Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 25, 2010 9:27 pm __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Got the Land!!! 2Feb 28, 2010 6:39 am __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 4Feb 28, 2010 2:39 pm Building at The Ponds Land reg 3/12/09, Land settled 18/12/09 Approved by Design Panel 16/11/09, Submitted to council 24/11/09, Approved by Council 21/1/10 Site Start 21/5/10 http://andyminpondsbuild.blogspot.com/ https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19800 Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 5Mar 01, 2010 9:11 am I built with Allworth in Newcastle. I moved in last June and have been happy with the quality and finish. They were a little behind on the three month maintenance but did fix all the things I has listed plus a couple of other things I missed. I don't think it matters who you choose to build with as all builders seem to get positive and negative feedback. It all depends on the site supervisor you end up with and the individual tradies that work on you job as to whether you have a good or bad experience. Fortunately mine was good. Allworth are very strict. You can't make any changes once you sign the contract and you can't have any of your own trades do anything until after handover. I wanted more lights and power points but they wouldn't let me add them. I caught the electrician onsite and paid him directly for the extras. They also don't communicate very much but that didn't stop me from regularly checking things out and pointing out anything I thought was wrong. I'm not familiar with The Ponds but in my estate there are little green cabinets around the place that provide telephone/Internet connections that are then connected back to your nearest exchange by fibre. I am over 5kms away from the exchange but only 1.2km away from the green cabinet and I get Fantastic ADSL2+ speeds through Internode. Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 6Mar 01, 2010 11:36 am We built our first home in Kellyville Ridge with Allworth in 2001. We would absolutely recommend them. Our initial sales rep was hopeless (pretty sure hes gone now) so they handed us over to the Sales Manager and the rest of the process was a dream. We're building on the Northern Beaches now, Allworth don't build here, or I would definitely use them again. The build was fabulous. We have no horror stories to share and have been eager to build again ever since. Our carpet layer (after handover) commented on how he loves doing Allworth houses as the walls are so straight and the slab level - I hadn't realised they might not be! We had a couple of cracked tiles which were fixed not long after handover and I think one paint touchup. I don't remember anything else needing repair. We built a 4 bed + rumpus and the house was completed in 15 weeks, we also had 2 weeks rain so expected them to run over time but they didn't. That was 9 years ago but I would still use them again. We made quite a few changes to the plan including adding the rumpus and moving the whole back wall out, they were very accomodating. We asked about doing our own cabling, the sales rep said if somoeone snuck onto site and ran it on a weekend they couldn't do anything about it. Someone did run Cat5 through our house on a weekend (A LOT OF IT!!) - the SS never mentioned it. We also wanted a dark blue paint for our rumpus room (movie room) which they couldn't provide so we took our own paint to the painters and they were happy to do it for us. A perfect build! Good luck with yours - hope it runs as smoothly. Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 7Mar 01, 2010 11:42 am Sanderling37 Nice to see you join here Dave - I am sure that whatever design you decide on will be better than Guidlford! lol, didn't know who this was for a second until I looked at your blog... Sanderling37 Dont forget if you want to sit down with us and go through all the inclusions etc to make sure you are not missing anything we are happy to help! thanks mate. Thanks for feedback and comments, its a very exciting time!! As we've now bought our own land I don't see any reason to go through the package group so we went to Allworths yesterday and they're now going to draw up some plans for us etc and that'll take 3 weeks they said. I want to try and get onsite if I can, if they won't allow me I'll be able to get one of my customers on site to help out or I'll just go there after hours and run all my cables. Found out that the package people include driveway, front landscaping turf etc... I've got a few contacts and don't mind getting my hands dirty so I'll be able to find cheaper ways to do all that stuff rather than paying the premium price tag they put on some things.... __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 8Mar 01, 2010 11:50 am mb@147a We built our first home in Kellyville Ridge with Allworth in 2001. We would absolutely recommend them. Our initial sales rep was hopeless (pretty sure hes gone now) so they handed us over to the Sales Manager and the rest of the process was a dream. We're building on the Northern Beaches now, Allworth don't build here, or I would definitely use them again. The build was fabulous. We have no horror stories to share and have been eager to build again ever since. Our carpet layer (after handover) commented on how he loves doing Allworth houses as the walls are so straight and the slab level - I hadn't realised they might not be! We had a couple of cracked tiles which were fixed not long after handover and I think one paint touchup. I don't remember anything else needing repair. We built a 4 bed + rumpus and the house was completed in 15 weeks, we also had 2 weeks rain so expected them to run over time but they didn't. That was 9 years ago but I would still use them again. We made quite a few changes to the plan including adding the rumpus and moving the whole back wall out, they were very