Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 02, 2008 11:55 am Hi all,
I thought I would post a new topic. There are lots of you building with Eden Brae..I have tried to search previous posts and have gone through the blogs but info out there very scattered and threads are linked to other posts..makes it difficult for me to recall my steps.. I am to go for a tender presentation in two weeks. What do I need to be aware of? Or prepared with? What questions do you feel you should have raised at the tender level. Can we negotiate? How much? Can we ask for extra's I am looking to build the Madison 40. Should I ask for a particular customer rep? Has anyone had Sally as customer rep. You may private message me to let me know how proactive/prompt she is in replying to queries. Please share your knowledge especially if you building/built with Eden Brae. I have also included a poll. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 2Dec 02, 2008 12:53 pm I am just waiting to start building at this point. I have been though the tender, contract and selections stages.
At the tender presentation they are going to show you all the charges your up for, you'll probably see things you didn't know like additional site costs, ahd surveys and formwork level checks. Try and get the tender the day before you go to the presentation so you can flag anything your not sure about and ask the questions while your there. I would advise to put as much in the tender as possible, everything shy of colours if you can that gives you a bit more room to negotiate - not that you will get much off anyway. Contract was fairly straight forward, try and see things also from their point of view when reading it, i think some people expect to go in there and change the whole contract to suit them, this isn't going to happen. Sally is looking after our build. So far she has been excellent. Quick to respond to questions and has the process running smoothly. I hope the people we encounter at the construction stage are as efficient as her. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 3Dec 03, 2008 11:23 am I had a horror build,, so much so that I needed to get the construction manager involved. Our bricks were done twice. My site supervisor was a bit 'she'll be right' and it never was right. The construction manager was a lot better to deal with.
Now I'm in maintenance but I've only had a couple of things fixed and I need to give the maintenance guy a rev-up. Airlite came out to adjust the bi-fold doors only to turn around and tell us Eden Brae needs to fix the doors because neither was installed properly. Three weeks since and nothing from Eden Brae. Whoever does their stormwater drainage work is a muppet. My landscaper has had to fix their work twice on my job and on another Eden Brae place because they don't glue the pipe fittings together! On that same other job the water supply was placed 2 inches below ground and they hit the water supply while scraping along the top of the ground with a bobcat. The water supply needs to be a minimum of 2 feet beneath the ground. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 5Dec 03, 2008 12:29 pm Thanks Jamiet,
As far as responses from EB are concerned, I would have expected at least 7 days before the matter was worked on, but would have expected some sort of communication every 3 days or so. Am I being too optimistic with my time frame allowances. Based on your experiences, has this timelag been throughout the build, or have you had a few one off cases? Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 6Dec 03, 2008 4:38 pm Southies jamiet, did you use a private certifier through EB or your own ? Why do you think these issues weren't picked up by the certifier ? We didn't have a private certifier - I think you mean a private inspector. We had an independent building inspector inspect and he found a lot more structural issues than the EB inspection company. The other inspection company were better at picking up internal paint and tiling faults. One thing no one picked up is that my slab is not level (about 15mm drop from one side to the other) in the formal living area. The fireplace had to be packed up on one side to be made level and there are some small dips in a couple of places well over the allowable size but only noticeable because I have timber flooring . Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 7Dec 03, 2008 4:41 pm ZZZ Thanks Jamiet, As far as responses from EB are concerned, I would have expected at least 7 days before the matter was worked on, but would have expected some sort of communication every 3 days or so. Am I being too optimistic with my time frame allowances. Based on your experiences, has this timelag been throughout the build, or have you had a few one off cases? They'll be pretty good during the pre-construction phase, but unless you chase them, forget much communication during the build. I had one call that I didn't initiate during the entire build. Of course, that was based on my build and may not be the same with a different site supervisor or they may have improved their processes. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 8Dec 03, 2008 4:43 pm jamiet One thing no one picked up is that my slab is not level (about 15mm drop from one side to the other) in the formal living area. The fireplace had to be packed up on one side to be made level and there are some small dips in a couple of places well over the allowable size but only noticeable because I have timber flooring . Not even Howard? How did you know then ? Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 9Dec 04, 2008 8:57 am Southies jamiet One thing no one picked up is that my slab is not level (about 15mm drop from one side to the other) in the formal living area. The fireplace had to be packed up on one side to be made level and there are some small dips in a couple of places well over the allowable size but only noticeable because I have timber flooring . Not even Howard? How did you know then ? The floors weren't sanded when Howard came through, so dust was sitting in some of the gaps between the floor and the skirting, making it difficult to see. When the carpet went down next to the fireplace, it was level with the top of the granite in front of the fireplace on one end and a few mm below the top of the granite at the other end. The granite is black and the packing was well under the granite making it difficult to notice. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 11Dec 05, 2008 7:25 pm Hey Jamiet,
