Clarendon Tender Report

We had our tender appointment with Clarendon yesterday. All I can say is they were 100% professional in their dealings with us.

The tender was clearly explained to us, inlcuding the full building process.
All the site costs, inclusions and additions we had made were clearly documented and priced.

Site costs came in under budget.. even after taking into account we will require the standard 'M' class slab being upgraded to a 'H' class. In fact site costs came in at 10K less then what we were expecting.

We then had the opportunity to add any further inclusions that we wanted to the tender. And we had a LOT. But no question was too hard to answer. They didn't have all the prices on hand for all the inclusions we wanted but everything was documented and they said they will get back to us next week with a final price.

They spent over 3.5 hours going through everything with us yesterday.

I must say we are VERY impressed with our dealings with Clarendon so far.

Great to hear a good news story for a change.

Looks like you might be going with Clarendon? From you blog it seems that the other mob didn't reallhy provide you with much information at the Tender Appointment.

Yeah - I still read your blog, even though you bagged me on it!

Hehe.. all in good fun.

I'll update my blog tonight.. can't access it from work.

Yeah we were very much impressed with the level of detail contained in the Clarendon tender. Just for peoples information - site costs came in at 25k, which for a split level home we were very content with. We were told to budget for 35k.

The Cosmopolitan tender was basically a brochure. It told us nothing. It was full of "provisional cost subject to contour and sute survey". And you need to cough up $4k to Cosmopolitan to get this survey to thenperhaps find out that it's going to cost too much to build anyway. Ridiculous system.

Clarendon is certainly back in front at this stage. If they come back next week in a timely manner with the full list of prices for the upgrades we have requested then they are pretty much guaranteed our business.

Finally some good news Mark

Yes there tender presentation was good. I have/had few issues (i'm only stating the -ves here):
1. I forgot to look into the water issue (Retention tank) . That's about 30K! For them it might be just another 30K but for me that's a decider !
2. 10K council fee
3. Our land is sliding about 1m backwards. They only cut & fill... but we don't want to go any lower.
4. Any inclusions cost a bit.
5. What we agreed (design) with the sales person isn't what we got at the end. Basically, all the time (at least 20 hrs on my part) we spent customising was wasted.
6. They didn't itemise the cost enough

However, they were very professional in their dealings. Feels like you can trust them to build our home.

I attended m@$terton's tender as well. Price was too high for the quality of their houses (compared to Clarendon). However, they seems know about my council requirements than anyone else which is a major plus when you deal with a difficult council!

Given a serious shot at Cosmos (thanks to you). Then now, we are not planning to take it any further thanks to you again . There are too many unknowns.

Now, waiting for @llC@stle's response. I can't contact them via direct email. That's annoying me a bit. Sales guy we dealt with ($teve) doesn't work during week days.. that makes it a bit difficult as well.

You can compare your tender with mine (Clarendon) at http://www.teamit.com.au/home (then click on 'Cost 24 Jul07').
Feel free to send me a private message.


- devank

Ha ha devank, you lived in an "expensive" suburb, that's why Cl@rendon charge you so much for "council" fee...

If your land is lower at the back and you want no cutting at the front, but to fill the back to make it level, you will be paying a lot more as they have to put in drop edge beams at the back. That will add at least $3000 to your tender price. It doesn't look as good as filling at the back, but cutting at the front is the cheaper way.

I think because Mark already built with AllCastle a few years back, he knows all the tricks and what to ask for... You will also become an expert if you can survive the long painful process!!!

Good on you Mark! Hope it all goes smoothly!

Lesson learned from my poor neighbour:

-Don't forget to get a slim water tank
-Make sure ducted air con is included, or at least just the ducting pipes and do the external air con later
-If you need retaining wall at the back, get it done as part of excavation
-Make sure the builder knows the model you want, our neighbour was assigned a builder who always build houses for Domaine. The result for this "first" Clarendon house was disastrous, lots of mistakes....
-check your site at least once a week. If roof is on and it rains, check it again next day!

We have recycled water.. no water tanks required.

Check! Ductwork only is $4550 including 3-phase power to meter box

Not required.. we have a left to right fall of 1.1m. The house we want sits perfectly on a left to right fall of 1.45m. So we don't have much cutting and filling to do at all.

The Springwood design is a Domaine home. Our tender presenter was an employee of Domaine.. so at this stage so far so good! Fingers crossed.

Will do! Our block of land is round the corner from where we are currently living. We can walk there.

Ah, must be good old Terry again. He is quite good.

Hi Cookiemonster,

Did you sign your tender? Currently there is a promotion for $2999, you can get $17350 includes.

We consider Clarendon as well.

Regards,

Eddy[/quote]

Haven't signed yet. Have our re-tender appointment next week.
What inclusions does this $2999 promotion have?

[quote]Haven't signed yet. Have our re-tender appointment next week.
What inclusions does this $2999 promotion have?[/quote]

It includes
Caesarstone benchtop,
upgraded polyurethane gloss kitchen,
Ducted vacuum system,
upgraded Clark advance sink,
water flirtation,
upgraded panel internal door,
Level door handles,
Cosmo 4-start saving toilet suite,
video inetrcom system,
security alarm system,
external sensor lights.