Baldivis build with Dale Alcock Homes - Update

Totally disappointing. There is someone else who is on this forum and signed up to DAH the same day we did. They have the exact same sales consultant as us and were told a few of their upgrades would be freebies. Then came time to sign and they aren't free at all. We raised the windows in the minor bedrooms and study and over the phone said he wouldn't charge. Then we got the updated preliminary statement and he's charged us. Only a hundred and something dollars so we didn't bother making the call.

In a similar situation - we got the free wall painting as part of the 32k package. When we spoke about it with one of the display guys he commented to our daughter "you'll be able to choose your bedroom colour". So we assumed you could pick colours you liked. It was only by accident we found out the free painting only includes one colour throughout the whole house. It was only after DF whined to the sales consult he added in 3 extra colours. DF's arguments were a) where does it say that and b) since when does brown paint cost more than white pink blue paint????

We have asked a number of people where our "semi fake" $12k wood floors extend to and nobody can give an answer. We know we have to pay extra for it to go into the study but nobody seems to know if the hallway to the back rooms and the activity rooms are included??????? Shouldnt they know this???? We certainly won't be having carpets in the hallway so the study and possibly hallway extra may be the final straw.

Oh ... And before I forget, our $3k deposit was paid to them the day after we signed up (which was the 31st may).
We have received NOTHING to say they have received the funds. No receipt, no email, no letter. :///

You could simply ring and ask for the receipt - I don't think that there will be a problem.

All the frustration stems from the lack of clarity and the fact that nothing is in writing at sale stage.

Things change from one day to the next as the sales people forget what they say to the potential clients.

I really feel for you!

Today should have been a happy exciting day and instead you are disappointed
My builder has been mostly excellent with communication. They seem to be a bit slower but the only issues I have had is that they got delayed in plans and didn't let us know and some pricing queries at prestart which our prestart consultant checked and rechecked when we still weren't happy

I think in this instance you just need to trust your gut. Vans is probably the most recent build here for getting an idea what construction will be like.

The junction box thing though is ridiculous

oh yes, the junction box thing! That is ridiculous! That is them trying to rip you off!
We were suggested to put in junction boxes at prestart.
Our electrician said junction boxes the whole way, it is actually easier to put a junction box in then it is a normal light.
and easier to change later.
The only reason i can really see that would stop junction boxes going in is because the house warranty is supposed to include electricals. However it is pretty clear if you get an electrician in afterwards, the warranty doesn't really apply to that, and so it shouldn't.
I would check again.
We dealt with Peter Harvey in management, if you want a point of contact. I don't think i have his number anymore, but you can always look him up! I will try to find his email and phone number and PM you. He dealt with our consultant issues quick smart!

Can you cancel the floorboards and your credit back? use the extra on something else in the package? like on upgrades of some sort? I don't know how the $32K bonus works.
Surely if you want REAL WOOD and they wont give it to you, you can get your credit and add it in later with someone who will do it in REAL WOOD and probably at a cheaper price?! And you dictate where the flooring goes to, nobody dictates it to you!

When Jemima is back, she is great and you can contact her and she will help you out too!

Agreed, and strangely enough I'm certain vans had JB's in and has only recently had handover.

Another thing we thought of which is only minor but again an annoyance.

"do you want a gas point?"

"well there is one included isn't there?"

"no we don't do them anymore because it affects the 6 star rating - the little vent in the wall"

"well we we're thinking about putting it outside anyway because then we can hook it up to a BBQ"

"No you'd have to pay for that"

Yes we had junction boxes...
I don't know about the 6 star energy rating stuff, but i know there were changes and the gas point stuff was going to be different! Ours was already included in the price as it was prior to the changes. We have ducted reverse cycle air con and have the gas point. gas point wont be used much so maybe not worth it?
We considered the bbq thing, but then thought no what if we want to move the bbq around, we are stuck having it at that point.
Might not be worth it?!!!
I am guessing they didn't take the price off the house for taking out the previously included gas point!

