Arden Developments

Morning all!

Here is a question for you all:

We have signed up to build with Arden and got in when they had the Hebel promotion.

While I have some concerns, they are minor, while my wife has a lot of concerns regarding hebel.

So... here are what I see the pro's and cons:

Pro's for Hebel:

• Better thermal insulation - reduced heating/cooling costs.
• Whole house render.
• Quicker construction (this is really better for the builder, not the owner).

Cons against Hebel:

• Limited to what fixings you can attach to the product.
• Needs to be recoated every 10 - 15 years (admittedly, any render does - However you are rendering the whole house here and not just a facade).
• Doesnt _seem_ as durable to human contact as brick is.

I would be interested in what your thoughts are? Would we be crazy to knock back the Hebel offer, is the recoating a small price to pay? Has anyone paid for the additional sealant coat on their hebel and if so, do they know how it performs?

Tiling over hebel

Post from sinbox

Thanks! I am on there already, I just haven’t asked the question yet!!

There is already discussion going on posted by Zhong Li on 16/03

Thanks again. For some reason I think i had read it and forgotten about it!

Bricklayers will tell you that bricks require no maintenance
Renderers will tell you that you may get 10 years between coats but they recommend every 5 years as the render starts to break down and lets moisture through.
Long term bricks are much cheaper option but it depends on your immediate budget and how long you will stay in the house.
We have render but it can show signs of color change by sunlight and dust is difficult to remove as you have to be careful with high pressure washers.

Thanks ardenkdr!!

I am definitely leaning toward the brick now. Another reason I am heading that way is that we want to attach a pergola to the side when the building is finished.

They advise against it with Hebel where it will be fine with brick.

has anyone successfully put in a variation when the build has been started? we are at frame stage (not yet completed) and tried to put in a variation form (to add some lights and remove the high gloss polytec for front kicker of the island bench) but our admin girl said management has to approve and she doubts they will even though we are willing to pay the $500 variation fee.

Speaking of admin has anyone been assigned EK? Good to hear of your progress laaa.

We are going to tender in 2 weeks

I’d love to hear
- any tips for tender
- anyone who is well down the track of building who can summarise their experience of good/bad/otherwise....a fair bit of negative press on product review and looking for some balanced assessments

Thanks all

we've had a change of SS but our new guy seems good. he used to work for boutique homes and he organised to meet us on site and walk us through everything. negative is right now we want to do some variations that in my mind shouldnt be a problem because theyre not structural changes except that it's too much hassle for our admin girl to do it (that's what my husband thought it sounded like when he spoke to her over the phone about changes).

that's who our admin is - EK.

Thanks very much laaa - let us know how it goes, it is difficult at times to get adequate communication hey!

I’m often surprised by ‘customer service’ nowadays.

I hope you got the outcome you were aiming for

Hi all
We have tender on Monday
Quick question - when did you all let Arden know you were using a private inspector? Is there an obligation to let them know prior to tender?

Thanks

I told them at contract and when they sent me email of SS - Uou r then again required to mention the stages u r doing to ur SS and copy to ur admin

We didn't engage one until our land was titled last month, so months after tender and contract. I gave my CA my inspectors details and vice versa.

Thanks very much pEast

And clareymoo

Did anyone have a special clause in the HIA contract that says we need to sign a variation to add 28 days to the build period for each independent inspection report we want Arden to view? So if we had 4 we would add 4 months to our build.
And also that the independent inspector must be registered with the VBA. We were looking to use Darbecca, but don't think they are registered with VBA, so maybe we can't use them.

Did not have it in my contract - probably for new builds -
What is the time period given for your build otherwise
I have gone with NHI - and Kevin certainly does a very good job

You will get much better picture from the Facebook page where many r currently signing their contracts and tenders - the Facebook page for Arden homes builders - their experience