Plantation: Marlo 4 | Gold Coast - Land Valuation Less?!

Hi everyone, the partner and I have finally agreed to buy land and build our first home together. We've placed down a deposit on a block of land, and as of yesterday paid the $1500 deposit to Plantation for the tender and soil test, etc. We're expecting the land to be titled late April/May, so just have to wait and see if they can give us a real date on that.

Our Sales Consultant modified the plan to match our changes in the provisional sales estimate to provide for the tender creation, so the mark-up referencing won't mean too much to you all, but it gives an idea of some of the modifications that we've done to the original Marlo 4 design.



And also the preliminary siting for the house on our block of land.

You have a thread now! Your plan is lovely, bet you can't wait to see it with all of your changes included.

Yeah, fingers crossed they get it right the first time around.

So I've ordered a bunch of Dulux Paint A4 samples, Laminex samples and even Quantum Quartz samples to have a play with colour options.

Obviously won't be final until I can look at tiles/carpet but it gives me a starting point.

This is my thoughts for the internal paint.

Gentle Half Touch for Walls
Chalk U.S.A for Skirting/Architraves
Berkshire White for Cornices/Ceiling

Thoughts on bathroom/ensuite/laundry cabinetry:

Top Left is White Valencia (Laminex) for Laundry Benchtop
Bottom Left is Milano Walnut (Laminex) for Cupboards
Side is Luna White (Quantum Quartz) for Bath/Ensuite Benchtop {Looks grey in the picture, but in actuality it is very much white based}

And finally, the kitchen cabinetry colours:

Top Left is Espresso (Laminex CrystalGloss) for Overhead Cupboards {Picture colour doesn't do the actual colour justice, as it appears more brown in actuality}
Bottom Left is Mocha Ash (Laminex) for Cupboards
Side is Satin (Quantum Quartz) for Benchtop

Any initial thoughts and feelings would be great. I've looked at tiles on the Beaumont Tiles website. So I may play around in Photoshop with them with these colours, but won't really know till I can see in person.

Love the colours, just be careful with the strengths I did look at gentle touch half but found it threw a bit of yellow.

We ended up going with Grand Piano half.

Great choice for the kitchen we are going with espresso glossy overheads and plain below.

Good Luck!

Great, thanks! I'll keep that in mind about Gentle Touch Half when we look at it against tiles and in different lights.

Just went through all the samples I ordered and Grand Piano Half wasn't one of them, drat! But if I decide against Gentle Touch Half I'll definitely take a look at that one.

Thanks!

Has anyone experienced with Plantation Homes a reluctance to provide the colours and flooring used within their display homes?

I sent an email today asking if we could be provided with such after going through their displays once again, and my partner got a phone call from our sales consultant basically chewing him out and that we 'shouldn't be rushing it' and there is an 'order in which things are done'.

I thought this came across as odd, especially as the welcome email we received said prepare as much as possible for the colour selection with decisions already made. We have booked into an Information Session next month, but thought it couldn't hurt to get stuff prior.

Has anyone else got resistance on Plantation Homes providing display home details?

I never emailed anyone early. Maybe they got annoyed if you haven't been assigned an "official" colour consultant yet and it wasn't they job or something? Not very good though.

We just showed up at cosham studios multiple times before our actual colours appointment (even though it was 45 minutes away! We couldn't wait!). They have a big book there where it lists all the display home details.

I must admit it was very hard to get someone's attention for any length of time until we "belonged" to someone, and then it was great! Does that make sense? :s

Yeah, probably. Haha. I just like to be prepared I guess and want to have all the information sooner rather than later.

We've already walked around Cosham once but all the stylists were busy so we just meandered around quietly. Kind of felt like a library where we shouldn't talk loudly. I didn't see any big book, maybe I missed it. Next time we're down that way I'll hunt it down or try and get someone's attention and point out its hiding spot.

Thanks!

We are going through the process at the moment and found it more productive to get a list of suppliers the use for your home and individually go to each place. We found each company has an idea of what the standard ranges are and what are extras and they are happy to help with any questions.

Its more productive and a more informative experience then walking around Cosham aimlessly like we did.

Just an idea

Hey Daven,

Yeah we walked into our closest Carpet Call to do just that, and the guy there was yelling at either someone else there or down the phone. We quickly turned around and left.

I've been browsing the supplier websites to get an idea as well. We were also told to make an appointment with Beaumont Tiles to get our tiles pre-selected prior to the colour selection meeting. Problem there is we'd have no idea if we'd picked a tile that would cost like hundreds extra or not. Though I'd assume if they know the range they'd be able to guide us price wise.

Beaumont have stickers on their tiles to tell you what's standard and what's upgrade etc. Our experience with Beaumont was not at all positive, rudest sales people there!

Excellent, good to know. And boo at rude sale people. Which one did you go to, so I can make a point to avoid.

There are two at Springwood-ish areas and I can't really remember which one we went to. The lady was so dismissive and unhelpful and I think it was just covering up her total ignorance on the topic. We were trying to understand about all the different types of tiles and I'd ask "so what's the difference between glazed and polished" and she'd say "because one of them is GLAZED" in this real slow patronising tone with raised eyebrows like I was a total idiot. Ohh still angry at the memory.

We ended up going to the Beaumont at Underwood which is smaller but they were all friendly and helpful there.

Just a small update. On Friday we got conditional loan approval for our land, so just have to wait on the valuation, but should be all good.

Also, now entering week 4 after requesting tender/new home order and all has been quiet. No word on soil tests, just nothing. All we got was at the start of last week the standard 'welcome' email. So at this rate we'll have to request an extension with the land developer as we have a deadline to have the building contract signed in first week of May.

So just waiting, like many others.

Interesting, we have just gone finance unconditional on our block and paid for survey/soils last week - no word from them but we only have a 2 week soil test clause and we're due to settle in 3 week from today, which plantation office are you dealing with?

We dealt with the sales consultant in our estate, Coomera Retreat, but when we finalised our new home order, she said the head office in Springwood would contact us and become our point of contact. But that hasn't happened yet. I'm thinking if I still hear nothing by Friday I'll ring up our sales consultant.

Just another small update. Partner rang the Plantation head office to inquiry about our status, and was directed through to the lady who had our file. Apparently she only got it this morning, and the appointment she could get us into was on May 15th for our tender presentation. So they are definitely backlogged. And still no word on the soil test, but she said it should be done our May 15th appointment.

Wow that's a long time! How frustrating for you.

Indeed. She has given us an option where we can schedule our colour appointment and everything prior to the new home presentation, which might be what we do, as it sounds like it will make the next steps a bit shorter in wait time.

Today when we went and drove by our land, we now have a sold sign! Yay.