KDR in Melbourne SE suburbs- Carlisle - Montpellier 51

Starting a new journey. Exciting & frightening at the same time. Knocking down & rebuilding our dream home. We have been searching for the perfect house plan for almost two years. Walked through the doors of the Montpelier 51 by Carlisle & fell in love with it. Found that there are very few threads for Carlisle. So starting this one in the hopes of sharing our journey & maybe it will be helpful to others building with Carlisle.

2nd June 2018 paid the initial $1000 deposit
16th June 2018 paid the second $1000 and signed the sales paperwork.
28th June 2018 had pre site start chat with CLE (Client Liaison Executive)
5th July 2028 sent application for power pit
5th July 2018 Engaged Demolisher
7th July 2018 Colour Browse appointment at Spectra- Carlisle Design Studio in Mulgrave.
8th August 2018 Colour Selection appointment
14th August 2018 Received demolition permit
15th August 2018 Leased Rental Property
16th August 2018 Sent Application for Abolishment of Services
17th August 2018 Underground Power Pit installed (took 6 weeks from application date)
22nd August 2018 Tender appointment
26th August applied for Abolishment of Electricity and Gas
2nd September Moved to Rental Property
3rd September 2018 Got Asset Protection Permit
5th September Electricity abolished
18th September 2018 Contract appointment.
3rd October 2018 NBN disconnected and equipment removed
4th October 2018 - 9th October - House Demolished
15th October 2018- Received 2nd Soil Test Report
17th October 2018 Signed Contract
15th November 2018 Site cut done
22nd November 2018 Meter box installed
27th November 2018 Plumbing lines in
29th November 2018 Pre Slab Pour work and Inspection done by NHI
30th November 2018 Slab Poured & Base Stage Invoice received
4th December 2018 United connected electricity
7th December 2018 Frames started going up
23rd Dec to 2018 16th January 2019 - no work due to Christmas shutdown period.
15th January 2019 received invoice for frame stage complete
17th January 2019 NHI done frame inspection
17th January 2019 tradies back on site. Sarking & roof started to go up.
29th January 2019 Electricians on site
31st January 2019 House is wrapped
25th March 2019 Lock Up & Fixing stage Invoice received on same day.
21st May 2019 PCI
28th May 2019 Handover

Changes to Floor Plan:

Guest bedroom in lieu of study
Shower to powder room downstairs
Niches in all showers
Window splash back to butler's pantry
Downstairs Walk In Linen - closed door from laundry and made opening from butler's pantry. Will use this space as extra storage for kitchen and place extra freezer in there. Added a window to this small room for some natural light.
Sliding doors to theatre
Door to ensuite bathroom
1m garage extension with roller door at the back
Zoned heating and refrigerated cooling
Upgraded staircase to timber laminate closed risers

At Colour selection we added:
Mid floor sound insulation
Soft close drawers to kitchen cabinets and drawers
Waterfall edge to Island Bench in Kitchen
Upgraded the dishwasher to the higher model (with the cutlery drawer)
Wall edge toilets - so no more cleaning behind them
Surge protection for the whole house
Floor tiles and carpets to the whole house (in the end taking flooring from Carlisle)
Front Render to the facade

The Carlisle Affinity range comes with so many inclusions that we did not need many upgrades.
Haven't taken flooring from them. Hoping to get some suggestions for floor tiles, laminate and carpets from this forum. And also for blinds.


At this stage everything seems overwhelming. Have to think of so many things like moving, demolition, power pit, abolishment of services.... the list goes on. Being methodical and organised will be the way forward. Sharing the journey here will help relieve some of the stress. Wish us luck!!!!

Hi HoneyDee,
I know what you mean about everything being overwhelming.
We have just put a deposit on land, and all of a sudden our house is on the market, decluttering cleaning etc meeting with builders and architects, meeting with solicitors organising contracts blah blah.
This is our 4th build and you are correct being organised is the only way forward.
We wont start actually building till th new year, so maybe we will be building at the same time.
Look forward to seeing plans and discussing colours etc!

