Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 341Jul 14, 2015 1:43 am [quote="Charlston01"]Hi Richards, We had scratches in the windows and the frames. The windows they agreed to replace, and large scratches in the rear stacker door they had to replace (this was a nightmare but due to A&L being difficult and continually sending wrong parts). The smaller scratches in the windows were never fixed, like McLaren said it would've caused more issues to remove them and reinstall. With ore handover and PCI - be strong. Our SS kept saying I was being too picky, but I stayed firm. There are rules for their defects, but don't let them push you out of it. Our SS laughed at me as I went over everything with a fine tooth comb (and yet still missed large scratches in the ensuite tiles) and brought a hairdryer to plug in and check every electrical socket, but I didn't care how silly I looked. Our 3 month has been delayed twice, I don't think they are a high priority for them. But that doesn't bother me, it gives us more time to find issues. The most troubling issue is our sink is leaking into the cupboards and rusted out a whole heap of cake tins etc because we didn't notice straight away. And the cupboard is warping due to the moisture. They said it was a priority and would have someone out straight away but that was a week ago now. The other issues are only minor, like locks sticking and doors dropping slightly on their hinges. We've known people who've built with other builders who've had much bigger issues. We'll post more when we've had maintenance which is not until August 5th I think. Good luck! McLaren - that's awful. You shouldn't have to replace carpets so soon! How frustrating for you! We didn't have our carpets installed through D. We have a heap of scratches in the ensuite tiles too, the light was so poor on he day of handover and I just didn't notice them /quote] Hey thanks for reply yeah can't say I've been happy at all with this builder. Sorry to hear about your issues, iam just hoping they'll honour the 3 month maintenance list cos I agree with you the only way you'll find defects is when your living in the house Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 343Jul 14, 2015 8:45 pm Hi Richards, we sourced our pavers from 2 different places. The driveway pavers we got from Newtons landscaping. The larger textured pavers we got from apc. Both places had specials on the respective pavers which the other supplier couldn't match Good luck with handover Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 344Jul 15, 2015 12:17 am I do remember seeing your shutters now (just ignore me I would forget my head if it wasn't attached ) love them. I laughed at the baby mop suit that is funny as!! Esh you have a lot of things going against you with trying to keep your floors clean, dog, kids, shedding carpet and rugs no wonder they are dusty. Now all your lawn is down out the back it should help. Yes please for the pendant photos Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 345Jul 16, 2015 2:42 pm Your mind is occupied with so many things Tribe! It's fair enough! Here is a pic of the facade now that the grass has been laid. Pics of pendants to come soon. http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj551/emz763/e7262f3968c32b93e898d5ca0a91b3b0_zpsvrtbmtct.jpg Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 346Jul 16, 2015 2:44 pm Nice! Sir walter for lawn? as there is a lot of shade from the tree? http://boostaoakfordsa.wordpress.com Site works: 26/8/14 Trench: 2/9/14 Slab: 8/9/14 Frame: 18/9/14 Bricks: 24/10/14 2nd fix: 24/11/14 Handover: End Feb 2015 Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 347Jul 16, 2015 2:50 pm Sadly no, Boosta. It's kikuyu which was far from our first choice. But there was kikuyu front and back when we bought the house, and it's in both neighbouring properties. So we spoke to a lot of people about it and they reckon there is no point laying anything else because the kikuyu will always come back and eventually take over. I love Sir Walter, or anything less aggressive than what we have. But at least it looks pretty and will be hardy for pets and kids to muck around on. Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 348Jul 16, 2015 8:49 pm Never get tired at looking at your facade charlston You are doing great work post handover. Custom build Northern NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72217 Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 351Aug 06, 2015 8:58 am Ok, so here's a bit of an update. Mr Charlston & I have been painting like crazy to get the wooden beams done for our pergola. Painting in cold & wet weather has been quite a challenge, especially since the beams are so long the just barely fit diagonally in our garage, so shuffling them around has been like a game of Tetris! Anyway, it's paperbark wooden beams with a pitched roof and a laser light roof. Pics to come once it's up (was meant to start today but rain has delayed it until Monday). Our other news is we FINALLY had 3MM visit from D. It was rescheduled and delayed 4 or 5 times, but we got there in the end. The guy who came was brilliant though, so that made up for the frustrations in getting someone to come out. Very happy with his verbal solutions, hopefully they'll be true to their word and the practical solutions will work. We're lucky, we don't have much to fix. There are some painting touch ups they missed on the facade, some minor cracking in the gyprock, 2 locks which aren't working properly, vanity plugs not sealing and a few other minor issues. The biggest issue of the leaking kitchen sink has already been fixed (although they took their time getting on top of that despite their assurances of a speedy response). But unfortunately the leak has damaged the cabinetry so they are trying to find a solution for that without ripping the whole island bench apart. I'm also locked in a battle with their admin staff trying to get them to pay for the items that were in my cupboards and were damaged by the leak. I say it's their fault, and they should replace them (only just over $100 value). They reckon it's not covered in their warranty so I want them to prove why its not covered. I'm not going to back down easily in this one, I reckon they should pay up. Their poor workmanship damaged my items, so it seems simple to me. Anyone else experienced this? Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 352Aug 18, 2015 7:45 pm Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 353Aug 18, 2015 7:47 pm Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 354Aug 18, 2015 8:47 pm Yay ... How good to be in your own home that you chose to a T ... Must be so satisfying pulling it together. Lawn looks great! Paintwork too Hope you get success fixing those last bits and bobs Re: Building in SA with Dechellis: Moved in! 356Sep 08, 2015 2:37 pm Thanks guys. It's done now and I have a few more pictures to upload later. We've finally finished "3 month" maintenance too (some 6 months after we moved in). Although, that said there are still some outstanding issues. I can't say I'm surprised, I know many people have issues post handover in getting their builder to do anything they promised. I've also lost my battle with admin over the goods that were damaged by the leaking sink, and they have yet to fix the damaged cabinetry. All in all, this has been a frustrating week and my opinion of D is not at its highest at the moment. More later, when I've calmed down a little.... Re: Built in SA with Dechellis: landscaping 357Dec 09, 2015 9:16 pm Hey Charlston, was searching for paving and your thread came up as one of the most recent who commented on paving (concrete seems to have taken over!!) we are tossing up one over the other, I see you supplied your own pavers - could you pm a ballpark what you paid for the laying/prep? Just had to also say love Labs! Hope things from the delayed three month maintenance all sorted! Re: Built in SA with Dechellis: landscaping 358Dec 10, 2015 8:06 am bluesteel Hey Charlston, was searching for paving and your thread came up as one of the most recent who commented on paving (concrete seems to have taken over!!) we are tossing up one over the other, I see you supplied your own pavers - could you pm a ballpark what you paid for the laying/prep? Just had to also say love Labs! Hope things from the delayed three month maintenance all sorted! Hi bluesteel, just thought I'd pop in a say I'm a big fan of paving after having concrete at our previous house (cracked driveway for years, had pattern pave laid out the back verandah and that cracked within a year or two). The paving we have now was laid beautifully and has stood the test of time - over 4 years now. If you do have problems it can always be taken up and relaid ... that's my 2 cents worth For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: Built in SA with Dechellis: landscaping 359Dec 10, 2015 7:40 pm Mclaren bluesteel Hey Charlston, was searching for paving and your thread came up as one of the most recent who commented on paving (concrete seems to have taken over!!) we are tossing up one over the other, I see you supplied your own pavers - could you pm a ballpark what you paid for the laying/prep? Just had to also say love Labs! Hope things from the delayed three month maintenance all sorted! Hi bluesteel, just thought I'd pop in a say I'm a big fan of paving after having concrete at our previous house (cracked driveway for years, had pattern pave laid out the back verandah and that cracked within a year or two). The paving we have now was laid beautifully and has stood the test of time - over 4 years now. If you do have problems it can always be taken up and relaid ... that's my 2 cents worth Hey McLaren! Thanks for responding. I am starting to lean that way as well.. do you have a recommendation? what sort of laying charges did you have (approx.). Cant believe we are again doing post handover jobs..... Our first house (5 years old) when we sold had some big cracks which I put down to bad job but starting to get cold feet!! re concrete. Re: Built in SA with Dechellis: landscaping 360Dec 11, 2015 8:44 am Hi, we had Dave from Spot On Paving (http://spotonpaving.com/) ... he did an awesome job. I can't tell you what the laying costs were but all up it was $16k very well spent .... part of the reason we left out last house was because the pattern pave my brother laid looked terrible ... we learnt never to ask family to do you a favour! Good luck! Charlston, I feel for you - we also have a very low opinion of the builder but hey it happens .... For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Hmmm, I have checked your past posts and it seems that you are in NSW, not WA as I had thought. It pays to show your State in your avatar. Retaining wall regulations… 5 7784 Hi, you've probably already resolved this, however, Commbank will probably pay the funds to you after you send evidence the work is done regardless the change in the quotes. 1 35190 Ideally you would engage a landscaper to give you some insight what they may need in the space to make your vision come to life… 1 13594 |