[COMPLETED] - Building Windsor 40 with Eden Brae (Caddens)

Hi All
I am happy to share our build experience with Eden Brae building Windsor 40 in Western Sydney. This is a long waiting thread as I was waiting for the build to start and it just started after the Christmas (2018)/New Year holidays (2019).

The whole process start on 18 Feb 2018, as my wife was forcing me to visit this LOT (604 sqm - to be registered on March 2018) and we straight away paid the $2000 to lock the deal. This is my first experience in buying a property in Australia and doesn't know much about it. The LOT was irregular shaped but I booked it assuming that we can build anything in it. After all the cool-off period and we paid the 10% deposit.

Since the proposed registration was on March 2018, we started looking at builders. Then, came the blow. Most of the project builders' Home Plans doesn't fit into the LOT because of the irregular shape. The rear of the LOT is smaller than the front (17.5m frontage) like a Triangle, so longer Home Plan doesn't fit. After multiple visits with different builders, we end up with EBH and selected Windsor 40 as we liked the plan.

Let me fast forward these boring story.

18 Feb 2018 - Booked the LOT
01 Mar 2018 - Paid 10% Deposit
28 Mar 2018 - Paid Tender Fee $750 to EBH
17 Apr 2018 - Tender Presentation (EBH)
28 Apr 2018 - Accepted Tender (EBH) and paid $2500 as Tender acceptance fee
14 May 2018 - Signed Contract and Paid 5% of the Tender amount excluding the Tender Fee + Tender Acceptance fee
08 Jun 2018 - Home Option Gallery - Appointment DAY 1 (Electrical, Aircon, Colors)
12 Jun 2018 - Home Option Gallery - Appointment DAY 2 (Windows, Tiles & Carpet)
06 July 2018 - Land Registered
20 July 2018 - Land Settled
16 Aug 2018 - DA Lodged (Penrith Council)
04 Oct 2018 - DA Determined
12 Oct 2018 - SA told me to pay the Infrastructure Restoration Bond in the Council. Paid on the same day.
31 Oct 2018 - Paid the remaining 5% of actual contract price after all PCVs (we got 24 PCVs)
11 Nov 2018 - Peg Out
30 Nov 2018 - Got the loan approved and provided ACC to the builder
10 Dec 2018 - SA emailed me to clean my LOT as the other tradies dumped the rubbish. I found a nice lawn mowner nearby who helped me cleaning the LOT next day.
17 Dec 2018 - File released to contruction
30 Jan 2019 - Slab Poured
13 Feb 2019 - External drainage & Power undergrounds done
15 Feb 2019 - Got BuildWatch installed!!
18 Feb 2019 - Frame started
05 Mar 2019 - Frame completed
12 Mar 2019 - Bricklayer started
12 Apr 2019 - Bricklayer completed (as per the my SA)
15 Apr 2019 - Started on Roofing
31-May-2019 - Roof completed (Lockup stage completed)
10-Jun-2019 - Lining started
28-Jun-2019 - Lining completed
02-Jul-2019 - Stairs completed
10-Jul-2019 - Waterproofing completed
15-Jul-2019 - Wet Area Tiling started
17-Jul-2019 - Kitchen completed
16-Aug-2019 - Painting completed
20-Sep-2019 - PCI completed
04-Oct-2019 - Handover (Got the keys)

The following are some issues which we faced with the builder in the above mentioned timeline. We have huge setback before lodging to DA due to EBH wants us to choose few options for BASIX requirement. After 8 weeks of arguments, pressure and stress, we didn't budge and we got the BASIX certificate without any problem.

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In the whole timeline, we visited land every weekend and happy to see people around us building in their LOTs. And today (12 Jan 2019), we were jumping to see our LOT is leveled and half fence. I will let the pictures talk.



LOT Mowed and Cleaned






I will keep posting our progress here going forward. There are many details I have missed. Will post them one by one soon. Happy to hear your feedback/experience.

The fence was up and they started working on the site.





Hoping to see more progress next week. I haven't had any formal conversation with my SS yet as he is still enjoying his vacation.

Will post more...

Congratulations on the start! Hope its all smooth sailing for you from now.

Thank you!

Went to the contruction site yesterday. Seems like some more work been done. The slab piers are done.




Are these cracks are common? Should I ask the SA about it?





Thanks

I'm sure if you can see the whole length of your bored piers that are underground there will be various small cracks on it.

Just want to know if its common. These bored piers itself new to me based on my experience (First time). The place I am from we use steel to re-enforce the piers and the foundations are done differently.

One of my Neighbour who is building there send some pictures of our progress today. 16/01/2019

The form board is up. SA sent me an update on last Thursday. I had to complete an religious rituals which I did on Friday (18/01/2019)

Gotta say, with waffle pad slabs a bit of a prayer or two in their general direction is actually no bad idea!

I believe if it's done right, waffle pod is not bad at all. I am hoping for it.

The waffle pod arrangements are half way done. Hoping to slab to be completed this week if the climate permits. The water on the sheet due to rain on the previous night.

They are pouring the slab today. Watch them pouring for 2 hours. It is exciting to see progress in the build.







They still pouring, but I have to get back to work.

Back from work and stoked to see the completed slab!!!

Went to see the site yesterday, saw they can done the External drainage & Power undergrounds. They have also setup the Build Watch camera. Haven't got the credentials for build watch yet.

Excited to see some work happening today. EBH started doing the Frame. Yay!!

Hey mate. Hows progress? Frames up?

They invoiced us saying frames up. But few of the windows are not installed yet. We are on vacation at the moment. But no progress yet

Right! Hopefully good progress soon! Enjoy your vacay's!!

Frame completed on 05 Mar 2019. Since I was not around that time, couldn't update the post.

One thing, I noticed with the builder is, they invoice me couple of days before the complete the stage. You can see the windows are not installed on the Front and First Floor. The SS gave me a stupid reason for that.

Raw materials for the Bricklayering was delivered on the next after the frame was completed. But the work only started on 12 Mar 2019. The brickies are working every alternate days as they are working on other projects nearby as well. Also it was raining in Sydney in past few weeks. We are at this stage now.