Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Are you building with Alkira? 43Dec 09, 2013 10:19 am Hi all Just wanted to throw my hat in the ring ... I'm going through initial tender with Alkira and building in the Ryde area ... hope to be able to contribute with info moving forward .. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 44Dec 10, 2013 7:14 am deluded Just wanted to throw my hat in the ring ... I'm going through initial tender with Alkira and building in the Ryde area ... hope to be able to contribute with info moving forward .. Interesting ... what area of the Ryde area, roughly? We're on the western side of Lane Cove Road, in the area just west of the golf course. LOTS of new builds around, currently & recently, there's one quiet back-street I only see because I walk down the footpath regularly, and the last fibro was demolished recently; it's now all <10yo 4-5 bed double-storey houses! Re: Are you building with Alkira? 45Dec 10, 2013 8:24 pm HI Forg Over @ East Ryde (realised just saying Ryde area is misleading, more like within Ryde Council).. There aren't many dwellings sold in the area compared to Ryde, North Ryde so not many KDR. Hope to set the trend Re: Are you building with Alkira? 46Dec 10, 2013 8:29 pm Still yet to see anyone pop their heads up who have actually built with Alkira. They've been around quite a while so there must be some out there..... or does everyone just get fed up with all the admin and walk...?! Re: Are you building with Alkira? 47Dec 10, 2013 10:18 pm doohan777 Still yet to see anyone pop their heads up who have actually built with Alkira. They've been around quite a while so there must be some out there..... or does everyone just get fed up with all the admin and walk...?! I've read whatever threads area available for Alkira and they are all rather dated. I suppose this will be one where time will tell ... When I was at the initial wishlist discussion, there were about a dozen folders of clients in tender processes. The feeling I got was that there was only one person who can make decisions and the rest can't... which moves to the same things mentioned on this forum. I'm hoping to get a positive experience with this builder, I've experienced the large builders who have teams and teams of people. I wouldn't say they did a really good job every aspect of the house was a hit and miss in terms of workmanship. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 48Dec 11, 2013 7:32 am doohan777 Still yet to see anyone pop their heads up who have actually built with Alkira. They've been around quite a while so there must be some out there..... or does everyone just get fed up with all the admin and walk...?! I've only seen one other person on this site who is/was building with them at all, in the 18-odd months I've been aware of this site; and a lot of the time, once someone's finished building they won't be back here very often ... and given the rate at which threads are bumped off the first page, your chances of anyone answering are fairly slim. Maybe someone will get bored over Christmas & start searching the site ... deluded When I was at the initial wishlist discussion, there were about a dozen folders of clients in tender processes. The feeling I got was that there was only one person who can make decisions and the rest can't... which moves to the same things mentioned on this forum. Having been through maybe 1/3 of the admin process with another builder, with Alkira the sales people seemed to have more power to make decisions. ie. we sat down with the sales person, we asked for something, a pricing book came out - and if they could do it, it went on the tender. If something wasn't in the book then someone in estimating got a call, we were told whether or not it could be done & it went in the tender as an estimate (ie. the odd stuff did need to be properly costed/quoted by someone in estimating). This 30 minutes took about 6 weeks with another builder! Re: Are you building with Alkira? 49Dec 11, 2013 9:19 am I agree with you Forg, this forum has a lot more activity compared to other forums and once you've been bumped off the first page then it is pot luck people read any posts beyond that unless they are genuinely interested ... Also, people who have completed their homes seldom come back to the website to post (very similar to other types of discussion forums) Re: Are you building with Alkira? 50Dec 17, 2013 7:07 pm Hi. Have been watching forum and finally decided to set up an account. Doing a KDR with Alkira in North Ryde. Hoping to get to lock up stage by Friday, minus external garage door. Happy to share experience so far if any questions. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 51Dec 17, 2013 7:13 pm Welcome Ak75!! I guess a general synopsis of your experience so far would be helpful - eg what's been good, what's not so good, what could be improved/changed next time, your opinion of the experience to date etc... this would be most helpful to us all here! Re: Are you building with Alkira? 52Dec 17, 2013 8:58 pm Am building a modified Olivia with Aurora facade with modified windows. First time builder so have learnt a lot during the process. Like everyone spent hours walking through display homes, originally looking at Metricon because display homes looked so good, but was turned off when sales person tried to push us through Cdc which would of impacted our setback and given up backyard space. Also looked at Clarendon, sales person was really good, but got worried with amount of negative reviews on internet for both these builders. At same time were considering Alkira, due to the Olivia ticking a lot of our boxes. Dealt with sales person who has received some negative reviews on some forums, but we found her quite good. Like one of Forgs earlier posts you feel bad asking so many questions and requesting changes but the communication and responses we received were always timely and accurate and I really wanted to be sure I understood everything. This included walking through display home prior to signing tender checking what was included as standard and what was not. From here there was a lot of back and forth, some my doing, others Alkiras. It helps to be patient and across the detail. Was happy with the communication and kept informed all the way. Some issues with getting through council, storm water drainage dueto slope of block.handled well by The Alkira team and again was regularly updated. While this was going on, we were doing selections with options gallery, think this was only a recent arrangement for Alkira, early 2013, as there was some minor confusion with process. Colours lady was really good, kitchen was ok, electrical was a new team member I believe and did not provide much guidance. Good news is when the electrician turned up to wire house he was really good, explained everything and gave me some comfort decisions we made were ok. Am sure options gallery process would of be more refined by now. Council approval was received in June, old house demolished first week in July, pool in second week, builders started end of July. House at lock up in December. I have nothing to compare it to but at this stage have been really happy with progress and the whole process. Supervisor is really good, catch up regularly to discuss progress. Have picked up some minor things that he has rectified with no problems. My advice, organise spoil removal prior to excavation taking place so it doesn't slow the process, a potential hidden cost. Be aware of piering, another potential hidden cost. Be realistic in your expectations, both time and cost. Hope that helps, sick of typing now. Alkira have delivered on everything they said they would so far for me. Fingers crossed it continues. