Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1461Oct 29, 2012 2:23 pm Thanks Sohnaeo for the welcome. That is interesting that you had to contact your SS instead of the other way round. I guess the letter that EB send to everyone must be a standard letter with the name of the SS and contact details changed. Looks like I might have to give mine a call as i definately want to go and inspect the house once each stage is complete. I will have another chance to look at our block on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how much work has been done as last Wednesday our block only had the 4 site pegs on it and two days later had been flattened. I know this is going to sound a bit stupid, but did anyone bring a level when they went to inspect the slab? I only ask as we are building in an area that is a bit hilly and looking at the house across the road from us the slab doesn't look like it is level. Maybe its the aspect, but the house looks like it is tilting! I so don't want mine to look like that. The house is being built by another builder BTW. Slab – 31 Oct 2012 Frame - 15 Nov 2012 Bricks – 26 Nov 2012 Roof - 14 Jan 2013 Lock Up- 11 Feb 2013 PCI- 23rd May 2013 Settlement - 7th June 2013 Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1462Oct 29, 2012 3:05 pm Hi everyone.. I have read through the site for a while now and decided to join... Just so someone else could learn from our experience. . We are building Newport 38 in Hornsby area.. To be honest its mixture of EB Entertainer and a half Clarendon design. (As my wife describes it) we did not have a choice in the Clarendon part. We are going through brick stage.. Our admin stage could be considered a nightmare. We are hoping for better experience with the construction stage. I’ll keep you up-to-date with the construction. If anyone has any question more than happy to answer. Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1463Oct 29, 2012 3:16 pm sohnaeo rabsta sohnaeo Hi, I visited my site today and pretty happy with the brick work so far, they have completed the ground floor.I noticed one thing EB did the brickwork in the garage instead of giprocks, not sure is it good? Our sorbetto bricks have one side painted and other side unpainted. On one side of the garage wall, painted side of the brick towards outside and unpainted side towards inside the garage which doesn't match the rest of the walls looks odd, as you can see in the picture. Is it normal? Any idea to cover this? Hi sohnaeo, This is normal in most houses, unless you specifically ask for Gyprock. My house is exactly the same, and to be honest, i think it looks nicer the fact that the bricks don't match as it adds a texture. When the bricks are clean, you should like it even more. This is what mine looks like; It looks beautiful, I hope mine one will look good after wash, thanks rabsta for sharing that's a relief. Thanks mate, i hope so as well. _________________ Building with EBH - Saville 30 @ The Ponds Building Blog - http://rabsndee.blogspot.com 22/08 - Slab Done 07/09 - Frames 16/09 - Roof 02/10 - Bricks 26/10 - Lockup 17/01 - Settlement Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1464Oct 29, 2012 3:19 pm photoimpressions For those who have finished (lucky buggers!), do they deliever and install the appliances right at the end when you settle? hi photoimpressions, yes this is correct, generally all appliances, AirCon and HWS are all installed right at the end _________________ Building with EBH - Saville 30 @ The Ponds Building Blog - http://rabsndee.blogspot.com 22/08 - Slab Done 07/09 - Frames 16/09 - Roof 02/10 - Bricks 26/10 - Lockup 17/01 - Settlement Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1465Oct 29, 2012 3:31 pm Baulkham Hills Thanks Sohnaeo for the welcome. That is interesting that you had to contact your SS instead of the other way round. I guess the letter that EB send to everyone must be a standard letter with the name of the SS and contact details changed. Looks like I might have to give mine a call as I definitely want to go and inspect the house once each stage is complete. I will have another chance to look at our block on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how much work has been done as last Wednesday our block only had the 4 site pegs on it and two days later had been flattened. I know this is going to sound a bit stupid, but did anyone bring a level when they went to inspect the slab? I only ask as we are building in an area that is a bit hilly and looking at the house across the road from us the slab doesn't look like it is level. Maybe its the aspect, but the house looks like it is tilting! I so don't want mine to look like that. The house is being built by another builder BTW. I also contacted my SS first, but that's cause I had to. I don't think its a biggy, feel free to call them and just ask them what method they prefer to be contacted and setup onsite meetings in advance with them (this is what i prefer anyways). In terms of your slab, I didn't bother with measuring anything...but when the brickies were onsite, this is something the looked at and said the slab was less the 5mm off on each side which he said is rare i'd recommend finding out in advance dates for what is planned to happen onsite and ask then if you get a chance, go onsite each time a tradie is onsite, give them a bit of TLC and they will do a great job for you It's what I have done, and so far has worked _________________ Building with EBH - Saville 30 @ The Ponds Building Blog - http://rabsndee.blogspot.com 22/08 - Slab Done 07/09 - Frames 16/09 - Roof 02/10 - Bricks 26/10 - Lockup 17/01 - Settlement Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1466Oct 29, 2012 3:33 pm kc1205 Hi everyone.. I have read through the site for a while now and decided to join... Just so someone else could learn from our experience. . We are building Newport 38 in Hornsby area.. To be honest its mixture of EB Entertainer and a half Clarendon design. (As my wife describes it) we did not have a choice in the Clarendon part. We are going through brick stage.. Our admin stage could be considered a nightmare. We are hoping for better experience with the construction stage. I’ll keep you up-to-date with the construction. If anyone has any question more than happy to answer. Congrats and welcome to the forum...hopefully you learn alot from everybody's experiences. Shame you had a tough time during your admin period, should be that your construction phase is smoother, but potentially with some headaches. Advise is to stay on top and go to your side regularly and make sure what you paid for is what you get and they are doing a good job _________________ Building with EBH - Saville 30 @ The Ponds Building Blog - http://rabsndee.blogspot.com 22/08 - Slab Done 07/09 - Frames 16/09 - Roof 02/10 - Bricks 26/10 - Lockup 17/01 - Settlement Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1467Oct 29, 2012 3:53 pm Baulkham Hills I know this is going to sound a bit stupid, but did anyone bring a level when they went to inspect the slab? I only ask as we are building in an area that is a bit hilly and looking at the house across the road from us the slab doesn't look like it is level. Maybe its the aspect, but the house looks like it is tilting! I so don't want mine to look like that. The house is being built by another builder BTW. Your greatest friend during the build will be a level with a long straight edge (the longer the better). Check everything to ensure the walls are level and the brickwork is flush. Must say I wasn't amused when my fence guy installed the post against the house and there's a gap! The SS should make contact first out of courtesy if anything, from memory ours took a week or two. Should have been the first red flag. Sohnaeo, your ss should be giving you inspections anytime you want one. Dont let him tell you when you have inspections - you tell him. They dont want you onsite to see their stuff ups. I went onsite as often as I could, usually after hours, and as the gate or house was never locked up securely, we would go through everything. (it also helps when one of the tradies gave me the padlock key number). Houda ---- Built the Lincoln 35 at Georges Fair Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1468Oct 29, 2012 4:11 pm Thanks Rabsta, Hi Baulkham Hills, we have the same SS... I called him first too. Give him a call... He will also email you a schedule as to what would happen in the next few weeks.. Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1469Oct 29, 2012 4:53 pm Welcome baulkham hills and kc1205!!! We are still waiting!! I rang on Friday to see what we are waiting for... Final plans to be drawn up and final Pcv from the da check... I am trying to be patient... I will phone again Friday if I haven't heard anything, it will be November by then!! Built a Hawthorne 31 with EB nessjeffdreamhouse.blogspot.com.au Building an investment now with New Living homes... We are at nearly finished... Just landscaping and driveway to go! Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1470Oct 29, 2012 8:21 pm My ss contacted me just to say hi the first week of construction, then i emailed him to tell him our bath was the wrong way when the frame was installed and he had it fixed the next day. Havn't heard from him since but he's doing a good job of getting everything organised so i'm just letting him go Building the Lawson with Eden Brae in Cameron Park Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1471Oct 30, 2012 10:24 am HoudaMan The SS should make contact first out of courtesy if anything, from memory ours took a week or two. Should have been the first red flag. As the SS is going to be my point of call if there are any issues with the build I feel that it is important to develop a respectful relationship with him. It does not make me feel comfortable knowing that my SS was given our file 1 week ago and is yet to contact me. Makes you wonder how things will be during construction. kc1205 Hi Baulkham Hills, we have the same SS... I called him first too. Give him a call... He will also email you a schedule as to what would happen in the next few weeks.. I think I will make contact first. I would rather touch base with him than not so that I know what is going on. It will be nice to compare notes during the construction stage to see how good our SS is I am also sorry to hear that the admin stage has been so stressful for you. I felt that it was straight forward. There were a few issues, but our CSA was able to rectify them fairly quickly. It also helped my nerves that she was able to reply the same day to me about any queries that I had and always gave me a time frame as to how long it would take before final plans, final PCVs etc were ready so that I wasn't waiting around twiddling my thumbs wondering how long things would take. 1sttimebuilding2012 Welcome baulkham hills and kc1205!!! We are still waiting!! I rang on Friday to see what we are waiting for... Final plans to be drawn up and final Pcv from the da check... I am trying