accomodating. We asked about doing our own cabling, the sales rep said if somoeone snuck onto site and ran it on a weekend they couldn't do anything about it. Someone did run Cat5 through our house on a weekend (A LOT OF IT!!) - the SS never mentioned it. We also wanted a dark blue paint for our rumpus room (movie room) which they couldn't provide so we took our own paint to the painters and they were happy to do it for us. A perfect build! Good luck with yours - hope it runs as smoothly. Thanks mb@147a, sounds very promising, we got told that as well... Our salesman has been in the industry for 40+ years, he just sold a house to a 3rd generation in one family which is comforting. He also knows The Ponds and all the requirement that they have set out, when going to other builders it was like they didn't know all the requirements etc. __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 9Mar 17, 2010 11:15 am I am also looking at Allworth homes , single story houses. Let's see how I go. Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 10Mar 17, 2010 11:20 am missionhome I am also looking at Allworth homes , single story houses. Let's see how I go. Which design? We're going for the Concerto, unfortunately though there is no display home... __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 11Mar 25, 2010 7:56 pm Hey noddy9, We bought land in Kalina with the release in Feb 2010. Our lot is expected to be registered in June. We took a packaged deal through Package Central and are going for the Concerto as well. I found out that going through them was not different to buying and going through Allworth directly as the only difference in the deal is the included price of the driveway, alfresco and front lawn landscaping fohatr combined price of 10K. We liked the guys at Package Central and hence decided to stick with them. The guy is honest and says their landscaping is not best so if we minus that, they would credit us 2.5K and we can get it down ourselves. After we paid the initial survey deposit, he was able to show us a newly completed concerto in Kellyville Ridge where the owners had just moved in. It was nice to get a good idea of this as it is different to the Solara Elite at Homeworld. Allworth has built the concerto in Kalina, the ponds and Kellyville Ridge so am confident they know all the requirements already.. Our land has not been surveyed yet due to water, power and gas pipes being installed now and hence Allworth cant go in yet to the plot for the survey. We shd get the detailed tender once they go in in 1st week of April or so. Allworth so far gave us only a quote based on the contour diagrams... We are thinking of doing a few changes in our Great room but lets see how much the $$ comes to Regarding your question on Internet, I am with TPG and checked in detail on their coverage maps and it looks Kalina will come in to the Kellyville Ridge exchange, so I should get around 4-6 Mbps speed, which I would be okay with as I only get 3.3 Mbps presently... Tell us your experiences and changes you have asked for .. How long did Allworth take to give your initial detailed quote? Ours was just under 3 weeks.. I have read some reviews on productreview.com.au on Allworth and generally people say they are not great communicators, but we have limited choice due to our tight budget..But am optimistic everything will go well for our first home.. ------------------------------------------------------- http://homeinkalina.blogspot.com Enjoying our new Concerto with Allworth Homes in Kalina, The Ponds Handover - 28/06/2011 Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 12Mar 25, 2010 8:32 pm hey pman, excellent stuff!!! well our land contracts got exchanged today, so that was exciting and we found out that our land will be registered by the end of next week which is awesome!!! the sales office originally told us mid to late June... we're getting our initial quote done with Allworth at the moment, its been about 4 weeks since we went and saw them, hadn't heard anything back so I rang them today, the guy was off (his weekend) and they'll give me a call back tomorrow regarding it... What did you think of the size of bedrooms 2, 3 and 4? were they a little bit to small? We're going to remove the home theatre walls to make the great room bigger, reverse the house, but leave the garage and lounge/dinning the same way as it suits our block better. we're also changing the lounge/dinning into our home theatre room (as we're young and don't need formal lounge and dinning, great room and alfresco will do us just fine... Thats about all the changes I can think of... Oh I found out that in The Ponds there is fibre from the Kellyville Ridge exchange to the big green power boxes on the street (ours is 2 doors down) and from there is coppy telephone cable, so hopefully we should have fairly good speeds for the internet, would be extremely happy with 10MB connection.. unfortunately we haven't had the opportunity to walk through a concerto which sucks, so your views on the house are greatly appreciated.. Dave. __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 13Mar 25, 2010 9:01 pm Congrats Dave on your land exchange and a speedy registration. Well I guess I am okay with a June registration as it will give us time to get the plans and colours ready and also get it approved by Kalina authorities before it goes to the council. If I had mine settled in next couple of weeks, I would have to start paying repayments on land soon Reg room sizes - they are sligtly small - so we have removed home theatre and since we dont need a formal living - we are pushing back bed 4 by 1 m into the living so that it becomes 6x3.5 instead of 7x3.5 ... Also with master room, we are extending that by 1.5 m in the great room and will then use the remaining great room for our TV room and meals...Formal living - well dont know what I will use it for as we a young couple