Aveley-Dale Alcock - Moving In :)

We have just started our building journey with Dale Alcock and come across this great forum
We bought our block in Aveley (617sqm) in January and having traipsed around every display home in WA finally agreed on The Vines, a variation of The Willows. We got all flooring, Daikin reverse cycle aircon and internal painting in the promo package which we were pleased with.
We changed to be pretty much the same floor plan as The Willows, we changed the WIR in the master to give more wall space for furniture in the master, and from the plan attached we have now swopped the living and the home theatre around and enclosed the space at the back.
It's been pretty hectic and I was disappointed that my expectations around moving in dates and the time it would be completed (which I made very clear) were not put right on speaking to the sales guy. Probably more my naivety but would have thought he would have put me right when we were discussing. Anyhows, we move on......... A couple of other issues have been around stacking doors which we were very clear on but have been drawn into the plan as normal sliding doors and we are now told that the extra we are paying for what we thought for the stacking doors (as quoted in our original costs) are now changed and are for normal sliding doors.
On our original plans we also had full length windows to all minor bedrooms which have now changed to the normal 18c windows.
My main issue has been around things changing from when we signed with DA and gave them our deposit based on one set of costs and draft plans to where we are now with the costs seeming to escalate and plans changing to suit reducing their costs ad increasing ours.
Overall the sales guy has been really nice and I do feel confident with them, I just hoped for more openness and straight forward honest answers.
I am hoping that these issues can be ironed out quickly and not delay the start.
We also (probably silly) signed our contract immediately even with the issues highlighted to them because we were told it would not delay things. I now realise I shouldn't have done that.
Back to the build choices we have made.......
The front elevation will be the same as The Willows and we have gone with the same colours. After driving for what seemed like days looking at colour combinations it was difficult to visualise anything else as we liked The Willows elevation so much.
The intelligent home prestart we only really added a couple of data points and conduits for wall mounted TV's.
Electrical pre-start we added sockets all over and a couple of extra light switches with junction boxes in the ceiling so that we can get an electrician in after the build to put in downlights (as recommended by the sales guy) Having seen a few posts on this site now, wish we had got a quote from DA for the downlights as it appears this may be the easier and cheaper option.
We had Libby for the electrical prestart and she was brilliant. I have emailed to see if we could possibly change the electrical plans and get the downlights done by DA.
We have prestart on 13/6 so my focus is now on the colours, tiles, carpets etc.
When I had a quick look at the choices for floor tiles in their range I wasn't blown away so I am going to take a look at the different ranges available directly from the supplier (who I think is Crosby Tiles) to see what other upgrade options are available. I love the timber tiles on their website
We don't currently have a Preconstruction Co-ordinator as she left a couple of weeks ago. It's a bit difficult getting information and knowing who to speak to now on these things. I'm going through the prestart consultant who has been great and replied wherever she can.
We have applied for the finance now as we have the contract, but have had to put it on hold whilst we do the prestart and get quotes as the costs are mounting and we need to get all these in on the finance application.
Great to hear from anyone else with tips and hints.
I'm not sure how to add the floorplan? I'm using an ipad if anyone has any suggestions?
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Hi dawnyc - welcome to the forum. I am sure you will find it very helpful. I don't think I would have started this process without all the good advice from this forum. We are building with DA and are at a similar stage to you. We had Libby for electrical and thought she was excellent ! I would be happy to answer any questions you may have - feel free to pm me! We have also just finalised pre-start, feel happy with our choices. We also had the packages you mentioned included but we got a credit for the tiling as we plan to do timber floors after handover. The tiling places DA use are Tiles Expo, Crosby tiles and European ceramics. Are you booked in for pre-start? We were going to wait for pre-start before applying for finance but ended up rather just adding a pre-start allowance for approx how much we thought we would spend into our contract so we could apply for finance as soon as contract was signed. We must have had the same pre construction co-ordination as she left a couple of weeks ago and our sales consultant advised us who our new person was. She seems to be very helpful as we are having some issues but she has been good with responding.

I have used tinypic.com to upload plans and photos - bit slow but it works.
Looking forward to sharing our dales experiences
T

Hi TBrown
I was just reading your thread about your build, yes I think we must be in very similar stages.
Gret advise about the pre-start in the contract so we can apply for finance, I will speak to my Finance guy and see what we need to do now.
I'll PM you about the tiles and the credit you get back as I am interested in putting timber floors down.
Our prestart is 13/06 and I'm starting to get a bit excited now, which I am pleased about because so far I have found it difficult to excited about the whole process.
I'm hoping once we iron out these issues and get into prestart it won't be long before we start seeing progress at the site. It get's a bit boring looking at a block of sand

Hi dawnyc,

We are also building with DA, but one of their farmhouses, the Falls Creek. It's interesting that you had your electrical plan done before prestart. We did it all on the same day. This was back in December. We didn't have too many downlights so just got them to include them. I didn't look too much into it, but they didn't seem too badly priced. In regards to who to contact, I always emailed the person who I last met with at the office. They seemed happy enough to help. We are at roof stage so very exciting. Our sales guy was also very vague about handover times. He led us to believe we would be living in the house by now. Being a first time builder, we had no idea. Anyway, we are pretty happy with them so far. Our SS is very approachable and had said we can contact her directly if need be. Our CLO has been great in terms of response time. Can't complain there at all. Best of luck with prestart, it's lots of fun!

