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So we got the variations back with some prices.
So they have seemed to have changed suppliers for their painted fibre cement. They have changed it to James Hardie 'Scyon' Acon smooth board with vertical grooves.
Our tendor had rendered or feature brick for the pillars of the fascade and the garage pillar so we chose to have the black brick which apparantly gave us a credit of about $420
the brick we could have chosen from was from the Designer range of bricks which our colour consultant didn't even mention anything.
We were quoted $685 for having off-white mortar. Does this sound reasonable? has anyone asked their bricklayers to do off-white as a cash job instead of going through the builder? How and when do you make the deal?
Another thing the consultant didn't ask about is the type of joints for the brick work. round ironed joints are standard.
Provision of insulation to the garage roof is about $250.
To have the caesarstone tops int he bathrooms is $525 which is what we are disputing with coral as they were on the signed plans.
upgrade to the 'bronze' range of door handles for the bathrooms: $76 and for the kitchen: $116. The standard range is not that great.
The upgrade to full chrome floor wastes to the bathrooms and showers: $98.
Our design did not include above bench cupboards in the kitchen for some reason so we had them included also with cupboards above the fridge. Kitchen: $ 770 and the fridge space: $342.
These prices include painted bulkheads and our consultant said that they will also fill the gap between splashback and cupboards.
The upgrade from 6000mm stove top to a 900mm: $ 93.
The upgrade for the range hood to match: $185.
Plus no cost to move a data point thankfully.
We upgraded to the Gold range of carpet in all bedrooms: $731.
Fly screens to the alsfresco doors: $ 360.
Do you think that is a reasonable cost to get flyscreen doors for an alfresco door? (4 panes of glass with two middle able to open)
And is the upgrade to off-white mortar expensive?
We just got the brickies number from the SS, rang him and organised the white mortar and paid him directly.
They charge at $80 per 1000 bricks, we had 5000 approx in our place so it ended up costing us $400.
Happy to pay that, it looks awesome.
UPDATE:
So Coral have finally come back with an answer about the dispute about the ceasarstone for the bathroom vanities.
When we first noticed the error on the house plans we were told it shouldn't be included and that it was a mistake and as we have signed it we will just have to get it. We gave the consultant every chance to retract the plans and tender and have it fixed before we went any further but we were told it is fine. We also questioned about the bigger stove and some extra data points that weren't included with the tender letter and were told these can be easily adjusted in the finishes and electrical appointment. WRONG!! These changes need to be in the tender otherwise you have to pay for them in the variations and that is no covered for the approved home loan!! nor does clipsal handle data points.
So we never bothered to chase it up any more because of what we were told and of course the issue came back up in the selections appointment and that's when we had to provide what happened and what was said and they have agreed to include the ceasarstone for no charge
I think the consultant may have been in a bit of trouble as well.
Just make sure you read everything and make sure everything you want changed to be included in the tender.
I had a similar situation, but not a dispute on what was in the tender.
I wanted to have the mirror moved. I was installing 600x300 tiles, and the distance between the bench top and mirror was 200mm. I asked to raise the mirror by 100mm and was told by the sales agent to discuss it with the color consultant.
Ok, seems fair as it's not structural.
Spoke with the color consultant and they didn't want anything to do with it. Told me that it was a simple change and to talk to the site supervisor.
Ok, that doesn't sound right, but hey they are experts right?
Spoke with site supervisor. He said it needed to be drawn up for the tiler... Sigh.
Back to head office. They were nice enough after i told the story to do a variation at no cost, but boy was that hard to make such a simple change.
I would also reiterate your last statement: read everything, again and again and again. I missed a small change i had made (fridge size) and only picked it up when building started.
Yeah we were pushed onto another person and then another and that's why we said to the colour consultant that this mucking around will end here and if she wasn't going to do anything we will speak to head office. Once we explained everything to her she agreed that we got the run around and will make sure that we get what we wanted originally like the kitchen appliances upgraded and that she will raise the ceasarstone issue with her supervisors for us.
So we got the variations back with some prices.
So they have seemed to have changed suppliers for their painted fibre cement. They have changed it to James Hardie 'Scyon' Acon smooth board with vertical grooves.
Our tendor had rendered or feature brick for the pillars of the fascade and the garage pillar so we chose to have the black brick which apparantly gave us a credit of about $420
the brick we could have chosen from was from the Designer range of bricks which our colour consultant didn't even mention anything.
We were quoted $685 for having off-white mortar. Does this sound reasonable? has anyone asked their bricklayers to do off-white as a cash job instead of going through the builder? How and when do you make the deal?
Another thing the consultant didn't ask about is the type of joints for the brick work. round ironed joints are standard.
Provision of insulation to the garage roof is about $250.
