Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 161Nov 28, 2013 11:56 am Thanks Guys, I'll be sure to post the results of the inspection. 11 months still feels like a long time to me but it will be good to have it finally finished off. Ari, we had our original sales consultant leave and had no contact for weeks after that so I get how you feel. Who have you been dealing with? I had JD take over early on and now I'm dealling with KR who is a real pleasure to speak to. Who's your tender appointment with? Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 162Nov 29, 2013 9:43 am My admins have been JB (who left) and BS. I just tried to phone my current admin and the name has changed on the message bank so I wonder if I've lost another one. Were your people actually "Mainvue" people? Mine always say Henley. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 163Nov 29, 2013 10:01 am Ari, all my admin to SS to his manager were henley. Did JDJ leave as well? Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 165Nov 29, 2013 1:30 pm JDJ is one of the tender admin staff from Henley. she can be pretty interesting to deal with, which is all i'll say. She was good at what she did but I think that the workload would have been very very high for the office this year. Apart from the sales person, all of mine have been Henley too. I never had BS or or JB. Aren't we so kind that we don't use there actual names Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 166Nov 29, 2013 6:31 pm I had a couple of emails from JDJ at the start but them we were changed to MC and I'm SO glad, he's been fabulous to deal with. We're very happy with him. All Henley here too, Ari. - MrsT Brought first house in 2008. Renovated...a LOT. Built in 2013. Our thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67954 Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 167Nov 29, 2013 6:34 pm I haven't come across any of those ones. I didn't get a return phone call from my admin, so hmmm will have to wait until monday to see if she's still around I guess. What would be the best thing to do if I cant get ahold of her? Just call reception? Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 168Dec 12, 2013 7:49 am I'm a little late on the update as i've been so busy trying to organise connections and a moving date. Our home presentation went pretty well, below is a brief list of things we picked up. - A few paint marks, chips, stains, patches (about 20 in total) generally across the whole house - Ensuite toilet door lock didnt engage - One toilet wouldn't flush properly: The plumber need to rotate a valve for it to open further - A couple of chips in the stone island bench - Some glue marks and plaster dents - Chips on the edge of a bath and scratches in the bases of both baths - one of the sliding door locks wouldn't work All in all, we were pretty happy and handed over final payment on the day. All the defects are currenlty being fixed - the painted has come, the stone mason? has fixed chips in the bench, the carpenter is coming today to fix the door. At the moment, I'm working hard on getting my timber flooring in in-time for the carpets to be laid next week. It's not as easy as i thought but its very rewarding at the end of the day . Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Now that the house is finished (more or less), I'm wondering if I should keep posting under the "Build a new home" topic? Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 169Dec 18, 2013 10:58 am Nah, keep them coming, IMO the build a new home topic should be completed when everything including the landscaping the works is completed. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 170Dec 18, 2013 11:27 am I demand moar photos! MOAR! Looks great! Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 171Dec 19, 2013 9:49 pm Well in that case the floors are complete and we'll be moving in this weekend. I'll also have a driveway next week so ill post a few more photos then. I have to say, with the wood floors and carpet in, the house is looking amazing. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 172Dec 27, 2013 11:43 pm After a week of living in the house we've picked up a few things that are great on the house, and some that are not so good. But there are some pearls of wisdom for anyone looking to build the amalfi. In no particular order; - the kitchen tap we ordered "Argo mk2 gooseneck" looks great but is rubbish as a tap. It splashes water badly due to the slim outlet. We have to clean half the bench after doing dishes. - microwave space is too small for a 40L microwave - only just - the toilets cisterns on the toilets "tonic contemporary? " don't flush we'll at all. You can't just press the flush button, you have to hold the button and sometimes flush twice. - the hot water takes AGES to get to the showers and kitchen. About 30 to 40 seconds at full flow. We can only get the kitchen sink lukewarm because of it. I think it's related to the solar hot water and we will be getting MV to inspect the problem. - started to notice a lot of plaster joins in ceilings at night now but not overly fussed. - the taps from the ensuite and bathroom are really loud in bedroom no. 2. I would get sound insulation around the room if possible. We will need to retrofit the room with insulation in future. - changing powder room 1 ( opposite the theatre room) into a linen closet was one of the best decision we made. We would be struggling for storage space without it wouldn't have used the extra toilet. - the double garage plus is amazing. If you can fit it on your land and its within budget I highly recommend it. - the front facade we chose looks great but the main section of windows have a wide capping painted in the window frame