to be patient... I will phone again Friday if I haven't heard anything, it will be November by then!! Sounds like you are approaching the end of the admin phase. I hope you get your final plans and final pcv soon. It can be a nerve wracking time as you are so close to getting to the construction phase but are only waiting on them to get things to you. Our plans etc took about a week to have finalised. I have a feeling that our plans were updated each time we signed off on a pcv as the final plans came through fairly quickly. It was the final list of pcvs that took the longest. Make sure you check your final plans with a fine tooth comb. Also tick off everything on the final pcv list against all the individual pcvs that you signed off on and the tender document and then go through your plans to make sure that anything that is structural (like extra gas points, extra water points etc) are added on your final plan. Our CSA told us to check windows and make sure that the doors (both hinged and sliding) in the plan opened the direction that we wanted them to. We were lucky in that after we had signed off on the final plans that the EB team assessors had picked up an error in our plans that we wouldn't have even known about (missing bricks on one of our walls! Not sure what they would have put in place of bricks if it hadn't been picked up!). Also make sure that you take a few days before handing the final pcv list and final plans back to them. you need enough time to go through everything thoroughly. You should also get a copy of the kitchen plan, electrical plan and colours documents. We were able to sign off on the kitchen and electrical plan quickly, but took our time with the other 3 documents. In particular we picked up on the colours doc that a vanity mirror was not listed for ensuite 2. Sorry for the long winded reply, but it is best to check and double check everything before you sign off on it. We were told that if its not on the final pcv list and not in the final plans or documents then it will not be in the house. rabsta In terms of your slab, I didn't bother with measuring anything...but when the brickies were onsite, this is something the looked at and said the slab was less the 5mm off on each side which he said is rare OMG. How did that affect your bricking? I think I will take HoudaMan advice and invest in a level with long straight edge. I will probably look weird me going around checking that the floor is level though.... Just a question for everyone. Did anyone engage in the services of an independent inspector? And if you did, what stage did they come to check things out and who were they (were they any good)? I am thinking of bringing one in at a few stages but it is really $$ to engage the services of an inspector and I don't know who is good and who is not. Welby you are lucky. Sounds like you have a great SS. Slab – 31 Oct 2012 Frame - 15 Nov 2012 Bricks – 26 Nov 2012 Roof - 14 Jan 2013 Lock Up- 11 Feb 2013 PCI- 23rd May 2013 Settlement - 7th June 2013 Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1472Oct 30, 2012 10:35 am Quote: Just a question for everyone. Did anyone engage in the services of an independent inspector? And if you did, what stage did they come to check things out and who were they (were they any good)? I am thinking of bringing one in at a few stages but it is really $$ to engage the services of an inspector and I don't know who is good and who is not. Yes I am engaging the Independent Inspector at lock stage (before the Gyprock goes in) and the final satge, I think its worth it. Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1473Oct 30, 2012 11:19 am Ok my partner just got a call from our SS to touch base. Our slab should be done by next week and he also confirmed that the mound of spoil that had been dumped along the back of our block (from building works on the block behind us) is from the same contractor so it should be removed off our block without a problem. It it good to know that SS has been checking his emails and addressing our concerns even if we don't hear from him I've also convinced my partner to engage in an independent inspector for lock up stage and also practical completion. I will sleep better knowing that someone is going through checking things. Especially as I read in one of your posts (sorry forgot who it was) that the Tyrells inspection person did not pick up on things that an independent inspector picked up on at practical completion. sohnaeo: Who have you engaged to do your independent inspections? Slab – 31 Oct 2012 Frame - 15 Nov 2012 Bricks – 26 Nov 2012 Roof - 14 Jan 2013 Lock Up- 11 Feb 2013 PCI- 23rd May 2013 Settlement - 7th June 2013 Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1474Oct 30, 2012 11:31 am Quote: sohnaeo: Who have you engaged to do your independent inspections? I engaged Howard Ryan (http://www.hnkryan.com/), lot of people referred him on this forum. He charged 595$ but for the homeone clients cost is $550 Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1475Oct 30, 2012 12:44 pm For those that have completed their homes. Can you tell me how good the Tyrells people are? I know that there was one poster who wasn't very happy with their final inspection, but what about the other stages? My CSA just told me that Tyrells will come out at 3 different times during the construction. One at lock up stage, one at practical completion and one at settlement. Did anyone have the 3 inspections for your home? I thought that Tyrells were only coming out at