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Hey Bobbin, like you I hate cold and avoid a/c unless mandatory (our heat waves). We're building two story and originally going to put in a couple of split systems only.
Our current 60yo house has one box/wall/window a/c in my husband's workroom at front of house. We only use it on day three of a heat wave (over 35ish). Just by controlling doors (keeping closed) we can keep his room, two bedrooms, passage and kitchen (where we 'hang out') very comfortable. We also have a box A/C in our large dining/family at back of house but since analogue TV was switched off and we've decided we're leaving this joint, we just don't use that room anymore! We'll buy a new digital TV when we've settled
You could definately live with a couple of splits comfortably. They are also good for redundancy (eg. breakdown/repair) and purchase as you can afford if you find you need them.
We have an evap ducted unit in our old cottage in the mid north. We hardly use that either as the walls are 40cm thick stone with 3.6 metre ceilings (shame they don't build like that anymore!) I don't like it much coz I just don't like AC. One thing you don't hear about evap -- and we've had big probs with this in the country -- is that the moist air blowing out attracts flying insects. Maybe not a big deal in the city. I do like the fact that we have the doors and windows open while its running though.
If you don't like slightly moist air (perhaps your daughter won't) refrigerative is best but some people (my MIL included) complain ref gives them headaches.
If you prefer dry, cool air -- that's ref.
As I said above, we were almost adamant about 3 or 4 splits for our big house. We would have went wall/box but they're almost extinct. BUT ... our sales guy had a ducted system on our quote from day one. We kept saying take it off ... we ended up keeping it after visiting one of their show homes in winter which had same model. It was beautiful and warm through whole house. I hate cold more than heat BUT I'd rather rug up than chew power wastefully. And we got external quotes and thought it was a good deal ($11k)
In a two storey you can't do it neatly later.
Yep, def splits are good for you. A lot of this ducted, remote business is just luxury overkill and energy chewers IMO.
When it comes to the weather I turn into a whinging Pom when the heat hits -well I was born there so can use that line!. Adelaide weather seems to be changing and becoming more like Qld - we certainly seem to have many more humid days now so for me air con has to be reverse cycle as evaporated creates more stickyness inside. Reverse is definitely more expensive but it is something I would not could not live without. Split systems are great especially to save money however reverse was included in our contract and as we are building a two story it is something we can't add at a later date. We don't use the heat very often -well if hubby has left for work and the kid's are struggling I will pop it on to take the chill out of the air but like TomCat we use throw rugs to keep warm at night.
Signed the contract today -whoohoo...can't wait to begin.
I think we have decided on the ducted evaporative. It is only $1900 more than one split system in the lounge room and should be fine for most of summer.
Well, in other news, yesterday we received the price for our kitchen bench. It only took them FOUR MONTHS to get us this price..
But we are really unhappy with it and confused as well.
Basically, it looks like two table legs, support for the benchtop and 1.6m of laminate will cost..... $9,000!!!! WTF?
They did it in a really weird way. Instead of just giving us a price for the bench, they took out all of the other kitchen extras, then added the bench to the rest of the kitchen and re-added the price.
The additions to the kitchen went from $4,308 to $13,510, with only the addition of the benchtop. We then got a discount (arranged at contract signing) of $3,430, bringing the price 'down' to $10,080. Still an additional $5,772.
However, they sent out an updated 'contract variation' document, which had all the previously requested contract variations on it. The difference between the new document and the old one was only $2,500? But the only thing different was the kitchen changes.
I don't know how on earth they think the table legs and support could cost $9000.
We are thinking about getting a cabinetmaker to make the legs for us and supplying these to Sekisui ourselves.
They also have the support for the benchtop and the legs being solid wood. From my discussions with Farquhar it seems that solid wood legs are the only way of achieving the look I want, however the rest of the bench has a shadowline, so I was happy with metal supports.
Does anyone have any recommendations for Adelaide cabinetmakers?
Wow. The pricing is very expensive for the change you want. I recall when I was considering a deeper bench top for one side of the kitchen and it was going to be the price of the whole Caesarstone not just the extra space per square metre! Have you asked if sekisui will let you supply the legs/support?
I know, so expensive, right?
We haven't asked Sekisui about supplying the legs yet. They have allowed us to have some of our own tradespeople on site during the build - we have arranged for data and phone points to be done externally, at about half the cost, so I am hopeful they will allow an external cabinetmaker. We are waiting to see what price they come back with after changing the under bench supports to metal. If it is too much we also had the idea we could put a set of drawers at the end of the table part, so the table bit is moved over a bit, as that would likely be a LOT cheaper. But we are not sure about that yet.
We visited our sales person on Sunday and requested the changes. It took Farquhar four months to get us the price of the bench last time, I wonder how long it will take now? I waiver between wanting to get it done ASAP, to being fine with waiting a little bit longer as we are saving a lot at the moment!
Well, another thing to throw a spanner in the works, Sekisui is pulling out of SA at the end of the year. We can still build with them, but if we want to pull out we can do so and get our deposit back. Not sure what to do.....
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I would pull out . I understand that life time warranty a useless because most builders probley wont be around .
I know you probley put alot if effort in where you are with your build now but what happens if things go wrong after your build
Could you bring your plan to someone else
Oh no! I'd be tempted to find another builder who will build your kitchen bench the way you want. $9k for a couple of table legs and laminate WTF indeed! And to take four months to tell you. AND package it in smoke and mirrors. Sounds like they've been on an outward slide for at least four months
you'll be onto it whatever you choose Bobbin x
ouch!! pulling out of SA
Such a shame as you have spent so much time and effort and they can't refund that... grrrr... was there a second place builder you were considering? So hard to decide what to do!