Hi gogo65,

Wow!!! you are a veteran in building new houses. By now you must be an expert at it. Which company and which house are you building this time? Did you build any of your houses with Carlisle? Is yours in Melbourne too? Which area? Have you done any knock down rebuilds? Would love to hear your tips and suggestions. Ours is first time so a bit apprehensive. There are so many online horror stories about builders. But then again only those who have complaints jump online to air their views. Most satisfied customers don't bother to post positive feedback. Our site start is in December. So yes we will be building around the same time. It is heartening to know that there are other people out there going through the same things that we are. Have you started a thread about your build? Would like to follow it. Would love to discuss stuff along the way.

We are building in Sydney, a custom home with a small custom builder, that specialises in acreage homes (we have 1.5 acres).
All our other builds have been in Sydney too, so sorry cant help with Carlisle (although they seem to have pretty good reviews her, compared to a lot!)
I will start a thread (my last build on here 6 years ago was over 200 pages!).
We have just met with the architect, once I get the concept plans Ill start a thread, not much to say just yet.
Agree though its always nice to compare, vent, discuss through the process, helps keep us sane. The support you can get on this forum is amazing.
Look forward to hearing about your plans, colours and ideas....

ok. looking forward to chatting and comparing notes

Our Soil Test Report has come as:

Site Classification: P
Wind Rating: N1
Underlying Site Reactivity: H1
Don't know if this is good news or bad news?
Terrified at what the site costs are gonna be.
Any idea anyone what this type of classification means?

KDR is always a P. What’s the underlying soil grade, Ys value and gradient?

CH is notorious for gauging on site costs to pad margins. Brace yourself.

Hi Kirashogun,
Underlying Soil is described as H1- highly reactive. It says there is highly moist clay soil to the deepest part they bored till.
Ys value is 40mm to 60mm. Can’t find the gradient on the report.
Fall is minimal.
All this makes no sense to me.
Hope you can explain.
We have budgeted for $60k on the quote for site costs as KDR site costs are always high.
Won’t know the exact costs till house is demolished.

Hi Kirashogun,
Underlying Soil is described as H1- highly reactive. It says there is highly moist clay soil to the deepest part they bored till.
Ys value is 40mm to 60mm. Can’t find the gradient on the report.
Fall is minimal.
All this makes no sense to me.
Hope you can explain.
We have budgeted for $60k on the quote for site costs as KDR site costs are always high.
Won’t know the exact costs till house is demolished.

Usually H1 on a flat block would be around 20$k but who knows what Carlisle will charge. I certainly expect it to fall below $60k. My guess between 20-30$k.

I think H1 is pretty good for KDR.
Usually is P.

Fingers crossed. Hope you are right.

Hi MyFirst,

The site classification is P (Problem)
Underlying soil reactivity is H1
Will just have to wait and see what they quote us.
Where are you building and with which builder?

Sent application to UE for underground Power Pit and signed the forms and sent to Demolition Depot. They come highly recommended by Carlisle, Henley and Metricon. So going with them. Although we took 2 other quotes and those were cheaper. It seems sometimes the demolishers don't clear the site adequately. Then we may have to call them back which can cost more. So thought of going with DD as their reviews are good. The biggest plus point was that Adrian from DD came around and explained everything and Kim at their office is wonderful. Very helpful with suggestions. She even sent forms for electricity abolishment and rang the council for us to find out if we have any protected trees on our site. Thankfully there are none. So far so good. Looking forward to Saturday's colour browse

All the best HoneyDee for your Colour Browse

How did the colour browse go?

Hi gogo65,

Colour Btowse was a bit rushed. We had one and half hour appointment. By the time we got to flooring section it was 4.30pm and they started closing down. The colour consultant was obviously in a rush to finish off. We did not get to electrical section at all. We have been told that we can go anytime & browse around. They have emailed the entire price list. Planning to go this weekend & next and make notes so that we are ready for the colour appointment.

How are you going with your build? What stage?

Was that directed at me?
Still waiting for concept plans from architect.
Have been looking at appliances and trying to get an idea on what I want. Ours will be a fully custom home, so he gives us an allowance or if we know what we want, he’ll add it in to the tender. So no real hurry but it would be nice to know what direction my head is going in..., I can’t even decide what basic colour palatte 😩

Good that you’ve still got a bit of time up your sleeve to work out what you want, having the upgrade prices will definitely help.
Once you’ve got the basics it will all fall into place, it’s exciting and stressful all at once!