Hows it going with EB - are you going to get compensated? Or when are they going to fix it for you. I see lots of forumers going through building stress..I better be prepared once I know who to build with! Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 12Dec 07, 2008 10:01 am We've just started building with EB, we had a bad selection process as we had an incompetent customer service person who never answered the phone or chased anyone up or did anything...it took almost 6 months for the selection process - they took so long in getting back to us on how much anything was. The kitchen selection took 7 weeks - it took that long to give us a quote and the drawings they gave us were amateurish. The color selection took 6 weeks to get the quotes back as well. I don't think we had extensive upgrades as most were done in the tender process, just bathroom fittings and door selection etc, nothing out of the ordinary. We've changed customer service person since and things have improved in that front. The build so far hasn't been too much drama, we will be getting someone to inspect the property as we have no building experience ourselves. Our supervisor has been fine so far no dramas he answers his phone and follows up any queries - so far so good with the build. We didn't change too much of the floor plan - not sure if that makes a difference...check out my blog if you want more info or just email me if you want further info. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 13Dec 10, 2008 2:19 pm Thanks Hermyleen and Southies for responding. Surely, there must be more EB builders out there? Everywhere I drive especially in North West Syd, I see EB signs on almost every other block.
SHould I go ahead with tender? Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 14Dec 10, 2008 4:08 pm Having become a member of this forum and reading of horrendous experiences & also recently having started our build, I would have to say that EB are probably the best out of a 'bad' bunch. When I say 'bad' I am referring to an industry that is eons behind, where customer service is concerned.
Our only unpleasant experience with EB related to their refusal to negotiate. This is obviously the trend with high volume builders. However our experience with our CSR was FANTASTIC ! Upto this point in time, we have highly valued her professionalism. If nothing unpleasant occurs between now & our handover ( way down the track), I will be sending a letter to the managing directors commending her efforts. Also, our build has been very fast compared to other forum members' builds with no major issues upto this point. Our SS seems a likeable fellow - we've met him only once. Our relatoinship is in its early days. I don't really have anything bad to say about EB. Time will tell............ Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 15Dec 10, 2008 7:51 pm Thanks for this thread - it's great... does help to pull EB epxeriences together! We're at the just-accepted-tender-and-waiting-for-council-submission stage. Also madly trying to work out colours.
So far have little to share about our EB experience, it's really all been sales spin. I'm sure we'll have lots to share in the coming months. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 16Dec 16, 2008 3:47 pm What bricks are you going for cmet? PGH or Boral? Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 17Dec 16, 2008 4:17 pm Just book for an appointment with them on Saturday to show me what's included and what's not. Shoulb be good.
If all goes well then we will progress to the tender. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 18Dec 17, 2008 12:02 pm Just a note to my post.
Don't believe what EB say about their biuld times, which you'll find on their promotional material. We thought - yippee - 24 weeks for a double storey. No way From the get go, we were told it would be 31 weeks. In addition to the 31 weeks, we have been told to add on 5 weeks xmas shutdown + p/holidays + rained out days. Now add that up - 36 weeks plus ! 9 months ???? WT..??? Makes the 24 week claim ludicrous and misleading to say the least Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 19Dec 17, 2008 6:22 pm Hello everyone,
So..my tender presentation didnt go too badly. Site costs worked out really well for H class slab and we were quite happy with the outcome. Yes, I was told for double storey to give an allowance of 31 weeks + 5 weeks for rain/p/h etc etc. 24 weeks is for single storey homes. We need to cut back on some of the extras we wanted, to fit within the budget. Re: Can you please share your Eden Brae building experiences 20Dec 17, 2008 7:26 pm Actually , when we signed up with them, single storeys were supposed to take 20 weeks & double, 24 weeks.
Either way, the promotoinal material was incorrect ! This still gets my goat ! Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade 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 22042 You have mandatory building inspections and privately engaged building inspections. The difference between the two comes down to inspecting the building so it's safe and… 3 18019 traditional gable roof facade - Have you did the dark and light gray color combination in facade with gray stone in facade… 0 4141 |