To have the caesarstone tops int he bathrooms is $525 which is what we are disputing with coral as they were on the signed plans.
upgrade to the 'bronze' range of door handles for the bathrooms: $76 and for the kitchen: $116. The standard range is not that great.
The upgrade to full chrome floor wastes to the bathrooms and showers: $98.
Our design did not include above bench cupboards in the kitchen for some reason so we had them included also with cupboards above the fridge. Kitchen: $ 770 and the fridge space: $342.
These prices include painted bulkheads and our consultant said that they will also fill the gap between splashback and cupboards.
The upgrade from 6000mm stove top to a 900mm: $ 93.
The upgrade for the range hood to match: $185.
Plus no cost to move a data point thankfully.
We upgraded to the Gold range of carpet in all bedrooms: $731.
Fly screens to the alsfresco doors: $ 360.
Do you think that is a reasonable cost to get flyscreen doors for an alfresco door? (4 panes of glass with two middle able to open)
And is the upgrade to off-white mortar expensive?
We just got the brickies number from the SS, rang him and organised the white mortar and paid him directly.
They charge at $80 per 1000 bricks, we had 5000 approx in our place so it ended up costing us $400.
Happy to pay that, it looks awesome.
Ah ok cool thanks jwbear!
After driving around today looking at some houses with the same brick or similar we have decided to save the money as the whole house will be using the black brick and we didn't want it to be too contrasting between the black and the white as we are having the rendering a grey colour.
I'm just worried about the electricals now as i thought we could save some money by getting the electrician to do a few extra things for us for cash.
This is a pic of a house we saw that we believe have off-white mortar and don't mind if the bricks aren't that prominent.
This is a pic of the wall at the PGH display center.
We drove around our new estate as well and saw some houses with black bricks and noticed a few did not have the off-white and has made our decision for us so no off-white mortar for us
The variations are going to be redrawn with the ceasarstone adjusted and no off-white mortar but the only thing we are waiting on is the quote for the fly screens for the alfresco doors and we need that before the variations are drawn up on monday morning. A&L will have to be called first thing and hopefully their sales department are there and feel like taking my call.
Ah well now to just enjoy this really hot weekend and wait until monday then hopefully we can get a date for them to start construction
This is a pic of a house we saw that we believe have off-white mortar and don't mind if the bricks aren't that prominent.
This is a pic of the wall at the PGH display center.
We drove around our new estate as well and saw some houses with black bricks and noticed a few did not have the off-white and has made our decision for us so no off-white mortar for us
The variations are going to be redrawn with the ceasarstone adjusted and no off-white mortar but the only thing we are waiting on is the quote for the fly screens for the alfresco doors and we need that before the variations are drawn up on monday morning. A&L will have to be called first thing and hopefully their sales department are there and feel like taking my call.
Ah well now to just enjoy this really hot weekend and wait until monday then hopefully we can get a date for them to start construction
Think the black bricks will look good either way with the standard or white mortar, feels good to get a decision out of the way and move on doesn't it.
Good luck with A&L.
@Charlinic6 Omg that is crazy- I am building with Clarendon and they have quoted 3K for off white mortar. I was so disappointed because even though I will be rendering eventually (ie probs never at the rate that this house is costing) - I really liked the look..
@Charlinic6 Omg that is crazy- I am building with Clarendon and they have quoted 3K for off white mortar. I was so disappointed because even though I will be rendering eventually (ie probs never at the rate that this house is costing) - I really liked the look..
Yeah i have heard of a few builders that charge a few thousand even though it doesn't cost that much more per bag for the off-white mortar. A few upgrades tend to be cash cows for the builders so they can make more profit.
3K for off white mortar!!! What a rip off...
And cubshome... we did the following extra:
1. Electrical- We went through Clipsal for owner installed downlights (29 of them) we ended up with 37, and same with powerpoints etc we got the electrician to do heaps of extras for us at a cash price.
2. Plumber- Got him to install one more outdoor cold water tap for us
3. Cabinet Makers- Got them to install soft close hinges and doors to all cabinetry and to change the height of the fridge space due to it being the slab height and not taking into account the tile height.
4. Tilers- Did some extra tiles for us in the laundry as I don't like Coral's standard around the laundry tub looks half finished.
I think that is about it, I wouldn't say it is easy organising it but be persistent it is your house at the end of the day....
3K for off white mortar!!! What a rip off...
And cubshome... we did the following extra:
1. Electrical- We went through Clipsal for owner installed downlights (29 of them) we ended up with 37, and same with powerpoints etc we got the electrician to do heaps of extras for us at a cash price.
2. Plumber- Got him to install one more outdoor cold water tap for us
3. Cabinet Makers- Got them to install soft close hinges and doors to all cabinetry and to change the height of the fridge space due to it being the slab height and not taking into account the tile height.