If we pulled out we would probably go with one of:
- Simonds
- Adelaide Designer Homes
- Homestead Homes
- Fairmont Homes
But argh, going through the whole selections process, council approval, getting quotes for after handover stuff, it will be at least another 6-9 months before we are ready..
When will they start if you don't pull out? What impact does it have to your build if it's in progress? And what about things like the 3 month after handover? And the warranty?
That is not good to hear, can you not ask them to llow yiu to use their design with a different builder ? In that case you may not have to go through council again or would you consider owner builder? It's a lot of work if you have time to spare.
So they say that if we build with them, the warranty is the same, they will use Adelaide tradies to complete the work but we will have to communicate with Sydney to organise it.
This makes me uneasy. There are so many stories of it being like pulling teeth to get builders to rectify defects after handover, with the added difficulty of communicating with an interstate company and the tradies not getting ongoing work from the company...
Also, we have found that a lot of what is discussed with one side of the business -eg with our salesperson, is not implemented or passed on to another side of the business - the internal communication is not great. If we are unable to go in in person to discuss issues with them, it could be really difficult.
If we go with them, there shouldn't be any further delays due to this, but, we are still waiting on amended pricing and plans from our PCV request a few weeks ago (after the expensive kitchen bench debacle) so I don't actually know when that will be. I am assuming June/July, which means if there are no delays we would be finished early December, just before they pull out of SA.
At this point we are leaning towards going with someone else, but we are not sure yet.
I am devastated TBH. There have been issues with Sekisui, but I felt comfortable with them building our home. I felt confident the build would be good quality, delivered on time, and beautiful. We had gone through all the negotiations to finalise all the little details we wanted. And now we will have to start from the beginning...
We are going to trawl the display homes this weekend to try to get some comparison quotes. I also called HAydn from Simonds this morning to see if they would have something suitable for us.
I am hoping we can just make some very minor amendments to our current plan (which I designed, by the way) so that we can use it and not be held up too long with council.
Oh dear - just looked at your post and y heart sank for you! How awful but I agree get out now!!!! Honestly Haydn is fantastic - no promises he cant keep, he is honest and such a great guy to deal with. The team in Simonds have been great too - we have no complaints (although we have yet to build the initial stages have been great)
Good luck with your decision - you may look back and be thankful you were forced into this even though right now its not in the plans!!
TTG council have been great for us - demolition approval within 2 weeks and basic build approval just over 2 weeks. The only hold up now is the stupid interstate bank we are dealing with - decided dealing locally is the way to go!
Oh no
What a tough decision to make. I'm addicted at looking at plans, so the option to re-do it all over seems a little inviting to me, but if you completely head over heels love your plan then it's a hard decision to make. I'd certainly take your current plans with you and ask each office if they have something similar and what can they do for you. Good luck and keep us posted!
Hey I would also recommend you look at Metro Property Developments
http://www.metropropsa.com.au/home-desi ... inclusions. I'm building with them and they have been very good to deal with so far. They have two ranges topaz the base range and sapphire which has all the good stuff. It costs 40k to upgrade to the sapphire range. They have just opened two display homes in Campbelltown which can viewed on appointment. What I like about their display homes is they have them set up in both the topaz and sapphire, therefore you know what your getting, not homes that haves specs to 400-500k.
I looked at alot of builders including the ones below. Just thought I would pass this on as not many people have heard of them and they seem very competitive.
If we pulled out we would probably go with one of:
- Simonds
- Adelaide Designer Homes
- Homestead Homes
- Fairmont Homes
But argh, going through the whole selections process, council approval, getting quotes for after handover stuff, it will be at least another 6-9 months before we are ready..
I wonder if the statutory warranty are national or by state.
If in the contract they sign with you have agreed to warranty then I don't see any issues, after all none of us expect things to go so wrong that you will need to invoke warranty.
Having said that, please check your contract as to which jurisdiction any dispute, if arises , will be taken up in.
Generally, they are a big company, they are building new communities and have recently completed a huge residential complex in Sydney central plus couple of other projects but I am not sure if legally they are all the same legal entity or are different businesses. I take risk to certain extent and would have gone ahead after such a long process as house structure are usually not so weak.
Think what you would do if the work began and then you were informed..... just thought bubbles to share but the decision is difficult knowing what is going to happen.
Best of luck with the decision.
Ooh yeah, another Haydn advocate here. He is sooooooo helpful. Works his toosh off to make sure you know exactly what you're getting. But even better than him (almost impossible) are their homes! We just got back from Melb from seeing more Simonds displays OMGGGGG! Very happy indeed. Oh our rep is a top guy too. They really look after you. All the best Bobsie
We got our first quote back last night. It is $30,000 less than the Sekisui price! And has better inclusions. From Fairmont homes. We are still waiting on the Homestead quote, but the sales consultant has been in contact with me and let me know that they are getting quotes from external providers and should have the quote to me in a day or two, so they are putting a lot of effort into making sure it is accurate.
A concern I have though, is that Sekisi had charged us $34,000 for footings + $5000 cut and fill. Fairmont have a contingency cost of $25,000 for footings. The sekisui quote included soil removal. The Fairmont one doesn't. I am worried that Fairmont have underestimated the footings cost. I was thinking about asking them to up the estimate, but then I also don't completely trust builders not to just use all of the allowance regardless, if you know what I mean? What would you do?
Ok, so old plan (sekisui):
New plan (Fairmont):
So, do you think there is more than 10% difference?
hey Bobbin
looks great and the price sounds great too. I think you are right though to be concerned about the 10%. I'd be hardpressed to say they are different plans. I don't know how this would work though. Having said that will SH come to the party given they are pulling out of the SA market?
Edit: can't help you on the footings information -- we were on site with the ss when our pierings were done and walked around with them to measure each hole.