too - but may be put my TT table ther...hhehehehe LOL I wanna ask them if I can extend the great room in the alfresco area and move alfresco a bit above - but guess that will add 2-3k to it - so lets see Am also thinking I will get my own electrician later on to do down lights as Allworth charge 85-90 bucks a pop, which is probably around double than what you can get an electrician to do. We are thinking abt the colonial facade - what have you thought of? It is all so undecided yet and me and my mrs keep coming up with ideas - I am just afraid and hope we make the right choices before doing the contract as they wont allow any changes after that I will try and talk to a couple of concerto owners over the next weekend or so and see their experience and if anyone might be willing to show us theirs from inside... Great news abt the fibre - am not sure if we have a big green near ours - will wander over in the weekend and talk to the guys at kalina sales office This is all so excitig stuff ------------------------------------------------------- http://homeinkalina.blogspot.com Enjoying our new Concerto with Allworth Homes in Kalina, The Ponds Handover - 28/06/2011 Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 14Mar 28, 2010 9:30 pm Hi Dave, Let us know how you go when you get your quote. I am keen to know what sort of site costs you are quoted. We got 21k for a flat block and 9k for stat requirements.. ------------------------------------------------------- http://homeinkalina.blogspot.com Enjoying our new Concerto with Allworth Homes in Kalina, The Ponds Handover - 28/06/2011 Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 15Mar 29, 2010 8:03 am wow... Yeah I rang Allworth on Friday and they said its going to be another 2 weeks as they can finally go on site now to do the survey... Our block is very flat as well... I also went to Beechwood on Sunday and found a nice design that I like, very similar to the Concerto but we can increase the bedroom sizes alot more.. Need to start searching for feedback on Beechwood now as I know they went bust a few years back... I'll then play both builders off against each other to see who can do the better deal.. __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 16Mar 29, 2010 9:22 am That is smart mate! I have already paid Allworth a 2K deposit as they were giving a special closing on on end of Feb - saying that I will get 1000 off if I paid in Feb... I know someone who built with beechwood 3-4 yrs back in Stanhope but am not sure about their costs etc and designs espcially with our block - as we have only a 13m frontage. What design did you see at beechwood? ------------------------------------------------------- http://homeinkalina.blogspot.com Enjoying our new Concerto with Allworth Homes in Kalina, The Ponds Handover - 28/06/2011 Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 17Mar 29, 2010 12:13 pm Yeah our land is 15.3 frontage and 12.5 at the rear so its difficult to find a house that will fit. From Beechwood we like the Genisis series 'Muscat' with a slight change to fit our block... Have changed the kitchen design to make it alot bigger, family room will be slightly smaller to fit on our block, master room descent size, bed 2/3 will be larger and dinning/lounge slightly shorter which will be converted to our home theatre room. http://www.beechwoodhomes.com.au/images ... fp_207.pdf On the land side of things, the contracts have been handed over, deposit bond paid, will be settled at end of May which is perfect for us!! so things are going along well so far. __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 18Mar 29, 2010 1:40 pm That looks good. Only thing I am not sure is how big frontage you need for this. In our concerto, we have extended the master bed by 1m making it 3.35x5.25 and then thinking of moving kitchen next to wall of master bed in the great room (by removing home theatre) and use the space of the original kitchen as our tv area.. and extending bed 4 by 1m by shortening living room to 6mx3.5 and building external built-in cupboard in beds 2,3 and 4 so that the rooms dont become any more smaller. if you dont mind me asking, how much is the base price of this beechwood one, and what are they saying abt completed price - is it on display at homeworld? Also, i didnt see an alfresco in it ------------------------------------------------------- http://homeinkalina.blogspot.com Enjoying our new Concerto with Allworth Homes in Kalina, The Ponds Handover - 28/06/2011 Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 19Mar 29, 2010 1:47 pm Sounds good what your doing to the Concerto, this Beechwood house is base price $140k compared to $137k for the Concerto... Your correct there is no Alfresco but I'll build a nice pagola area outside of the kitchen/meals area once we're in. Again same as the Concerto we keep choosing plans that don't have a display home which really sucks... __________________________ Building the Concerto with Allorth Homes @ The Ponds Our blog Noddy @ The Ponds http://noddytheponds.blogspot.com PM me re Landscape Plans Re: Looking at building with Allworth Homes @ The Ponds 20Mar 30, 2010 9:16 am Hi Is there anyone who already built concerto with alloworth? If yes can you post some pictures as I am really not sure what to do..... since there is no display home for that. It is very hard to visualise what we are getting. I am not sure whether to go through package central or allworth directly. Is it better to do the airconditioning with the builder or is it ok to do it afterwards? Thanks Hi, I am looking into doing a KDR in Melbourne and am contemplating using Kialla Homes. I am looking for feedback on them from others who have built with them. 0 13666 Really tight at the top of the stairs- how to get furniture into those rooms? Study books - does anyone really use them these days? Large storage closet would be more functional. 2 6963 |