Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 41Aug 27, 2013 9:43 am Yeah we went with easy build package. In hindsight if i had known.. would have went the other route. It was about a 5k refund for both carpet and tiles. Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 42Aug 27, 2013 9:46 am Standard carpet includes; polyester, nylon and wool. which are around the $30/m^2 range (retail). Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 43Aug 27, 2013 12:29 pm tonyattheponds Standard carpet includes; polyester, nylon and wool. which are around the $30/m^2 range (retail). I've seen the quality of the $30 m2 carpets. It's really bad. I don't think it will last more than a year of use. I ended up getting my own 100% wool carpets. Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 44Sep 02, 2013 11:59 am I've calmed down since my last post and after MUCH convincing, we now have our wardrobe shelves and hanging rails back at no cost. In the interest of saving others the same issues we have had, here are a few situations we have had (not in any particular order) 1. numerous changes to our plans without our consent or request. eg changes to windows, kitchen configuration, HWS recess 2. wording changes in our various tenders, the most recent one was a change from our final tender on a Friday to our Contract tender on the Monday (with only one days notice for our contract appointment the following day) which removed all shelving and hanging rails from our wardrobes. 3. Electrical consultant working off an old plan which resulted in the electrician installing an exterior light point under a down pipe and then tried to charge us to move it. 4. being told we need have two loads of vegetation (on a clear, flat block with nothing but grass which had been mowed as low as possible) that need to be cleared prior to construction. Quoted $1100 to do so, we declined and did the ork ourselves at a cost of $180 5. pier inspection appointment was delayed by an hour and a half so I sat at the block waiting, trying to call head office for an answer 6. at pier inspection, we were told we had two loads of overburden to be removed at a cost of $1100 and needed to be removed the following day in order for the build to proceed otherwise the build would be delayed by us and we would potentially be charged a penalty per day 7. chose to have the builder remove the overburden and received a call the following day that the estimation was wrong and it was actually $1850, not $1100 as stated. Luckily I had questioned the site supervisor specifically on the charges and we only had to pay the $1100 8. CDC approval took over 1 month instead of the 10 days it should have taken due to errors on behalf of the builder and certifier There have been other situations but these are the main ones that come to mind at the moment. Happy to answer any questions if it saves someone else the same headaches. Happy building! Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 45Sep 02, 2013 1:09 pm Bowskie 2. wording changes in our various tenders, the most recent one was a change from our final tender on a Friday to our Contract tender on the Monday (with only one days notice for our contract appointment the following day) which removed all shelving and hanging rails from our wardrobes. 6. at pier inspection, we were told we had two loads of overburden to be removed at a cost of $1100 and needed to be removed the following day in order for the build to proceed otherwise the build would be delayed by us and we would potentially be charged a penalty per day 6. at pier inspection, we were told we had two loads of overburden to be removed at a cost of $1100 and needed to be removed the following day in order for the build to proceed otherwise the build would be delayed by us and we would potentially be charged a penalty per day Did you pay for the shelving in your wardrobes? Were the overburden from the land cut? How much did you have to cut your site? How many meters of piering do you need? What is your soil type? What are you building? Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 46Sep 02, 2013 3:20 pm Hi Guys been following the thread for a bit now .... Just wanted to know how much does the price quoted on their website actually differ from the actual build? I know it would be diffrent for each land I just wanted to get some sort of indication. Thanks Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 47Sep 03, 2013 12:03 pm [/quote] Did you pay for the shelving in your wardrobes? Were the overburden from the land cut? How much did you have to cut your site? How many meters of piering do you need? What is your soil type? What are you building?[/quote] The shelving was just the standard included with the build. Yes, overburden was from the land cut. We have a very flat block with barely any fall. I can't remember the actual figure but the cut and fill was minimal. We needed 45 lm of piering which we had allowed for in our contract. We based the figure on the piering required by our neighbours on either side. Soil type and slab is the standard. We are building the HighGrove Mk IV in Kings Langley Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 48Sep 03, 2013 12:06 pm blackenator Hi Guys been following the thread for a bit now .... Just wanted to know how much does the price quoted on their website actually differ from the actual build? I know it would be diffrent for each land I just wanted to get some sort of indication. Thanks It really is very different for every build. It depends on so many factors like land conditions, upgrades, electricals etc etc. Most of the sales people we spoke to said to allow approx $70-80k on top of the advertised price Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 49Sep 04, 2013 10:40 am Bowskie blackenator Hi Guys been following the thread for a bit now .... Just wanted to know how much does the price quoted on their website actually differ from the actual build? I know it would be diffrent for each land I just wanted to get some sort of indication. Thanks It really is very different for every build. It