Hey All,
I thought I'd share our story, although we're only partially through the build, I thought this might be useful for anyone looking to understand the process that you go through building with a semi volume builder.
We originally selected Chatham homes on the back of seeing them building in our area, and then talking to the people that built with them.
We had some requirements around using recycled bricks that other volume builders couldn't accommodate, and their price seemed to be reasonable enough from the outset.
We started our first chats with them in October 2019, then parked the project over summer and when Covid hit we decided to wait until March 2021 before seriously talking to builders.
We talked to 2 custom builders, one who did an estimate for our build of $800K-$1M (paper napkin estimate) and one who did an estimate of about $820K (a more detailed estimate).
Ultimately the detail provided by the builders, and the custom builders ability to source supplies during the pandemic made us lean towards Chatham. Believing that they would be able to source materials.
We moved through the contract process slowly, with a few design revisions having paid the initial deposit.
We viewed the windows, with a desire to use UPVC windows we went with their supplier Zenit windows who are a local manufacturer.
The appointment at Zenit was good and the quality of the windows seemed Good.
Contracts were signed in Feb with scheduled Construction to start March.
So far the timeline:
Fenced: March 9, 2022
Piers bored March 14, 2022
Piers concreted March 16, 2022
Pre-slab plumbing March 21, 2022
Slab cut April 1, 2022
Slab formwork April 9, 2022
Slab poured April 26, 2022
Frame delivered (ground floor put up), May 3, 2022
Steel, May 24th 2022
Second floor May 27th 2022
Trusses 6th June 2022
Roof upper level 28th June 2022
We're still waiting for any progress on site now as we've run into the eaves being too close to the boundary, and this was picked up by a VBA random inspection.
We've employed our own RBS through New Home Inspections who has so far been involved in pre-slab and frame inspection.
It's definitely a journey.