Arden Developments

We were advised to visit an Arden display home after we left an appointment with a bigger builder. We thought we’d give them a look. We walked in and were very impressed with their display homes. Both homes were well made and had everything we wanted and more in a home. We were welcomed by Warren at the display home’s and he took the time to walk us through the homes to find out what our needs and wants were.

Once we found our land and had our finance approved we didn’t think twice we wanted to build with Arden. That has been the best decision we’ve made thus far. From the moment we paid our deposit we have been made welcome and supported through the whole process. We have dealt with a few Arden employees (colour appointment, Contracts) and each and every time we leave the appointments feeling that we’ve made the right choice with building our dream home with a an amazing company!

Thanks Arden!

We have also decided to build with Arden developments and so far could not be happier.

Our land has a slight slope and we had commenced preliminary plans with a couple of companies that either wanted to charge us a fortune or messed us around when it came to the issue of the slope on our land (approx 3m).

We heard about Arden because it is a relatively new company that has been started by people who moved from a large volume builder, so they all have a lot of experience, but with the bonus of a small company providing a more personalised service.
The included finishes and fittings are much better quality than any other builder we saw, and the designs are really light and modern with nice big windows. They included a lot of things we were paying to upgrade with other builders, and were happy to do some of the designer finishes that others make it difficult (or expensive) to do.

We commence building in a couple of weeks, and so far everyone has been really friendly and easy to deal with. The process has been really efficient, and any alterations or amendments are always done accurately and sent to us quickly for our approval.

Arden only build in the south east area of Melbourne, but I think once everyone starts realising that this company can give you the benefits of a small builder but with volume builder price and experience they will become a lot more popular.

We are very happy customers!!

Hi Mick & Me+3 please keep posted of updates and progress of home and your dealings with Arden, both my wife and I are happy to say that only after two weeks of ownership of our land that our frame should be going up sometime this week already. I have been on site every day, and every day something has been done! Hopefully we will be in by Christmas fingers crossed.

Hi Vellas, Yes, we will be happy to keep you posted. It all sounds pretty exciting for you at the moment! Glad to hear they don't waste any time with the building process! I cant wait to get to that stage!! Enjoy, and keep me posted as well

Already frame starting this week! It has only been two weeks! We are building the Votivo, and so far so good all the people in the office from Warren in sales, both Magdalena and Darcy in the office have been awesome and very professional to deal with! Out on site Tim our site supervisor is lovely to talk with and we are expecting that from first instance of meeting Tim on site he is a true and honest gentleman. Life so far building with Arden has been great! Heres hoping this continues...

Hi again Vellas,

I am finally posting an update!
How is your house going? It must be a fair way along now!! Let me know what is happening. I would love to know!

We are building the same house as you, and it is flying along. Arden say they have a standard 20 week build time for a 2 story house. I have friends building with a big builder and they have been given a 9 month time frame for a single story!! Apparently it all depends on the site supervisor and how well he co-ordinates the build. Our supervisor is Dave, and he is amazing! Not a day is wasted. There is always something if not multiple things happening on site everyday. And he knows exactly what is booked in each day even months in advance.

We had a bit of a false start with all this bad weather because there was a massive downpour and then it wouldn't stop raining just after they excavated our site and so it turned into a swamp! It put us behind by a week or two but we were very happy they were so careful about making sure the site conditions were ok before laying the slab. Now they seem to be making up for lost time, and doing long days to get back on track to try to get us in by christmas. We started with 21 weeks until christmas, but with the delay it only gives us 19 weeks total build time until christmas. It will be very close!!

We have a frame, the floor & wall plumbing, windows, gutters and the roof is going on as we speak. Our slab was laid only 3 weeks ago.
Since the slab has been laid they are making up for lost time. Our neighbour (who is in the trade) says he is really impressed with Arden, as he has been watching and they are quick, but really careful as well which is reassuring!

Anyway, all is good so far! It is very exciting!!

Looking forward to your update!

Hi Mick & Me+3, well a lot has gone on since our last post. We are already at Fix/Lock up stage! This weekend we should be having a painter come in and our supervisor Tim has indicated that we may very well take ownership as soon as late October early November! This will be a great birthday present for me and a huge relief for my wife. The same with us; in the sense that Arden do not waste any time and are very fluid with the works performed on the home; like you, we too have noticed that everyday (including sometimes on the weekends) something has been worked on the house. I also agree that the workmanship is impressive! I have since recommended a friend who also has started building with Arden. It is great to hear you have been enjoying the experience of building with Arden just as much as we have, and we personally have no hesitation in recommending Arden to others in the future. Continue to keep us posted on your dream home progress as we will too!

Hi Vellas,
How is the house? Has it all gone well?

