Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Feb 22, 2009 8:48 am Hello, me again.
You know the drill by now, brother new to the building game, seeks help of forum addicted little sister.... Anyway they have purchased a block of land 16m x 34m in Brimbank Gardens estate. The land won't title until later in the year I think it was August/November, which suits them as they don't want to start building for atleast a year so they can save as much as possible... Anyway do you think it is a good idea for them to go looking for display homes now to see if they can find something they like? If yes, would it be wise to put down a deposit (I thought it may be $1000 or so) to lock in the price/promotion? Do builders do this? I am just constantly surprised by the rising base prices of some of the homes I have seen and am wondering if builders allow you to put down a deposit to lock in that price. Is there generally a time limit that you can lock the price in for? Any advice would be great My karma ran over your dogma reply 2Feb 22, 2009 9:25 am Hi,
haywgl, tell your brother to make his own account on the forum! It is definitely a good idea to have a look at some display homes.. in fact, they would need to have a look at A LOT of displays. Most volume builders will accept deposits, usually $850 or $1000, to lock in a price and promotion. I think the deposits are refundable after a certain time, and you can keep the deposit for as long as it goes. However, if you call for the go-ahead, that is soil testing, the deposit will not be refundable. After they perform a test, they can stop work only for a period of time, because obviously the soil will change after time. There will be a time limit - it doesn't hurt to call up a display centre does it? Being that builders frequently put up prices! Hope that helps Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: More advice needed :) 3Feb 22, 2009 9:39 am U are a good sister!
Different builders, different rules, one major was charging us by the month to lock in prices for a certain start date - as that date got pushed back the price went up - we walked when it got to $7.5k... PD had a 'promo' where they'd lock in the price for no cost until some 7 months down the track, after that I think it was a bit per month to do it. Other smaller builders were happy to keep their costs the same until we started building, providing none of the delays were caused by us. Anyway... nothing wrong with starting the display home search, it can and probably should take months to decide anyway. If I was just starting out in that position, I would wait until closer to the end of the financial year to sign up with a builder. They would be getting desperate for clients and sales targets in this period considering the 'current economic climate' one would think. Are they eligible for the FHOG and the boost? With no clear guarantee it will be extended past June 30 they may want to sign contracts before then - at the very least it should be in their thoughts. Hope this helps... Re: More advice needed :) 4Feb 22, 2009 9:45 am Thanks guys
Yes I know I am a good sister Nope not eligable for the FHOG, his fiance had already purchased a little flat in Footscray before they met so they don't qualify even though it will be my brothers first home. Will get them to go out and look at some displays and ask about putting down deposit to hold the price My karma ran over your dogma reply 5Feb 22, 2009 9:58 am No problems
What houses are they looking at building? I remember they were looking at the Prominence? Would it fit on their block? It looks pretty good on the website, and the price would be less than $300K the lot. Hmm.. I think M3tricon have a few double storeys they can have a look at. I can't think of any others - I'll get back to you. Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: More advice needed :) 6Feb 22, 2009 10:52 am You have a good memory, they are looking for a double story and probably don't want to spend over $300k for the lot, but I didn't mention the Prominence, I haven't heard of it until now Might need to look at it
I told them they should look at M's Wingrove, it seems to suit their needs the best and the base price is around $220k... My karma ran over your dogma Re: More advice needed :) 7Feb 22, 2009 11:44 am We paid our initial deposit in June, once our old house had sold and we knew we were definitely doing this - and our land didn't settle till late November. The point of paying the deposit was to lock in the promo - we were pencilled in for an October start, but the delay in settlement meant that didn't happen. Then there was a price rise of $1000 in November, which we were aware of.
Site start wasn't possible till February, for reasons completely out of our and the builder's control, so we just had to cop it. We still got a killer promo though - way better than any they've offered since. And the price rise would have happened whether or not we'd slapped down a deposit, so *shrugs* - that's life. reply 8Feb 22, 2009 11:50 am haywgl, I'm pretty sure you told us of the Prominence (Carlisle Homes). Or do you mean you haven't mentioned it to your brother? And the base price is 225K or so, and it is 10 squares bigger than Wingrove...If you look on the inclusions, they give the facade as standard.
