I have got great help in the forum by viewing people's experience, and inspired by some great structure change ideas, so I am going to post something here to record my building trip and hopefully it may help others.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
1. Sales Stage: (Jun 2017 - 2 SEP 2017)
It was a good experience in sales stage, we've got a quotation very quickly which includes fixed site cost. Fixed site cost is the main reason I selected Henley as my builder, they told me the fixed price before soil test, and the price is reasonable. I wanted to change the study to a guest room, and wanted to add shower downstairs, so I did several structure changes (will list the detail later). Since my land had been titled and I was in a hurry to move to next stage, so I paid deposit, locked the price (price increased 14K in the next day) and quickly moved to admin stage.
2. Admin Stage: (2 SEP 2017 to 2 MAR 2019)
I had been waiting in the queue for color selection for 1 month, and another one month waiting for tender and contract appointment.
- Master plan finalization:
I changed the study to guest room and wanted to add a shower in the powder room downstairs, so it would be convenient for a visitor. Thanks to a girl's posting in Homeone, She was using the fridge's space to put a shower and relocated the fridge next to the kitchen's bench top. I did the same change and extended the rear wall 0.5 meter back to obtain more space for living area.and I also did the following further structure changes.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
· Increased 300mm in Bed 5 (study) by reducing 300mm in the theatre.
· Extended rear wall 0.5 meter upstairs to align with ground floor, and make bed 3 and bed 4 250mm bigger for each.
· Storage under the stairs with entry from the butler's pantry.
· Deleted a window on the TV wall.
Please note it’s better to request all structure changes in sales stage, any further structure changes, the administrator may ask you go back to the sales process. I hadn’t been informed this, so did a lot communication work to make the changes done.
- Colour selection:
My wife and I almost visited the colour selection centre every weekend. We confirmed all materials and colours, but we were struggling with gross or matt floor tiles. We were worried that the gross floor tiles may too slippery, but we finally still selected gross ones since they are more beautiful.
Please double check the developer’s guild book, because some brick colours are not allowed in your area(e.g. red and golden), your plan may be rejected during the permit application, and may waste your time to re-apply.
Followings are the upgrades I can remember;
· Double glazing windows.
· Double zone heater.
· Ceiling height increasing (2.7m for ground floor and 2.5m for first floor)
· Bench top with basin in butler’s pantry.
· Silk surface for kitchen cabinet.
· Upgraded toilets to wall faced ones (it’s easy to clean because no gaps between toilet and wall)
· Upgraded all internal doors.
· Upgraded the butler’s pantry door to the glass one.
· Upgraded to grand alfresco
· Upgraded carpet underlay to cat 2
We had booked electricity appointment, the consultant was nice and provided many good suggestions. We had the luxury package which includes 45 down lights, so we just added some batten lights for future pendant in dining, living, and above kitchen island. We also added more switches to split the lights into multiple area to save energy.
Since mine is double stories house, pre-wire work need to be considered carefully since it is hard to do it after handover. I have chosen the 5.1 speaker pre-wire, asked for a power point and water pipe for evaporate cooling system, and a 15A power point above dining window for a future splitting AC.
I didn’t select alarm system because I was thinking of buying a wireless one later.
- Tender and contract
It is easiest phase because all your decisions have been made, the only thing need to do is checking all the details carefully. I have found several mistakes in the contract (e.g. wrong mirror style, wrong colour, and wrong material type), so please be more careful on the items which have been changed.
Any correction need to raise a post contract variance and need customer to sign off. Fees may apply if there is any further new changes.
Next thing is waiting, Henley will apply the building permit and book all the materials based on your colour selection.
3. Construction stage ( From 2 Mar 2019 - till now )
We finished admin stage smoothly, and be noticed to move to construction stage on 2 Mar.
Construction commenced on 19 March, and underground work finished on 22 March, till then, we were very happy with the progress.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
But, we are suffering a big delay now.
We were told that they would pour concrete in the week of 22 March, but now is 17 April, and I just be told it delayed again. That means there has been no progress for almost one month. I am upset now since raining season is coming.
I will keep updating the progress.