Hi dawnyc,

We are going to be future neighbours as we are also building with DAH in Aveley! Good to see another plan with access to the laundry from the kitchen (a personal favourite of mine). We went the other way and got finance for the house and opted to pay cash for any additions at pre start. Not everyone can do it that way but it always made me feel good to know that we couldn't over-extend ourselves as we HAD to have the cash upfront. It's also meant our paperwork has been pretty streamlined so we haven't had any real issues so far (knock on wood). Enjoy pre start - it's been my favourite part of the process!

Looking forward to following your build.

I haven't been on here for a while as it's been a hectic few weeks.
Finally we are on the home straight and we should have the slab down in the next couple of weeks and then it's all systems go.
We had our prestart and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, although I cannot remember now what I chose and what it looked like. I've started panicking about if I have made the right decisions etc.
We had Corinne at pre-start for Dale Alcock Homes and she was brilliant and really put our faith back in Dale Alcock, I'm hoping our build co-ordinator Shelley and our site manager Alan do just as good job.
I am getting excited to see something happening now and I'm starting to visualise furniture and how I want to plan the garden.
We have been out looking at pools and debating on the size which would fit best in the space. Anyone have any recommendations, we are thinking fibreglass because of cost although I would love to build a concrete pool so that we could a design to fit the space perfectly.
Can't wait to start taking some photos now and following the build through. Our original date was to be in before Xmas but obviously that's not even remotely possible now which is disappointing.
Does anyone know if they give you an estimated date of when they think the home maybe ready?
I will try and keep in touch more regular now and update on our progress. I'm looking forward to reading other stories and experience.

Hi Fancy Pants we are building on Hancock Avenue on the new Egerton release. I'm pleased the pre-start is out of the way and we are finally on the way to starting the build.

Yes they should give you a guaranteed completion date and if they go over this they start paying you fees. Its based on contract value, minus the site costs, and is a number of weeks from slab down. Its either 30, 32 or 36 weeks i think?

Thanks Tracyw, with us going over christmas period I am expecting delays with probably a couple of weeks added to the no of weeks, do they give you this once the slab is down? Hope all is going well with you?
Thanks again

Yes i think they base the weeks on working days so all those public holidays over xmas will be counted:( yes, they will send you a guarantee letter once the slab is down. Our site works took so long so that slab was a big milestone for us. It meant there was some urgency now put on the build. Ours is going well so far, just waiting for lockup now!

Thanks for the info TracyW. How exciting for you to be at lock up stage, it feels like we have been on this house build for years so if you had delays then it must feel like it's all coming together now for you.
Have you been pleased overall with Dale Alcock? And were all your prestart choices correct and come together OK? I'm nervous that my choices will just not look right once all together. Eeek!

Hi dawnyc,

We just purchased a block in stage 12 which is due for titles in November. We are looking to build with Dale Alock but haven't signed on with anyone yet. We will likely be about 12 months behind you as I'm thinking we'd like to move in prior to Christmas 2014.

Good luck with this exciting part of your build, I'm looking forward to following your journey.

Nicole

Thanks Nicole, exciting times. with November titles you should be in before Xmas 2014 and you will have lots of time to prepare and make decisions etc.
DAH has been a bit niggly with a couple of issues but in fairness they have righted themselves now for us, so fingers crossed it will continue with them well.
Good luck and keep us posted on where you get to choosing a builder.

Havent really seen many of our choices yet besides bricks and roof. Am also a bit nervous about our selections. So far they have been good. Our CLO replies quickly to queries. I think most problems occur with the finishes so we will see!

Got the email today, Earthworks to start 05/08 and footings on 08/08 weather permitting.

Once the footings are doen they have said 1-2 days after for slabdown

Looking at the weather it is due to rain all next week

Either way, it's all exciting and I can't wait to get going now.

Great news dawnyc !!! Hoping the weather holds for you

I think Christmas might be pushing it. We weren't expecting to be in before the end of February 2014 and we've had a slab for a month now and bricks for a week. That said our build has progressed very quickly so it wouldn't surprise me at all if we end up moving in much earlier.

Congrats on finally having some dates! Here's hoping it's dry enough for them to pour and wet enough for you not have to stand by your slab with a hose!

Christmas is definitely not happening fancypants. We made it clear when we signed up that we were desperate to get in before Christmas and naively is suppose we believed them when they said no problems. Grrrrrrrr.
I'm resigned that its not going to be any where near Christmas so coming to terms with it.
Glad your build is going well, and infers crossed the weather is just perfect.

We have a loo!!!!