colour that kind of looks a bit wrong I guess. Not a biggy to be honest but not as expected or as the artistic shots by MV show. - roller room motor is very quite and smooth - master bedroom is HUGE! Need to work out how we're gonna fill it. We may need to divide it into a master and study in future. - the fugly sized hand basin in the powder room is actually fine and we won't bother changing it. If I can be really picky; - the shower drain in the bathroom is gurgley and loud. - the showers have a quite and constant thud above a certain water pressure level. - the shower screens don't have stoppers on them and hit the cabinetry. I added clear little rubber door stops onto the doors and They work pretty well. - if you're going to go for swinging cupboard doors in bedrooms over the sliding version (God only knows why you would: we did and regret it badly) then you need to install your own door stops. I may add to these lists as time goes buy but there's nothing overly horrible that we can't live with. Status update on build: The wood floors now finished and I'm now working on installing the skirting boards and scotia's. they look amazing against our colours. Between the carpets on timber floors we spent about $8-9k - when compared against what MV were going to charge for their base level materials, I think we chose well. we'be also installed some timber blinds to a few rooms which look great. We still need to get custom made blinds for a majority of the house and working on the style and colours at the moment. Our driveway should be done early next week, so we can then start parking in the garage our driveway will be a light coloured exposed agg with lots of white quartz. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 173Dec 28, 2013 7:13 am Hi Tx, I agree with everything you mentioned. We have all the same issues. Our hot water system is crap as well. When we come home from work and it's been a warm sunny day, as soon as we turn on the hot water we get huge hammering sound from the unit. When it first happened I actually thought some one was there with a hammer. The problem is that unless it happens while the service guy is there they don't know what it is. So looks like we have to put up with it. Another issue I have is there is grout coming out in various places, only small amounts but really annoying. 1 thing I really regret is not upgrading the duct work and unit ready for refrigerated cooling. Now I have to install a separate unit with separate ducts which is about 11-12K where as it would have cost me 6k if the right unit and ducts were already installed. For about 13-14k I could install a new heater and ducts and sell my brivis on ebay and get about 2k from the sale with all the ducts and zoning motors. Jury still out on that issue. We just had our 12 month maintenance before xmas and they painted quite a few walls and the outdoor ceilings. The other thing that really annoys me is the kitchen cabinets. Really bad quality and workmanship. Draws not lining up and all. All in all as I have mentioned in my own thread, I will never build with them again. As soon as the price in our area reaches what we have spent on the house, we will be selling. Hope everyone else is having abetter experience than us. The best advice I can give you Tx and everyone else that has a MV/HY home is to keep a note pad of all the things you think should be fixed. That way when they come around for the 12 month inspection, you'll have most things listed and won't have to look for them. Good luck everyone. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 174Dec 28, 2013 7:28 am Thank you for the updates guys. We've chosen sound proofing around Bed 2 so I hope that helps as it's the only room that will have a child full time. The kitchen water doesn't surprise me as it's a fair way from the hot water service. All the cold water in the line has to come out before the hot water can get there. It was the same in my last house. Are door stops not on the inclusions list? I'll have to check. We had swing doors last build and they added door stops for where they hit walls. This time I have sliding doors in the two small bedrooms and a swing door in bedroom 2 which has a wir. Great decision to turn the powder into a linen. I hadn't thought of doing that. We are having it turn into the grand pantry. Keep a close eye on those plaster cracks. You will want to get then fixed. They will only get worse. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 175Dec 28, 2013 7:31 am We are having the amalfi facade too and it does have an Infill above the corner window in the porch on the plans. It will be our roof colour so I think it will look very strange. Do you think it could be covered with cedar? Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 176Dec 28, 2013 12:01 pm My 2c from txateu's post. txateu After a week of living in the house we've picked up a few things that are great on the house, and some that are not so good. But there are some pearls of wisdom for anyone looking to build the amalfi. In no particular order; - the kitchen tap we ordered "Argo mk2 gooseneck" looks great but is rubbish as a tap. It splashes water badly due to the slim outlet. We have to clean half the bench after doing dishes. I reckon its the case with most taps, ours its a sqaure one which barely gets to 1/4 of the length of the basin, resulting in water being splashed on the benchtop everytime. I'm yet to find a tap long enough to get to the centre of the basin. - microwave space is too small for a 40L microwave - only just - the toilets cisterns on the toilets "tonic contemporary? " don't flush we'll at all. You can't just press the flush button, you have to hold the button and sometimes flush twice. Ditto - the hot water