Hi Mick n Me+3

Well we settled on November 22 2013. All has been great. So far so good and only a few teething issues. Our alarm installed had caused us a little grief, however it was quickly resolved with Arden contacting the electrician to rectify the problem. In addition we have experienced a problem with our retractable flyscreens on our rear stacker doors; but once again we spoke with Arden whom followed through with A&L security doors to have it looked at. But apart from that everthing else has been great. Friends and family are amazed at the quality and promptness of Arden's work, so much so my brother is very keen to build with Aden as well. Both my wife and our new addition to our family are completely satisfied and are extremely happy with the after sale service Arden does offer their customers. It is to be commended that all staff at Arden are really a pleasure to deal with during and after. Again we can not stress on how lucky we were to build with such a quality builder and we would personally recommend to anyone to give Arden a look before you head over to any of the others out there!

That is great to hear!
I know what you mean. We are so happy as well, but most people don't even know about Arden yet.
We don't move in until next week, but it all looks so good, and as you say, the few small problems have been fixed really quickly and without fuss. And the finishes are all such high quality.
We were a bit behind the standard 20 week build time for a double story due to a few reasons that weren't really Ardens fault, but more a delay in supply of a couple of things over the christmas / new year period. But in total it has all been done in 24 working weeks which is so fast really. Especially considering Arden have also done our driveway and decking and retaining walls as well, so there is not much left to do when we move in. They have even done our towel rails and toilet roll holders.
I just can't wait to get in there now!
We highly recommend Arden as well to anyone reading this. Don't sign with any of the big builders until you meet with Arden first. You will not regret it!!

Hi All,

Stumbled to ArdenHome on review page and browse thru their website and it's impressive and i just got an answer they do build in the north now and my suburb is in the list! Just want to get some feedback from you guys, average how much upgrades did you spend, and site costs as well ?

Thanks..

Thanks..

I'm about to build with Arden as well and we didn't need to upgrade much at all. I think the category 3 bricks are worth upgrading and also upgrading a category 2 carpet with the underlay.

Agey_25 you will be building with confidence as Arden are a great lot of people to deal with!

Hi everyone, i am currently building with Arden as well, specifically the Milan 29. We just put the first deposit on the week, to get the ball rolling. I was wondering, how was your site cost if you don't mind me asking? and how is your house so far? Everyone is saying good reviews about the Arden, do you think it worth getting a independent inspector? as we are on a tight budget. Any current feedback would help. thanks

After a close call with a volume builder (pulled out at the contract appointment when they added $21K to the price!!), we've decided to build with Arden. While they are infinitely better than many builders out there and, from my limited experience, seem to take pride in their work, we will be getting an independent inspector. Building a house is such a huge financial commitment and we think getting another pair of experienced eyes to look over the build will be worth it.

Hi lllibug

We are now 2 years on in our lovely Arden Votivo home!

Our build quality, process and time frame was impeccable to say the least!

We have had great after sale service and since have recommended/ referred four others to build with Arden.

The whole process from first impressions with Ardens lovely sales staff to the on site supervisors and office admin staff were great to deal with.

I have built two other times once with a smaller builder and once with an independent/owner builder; but I never once had any reason for spending money on an inspector, however that is your choice!

In short as it has been a while since we went through the process and site cost are varied obviously to where you build.

Hope this helps you out.

Cheers

Emmanuel

Hi, was wondering has anyone build using the Hebel for their Arden homes? currently they are having a promotion free upgrade to build with Hebel? been hear positive and negatives feedback about it online? my main concern is, is the feel and look for the Hebel, compared to a brick rendered. does it look the same or fake or different?

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

thanks

Hi Emmanuel,
Thanks for sharing your build experience with Arden and Votivo. I'm thinking of building Votivo too. The standard layout has rumpus room behind. I wonder if you have made any modification to the layout and how many square you eventually end up with ?

Any feedback will be wlecome. Cheers

Hi Zzj

Due to the simple fact we wanted more backyard space and did not require the rumpus room, we had it omitted from our build. With the extra savings we made, basically we added some inclusions to suit our needs. I.e we had both a security system installed, front door camera intercom, ducted vacuuming and retractable fly screens on our rear stacker doors on the back of our home. Arden was very helpful when it came to several variations we made throughout the build and as we were their 2nd Votivo domestic build it was a learning game for both Arden and us but it all worked well in the end.

Our build ended up been approximately 42 squares of living.

Hope this helps!

Hi Zzj,

We're building the Votivo and changed HEAPS.
1. Removed rumpus room at the back (Arden give you a decent amount of cash back for this)
2. Moved the downstairs powder room to sit between the study and theatre room and added a shower
3. Put small builtin robes into the study and added a door between the study (now brm 5) and the downstairs bathroom
4. Swapped the location of brm 2 and the upstairs rumpus/tv area
5. Changed the location of the walk-in robes and configuration of the bathroom
6. Swapped all WIR in the additional brms to builtins
7. Put a heating vent and fan into the laundry area to create a drying room
And many more minor changes (extra windows, doors, etc).

Arden were fantastic with every change we made and we're very happy with the resulting floor plan

We just reached lock up this week and have been very happy with Arden so far. I'm looking forward to the staircase going in so we can do a full walk through!