Met9icon building - canal

Our plan has the butler's pantry also (although our house is a lot smaller than yours). We were advised by our sales consultant that unless we had a use for the sink (which was a Celini - or something like that - single little round stainless steel bowl with no draining rack) that we could upgrade to the butler's pantry but delete the sink. By deleting just the sink we saved $900. We figured that the dishwasher wasn't in the pantry, so the one sink in the kitchen would be fine. We were after the extra cupboards and bench space so we were wrapped!
One note: check your butler's pantry drawings as the cupboards in ours didn't match the kitchen (which we wanted as it is like an extention) so we had to have them changed (from lift up top cupboards to regular).

Ray.

Hi coljacqld,

Yes, I also love butler's pantry!
That's why we changed the layout of our pantry/laundry so as to make way for a butler's pantry!

fish_boy79, Tribeca is also a nice house. Liberty is very expensive because it's part of M's signature houses. We originally wanted Liberty, but didn't like the idea of having the laundry area facing our secondary street (we're in a corner block) and one bedroom downstairs. So we went for Nevada. Whatever plan that would suit your circumstances... especially budget, go for it!

Ray,

I really like how you can walk thru both sides of the pantry. I considered your advice re the sink, we feel like we need one for our use but have asked from a sinlge bowl with drainer. We are hoping for a rebate! I checked out the overhead cupboard ours open the usual way, thanks for the tip

Hi Chris

costing for downlights start at around $100 each and go up from there

Anne

Get them to supply batten outlets everywhere and install your own downlights afterwards.

I think Cookie meant to organise them yourself, not install them yourself. You will need a qualified electrician to install them.
We upgraded to downlights in the entry, sitting, kitchen, dining and family - the rest we left as "battern holders" and we can change them over later as funds are available (or leave them ).
The cost of approx $100 ea is to add a light point (approx $45) + the downlight fitting (approx. $50). If you have some light points in the room already (normally 1 or 2) then you will only pay the cost of the downlight (approx $50) for each. So if you are changing from 1 battern holder to 4 downlights you would pay about $350 extra.

Ray.

Alas VJ we are yet to get a start date. I have today again spoken to my friend the sales manage after sending him an email expressing my disgust. At this stage there is 3 things holding us up. The letter from our bank is not good enough, not the right words apparently. The plans only arrived with them today even though I got my copy from the certifier yesterday and apparently our colour selection appointment which was only monday has to be costed and approved by us before a start date is issued.

The last bit about the colour/upgrade variation gets me. When we first signed up you did this at prelim contract stage, now you can not even make the appointment until after you have signed the full contract. It took us 4 weeks to even get an appointment because there was none available. So for them to now tell me that until that have priced the things we upgraded and we agree to them they won't give us a start date, lets just say I wasn't impressed.

All going well (mind you U am not holding my breath) the plan/finance things should sort out by tomorrow. And the sales manager has promised that we will have the variation tomorrow as well. So we may have a start date tomorrow. The sales manager has predicted Dec 5 if thing go according to plan. I will be happy with this as our contract says they must start with 20 business days of these other items being sorted.

Our custonmer service consultant started ringing my husband instead of me after I had a go at her on Monday. Then she tells my home finance guy that I am the most irrational person she has ever dealt with. Luckily I have dealt with this guy for more than 8 years, I used to work for the bank itself, so he didn't take it to heart, laughed at her actually. I am not sure that her saying that would be classed as professional????????????

So we wait to see what tomorrow brings

Well it has been a while since I posted and we have had some excitment, good and bad. The day we received our site start date of Dec 5th in writing, I received a phone call to say that we needed to have sarking plus ventilation due to the building approval and our N3 wind rating - $2600. So on the phone I got to our building certifier and confirmed what I gathered from our paper work - there were no conditions to our building approval. Rang the Big M to challenge them and was then told it was boral that said we must have sarking due to N3 wind rating and proximity to water, so I asked for the variation in writing. When this came through it still said it was for the building approval so I shot of the following email:

Hi ------

I refer to your phone call re costings to add sarking/ventilation to our contract. From our conversation and your explanation, I believe the reason for this is that we have a N3 wind rating and Boral stipulate that sarking must be installed due to the wind rating and close proximity to water no matter what tile we chose. You below email says that it was for BA approval. I have spoken to ------------- and they have confirmed they issued our BA subject nothing. It does not mention a requirement for sarking etc.

We do not accept that we should wear the cost of this. Our contract states:

Clause 20.10
"In the case of a variation requested by the builder, the builder is not entitled to payment for extra work unless the variation became necessary because of circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen by the builder at the date of the contract."

M--------- have been aware from May 30th 2007 of the location of the land and its proximity to water and was advised in soil test dated June 7th that we have a N3 wind rating. Our contract has a costing for N3 wind rating already. M--------- had ample time and notice to have this amount in our contract which was signed on October 20th. This cost was very foreseeable but M--------- failed to advise of the before contract signing.

Tile variation was already quoted and signed off by M------- & ourselves.

If this is required M---------- is to wear the cost.

Regards


After this email I received a phone call to say we didn't need sarking after all. Sorry I wasn't going to accept this and asked for that in writing, that way if it became an issue down the track I had something in writing. Well me asking for it in writing seemed to put a spanner in the works.

Got an email 2 days later to say
"Thank you for your patience.

At the moment due to this issue of Variation #5 your job is on a hold status and your final construction plans have not been drawn.

Your supervisors will be meeting with you to discuss the process which follows from once Construction start. At this moment he has not got the details of your job.
The Construction Manager is talking with Boral for confirmation and I am waiting on instruction.

Once again thank you for your patience."

So I get on the phone the next day to see how long exactly this is going to take considering our original site start of Dec 5th is only 6 days away, to be told be our CSC that the customer service manager is now handling it and should have rung us by now - message left for us to be rung. Finally got onto the customer service manager on the Friday to be told that yes M------ agreed that we did need sarking and it should have been picked up and because it wasn't they would wear the cost - OMG

I think in hind sight they were trying to pull the wool over our eyes by saying it was a BA condition - just show it pays to read your documents and quote clauses from the contract.

So with that little win what of our start date

Spoke to our site super on the Tuesday to booked first sight visit and meet him on Friday 7th. Put the mower in the car to give the block one last mow and drive the 45min plus to get there to discover --------------------------------------

the block scraped, cut and the house pegged out, they actually started on Dec 5th so our 160 day count down has begun.....

Drainage has been done and the slab in booked for this coming Thursday 20th so fingers crossed it happens otherwise it will be after the Christmas break. Our site super seems to know his stuff so I think I will keep everything crossed from here to mid May. I don't like to count too many chickens when I read Ricci's experiences so far, but one can only hope that being on different side of Brisbane may help.

Will keep you posted...............

Trying with some photo's

[/img]DSCN1172.JPG

working on that now

Thanks