takes AGES to get to the showers and kitchen. About 30 to 40 seconds at full flow. We can only get the kitchen sink lukewarm because of it. I think it's related to the solar hot water and we will be getting MV to inspect the problem. We did have the same issue, the Chromegen? guys had a look and said its 'normal' apprently it should take a max of 60 secs on full force to get hot water at the furthest point in the house. The gas boost doesnt kick in if its not at full force. - started to notice a lot of plaster joins in ceilings at night now but not overly fussed. We have now noticed shiny wall paint in several areas where the joints are, but its not a deal breaker. - the taps from the ensuite and bathroom are really loud in bedroom no. 2. I would get sound insulation around the room if possible. We will need to retrofit the room with insulation in future. Ditto, I guess no amount of insulation is going to resolve this issue, unless its a brick wall - changing powder room 1 ( opposite the theatre room) into a linen closet was one of the best decision we made. We would be struggling for storage space without it wouldn't have used the extra toilet. we got the powder there, but honestly its not really used much, could have gone for a linen cupboard or an extended WIR or even a WIP/2nd kitchenette - the double garage plus is amazing. If you can fit it on your land and its within budget I highly recommend it. This was one of the best decisions we've made too. - the front facade we chose looks great but the main section of windows have a wide capping painted in the window frame colour that kind of looks a bit wrong I guess. Not a biggy to be honest but not as expected or as the artistic shots by MV show. - roller room motor is very quite and smooth - master bedroom is HUGE! Need to work out how we're gonna fill it. We may need to divide it into a master and study in future. - the fugly sized hand basin in the powder room is actually fine and we won't bother changing it. We've made peace with it too, but if given a chance i'd replace them with a different model If I can be really picky; - the shower drain in the bathroom is gurgley and loud. Actually prefer it, less chances of clogging long term - the showers have a quite and constant thud above a certain water pressure level. A way to resolve(sort of) this is to gradually yank the lever on and off, a sudden shut or open also is bad news for the water pipes in the long term. - the shower screens don't have stoppers on them and hit the cabinetry. I added clear little rubber door stops onto the doors and They work pretty well. Could you attach/PM a pic of how this looks. we are in the same boat Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 177Dec 28, 2013 3:23 pm Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 178Dec 29, 2013 12:28 pm Thanks clubbi4 - I've already started my list but will be mentioning a few things before my 12 months defects period expires. Your new kitchen mixer tap looks great. Ari, door stops are but I don't think they were for the cupboard door as the style we chose were not standard issue. For the $1 it costs for a door stop ill buy my own. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our doors Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Standard issue door stop Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Retro fitted door stop = identical Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Microwave space is not really suited for standard microwaves. Not that it's a big issue tbh Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our large linen that I now call the cellar it's 1.4m wide and the same length as the standard powder room. No loss of walk in robe space either. From memory our credit back for the powder room was about $1.5k but should have been more Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our clear little door stops Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The door swing for showers are probably not the best design but still okay. The other option would be to drill in a floor mounted door stop and risk cracking the tiles. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The tolerance of the shower door against the bath annoys me. I'll have to go to A rubber shop and pick up a clear door seal to stop the water splashing out. I'll post a photo once I'm done. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The noisey drain. I may be able to come up with a plastic cone that sits inside the drain which may silence the sound a little. [IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r28/txateu/517eb71e14bb4ff7227e59b28623c65a.jpg[/IMG Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The small sink in the powder room isn't that small. Re: Txateu's Build - Mainvue Amalfi 532 179Dec 29, 2013 12:38 pm Also thought I post some shots of my handywork with the curtain in the ensuite and laundry. I've installed a cut down standard dark oak colours Venetian blind that I purchased from a well known linen store. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ They look great in my opinion Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The laundry door blind was a little more tricky but come up a treat. I screwed the bottom into a bracket so the blinds won't fly off every time the door is opened. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Installed frosted film on the entry door so that we don't lose any natural light. The side window will most likely be in timber Venetian blinds to match the door colour. Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 18276 Hi We have finally decided to complete a KDR on our corner plot in NE Melbourne suburbs. Given its a corner plot approx. 400 sqm just a standard design may not fit the… 0 8804 |