Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - latest plans! 61Sep 07, 2013 8:53 pm [quote="EmyN"]So our latest update is rather depressing. Got tender 4 back. Finally all the structural things are looking right! The problem is the latest items quoted for seem excessive so it's going to take more back and forth to figure out why and where we can adjust things. They have quoted our 2-pack kitchen at 11k rather than the 4.5k they originally estimated. This is purely for changing the skin of the kitchen to 2-pack and doesn't include extra or different cabinetry (as far as I can make out). The problem is we really need an itemised quote to decide what we can trim out of the kitchen design and what we can't, and it's going to be a nightmare getting that. I am sooo not willing to give up on my shaker kitchen though so it's just going to take forever to get this all sorted and I'm getting very depressed!! Meanwhile just to add a linen closet to the hallway (taking space from bed 2) has been quoted at 2k!! How can that possibly be for what is essentially robe doors and 4 shelves?!?! Also extending our ensuite shower 50cm to make sure the door doesn't stick out into the middle of the room when open has come back at 2k also even though we actually need LESS glass in the shower (as it can just be a fixed panel at either end of the shower now). I know it is an extra 50cm of tiling but seriously..... Sigh. So all these things are currently under negotiation. Taking forever.... where's my chocolate and icecream..... /quote] I feel your pain!! I agree, we have found some costs very excessive as well - but luckily we have come up with some good compromises and have just signed our contract .... yipeeee. Will update my page soon. Hang in there .... there has got to be a bit of give from them and they should be able to justify why the costs have gone up so much. I have asked for a break down of costs on some things and managed to get something ..... eventually .... even though they don't like doing it! Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - latest plans! 62Sep 08, 2013 9:02 am I paid $1300 to get one 450mm wide floor to ceiling cupboard and the two overheads next to it added into my kitchen. That was a discounted price by around $200 as we know the builders kitchen company owner. Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - latest plans! 63Sep 10, 2013 2:12 pm Thanks Tans. I've just sent off a strongly worded email about the kitchen overpricing and have asked them to look at the tender again. We'll see what happens!! But at this stage it would actually be cheaper to go with the plain included kitchen and then at handover rip it out and install our 2-pack kitchen. How stupid is that!! Dargh!! Amancharmar I paid $1300 to get one 450mm wide floor to ceiling cupboard and the two overheads next to it added into my kitchen. That was a discounted price by around $200 as we know the builders kitchen company owner. Wow that's an expensive cabinet (although I'd expect kitchen cabinetry to be more expensive than a standard robe really)! The thing is, we added a robe elsewhere when we made some other changes and by my calculations it couldn't have added more than 600 to the price for those changes, so I have no idea why this one is so expensive. I've asked them to quote a hinged cupboard rather than sliding so we'll see how much of an improvement that is. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - latest plans! 64Sep 10, 2013 2:20 pm How's this for a sad update. I am desperate to feel like something's happening, I really want to post a picture so here are our toilets (the middle one)!! Wheee!! Hahaha. We knew we wanted a back to the wall toilet so we went around and sat on them all (feels very different with pants on mind you) and pressed the flush buttons and chose this one, a Porcher Cygnet. No idea if that's a decent brand or not but it had an okay warranty. Maybe if you're lucky tomorrow I'll post a photo of the new stapler I bought to help with sorting all the paperwork out! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2013-08-24 10.26.42 by Em_Brisbane, on Flickr Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - exciting photo update! 65Sep 10, 2013 4:13 pm can't wait to see the stapler Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - exciting photo update! 66Sep 10, 2013 4:26 pm Hey, stationery can be very exciting! My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64437 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - exciting photo update! 67Sep 10, 2013 6:39 pm want to see pics of the new stapler Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - exciting photo update! 68Sep 10, 2013 8:40 pm Stapler??? I'm sooooo jealous!! We chose the Porcher Cygnet toilet too (I think....) Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - latest plans! 