Building Our First Home - Plantation Carmelle Q1.

Ari+Lito · Jul 31, 2014 6:09 pm

Hi Everyone!
Like many others we have quietly stalked this forum for a while, but we have now decided to make a thread of our own!

We are still in very early stages. We have selected our block of land, and our floor plan. We are going with the Carmelle Q1 with the Aston façade, however we have tweaked it to have the windows run vertically rather than horizontally. We have also added the rainwater tank, the shower niche to both showers and the extended bench top in the laundry.

We were also able to get onto their luxury inclusions promotion which gives us free ducted air-con (2 zones), free bi-folds to alfresco, as well as a few other perks (flat tile roofing with sarking, 60mm waterfall bench tops to ensuite, ect)

We have booked in to go to the info session at Cosham this weekend (trying to be as prepared as possible) and have our tender appointment Aug 29th.

I would upload our floor plan but not quite sure how to add a picture to the post? Can anyone help? :th:

It is in our blog though if anyone would like to have a look.

http://albuild.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/ ... nning.html

Looking forward to this adventure!

Jase_Dave · Jul 31, 2014 9:59 pm

Welcome to the forums A and L :-)

Nice floor plan... Our neighbour is building the same design and we went with the sienna vogue q1 from plantation.

We started the same time and are up to the same stage... Windows and doors going in!

Enjoy the road!

J

Ari+Lito · Aug 01, 2014 10:11 am

Hi J!

Thanks for the welcome! Just had a look through your thread - seems like it's all at a very exciting stage for you getting to watch it evolve so quickly now! Can't wait to see more pics

We are looking to do a number of things after handover including render, decking, tiling to main areas, carpet to bedrooms, driveway and alfresco slab.
Anyone have any good recommendations for these services at a great price? We'd love to hear about them!

1rocky · Aug 01, 2014 10:16 am

hi and welcome great plan

Ari+Lito · Aug 06, 2014 6:09 pm

Hey Everyone!

So we went to the Cosham info session over the weekend. It was informative and we were surprised that certain things were included at no additional charge that we thought we would have had to pay extra for, so that was nice!
On the down-side, the aluminium colour we love (monument) had to be one of only 3 colours that is an upgrade :roll:

and also, the basin style that I had already decided on is actually discontinued

hopefully the style they replace it with will be similar, fingers crossed!

Does anyone know the approximate cost of choosing the upgrade aluminium colours?

Our other big dilemma..... 60x60 off white polished porcelain tiles Vs Wood floors ::dizzy::

we love both looks!

We walk into a display with the tiles - we love it. We walk into a display with wood, we love that too. We cant decide! Does anyone have any feed back of pro's / cons for these options?

We'd love to hear if anyone has any feedback about these particular items

Ari+Lito · Aug 12, 2014 4:44 pm

Hi Again!

Not sure if anyone is seeing our thread or not but I will update anyways

We went out to our block over the weekend and some work is being done! Looks like sewer / waterlines are going in (pipes in trenches in the ground) and we have a post with our lot number on it now! (such a tiny thing but exciting for me!)

Does anyone have any info on the questions asked in my previous post?

YabbaDabbaBuild · Aug 12, 2014 6:58 pm

Hello! Congratulations on building the Carmelle. When we first started looking at building, pre-land purchase, we were sure we would build the Carmelle, it's such a great plan. Unfortunately it didn't suit the block we ended up purchasing, so we moved on.

With regards to flooring, we were tossing up between tiles and timber floors. We ended up deciding on tiles, as I preferred the lighter look. I found a lot of the houses with timber floors appeared dark. I think it really does just come down to your preference, both options look great.

Good luck with your build!

Ari+Lito · Aug 15, 2014 2:35 pm

YabbaDabbaBuild

Hello! Congratulations on building the Carmelle. When we first started looking at building, pre-land purchase, we were sure we would build the Carmelle, it's such a great plan. Unfortunately it didn't suit the block we ended up purchasing, so we moved on.

With regards to flooring, we were tossing up between tiles and timber floors. We ended up deciding on tiles, as I preferred the lighter look. I found a lot of the houses with timber floors appeared dark. I think it really does just come down to your preference, both options look great.

Good luck with your build!

Hello Yabbadabbabuild!

Thanks, we do love the Carmelle.!
I did notice a lot of the houses with timber floors can appear darker, I guess you would have to go lighter with a lot of the other décor. which is why we need to hurry up and choose so we can finalise the rest of the décor.. haha! :roll:

Which floor plan did you end up with?

