Statesman, Greenock MKII

Hi everyone,

I thought I would start a thread on our building process.
We decided to build the Greenock MKII with Statesman. It suited our needs with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathroom and 2 living areas.
We purchased a 650m2 block of land in the Bluestone Estate, Mount Barker, SA, which we settled on in December 2016.
Shortly after this we signed our initial agreement with Statesman and paid the $2000 deposit.
In February 2017 we had our selections appointment. Prior to this we drove around a lot of new estates and visited the Statesman showroom, so that when the time came to decide we knew exactly what we wanted. Mostly we stuck to the included selections, however, we upgraded on appliances, mortor, raised the celings to 2.7 metres, render, built in wardrobes and a few other little bits and pieces. The electrical plan was kept to the bare minimum as my husband has an electrical license and is able to add more in after handover. We were fairly happy with the selection choices that Statesman have and it was great that everything was in one place, which saved the hassle of driving around to multiple showrooms.
After this came A LOT of waiting and it tested my patience to the absolute limit. We emailed Statesman every 2 weeks or so to make sure that we were not forgotten. During the pre-construction process we received 6 or 7 variations, some of which we had to re sign as they were lost and plans had to be re drawn several times. Overall, the total cost only increased by several thousand, but the time that was wasted with all the changes was very frustrating.
Finally on Monday this week 24/07/17, we were given the 'ok to start' date and in the email that was sent we were told that it would be 2-4 weeks before site works would begin. Much to my delight this Friday 28/07/17, just 4 days later, our block has been cleared and prepared for the trenches/footings to be dug out.
So that is where we are up to. I am crossing my fingers and toes that our house will be complete by the end of the year, considering we have had a very mild winter I think this is very achievable (5 months), but we will just have to wait and see. I will keep you all posted on how it all goes and post photos of each stage.
Thanks for reading!

Yay another Mt barker build!
Looking forward to following your build

Are you building in Bluestone as well HFBMPC ?

This is the Greenock MKII floor plan, the only thing we changed was we extended the porch (as per Bluestone Estate encumbrance )

Congrats on the start of your build! We were looking at building the Greenock MkII as well, I really like the features this house has for the size. Looking forward to watching your journey.

- Kayla

Thanks kaykens ! We are happy with our choice 😊 What did you end up deciding to build?

We haven't decided yet but we have been working pretty hard on the Simonds "Prague"

congrats on the start. Statesman have so many nice plans. So handy for you to have a hubby to be able to do some of the electricals

Thanks Nawsome ! Yeh they do.. We also liked the Myrtle alfresco a lot, but decided it might end up too expensive. It is very handy.. You can never have too many power points haha

We nearly got the Myrtle - but the dining space seemed way too big. Think you have got more usable space with this plan

Yay. Did you have to get rid of the scrapings?

No we didn't,they removed it all. Our block isn't too sloped so I don't think there was a lot

Wow did they charge extra for that?cause i got told its not included in soil removal quotes given and seen as extra/acess soil thats removed and we have to pay extra for that. We have a flAt block too.

I cant remember it ever being mentioned to be honest. I will ask my husband and get back to you on that

Thanks. It was not mentioned to us at all. We just saw an extra paragraph added on when we got our soil report and variations. It was in the added faq's. When we approached our sales rep she tried to talk around it and after an hour said 'oh its normal practice and done by all builders' we are not happy bout them not disclosing this too us. And now that we are so far in this get slipped in. It says if we dont get it removed they remove it and pass on the charges to us. And according to contact extra expenses can be passed on with out ppl giving consent.

My husband said yes it was added into our quote. Not sure what the amount was though. That does seem weird they would never discuss that with you, it seems like a pretty standard part of the build process.

Thanks. We thought ours was added to and only found out now that its not.

So when would they charge you for it?

Apparently we have to remove it or pY it when the builder bills them for it(no idea of vost, wanting them to quote the removal)