Okay so with the negativity aside here's what we decided on today;

External Selections;
Face brick: Austral Cervantes
Roof colour: Colorbond Woodland Grey
Window frames: Storm Front
Garage door profile: Meditteranean / Seville
Garage door colour: Colorbond Surfmist
Gutters: Colorbond Woodland Grey
Fascia: Colorbond Woodland Grey
Downpipes to render: Colorbond Evening Haze
Downpipes to brickwork: Colorbond Paperbark
Deleted paving to do exposed aggregate after handover.

External Paint Colours:
Render: Solver White Cliffs 300%
Contrasting Render: Solver Caribou (to pier near front door)
Front Entry Door: Sovler Woodland Grey (thinking of changing to Caribou????)

A pic of it together (minus the garage door and contrast)


Internal Doors & Frames;
Solver Designer White

Internal Wall Colours;
Still To decide, but love smoke pearl, white cliffs and dune which is a lovely grey!!!

Kitchen Selections;
Benchtops: Caesarstone 20mm in Urban.
Glass Splashback: Latte
Fronts: Formica Habitat Velour Finish



Bathroom & Ensuite;
Benchtops & Fronts: Laminex Seductive Limba Natural Finish.
Both in 80mm square edge fascia. (we saw this in one of the display homes and think it looks great!!)
Wall tiles: Globo White Gloss 200 x 400
Border Tiles: Serena Silver Trav Athens Grey Glass
Floor Tiles: Waringa Stone Grey 200 x 200



Laundry;
Floor Tiles: Waringa Stone Grey 200 x 200
Benchtop: Laminex Stipple Seal Natural Finish
Fronts: Laminex Pearl Grey Natural Finish



Think that's about it for now

can i ask why you aren't going to get the fascia and gutters (and downpipes) in colorbond? Why are you painting these?
It was only $300 to get all of it done. And soooo worth it!
We only got the front downpipes painted and got them done the same as the render so they blend in.

Door: we went woodland grey and ummed and aaarghed if it was the right choice.
I think yes it was because it matches the storm front window frames and when we get a security door we can get a door in woodland grey, but not in carabou. But your choice in the end!

We considered smoke pearl! I loved it! but didn't quite match our benchtops (too pinky).
go to masters and check out their wattyl range...they have different colours that anyone can do, but they have the swatches (nobody else will have them!)

I love your colour choices! Awesome! We have the waringa tile but in different browns. It is a really nice tile. We were going with the the same wall tile but dales stuffed that one up and we compromised and stayed with the one they sent us for the bathroom (not for kitchen and laundry though!). I wish we had the bigger tile. looks lovely!

Fixed that up vans - we are going with colorbond gutters and downpipes etc!!! Put it in the wrong spot
Well worth that $300,,

Think maybe we will leave the front door as woodland grey then, just wasn't sure how it would look as a front door.
Maybe we will have to pop over one day and have a quick look, will deffo be in touch about that one!!

Hi Miss Em,

We are also building the Riva, we are currently at the rendering stage.
In regards to the gas point. As far as im aware only having the gas point outside the house affects the 6 star energy rating. So i dont know why they are charging you to have one inside.
We had an extra one priced for in the alfresco and it was around $800. so as you can imagine we didnt bother.

We were still able to get junction box's. $20 extra than having a light for less material and labour. Go figure.
builders are in the business or ripping people off. We are all in the same boat

As for being charged to make your windows smaller? thats weird. I had been told windows and brickwall are pretty much the same price when building. Its just a window frame fee you get charged when you add one in. I have know idea how their estimating department works tho.

Good luck with the build. We have had a pretty hassel free build so far. The Dales team have been great.

Casanova we want one outside, no need for it inside. We were told they don't do the gas anymore because having it inside affects the 6 star rating because of the air vent they have to install, but if the gas is outside then it doesn't affect the rating because there is no need for the vent.

With the junction boxes, last night DF recalled our sales consultant saying we would be able to put junction boxes in if we wanted, but at that stage we were going to just get lighting done through them anyway.

Hi Miss Em,

I had a similar experience with my building sales rep. Said one thing, meant something else. Used lots of ambiguous language. Once I was "onto him" and started requesting stuff in writing, suddenly there was a stand off. The annoying thing was, I really didn't want to lose my deposit and had long ago made my decision that I wanted to build with them, and my sales rep (and one at another company that I was talking to) KNEW I was not going to jump ship.