69Sep 12, 2013 11:37 am EmyN How's this for a sad update. I am desperate to feel like something's happening, I really want to post a picture so here are our toilets (the middle one)!! Wheee!! Hahaha. We knew we wanted a back to the wall toilet so we went around and sat on them all (feels very different with pants on mind you) and pressed the flush buttons and chose this one, a Porcher Cygnet. No idea if that's a decent brand or not but it had an okay warranty. Maybe if you're lucky tomorrow I'll post a photo of the new stapler I bought to help with sorting all the paperwork out! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2013-08-24 10.26.42 by Em_Brisbane, on Flickr That made my day ...... so funny! So where is the stapler??? Contract & Colours: 6 September 2013 Tender Appointment: 15 August 2013 Settlement: 16 July 2013 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 70Sep 22, 2013 1:14 pm I had no idea stationery could be so popular! Give the people what they want!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2013-09-22 13.01.14 by Em_Brisbane, on Flickr He's not sexy, but he gets the job done. And if THAT excites you, just look at this bad boy. A giant hole puncher!! This beast can do holes through 10 pages at once!! Whooo the power!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2013-09-22 13.00.55 by Em_Brisbane, on Flickr That bad boy helped me compile our folder (I already need another one as this one is bursting full): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2013-09-22 13.02.01 by Em_Brisbane, on Flickr Oh... yes and there's supposed to be a house build going on somewhere around here.... still waiting on a blardy kitchen quote before we can proceed with the tender. Kitchen guy said it would be last Tuesday, then Friday and surprise surprise we have received nothing.... slowly going grey... I might just go and gaze at my beautiful hole puncher again.... lovely stationery escapism. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 71Sep 22, 2013 2:20 pm great stationary love your folder Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 72Sep 22, 2013 5:01 pm Ha ha ha ha ha!!! My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64437 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 73Sep 23, 2013 8:28 pm How frustrating that it is taking so long!!! Keep on at them .... you will get there! In the meantime, thanks for sharing your stationery!!! Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 74Sep 26, 2013 9:26 pm It's so nice to find someone else who is hoping to build/is building with Plantation. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was anymore - though they assure me that they are flat out all the time. Can I just say - your posts all sound very familiar. Been there, thought the same thing, got annoyed too. We signed our original contract with them for our Majestic nearly 2 years ago and only finally got a start on the construction a month or so ago. We got to revision P for our plans before they could get the plans to match the contract perfectly. I will confess that Hubby is a little anal on this, BUT it was worth it to make sure that they had exactly what we wanted. Sometimes you wait and wait for them to do something - and sometimes you need the time to check that what they have supposed to have done is what they actually did. And check, check, check EVERYTHING you get from them. Not just the bits you want changed, make sure the bits you wanted to stay the same still are the same. They make mistakes - with the plans and with the pricing. You have to go over it again and again. I'm not sure it is deliberate, as much as their drafters are lazy and their estimators just don't seem to care. A couple of bits of advice (if you aren't already doing it) get everything in writing. If you talk with them on the phone - email them to confirm the conversation - so that you have a record of what was said. It's up to them then to say 'no - we didn't say that'. This is particularly useful when comparing the salesman prices to the head office prices or to promises that they will make an allowance you wanted from them (your rangehood is a good example). It's also useful when you need to refer back to something you do later and you find the price is different to what they said it would be earlier. There was a question somewhere about the high pricing of the additions - remember that they add on their builder's profit to the purchase cost of that addition - but if you take something out, they only take off the base cost of the item and never their added on profit. It doesn't hurt to get the supplier cost (eg Reece) when going in to negotiate with them on their charges. Definitely get a different brand of kitchen whitegoods. Theirs is junk. So is their solar supplier - assuming they are still using the nasty brand we specifically excluded from our house after I showed them all the negative reviews. We are also supplying our own whitegoods. Be aware though that you will have to trot them off to their kitchen people for measurements etc and then you have to take them back again and install them after handover. They will not take any responsibility for damage to anything you supply - but argue with them about making sure that damage caused by their own contractors is something they need to be held accountable for. I was going to go for 2-pac in the kitchen too - but the new wrap looks pretty much the same for a lot less (though obviously more than baseline laminate). If your quote comes in too steep it might be worth looking at that. And if you thought you had seen some steep prices now, wait until you get the tiling quotes - for even just a basic tile job. Sorry - this is getting a little epic. So much to share ... I hope you get something back from them soon. Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 75Sep 28, 2013 7:16 am Wow TTSS that's a story and a half! We haven't had any problems like what you're describing yet. So far they have been pretty good in that all the changes we discussed always appear perfectly on the tender/plans. I don't think they have made any actual "mistakes" yet, it's more been negotiating what we think things are worth and how we want the altered floor plan to look. They have been quite efficient with us really apart from the 1-2 week wait between each change and the new plan draft, but I think that's not unreasonable really. I'm glad your build has finally started, where are you located?! P.S. Did you mean you signed the tender two years ago, not the contract? Because they have a ten week to construction start guarantee from the time of signing the contract, and all the plans need to be approved at that contract appointment I thought.... Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 76Sep 28, 2013 10:48 pm It's not so much that there were problems, just some sloppy work from some of their behind the scenes guys. We're also a little more aware of where we can cut things out to save money (or spot their padding) than most people and I think they were busy trying to claw back as much as they can. It's all good though - just a little frustrating with the length of time. Your 10 week 'quick start' only applies to certain build types - those that mostly stick to the base plans with limited changes. We were told up front that it would not apply to our build, even though most of our changes are their own 'options'. We're on the Gold Coast. We've got the bottom floor frame up, but they still need to put in the floor (the joists are there) and the second storey. Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 77Sep 28, 2013 11:07 pm Oh - you had a question re the rainwater tanks - although the state govt took away their requirement to have one, it is still up to the local govt's to individually change their rules to agree. It is expected that they will, but not yet implemented. So that is why it is still on your plan, though you are being told you won't have to have one. Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 78Sep 28, 2013 11:33 pm Hi Emy just wanted to let you know all that stationery encouraged me to get my stuff sorted too, been looking for the hole-punch for two days and tonight I went out to buy a new one at Woolies for $5. Just completed doing it all! lol We're only up to prelim estimate but there's already so many documents! And it ain't hoarding (I have a separate folder for that lol), it's just all the documents I want to keep in case things go awry. Wanted to share my folder here Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ --- Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 79Sep 29, 2013 9:51 am Awwww I'm so proud! Hahaha. That's cool. I've actually just sent hubby off to buy another folder because I am seriously out of space and my desk is piling up. I really try hard not to keep any unnecessary things but it still adds up. I've considered printing out my email correspondence with Plantation to keep as a record of things they've said but it would take up 2 folders all on its own so I've just got to hope the MSN servers never die hahaha. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Our rocky "Forever Home" - stationery love! 80Sep 30, 2013 11:52 pm EmyN Awwww I'm so proud! Hahaha. That's cool. I've actually just sent hubby off to buy another folder because I am seriously out of space and my desk is piling up. I really try hard not to keep any unnecessary things but it still adds up. I've considered printing out my email correspondence with Plantation to keep as a record of things they've said but it would take up 2 folders all on its own so I've just got to hope the MSN servers never die hahaha. Yes! Email correspondence is next on my list! Very important. My thoughts go 150km/hr all the time and I can't keep it all in my head! I think I'm going to relax and watch a movie, I've been so tired of thinking How long has it been since you had your first tender appointment to now Emy? I think my tender is in a couple of weeks.. No set date yet. I've gathered based on this site it can take months. --- We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. That’s why we… 5 16289 of course there are legal avenues. You've already mentioned it. Sue them. I find it odd that lawyers wouldnt be willing to take on the case, given CCT evidence and… 1 23785 "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 36 23920 |