We have finally been through all our appointments. We had Flooring, AC and Kitchen in round 2, where we went ok with Flooring and AC, but with kitchen it looked like it was quite rushed (even though we had abt 2.5 hours there). I figured we could have been better prepared for our selections.
We went to flooring appointment planning to go for wood like tiles but the labor cost of $74-$90 sqmt put us off and we had to change to other tiles. AC upgrade to next one up was a no-brainer. For kitchen, it was a shame how almost everything was an upgrade. Our other experience was that almost all costs are provided only after it has been properly costed and may take abt 10 days. I feel that even though some of the stuff on standard plans (like shark edges for cabinetry) must be so common that they should have prices readily available, but even for that we need to wait for 10 days.
Since DL does not provide any samples for flooring, we will have to go there on the weekend again to check out again how the bathroom tiles we selected look like.
I was in the same situation as you. Wanted timber look tiles from the start but decided against it due to labour cost. I've decided to do flooring after handover instead and going with 1200 x 600mm tiles which i think will look pretty sweet.
That's great idea doosra. If you go for tiles post handover, do you still get $35 credit from wisdom? Tiles through Dilorenzo are proving to be very expensive. For e.g. only on one floor, I am looking at abt 22K just for the tiles! I will be keen to hear what options are you considering - if you dont mind?
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I'm building a Manhattan 39 and they credited me close to 5k. The reason why di Lorenzo tiles are expensive is cause they're Italian. You go Chinese and they are less than half the price. For example, 1200 x 600 will cost you about 42 sqm. If it was Di lorenzo, you're paying about 120+ per sqm. The quality of Chinese tiles look good as well. Head to tile master in auburn and there's a large selection. Labour though will still be expensive about 70-80 per sqm for large tiles like mine but I have family doing them cheaper. If you go 60 x 60 then labour should be lot more cheaper cause there's no need for screeding. It's still costing me about 17k for my first floor but then minus the 5k credit and it's about 12k tiles and labour. With first floor I'm going to get laminate and install myself cause it's pretty easy snap in system. May cost about 7k with diy install but they credited close to 5k for first floor as well so will be about 2k extra only
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doosra, that sounds quite good. Will definitely explore this option then. I am sure there heaps of tiles outlets out there that provide a very decent quality and range in much less price than Di-Lorenzo. Thanks for that information, really appreciate it.