Browse Forums Building A New House Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 82Feb 14, 2010 8:53 pm My house and my rants.... - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26937 We are in!!!...and still unpacking. Thankfully there are always Tim Tams Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 83Feb 24, 2010 8:46 am Wow Rowena, you had a lovely holiday cruise except for the bout of sea sickness. Hope the final drawings come through soon...it would be great to follow your build! Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 84Feb 26, 2010 9:37 pm blessedpeople Wow Rowena, you had a lovely holiday cruise except for the bout of sea sickness. Hope the final drawings come through soon...it would be great to follow your build! Thanks BP!!! I'd love to follow my build soon too We were told that drawings were 2 weeks away before we went away on holidays and now we've been back a few weeks. I actually rang them today and left a message. Got an email response and apparently we are now waiting on the 5 star energy rating and have been given high priority!?? Can you believe that we handed over the remainder of the 5% deposit and signed the contract nearly 4 months ago!!! We have been waiting for final drawings for 4 whole months Would have preferred that money in my bank account earning interest! If we don't start soon we'll have to apply for re-finance as it only lasts for 6 months! arghhh......... On a brighter note, I'm enjoying watching the house next door being built Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 85Feb 26, 2010 9:54 pm Oh no. I'm sure it will be much more efficient on site!! Wishing you a speedy start.... My house and my rants.... - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26937 We are in!!!...and still unpacking. Thankfully there are always Tim Tams Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 86Feb 26, 2010 10:18 pm mpcj Oh no. I'm sure it will be much more efficient on site!! Wishing you a speedy start.... Thanks heaps. I hope so. I've invited the whole family to Christmas at our house so I hope we're finished by then Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 87Feb 27, 2010 12:12 pm Rowena Thanks heaps. I hope so. I've invited the whole family to Christmas at our house so I hope we're finished by then Ooh fingers crossed they get a wriggle on and do a speedy build for you!! Caz & Co ALL MOVED IN!! Now comes all the hard work-decorating.... [b]Blog: http://cazoraz.blogspot.com/ Settling in Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36993 Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 88Feb 28, 2010 10:55 am The hardest bit for us was the period of waiting between completion of paperwork and waiting for a site start & the final leg i.e. between fixing stahe & handover...so when they do start, you'll be enjoying yourself takin snapshots of progress etc... Did you manage to get the $36k FHOG? Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 89Feb 28, 2010 12:36 pm blessedpeople The hardest bit for us was the period of waiting between completion of paperwork and waiting for a site start & the final leg i.e. between fixing stahe & handover...so when they do start, you'll be enjoying yourself takin snapshots of progress etc... Did you manage to get the $36k FHOG? Sadly no, as DP has owned property years ago. (even though he didn't profit - long story) Yes, I am looking forward to site start - whenever that may be....I am trying not to get disheartened. We are very patient people but even this is testing both of us. The neighbour across the road has also built with them and shakes his head at how long it's taking. He too would like to look at a house rather than an empty block. I drove out yesterday to see how our neighbour's house was going - at least I can get excited over their build. I also drove around the Maples area in Laurimar and was blown away by how many houses have sprung up in the past few months Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 90Feb 28, 2010 2:41 pm You'll get there, Rowena! I know exactly how you are feeling. And when you do get started, we will all be so excited for you, because we are just as anxious to see your project begin. It's amazing with what excites us!! A portaloo! Some dirt being moved! Anything - just as long as it's something!! Building in Promenade Estate, Doreen Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 91Feb 28, 2010 8:34 pm Poochie You'll get there, Rowena! I know exactly how you are feeling. And when you do get started, we will all be so excited for you, because we are just as anxious to see your project begin. It's amazing with what excites us!! A portaloo! Some dirt being moved! Anything - just as long as it's something!! Thanks Poochie. I'm loving your thread. Wow, painting already. I also like your colour choices. The dark laundry cabinet with the light benchtop looks great. We had fun window shopping today. Spoke with a lovely chap at Carpetcall who quoted us $68 sqm for 100% wool carpet with gold underlay, including installation. It felt really nice and soft to touch. We are still tossing up whether to put carpet in with the build but at $60 for nylon it's worth paying the $700 extra overall to get all wool. Plus, he said they can install it without having to take off the skirting boards (unlike the bamboo floorboards that we've been looking at). I also spied an 8 seater square wooden table in a discount place (near Northland) for $490! I asked whether she'd left the "1" off before the 4 - how cheap is that! Tasmanian hardwood but made in China. DP didn't like it. I say what's not to like about a huge table, no defects for only $490! I argued that we could dress it up with nice chairs, table runners, cane place mats etc, but he wouldn't budge. Oh, well, someone else's bargain. Before we went away we researched bamboo floorboards and received quotes for 70sqm fully installed with underlay. quote 1 - $83 per sqm= $5880 quote 2 - $113 per sqm= $7923 So, at $30sqm difference between the two companies with an identical product, no prizes for guessing which one we will be going with! I can't believe there is such a big difference between the two. Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 92Feb 28, 2010 10:10 pm Gosh, where do I start? I'm so envious that you are getting bamboo floor!!! Its going to look amazing! Spewing DP didn't like the table. Sounds like it would have been an awesome bargain! If you haven't ordered your carpet yet, try Solomons in Dandenong for a quote on the 100% wool. We got our carpet and timber laminate floor from there. He really looked after us. I wasn't too sure about a timber laminate but this guy stocks 12mm 1.2 board for $35sqm with underlay (supply only). There is also a place who bettered his price in Preston called The Timber Floor Centre. We rang him back after finding out this place ix cheaper for same product, so he matched it at $30sqm. It's so exciting picking colours and furniture for our homes. DF is so sick of hearing me go on about everything house. I even looked at letterboxes today. I love the timber slats with stainless steel letterbox attached. They look great! Pricey though. Can't wait for something to happen on your block! Have you done your colours at Colour World yet? They have great range. Building in Promenade Estate, Doreen Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 93Feb 28, 2010 10:46 pm Thanks for the carpet tip. I'll check them out. Anything to save a buck or two! Thinking about colours/furniture is exciting!!! Sadly no colorworld yet, will have to wait until the drawings & energy rating have come back. Cheers. Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 94Mar 01, 2010 10:19 am Keep your chin up Rowena, as I have mentioned it took them ages to finalise our drawings and then I found that Laurimar were so busy that they held up the build another month as only 1 person approves the plans. So so annoying. At least you can look forward to colour world. I thought it would be really frustrating but me and Caine found it to be quite fun. Let me know if you have any questions about it? Caine & Sarah's NBG Buckingham 36 View my thread here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19894 View all photos here: http://caineandsarah.blogspot.com Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 95Mar 01, 2010 4:28 pm Oh Rowena I definitely feel your pain. It took us 6 months to get our finals finally last Thursday!! Booked in our colour world appointment today for 18/03. We started to get demanding because it was taking so long. Amazing what happens when you start putting some pressure on. Good luck, I really hope you get some progress soon!! Danielle & Shane @ Manhattan Place. Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 97Mar 03, 2010 8:49 pm Hi Rowena, I can totally appreciate your frustration with the delay. We were in exactly the same position as you. Ours took 6 months of planning, red tape & council politics. It was such an emotional rollercoaster & every time we went out to the block I would get more & more frustrated to see land that had done nothing but grow grass! In the end I said to dh we are teasing ourselves because it gets us no where. We had little issues that would take 2 weeks to fix & then another & another one that it seemed like eternity before we got anywhere. We all know how you feel but the only way I coped was thinking - every day we are another day closer to start! You will get there & then look back & think boy it was worth it! Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 98Mar 05, 2010 8:57 pm Thanks Jodie. I'm going to enjoy watching your house being built I agree with you, I think the planning/red tape is the most frustrating part. Great news, we received an email yesterday advising that the 5 star energy report had been completed. (yay - one step forward...) They have now sent the variation back to the estimation area for costing. Really unsure what this means but I'm guessing we are going to have to pay extra to meet the 5 star rating. Have to wait and see. Probably going to be another week or so before we receive this. Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 99Mar 06, 2010 5:55 pm Rowena Thanks Jodie. I'm going to enjoy watching your house being built I agree with you, I think the planning/red tape is the most frustrating part. Great news, we received an email yesterday advising that the 5 star energy report had been completed. (yay - one step forward...) They have now sent the variation back to the estimation area for costing. Really unsure what this means but I'm guessing we are going to have to pay extra to meet the 5 star rating. Have to wait and see. Probably going to be another week or so before we receive this. It is so damm frustrating because all the wording they use makes it sound like something is happening but it does make you think is this just the building company spinning me a line. I used to think that all the time because each time we got to the next stage there would be a problem & that would take 2 weeks or so to fix etc etc. Each stage took so long & being totally naieve to the whole building world & not hearing anything from our building company it made us feel like we were being mucked around. Were our plans just sitting on a pile with lots of others not doing anything or was something actually happening??? I guess you just have to trust them & be happy with the little achivements (5 star rating ) & hope that the rest of the journey will be quicker. We got there & you will as well. I think it will make us appreciate our house a little more when we get there! We visited our site today & saw our lovely slab. It was great & made us alot higher than we thought we would be. But it looks great & we sat & had lunch where my 3 year ols room is going to be. He thought it was funny & it was I have to say. We forgot to take the sparkling with us to toast it I took lots of photo's so will post some tommorrow after work. Have a good week-end!!! Re: NBG Manhattan-contract signed-waiting for final drawings 100Mar 13, 2010 11:19 am This week we received a variation in the mail. To achieve a 5 star energy rating, the building company has suggested that we install low-e glass on all of the windows at the front of the house, as well as the study and kitchen in the rear. Further, we will need insulation in the garage roof. All up, this comes to an extra $4,483, which was very unexpected So, we are now considering the efficiency and cost of low-e glass versus double glazing. |