowne 29 (base price $215k) because this was the best option out of the whole bunch. There wasn't one big builder we hadn't approached. We wanted 4 bedrooms with 2 living areas (one upstairs and one downstairs) however the Lansdowne was 3 bedrooms, so we turned the upstairs living area into a 4th bedroom at the expense of losing our 2nd living area. Still, this was the best option we had. I love your floorplan! We didn't have it available to us when we were looking.

We ended up pulling out at the tender stage in the end. After choosing colours and approving plans etc we ended up just having to leave it all behind The main reason for this was price and lack of flexibility. Add $80k onto the base price and that was the total we were looking at. Our problem was simple, they couldn't offer the flexibility we needed. Say for instance (to save money) we didn't want the caesarstone benchtops... they wouldn't give us a credit for them because they were in a package deal. We hated all of the facade options bar one, and the only one we liked was $18k extra. By the time we upgraded bricks, added windows, added an alfresco, etc it became too much. And then at the tender appointment they said we needed things like an extra solar panel ($2,500), upgraded slab costs ($10k) even though we found out later they hadn't even done the soil and contour tests yet (so they pulled that out of their bums), and other silly things that just added to the cost. So in the end because they were unwilling to give us credits for anything or help work out a cheaper facade option, we pulled the pin.

I'm not telling this to scare you! I still would have been happy for them to build my house cause I think they would have done a lovely job. In the end we chose a smaller builder, and we got EVERYTHING we wanted for the right price. I guess we just had too many requirements outside the standard plan, and that's why things didn't work out.

As for your colour scheme, no word of a lie it is almost identical to what we have chosen (replace LaTrobe with Hawthorn bricks and they are the same). If you want to see a house built in Austral LaTrobe with Dune render (and dune windows, gutters and garage door, with a charcoal roof) there is one in Croydon (probably a long way for you to travel though), I stumbled upon it in my search for the perfect brick/colour combo. I actually knocked on the door and spoke to the lovely lady who owns the house, just to double check that it was Austral LaTrobe with Dune. PM me if you want the address.

Best of luck, I look forward to seeing your house progress!

Kat

Hey Kat!

Oh my goodness, we are IDENTICAL! Craziness!

Yes - this is our second deposit with a builder, too. Few months back we signed with N@va but unexpected site costs pushed us $30k over, so we had to scrap that one and walk away. We are JUST on budget now with Cl@rendon, but have no more funds to upgrade anything further. At the end of the day, unfortunately, I am just going to have to comprimise... which is really sad, when I cost wise it's really the same.

Nava, on the other hand, let you bring your own tiles etc which I see now would have saved us money in the long run.. oh well - I love the floor plan and it's everything we need. We've encounted the "sorry no credits" on a number of things - a good friend is a painter, so we wanted him to do our painting (as many feature walls, different colours, etc etc - he was just going to beat what ever credit we got back)... want to know what the paint credit was? $3k. Yup. Cost of paint only! They don't credit back labour, Just silly.

So, althought our sales rep and the admin side of things is running well, really not so impressed with their lack of flexibility.

We had an independent quote from a small builder - was more expensive by about $30 over N@va.

Haha - Hawthorn was our pick too - but we settled on La Trobe because it was $2.5k less. I would LOVE that address! Thank you so much!

I'll be following your build for sure! Who did you end up picking in the end to build?

Lisa

Just pm'd you the address.

We ended up choosing Cavalier Homes. They are better known in QLD, however they have a few franchized branches in VIC. I have attached our floorplans for you (hopefully they work!)

http://img828.imageshack.us/f/prelimina ... loorp.jpg/
http://img94.imageshack.us/f/preliminar ... oorpl.jpg/

Yep, it's all about compromising isn't it! We were happy to compromise on things like fancy benchtops, tiles, carpets - basically things we could change after the build. However we weren't going to compromise on the facade, ceiling height, windows, etc - things that we would be stuck with forever.

For a saving of $2.5k I would have chosen LaTrobe too. Still a very nice brick, I would be happy with either.

When is your tender appointment? Or have you already had it?

Housemouse....***FLOOR PLAN ENVY***

Your floor plans is perfect. I love it.... probably a little more than mine! My husband would be green over your media room! Gosh, it really is great. It's funny how I thought I had visited every single bulk-builder in Melbourne, yet I still come across new ones i didn't see before all the time!

Do you have a thread housemouse??


Tender isn't due for 3 weeks. Colour appointment tomorrow, nervous/excited/worried all at once.

We think clarendon is going to let us do vinyl flooring instead of tiling now - which will be good. Easy to rip up later and not worry about tiling over tiles. We'll see how tacky it looks first thou. Although I've seen some nice immitation timber ones that aren't too bad.

Hey Dove

Thanks for your reply. Bugger about your pavement.... demolishers aren't liable for that???