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 53Dec 17, 2013 10:19 pm Welcome Ak75 Thank you for sharing your feedback on Alkira... I'm hoping to have a speedy outcome and be ready to move in later 2014. The information you have shared is invaluable. Could you elaborate a little more regarding soil removal before excavation? How long did it take for council to approve? I heard government regulations mean council need to do it quickly but also heard from a friend who built in Ryde that the delay was with the council ... Looking forward to your overall thoughts of the workmanship etc and some pics .... Re: Are you building with Alkira? 55Dec 18, 2013 9:34 pm Hi deluded, Was submitted to council on 18th march, Da approved 13th May and construction certificate received on 16th July. As stated above, there was some issues with landscape plans and storm water run off that did hold it up a bit. Contact at Alkira seemed to have a good relationship with people at Ryde council that really helped. Re spoil removal. On tender under provisional site costs it says any excess spoil from excavation needs to be removed by owner or Alkira will do it for a price. My block is level and I thought there would not be much spoil, so I organised a contact to clear it. They let me down so I had a mountain of dirt on site that was getting in the way of the guys digging piers and preparing for slab to be laid. In hind site would of saved money and worry if had organised removal with ss prior. You live and learn. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 56Dec 19, 2013 6:43 am Ak75 Re spoil removal. On tender under provisional site costs it says any excess spoil from excavation needs to be removed by owner or Alkira will do it for a price. My block is level and I thought there would not be much spoil, so I organised a contact to clear it. They let me down so I had a mountain of dirt on site that was getting in the way of the guys digging piers and preparing for slab to be laid. In hind site would of saved money and worry if had organised removal with ss prior. You live and learn. It's interesting you say that ... your/our supervisor said we could get whoever we wanted for that, but he recommends only getting someone else in if we knew them; because he kept seeing delays otherwise on many of his jobs. I guess you're an example of the delays he keeps seeing. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 57Jan 24, 2014 1:23 pm Hi All, After reading your posts thought I'd also join. We're building in Bella Vista and in the frantic final stages of our paperwork before building starts next month, so I'll keep you all posted. We've had the block since the beginning of January 2013 and have had to go over the plans about 60,793 times as the errors have been countless thus far. It is frustrating because we deal with some excellent staff who we can't praise enough for their dedication. Then we deal with equally lazy staff who cannot be bothered at ALL. It makes the experience so incredibly frustrating and unpredictable. In any case I have heard the same mantra that paperwork is tedious as anything but once the building starts it's a much easier process. Here's hoping. Poor hubby is run off his feet chasing all their mistakes. I'll try and start a blog when we start building. I've heard lots of excellent reviews about the site managers (Scott and Greg I believe). So I do hope for better times ahead. Hope everyone else is doing well with their building stages. Re: Are you building with Alkira? 58Jan 24, 2014 2:36 pm Interesting you had that many mistakes ... we had a few, but certainly doesn't seem as many as you've mentioned, and not only have we completely rearranged the floor-plan but our list of variations more than doubles the price of the house. And I do mean completely rearranged; downstairs is fairly close except for slotting in two bedrooms & a bathroom where there used to be a walk-in pantry + study + loungeroom as well as moving the laundry to the other side of the house & spinning the alfresco 90 degrees; but upstairs is completely custom (including even the stairs). Our paperwork took a while more due to the size & number (and apparent strangeness) of the variations; and they made fewer mistakes (& yet with more changes) than Rawson did before we were punted. Frames arrived this week! I'll update my build-thread when there's some visual indicator of progress ... Re: Are you building with Alkira? 59Jan 24, 2014 8:46 pm Careless mistakes. And yes, we have also completely rearranged the floor plan (I do mean completely, both downstairs and upstairs). Even so, I cannot believe how quickly the prices creep up! Exciting! Did they give you a timeframe for when they expect to finish the house and/or any penalties for not completing on time? Re: Are you building with Alkira? 60Jan 24, 2014 8:55 pm Only standard HIA contract penalties, so the amount is pretty irrelevant. I can't remember exactly, but I think it's about $50/wk. They could easily save themselves $50 per hour with scheduling things in certain ways, and if those ways extend our build they wouldn't care about the $50/wk they'd owe us. Standard 2-storey build time in Sydney is 39 weeks, so ours should be done by late August. But that's standard in the building game, it's a pretty inefficient industry overall. I imagine it would be near impossible to do, because of the amount of resistance you'd get, but if a builder were to wade into the market with an efficient approach they could make an absolute killing in Aus. There's so much wastage, repeated/repair work, etc etc. Looking to start the journey of becoming an owner builder in SA. Feeling pretty (overly) confident on the building and construction details, but really struggling to find… 0 8423 No. It's not original. Circa early to mid 90s would be my guess and maybe even as late as early 2000s 1 6636 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5813 |