depends on so many factors like land conditions, upgrades, electricals etc etc. Most of the sales people we spoke to said to allow approx $70-80k on top of the advertised price Ah ok thanks Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 50Sep 06, 2013 10:20 pm Hi All We are building with Allcastle as well. Our block has just been cleared for the slab to be laid. We had the same problems throughout the tender and plan stages. There were tonnes of mistake, things randomly changed, things removed without being asked, things not being added correctly. It was so frustrating and the entire process took about 11 months and 8 tenders to get to where we are now. If we hadn't already wasted so much time with them and had problems with other builders beforehand then we would have walked away and lost some money. We do love the house though. We are building the Palace Regent 12 with a few alterations. I am finally allowing myself to think that the house might actually get built now that they have broken ground. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of information out there about Allcastle. Hopefully the build will go smoothly and the quality will be great. Good luck with your builds. Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 51Sep 07, 2013 7:39 am kahell We are building the Palace Regent 12 with a few alterations. I am finally allowing myself to think that the house might actually get built now that they have broken Where are you building? Did they give you a construction start date? Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 53Sep 10, 2013 4:13 pm kahell We are building at North Kellyville. The site has been cleared and the piers are due to be put in in the next few days. We are building with them too, also at North Kellyville. Which part of North Kellyville you are building kahell? From the timing you have mentioned, it may be around gum nut area or curtis rd area? Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 55Sep 11, 2013 10:27 pm Ca6leguy kahell We are building at North Kellyville. The site has been cleared and the piers are due to be put in in the next few days. How much piering do you need for your site? We need 54m of piering. They only allowed for 38 in our tender so we are out of pocket a bit. We also need to pay to have the dirt from the holes taken away. It is going to cost about 2600 all up. Just be aware that they tend to under quote the piering and don't actually allow for any of the dirt they dig up to be removed. Crokke kahell We are building at North Kellyville. The site has been cleared and the piers are due to be put in in the next few days. We are building with them too, also at North Kellyville. Which part of North Kellyville you are building kahell? From the timing you have mentioned, it may be around gum nut area or curtis rd area? We are building in Murrayfield. We are one of the last ones because the whole thing has take so long. It was nice to see the piers go in today though. Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 56Sep 13, 2013 12:06 pm Update on our build and tips for yours... We engaged our own independant building inspector to do two inspections, one at frame stage and another at practical completion. He managed to pick up a few issues one of which was considered a breach of the Building Codes of Australia. We then provided the report to the builders and asked for a reply on what would be done to rectify the issues found. After numerous emails over more than two weeks, we still had no response. We then received a request for our next progress payment. I contacted the builder to inform them that I would not be making payment until I at least had a response to my emails. Long story short, the builder has rectified works that were in breach of the code but have refused to address any of the other issues outlined in the report. My tip - include a clause in the contract that states that they will rectify/addres any issues picked up by your own independant inspector. Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 57Sep 13, 2013 9:48 pm Bowskie Update on our build and tips for yours... We engaged our own independant building inspector to do two inspections, one at frame stage and another at practical completion. He managed to pick up a few issues one of which was considered a breach of the Building Codes of Australia. What was the issue? Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 58Sep 13, 2013 11:52 pm Bowskie My tip - include a clause in the contract that states that they will rectify/addres any issues picked up by your own independant inspector. That's a great tip! Wish I thought of it before signing my contract! I've added it to the before you sign... thread. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 59Sep 14, 2013 9:40 am maximus Bowskie My tip - include a clause in the contract that states that they will rectify/addres any issues picked up by your own independant inspector. That's a great tip! Wish I thought of it before signing my contract! I've added it to the before you sign... thread. You can try. Don't think many builders are willing to include this clause in the contract. Re: Building the AllCastle Grandworth 42.5+ 60Sep 16, 2013 10:06 am Ca6leguy Bowskie Update on our build and tips for yours... We engaged our own independant building inspector to do two inspections, one at frame stage and another at practical completion. He managed to pick up a few issues one of which was considered a breach of the Building Codes of Australia. What was the issue? The main one was an issue with the flashing and roof tiles not being correctly installed on the portico. Others were mainly poor workmanship and incomplete works in regards to bricking and frame work. Also issues with debris causing damage to the sliding door and windows and also damage done to our alfresco slab. Hi we are looking to talk to people who have built with them recently. We have signed mid range built contract but identified that a lot of things are not included.… 0 735 Was the offer also on their website? If so, you could check the Wayback Machine. 1 1007 |