Ari+Lito · Sep 04, 2014 5:58 pm

Hi everyone!

An update (if anyone is still reading this.. haha)

Bit of a Pl@ntation vent today!

Went to our NHP on Friday where most things went pretty well, except for the fact that we were told we would only be getting 1 phase power, even though the sales person at the display village told us 3 phase power was included with the ducted aircon (which we are getting)

But the kicker - I have just received an email telling us that upgraded roof tiling and sarking is not included with our promotion even though our sales person said we would be getting it!! Apparently, it was a separate limited time promotion that sales person had to get approval for for us to have. I even asked about it at our NHP and presenter said yes that is included - now she's saying it isn't!

Needless to say - an unhappy email is coming their way. I will be insisting that they provide what was sold to us. Feels like such a bait and switch! Grrrrr

Anyone had anything like this happen and tender / contract stage and how did you go about resolving it?

lovepub · Oct 01, 2014 7:25 pm

Ari+Lito

Hi everyone!

An update (if anyone is still reading this.. haha)

Bit of a Pl@ntation vent today!

Went to our NHP on Friday where most things went pretty well, except for the fact that we were told we would only be getting 1 phase power, even though the sales person at the display village told us 3 phase power was included with the ducted aircon (which we are getting)

But the kicker - I have just received an email telling us that upgraded roof tiling and sarking is not included with our promotion even though our sales person said we would be getting it!! Apparently, it was a separate limited time promotion that sales person had to get approval for for us to have. I even asked about it at our NHP and presenter said yes that is included - now she's saying it isn't!

Needless to say - an unhappy email is coming their way. I will be insisting that they provide what was sold to us. Feels like such a bait and switch! Grrrrr

Anyone had anything like this happen and tender / contract stage and how did you go about resolving it?

What happened after that. Did u get them to including de the sarking?

StephyD · Oct 02, 2014 2:36 pm

Hi, I just come across your thread and I must say I absolutely love your floorplan, sorry to hear about the builder not coming through with promised items all I can say is stand your ground and persist with it, it'll be worth it in the end. We too had the great tiles vs wood floors debate, we ended up with a light polished porcelain tile because I think they'll be more flexible if I want to change the interior theme. I look forward to following your build :-)

Ari+Lito · Oct 02, 2014 3:38 pm

Hi Guys!

Sorry its been a while since I posted( I didn't think anyone was reading, haha). I have some relief (as of about 10 minutes ago!) We did end up getting the roof tile upgrade and the sarking included! win!

Then the next hurdle, our luxury inclusions promotion includes ducted air-con and in the fine print of that clearly says the air-con offer includes an upgrade to 3 phase power. They of course didn't want to give us that either even after I pointed out that it was printed in the pamphlet that it was included. They said because of the model of air-con we were getting it didn't "need" 3 phase so we wouldn't get it. After an email with some quoted text from the ACCC website about "misleading advertising" we now have been granted the free upgrade to 3 phase power as advertised

Seems like the trick is, if you are sure you are right, you need to persist and be smart about showing them the info that proves why you are right. It also seems that depending you your tender & contract presenter is will depend if they work with you or make it hard for you. Seems our lady isn't such a fan of me. (L...a)

Anyway, now that all of that is sorted, we can start worry about the more exciting things like décor. We have a pretty solid image in mind that we are working off, but are still a few weeks away form having our colour appointment. I will try to post some pics once all that happens. And in exciting land news, our stage of the development has the beginning's of a road, and gutters! It's exciting to be able to start to visualize it now!

Thanks for your kind words StephyD! The tile vs wood floors debate is a tough one! will post an update once we've settled on one!

Nyssa+Lachlan · Dec 28, 2014 1:06 pm

We are also building this same design and having the flooring dilemma! Interested to see what you have chosen! We're building in Springfield after dealing w covenant restrictions in Mt Cotton

tj9630 · Jan 02, 2015 11:24 pm

Thanks for this post... I've just realised they charged me too... So I'll be bringing this up!!!

tj9630 · Jan 02, 2015 11:28 pm

We decided to go with tiling downstairs... We thought it would be more durable in higher traffic.. especially in the kitchen where spills and ddroppages can occur frequently... We chose to do laminate flooring upstairs.. so best of both I guess... We found to do the laminate was cheaper with plantation and but much more expensive to do tiling...

Nyssa+Lachlan · Apr 20, 2015 9:16 pm

How are you going with your build?