Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 11, 2013 8:42 pm Hello, been reading on here for ages about building with Aussie living. Was not too sure at first but have gone with them.
Building the optima at the new lawley estate in ellenbrook.titles just been released. Have got all finance formal approved. And have prestart booked in for next Wednesday 18th. Just a few extra questions I had about the contracts which I'm still not 100% sure about. My site works allowance comes to around 10k. That's with no soak wells and no hard digging.. I told them to remove it as it cannot be possibly needed for the hard digging. I'm a carpenter by trade but do a concrete aswell. Including a lot of decorative concrete. Another thing that has me stumped is an allowance for concrete pump. But when the tenders go out, the prices usually have to include the cost of concrete pump. Also the scaffolding that apparently might have to be erected? It's a single story house! Roof carpenters will only put scaffold up when they think its necessary near a leading edge. Also if in the middle of the house they should be wearing a harness. For fall protection! They never do. Has anyone else had these charges before? A few the other things seem ok but still a bit unsure about Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 2Sep 11, 2013 8:43 pm Also some of the best things to upgrade at prestart? Cost of upgrading to larger living room tiles? Larger tiles in bathroom. Cat to normally upgrade the carpet? Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 3Sep 11, 2013 10:26 pm Scottperrin Hello, been reading on here for ages about building with Aussie living. Was not too sure at first but have gone with them. Building the optima at the new lawley estate in ellenbrook.titles just been released. Have got all finance formal approved. And have prestart booked in for next Wednesday 18th. Just a few extra questions I had about the contracts which I'm still not 100% sure about. My site works allowance comes to around 10k. That's with no soak wells and no hard digging.. I told them to remove it as it cannot be possibly needed for the hard digging. I'm a carpenter by trade but do a concrete aswell. Including a lot of decorative concrete. Another thing that has me stumped is an allowance for concrete pump. But when the tenders go out, the prices usually have to include the cost of concrete pump. Also the scaffolding that apparently might have to be erected? It's a single story house! Roof carpenters will only put scaffold up when they think its necessary near a leading edge. Also if in the middle of the house they should be wearing a harness. For fall protection! They never do. Has anyone else had these charges before? A few the other things seem ok but still a bit unsure about it welcome, I love the optima just sad that its a new design, very similar to our build, plan wise. we are building with ALH as well and are building the "Cottesloe" on 468sqm block in Pearsall. I know we require scaffolding because of the boundary between fence and house (drop off?) our earthworks cost 5k without soakwells, and 10k with soakwells. in regards to tiles I believe you can have larger tiles but you will be required to pay cost of tile and labour. we are using 300by300 tiles in bathrooms, the tile is included in their range but due to not being 200by200 we are required to only pay labour costs, kitchen tiles are at our own cost plus labour as they are not a in the standard range or size, Crosby seemed to have very basic tiles and we seemed to be looking at tiles that weren't standard. any question I am more than happy to help building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65845 Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 4Sep 11, 2013 10:30 pm Welcome! The scaffolding is a safety requirement particularly if there is a zero lot wall, close to retaking walls etc. we had it on our build, ours came in less then the provisional sum so got a few hundred back. Concrete pump seems to be a standard these days even on large accessible blocks to make laying the slab easier. We had the builder do our soak wells as our block had difficult access. It actually came in under what we had a friend of a friend had quoted us to do it. Any provisional sums that aren't used in total you will get back at the end. As for upgrades. Can't help with living rooms tiles, we went with vinyl planks. I think it was about $500 to upgrade to underlay on stick down carpet. Getting carpet the next range up was going to be another $1000 or so on top of the standard. We went with non standard tiles in the wet areas. We just paid extra laying. From memory it wasn't a huge amount and I thought well worth the $$ compared to having the 200x200 tiles. Upgrades all depend on what you want. We had a stainless steal trough in laundry, essa stone, silk finish laminate in the kitchen, upgraded bathroom basins.... Usually it is worth upgrading the things that you can't do later. Tapes etc can be done after handover. Good luck. While we have had our issues with our build we are really happy with our house. If you have questions about upgrade costs I'm happy to look at our costs but know what you want because we didn't get asked/told about many things and I had to ask and know what I want. Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 5Sep 11, 2013 10:41 pm I was just looking at your documents and we had the same sales guy as well, also if possible I would edit your photos of documents on photo buckets and add "stickers" to hide your name and lot number etc as you never know who is lurking! FMAC is right anything that is difficult to do after handover is worth doing through the build, as you wont be allowed to have your trades on site until handover, electrical is a big one, I was told get as much as you can afford, we added conduits to almost every point in the house and extra power points etc as this will be costly to do after. we added heat/exhaust/light combo/all in one in bathroom instead on the exhaust, the exhaust was $320 but the light/fan/exhaust combo/all in one was $385, some of the upgrades weren't to much, there are loads of cupboard handles at no cost, and room handles can be upgraded for $8 an in my opinion better than the standard. building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65845 Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 6Sep 11, 2013 10:51 pm For electrical an option is to put the power points on internal walls as you can add them later to double brick walls but to add them to single brick walls it difficult/messy and expensive! Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 7Sep 11, 2013 10:54 pm Also quickly looking at your plan I'd push your laundry trough up against the linen cupboard and if it would fit out a door on the laundry. I would also be putting a door next to the kitchen out to the bedrooms, will make heating and cooling easier/cheaper and block noise Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 8Sep 12, 2013 12:35 am Thanks heaps for replies. Was just unsure about these few things. The ideas sound great but I'm worried too much extra is going to blocs over during prestart. I've only allowed for 7.5k for prestart. The sales guy from the start has been fantastic. I know he was adding a lot more as well like he said from start but was not 100% on some things. I hate the idea of going to prestart and going to come out after thinking of something I forgot, I already have a huge list. There are a few things I have read on here on the structural that I wish I had done as well. Are u allowed to do anything to your house before handover, I'm doing the concrete driveway. It will be a little special. Maybe one the only ones in wa I think. And wanted to do it during the last final stages ! Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 9Sep 12, 2013 12:53 am Just thought I would nip in with be careful with posting documents like that in the public forum, some builders do not allow you to do that and it can actually get you in trouble. On a brighter note welcome to the forum and the chatter along with it. In regards to the site allowance etc usually builders will refund any leftover money, atleast that what my builder says they do as the site allowance is usually over compensating. I look forward to following your build and welcome to Ellenbrook Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 10Sep 12, 2013 2:34 pm You can't do anything yourself on site till handover! My suggestion for prestart is get them to cost everything and you can always change it or take it our if it is too expensive. I think our prestart came in at around $8000 and that included some big ticket items like a second piece of essa stone 3 sets of pot draws in the kitchen. Pushing pantry to the ceiling, laminate wall next to fridge and cabinets above, upgraded flooring, chrome wastes in wet areas (I think this is important! Makes a huge difference from plastic!) upgraded toilets, undermount sink, underlay to carpet, wood look garage door. So quite a bit! That list isn't exhaustive. Our electrical made up $1500 of that and included ten extra power points, two additional tv points, additional exhaust fan in ensuite, external double PowerPoint and a few two way switches and junction boxes. Two small things I would do is mitre the tiles, much nicer finish and the chrome wastes to wet areas. They are two small things that make it look less like a house built by a low end builder... Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 11Sep 12, 2013 10:25 pm Hello, welcome. I'm building in Ellenbrook with Aussie as well. We spent 4k at Prestart and didn't do a lot, added extra cupboards in the kitchen, dishwasher recess, added glass doors to showers and did a lot of electrical, as well as a few little things. Can't wait to see your progress Building in Malvern Springs, Ellenbrook with Aussie Living current stage: Locked Up Est Handover Beginning of Dec My thread : viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65509 Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 12Sep 12, 2013 11:15 pm matt allocated us 7k and we spend that whole budget, we had also added upgrades into our initial contract, I must say we did and didn't upgrade a lot but we did?? im confused to by that sentence I just constructed lol we upgraded at PS, garage wood look door, upgrade to 900mm appliances, tile labour, fixtures to bathroom, electrical $2000, door fixtures.. so it really depends on what is important to you and what you really want to achieve with your house and the look and feel you are trying to achieve. building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65845 Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 13Sep 17, 2013 8:55 pm I can do a lot of things after, such as small things, but the majors like electrical in walls, and tiling and cabinets are hard to do after. And making them All to suit after. Flooring is a must but I was looking at lower budget, but if I have to spend it, I have to spend it to get what I want, but I know that I will be up for 2.5k right before move in. That will be decking, driveway and painting. Prestart tomorrow. Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 14Sep 17, 2013 9:11 pm Good luck at prestart!! Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 16Sep 18, 2013 9:56 am Where is Lawley In Ellenbrook? Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 18Sep 18, 2013 1:26 pm Left side of ellenbrook Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 19Sep 18, 2013 8:43 pm hey fmac, how much was the cost of second essastone? Laminate wall around fridge and cabinets? Chrome wastes? Undermount sink? Re: The optima with Aussie living. Lawley estate. Ellenbrook 20Sep 18, 2013 9:03 pm prestart done, i feel like i was robbed and im peeved off now. got to 5, was not even finished, then bang. she packed up and said it was over. now all the extras and the other questions that i wanted to sort out i have to send in an email. was hard enough to get time off work just for pre start. let alone trying to get stuff sorted that wasnt done at prestart. stuff that ive even asked numerous times in emails, with replies and they had no idea what i was talking about. the most time spent was with the lady walking off to go ask questions about each little thing. didnt even get to choose all the colours for the front of the house. only an electrical quote. and now what else are they going to try and sting for! I would be wary. Is you site demilished but nothing else done? Sounds like liquidity problems to me. Our builder did the same. 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