My advice, if you really are prepared to jump ship and lose your deposit. Tell them so. I personally think they will call your bluff, but I think at that point, everything will suddenly become crystal clear to you and your DF. You'll either go, "That's a shame, but I really prefer the houses of XYZ anyway." or you'll suddenly realise that Dales will give you exactly what you want, and you may just need to find more creative ways to deal with them in the initial stages.

I didn't play the game at the start, wish I had (or even knew how!!). But, the sales stage is fleeting, and I will end up with an awesome house.... That's what I'll have to live with in the end!

Love the colour selections MissEm. Thought I would back you up on the whole DA experience. We put our deposit down at about the same time as you and went through the same 'lack of communication' phase whilst the plans were being drawn up. Felt like 'we have your money, we aren't interested anymore', but got some reassurance from Jemima that this was normal and there wasn't anything to communicate. Anyway, we got our 1st draft working plans last week and there are some big-ish errors and lots of very basic mistakes. None of the changes we asked for have been made and we keep getting told 'do that at pre-start' the problem is pre-start will be after contract signature if we want to get the finance in time to settle on the land. I'm pretty sure any changes we make at pre-start will come with a bill as we will have signed off on the contracts and I just don't feel I can trust them anymore. The sales rep told us we could have 'everything we wanted' and come in under budget. He has already gone over budget and we haven't got half the things we want. I feel like we aren't being listened to and considering you pay a premium to have a 'good builder' like DA we are in a position where we have to check every single thing 10 times for mistakes or omissions. Even the things the sales rep suggested and drew for us (such as a feature theatre ceiling) have disappeared from the plans.
We are spending so much money that we could now afford to build a 2 storey house and are off to see another builder at the weekend. I'm just really fed up and feel like we are being taken for a ride in terms of the cost now.
Sorry to rant on your post MissEm.

I think you may find that with alot of builders.
You really need to go over the drawings and make sure everything you want is done.
We often found items were missing that we had asked for. Im not sure weather it is bad communication between
sales and drafting or drafting just being lazy.
Yes try and do as much as you can before prestart to get an idea. we has $6500 included in Prestart with the promo and spent another 13k on top. We are paying this ourselves as we didnt want to have to go back to the bank again.
We had already been approved for our loan.

If you go 2 storey you might not get all the little things you wanted.
its kinda like a base 2 storey or a really nice single. for us anyways.

Good luck with your decision.

We ended up calling our Sales Consultant yesterday. Turns out he didn't actually have anything he needed to talk to us about, so no idea what the lady at pre-selection was talking about, I don't think she even knew?

Our contracts aren't ready, but should be this week or next week. Our plans were ready so he sent them through to us by email to look over. We are quite impressed by them, actually, and there is nothing that we want to change.
However, at pre-selection we noticed our kitchen window was missing, and we couldn't figure out why, we thought perhaps he was putting overhead cupboards there but when we looked at where we were getting the overheads it just said above the fridge recess and alongside the rangehood. We asked him and it turns out we are getting overhead cupboards there, but that we could still put in a window if we wanted, kind of like a window splash back. We thought over it for a bit and asked him if it would be cheaper to have it as a wall and just have normal glass splash back, but it actually works out cheaper to have the window there and he said he will do it for no charge.

We were also contacted by our Preconstruction coordinator yesterday, just so she could introduce herself. She takes over from our Sales Consultant once our contracts are signed, I think. She seemed really nice and easy to talk to. She said Pre-start will occur about a week after signing the contracts, so in about 2 weeks time.

Things are looking up again and DF and I are so excited again

Floor Plan


Elevations


Room Layouts

Gorgeous plan! I love how you have the island bench without a sink or stove on it!

With your linen cupboard have you thought about having a broom area?

Your laundry is pretty much identical to mine hehe

What do you mean by broom area???

Also wondering if anyone knows if soak wells are located on the plan and if not where they generally put them??? Maybe a dumb question but do all downpipes run into soak wells???

The make the top shelf all the way across then put a vertical piece about 500mm from one side then the other 3 shelves just go to that so you have a tall spot in the cupboard for the brooms.

Like this but just in a straight line and wider

Oh and our soakwells are located on our site plan, and I do believe all down pipes go into them.