4. Tilers- Did some extra tiles for us in the laundry as I don't like Coral's standard around the laundry tub looks half finished.
I think that is about it, I wouldn't say it is easy organising it but be persistent it is your house at the end of the day....
Thanks charlinic6!!
sorry to be a pain but do you have any prices for those extras? How much did clipsal charge you for installing owner supplied downlights? Was the electrician fairly well priced?
How much was it for the soft close hinges? i was going to see about getting them but read somewhere that it costs thousands to have them installed as its a couple hundred per draw or door
Where abouts did you get the tiler to put extra tiles for the laundry tub?
If you like you can email me all the pictures you want to have on your thread and i can upload them on my end if that helps?
Hi Cubs Home
I can email you our electricians cost if you like, and send you a few pictures by email for you to see. I think it may vary state by state but I can send you our Clipsal costs too if it helps.
Its a long story but basically we had to have all of our cabinetry remade because it was in the wrong finish.. stuff up by coral colour consultant and then we missed the change in the variation... And we had the cabinet makers build everything again and we went direct through them which saved a variation cost through coral. Our cabinet makers charged us $670 for all soft close hinges and doors for kitchen, bathroom, ensuite and laundry cabinets and drawers. This price also included them installing a groove for our LED strip lights which are under our kitchen cupboards and then it also included to move the island bench 110mm. So it definitely was good value to me!! But then we also had the costs of the cabinetry to be remade ($2300 on top of that).
Sorry forgot to say pm me your email address if you want.
Hi Cubs Home
I can email you our electricians cost if you like, and send you a few pictures by email for you to see. I think it may vary state by state but I can send you our Clipsal costs too if it helps.
Its a long story but basically we had to have all of our cabinetry remade because it was in the wrong finish.. stuff up by coral colour consultant and then we missed the change in the variation... And we had the cabinet makers build everything again and we went direct through them which saved a variation cost through coral. Our cabinet makers charged us $670 for all soft close hinges and doors for kitchen, bathroom, ensuite and laundry cabinets and drawers. This price also included them installing a groove for our LED strip lights which are under our kitchen cupboards and then it also included to move the island bench 110mm. So it definitely was good value to me!! But then we also had the costs of the cabinetry to be remade ($2300 on top of that).
Thanks Charlinic6 PM sent.
Shame about having to pay to get the cupboards redone
We were also thinking of having a some led strip lights for our kitchen and i never thought about getting a groove to put them in. we were just thinking of having a piece of dowel or something to hide them.
Small update:
Called A&L again this morning at about 9:20am and was told that they will have to call me back because there is only 1 person in the office atm and most of them get in at 8:30... (for some reason it didnt occur to me that it was way past 8:30 when i rang
).
Guess what? They still haven't called me back or anything, even after telling her that we need to know within the hour as the variations need to be signed straight away.
So we have just left the fly screens for the alfresco doors included in the variations so we don't have to have all this mucking about when we want to get them later on.
It seems like A&L do not deal with the public and really only deal with builders
To be honest A&L would probably charge you more than what Coral do... they don't actually mark up the screens as much as you would think. We got quotes for flyscreens from 5 different companies up here in QLD and Coral still came in cheaper than all of them and we went with the aluminium mesh flyscreens and they look good and they don't get holes in them as easily
Posting to follow.
We are also building with Coral Homes. Will start our own thread soon.
Posting to follow.
We are also building with Coral Homes. Will start our own thread soon.
Hi Daydream_build welcome to H1
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, we all like to help each other out.
Looking forward to your own thread!
To be honest A&L would probably charge you more than what Coral do... they don't actually mark up the screens as much as you would think. We got quotes for flyscreens from 5 different companies up here in QLD and Coral still came in cheaper than all of them and we went with the aluminium mesh flyscreens and they look good and they don't get holes in them as easily
Hmm true.... i mean it was only a couple of hundred dollars worth for the screens so i wasn't really expecting for there to be too much of a difference. but saving some money in one area means you can get something else in another area
That's the thing is that we do not know if they are normal flyscreens or the aluminium flyscreens as it is not mentioned in the variations.
That's the thing is that we do not know if they are normal flyscreens or the aluminium flyscreens as it is not mentioned in the variations.
What do you mean by normal flyscreens or aluminium?
What is provided (i asked) is a basic screen with an aluminium outer frame. It is not the honeycomb style security screens.
Like this:
That's why i decided to do the doors myself. Basic is fine on windows (to me), but i wanted something more secure on the doors.
So instead of the material style mesh which you can put your fingers through... you can get aluminium mesh which is suitable for bushfire areas too...
So instead of the material style mesh which you can put your fingers through... you can get aluminium mesh which is suitable for bushfire areas too...
Ahh gotcha.
In possibly a bad way, there isn't a tree in sight of my house.