practical completion (not that I am complaining). Also did anyone get contacted by Origin during the construction phase of things? Does this mean that we (the home owners) will be paying for the supply of electricity and gas to construct the house? Slab – 31 Oct 2012 Frame - 15 Nov 2012 Bricks – 26 Nov 2012 Roof - 14 Jan 2013 Lock Up- 11 Feb 2013 PCI- 23rd May 2013 Settlement - 7th June 2013 Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1476Oct 30, 2012 1:29 pm kc1205 Hi everyone.. I have read through the site for a while now and decided to join... Just so someone else could learn from our experience. . We are building Newport 38 in Hornsby area.. To be honest its mixture of EB Entertainer and a half Clarendon design. (As my wife describes it) we did not have a choice in the Clarendon part. We are going through brick stage.. Our admin stage could be considered a nightmare. We are hoping for better experience with the construction stage. I’ll keep you up-to-date with the construction. If anyone has any question more than happy to answer. Welcome, welcome! I will be, of course, taking particular notice of your build. I am building a Newport in the Hornsby Shire too Do you have some plans you can show us of the changes you made - I am always curious?! Can I encourage you to call your upline Manager if you have problems? Bev is fantastic to deal with. Kerith - Building an Eden Brae Newport 40 in Sydney's North http://kerithsedenbraehouse.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1477Oct 30, 2012 1:32 pm Baulkham Hills Hi, Thought I'd sign on and join this forum as I know that I'll be needing the support and advice from everyone that has built with Eden Brae. A little bit about us first: We are building a Hamilton 33 in Baulkham Hills area and have increased the house by 2squares (EB promotion) and have made a few modifications to the standard design to suit our needs. We had our tender meeting on July 8, contract signing on July 26, and had our HOG and Tiles and electricals done in August and September. I can't believe how much it cost us to upgrade our kitchen to a point that we are happy with (over $12K) and also to upgrade our electricals (over $7K). This is in addition to the allowance the EB give! We have found that the admin stage has been fairly smooth sailing, our CSA Sara is fantastic. I must have sent her hundreds of emails over the admin stage and she ALWAYS responded to my queries no matter how silly in a prompt manner. Their estimations team have been excellent, but a word of warning to those who are still doing variations, that you have to check the prices they give you very carefully. We were charged an extra $1500 for our brick colour PGH Vino, which was included in our prestige package. Once this was pointed out, the cost for the bricks was taken off. Other issues with pricing were always cleared up very quickly so I really can't complain there. Last week we were given a letter stating that works would commence in the coming days and that our site supervisor Troy M would give us a call to introduce himself. We swung by our block of land yesterday, fully expecting that nothing had been done as our SS hadn't contacted us yet, to find that the block has been leveled out. That was a pleasant surprise, but I am starting to get a bit worried that our SS hasn't contacted us yet. Can anyone tell me if their SS contacted them prior to building commencing just to say G'day? Or if you have had my SS and what is he like? Is anyone building near the Baulkham Hills area? How have you found the quality of the tradies working on your home? Thanks in advance A big welcome to you too, BH! Spot on with the checking and double checking of everything. So time consuming but will be worth it in the long run. Kerith - Building an Eden Brae Newport 40 in Sydney's North http://kerithsedenbraehouse.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1478Oct 30, 2012 11:39 pm Kerith, I just read on your blog they are putting timber beams in every wall so that frames can be hung. I mentioned this to EBH, and got a reply that this 'no additional bracing is required' - strange. Where are they putting the timber beams? Does it mean the height at which hooks are driven is fixed to the height of these beams? Cheers, EBW Re: Who else is building with Eden Brae? 1479Oct 31, 2012 6:56 am EBWaldorf Kerith, I just read on your blog they are putting timber beams in every wall so that frames can be hung. I mentioned this to EBH, and got a reply that this 'no additional bracing is required' - strange. Where are they putting the timber beams? Does it mean the height at which hooks are driven is fixed to the height of these beams? Cheers, EBW It depends who you talk to! Generally, that would be the case for quite light art works etc. if you are considering anything more, it is worth extra beams. We will have heavish art pieces, mirrors and sports memorabilia so it is easier to get extra beams (noggins) rather than spending money at Bunnings purchasing things that will help the walls cope. Yes, I think we are then limited to that height but not really an issue for me. Kerith - Building an Eden Brae Newport 40 in Sydney's North http://kerithsedenbraehouse.blogspot.com.au/ I built with EB back on 2009. Check out this thread on this forum. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12911&p=154061#p154061 I can't speak for recent expericience however, we had no… 1 23982 A survey must’ve completed by a certified surveyor. This form part of every DA requirement 3 226167 |