Have you seen Simonds yet? How about the Laguna or Sala or Parkside? Or PD with their Rowland or Marina or Cremorne (in the 35 squares that is! You don't want EXACT same houses do you? LOL) Just a few houses I quickly looked at. I'd probably go for the Simonds or Carlisle houses - good value I think. Hope that helps a bit. Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 reply 9Feb 22, 2009 5:47 pm I just double checked the Carlisle website and the Prominence and its now $235,400 base price. With a pretty good promotion too, LOL.
It was 225K when it was first released, which wasn't long ago. Tell your brother to look at the one in Lyndhurst which I've already seen, and theres another one at Pt Cook. Hope that helps you. And no, I dont work for Carlisle, if anyone was going to ask me that! Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: More advice needed :) 10Feb 22, 2009 7:07 pm I can't help so far as price lock-in goes... but they should definitely start looking at display homes anyway, just so they can get an idea of what they like and what they don't like, etc. nothing worse than starting building and then seeing a feature in a house and realising how stupid you are for not including it! Re: More advice needed :) 11Feb 22, 2009 8:07 pm Yes, never too early to start looking at displays. An advantage of looking early, particularly at houses that have already been on display for a few years, is seeing what features and colours age prematurely or not.
Our sales rep guaranteed to us that the builder wouldn't increase the price of the house after paying the initial $1000 even if we couldn't start building before the allotted time ran out. He kept his word. Re: More advice needed :) 12Feb 22, 2009 8:51 pm Sorry Salt and Pepper I thought you meant M! Yes they did look at the Prominence by Carlisle, and you will never guess but we went to the display in Pt Cook today and they love it! They are pretty sure it is the one!!!
It's base price is $235k I think but they can't start building until atleast Jan, the sales consultant was saying something which I didn't quite understand about an upcoming price increase but then nothing until July, but then she said you pay up to a total of $7k I think to lock in no further price changes until the following January and if the price rises by $15k for example you only pay the $7k, but if it only goes up by $2k well then you only pay the $2k...it kind of confused me They looked at all the inclusions and extras, they can get the floors for $2k and the only extras they needed to add were stone benchtops, some render to facade, electricals, a few small structural changes which they said they could do and adding some doors. Everything else they were happy with standard. They don't know what to do next though, if they put a deposit down now even though they cant start building until January does that mean it locks in the current promo and the base price, or do they have to pay this $7k or whatever the sales consultant was talking about My karma ran over your dogma Re: More advice needed :) 13Feb 23, 2009 10:34 am If it's like the PD promotion we paid $2.5k when we signed contracts in December to protect us against price rises for a start between March and May. If the price rises by more than $2.5k by the end of May then we are protected from that price increase and only pay $2.5k. If it doesn't go up by this amount we get that money back. At the moment I believe we'll pay $1k if we go ahead quick before they put it up again! The remaining $1.5k will be refunded. $7k sounds like quite a lot but from what others have said on here Carlisle put their prices quite often and by quite large increments. Re: reply 14Feb 23, 2009 10:41 am Salt&Pepper However, if you call for the go-ahead, that is soil testing, the deposit will not be refundable. After they perform a test, they can stop work only for a period of time, because obviously the soil will change after time. How and why would soil change after time? The soil tests tell you the type of soil and the depth of rock etc. These items are pretty unlikely to change unless something catastrophic happens to your block! You might need a second test if you were like us and got the first one before titles were issued on the block but that was because there was going to be fill added and the levels would probably change plus we had great piles of earth in the middle! The type of slab required won't change though and that's the main reason you'd want a soil test. reply 15Feb 23, 2009 3:35 pm Wanna, this is only what the builder told me. The soil test is valid for a limited time or something. I'm confused about it too.
haywgl, what do you mean about 7K to lock in a price? Isn't it just a deposit? I think the sales consultant might be getting them to pay a full contract deposit? ie 5% or something? Or is it $7K for paying deposit and promo? I have no clue.. Great to know they have nearly found the one! Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6882 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Don't think they are designed for double brick. WA has a particular way of building and unfortunately that's the way a large amount of sills are finished. 3 6996 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 15471 |