Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 12, 2015 6:54 pm Hi Guys, So after going through this forum I was blown away by the amount of useful information present in regards to everything to do with building a home. In light of this I figured we would add to the community with a thread about our build as we do it. We are building with Sterling Homes and have decided on the "Watervale 176". We signed a contract at the end of October, the block settled 1 week ago, and the next step is to do selections. We are booked in to do the majority of the selections tomorrow, and will do the bricks and external stuff next week. The only issues we have had so far were the footings blowing out by nearly $9000, our allowance was $25,000 so this puts us at just under $34,000 for footings, the soil is H2 highly reactive clay, making this cost understandable. To save money on this cost we are getting a friend to level the block (has about 1 m of fall over the entire block which is 800 sq m), this should save us approximately 2.5 - 3k. We have not changed the layout as we went in all excited and didn't do our research about making changes before council approval, but this isn't really an issue as the only thing we would have done was delete 1 interior wall, or a large amount of it to open up the lounge/dining area. But we will live with the 2 rectangle entrances for now and maybe delete this wall at a later date. Anyway we have learnt in the future to address any changes we want before signing the contract, also that it might be a good idea to get a clause put into the contract which allows us to back out "subject to footings cost". I will update this thread with pictures of the block, progress of the build and selections. My partner and I can't stop arguing about the colours for the kitchen , but we are going with either black (or very dark) bench tops and white cupboards, or the opposite. I'm thinking Satin black cupboards with gloss white tops, and I believe this is the path we will take but I will update tomorrow with our choices TL;DR Building our first house, learnt a lot about what not to do already, going to pick colours tomorrow. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 2Feb 13, 2015 9:35 pm So went and did selections today, colours are as follows, Exterior Bricks (These are also far less yellow than the sample photo shows), Oyster Roof & Gutters, Colorbond Monument Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Garage Doors, Entry Door, Gables, Bay Window Roof thing, Eaves. Colorbond Dune Window Frames, Ultra Silver Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen Bench Tops, Laminex Diamond Gloss Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Cabinets, Laminex Natural Black Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Splash backs (excuse the poor photo and lighting, it is actually much more grey), Something by Italia Ceramic, kind of grey brown. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bathroom in this image the one tile will do floor and walls, the white is the cabinet colour, the grey is the benchtops (same as below image) and the ultra silver is the window frame colour. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bench Tops, Laminex Laminate Basalt Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Shower Door & Colour of Frame Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Interior Entry Door Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Interior Doors Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I have also thrown together a quick table of extra costs so far, which is already approximately $4200 not including the kitchen modifications I will write this all in as soon as we get our variation form as a guide to help anyone with approximate costs of Sterling Home selections and upgrades. Also here is a picture of our block Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 3Feb 17, 2015 7:00 pm Today I went and staked out where the house and carport sit on the block (as requested by a good friend preparing the house pad for us), also yesterday got an incomplete copy of our variation costs back so I can share with everyone what they are charging for each requested extra. I was pleasantly surprised by how cheap some upgrades were, and blown away by how expensive some were. First here is a picture of the block with a few stakes on it representing a rectangle around the house and carport, can hardly see it sorry, I only used really small stakes and dy marked the ground in yellow. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Upgrade costs thus far are as follows (will add the rest when we receive the new variation letter): Upgrade front door = $230 Upgrade 9 internal doors = $198 Add cold water tap to fridge provision = $150 Upgrade built in robe sliders to bright silver = $140 Upgrade 5 drains to marine grade chrome = $250 Upgrade 2 shower screens to pivot, bright silver = $534 Upgrade tapware & bathroom accessories to Gallery Package* (see below) = $1200 Add 1 double weather proof power point = $105 Add 2 junction boxes = $112 Add NBN Part B, internal conduits and wiring and phone point = $600 *Below are images of what is included in the Gallery Package Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Also below are some changes we made to the kitchen & front of the house: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Sorry for upside down photos , it takes ages to upload them to Imgur for some reason though so I'm leaving them. I will update in the next few days with the further variation costs (kitchen cabinets, extensions, roller door upgrades etc.) First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 4Mar 01, 2015 10:28 pm Still waiting on the variation report for the kitchen and carport doors, not looking forward to the cost Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Progress was made over the weekend anyhow, myself and a friend who is quite handy at earth moving went out to do the pad for the house, carport and also for a future shed, we got the cut and fill done, but didn't quite have time to spread the 50mm of quarry sand over the top just yet, so that can be next weekends problem. Here is a shot of the leveled pad, Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We are going to need a fair bit of retaining. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 5Mar 11, 2015 9:28 pm Here is another update of what the block looks like now, This is all earth works done with 50mm of quarry sand for the house pad. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We also received our the rest of our variation report. The following is the list of extras and costs: Upgrade roller doors on car port to Auto Panel Lift Doors = $2438 Upgrade front entry sidelight glass to translucent = $122 Upgrade ensuite, WC and bathroom window glass to translucent = $486 Provide overhead cupboards to kitchen (including retractable rangehood) = $1218 Increase fridge width to 1000mm and provide overhead cupboards = $641 Provide an aditional 200mm of bench cupboards next to oven = $129 Provide microwave provision - set into pantry = $168 Provide second 600mm wide pantry = $483 Provide non standard laminate color (Laminex Black Natural) to kitchen faces = $507 Provide non standard laminate (Laminex White Valencia) in Diamond Gloss Finish to bench tops = $683 Upgrade all joinery handles = $259 Provide 3 pot drawers to island bench = $537 Upgrade tile trim to round edge aluminium = $51 Provide electrical conduit through slab to island bench = $116 Change 2 vanity bench tops to non standard Formica Ashphalt laminate = $56 So the total cost for variation is $11,285 I actually didn't think was that bad considering the changes we made to the kitchen, a majority of the cost is in the kitchen and the panel lift garage doors. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 6Mar 12, 2015 10:50 pm Hey There, We are also building with Sterling, a custom design. We also found that some upgrade prices were pretty cheap, so was always worth asking the question. Our build has been quite drawn out due to planning hold ups but looks like we will start soon. Great to hear how your builds going. Our Build Here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74037&p=1255246#p1255246 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 7Mar 16, 2015 3:31 pm Hi Claypot, just had a quick read through your build thread, I love the floor plan! Wish I was in a better financial situation to build something a little bigger like that. Maybe in a few years . The upgrades were definitely surprising, on that note some things were really expensive, for example they wanted somewhere between 160 - 180 per downlight (can't remember exact numbers), so instead of getting the downlights I put junction boxes in the roof at $56 each, allowing me to add 8 downlights to the kitchen/dining area at a later date. We've had other issues with our build though, we are still waiting on building approval since we need to move where they planned our septic tank, they had it out the side of the house, where we intend in the future to pave and make an entertaining area, so still waiting on ammended plan for that so we can get approval. Fingers crossed though slab should go down in 8 weeks and should all move pretty quickly after that. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 8Mar 28, 2015 4:02 am Hey Jaycastle, Yeah we feel pretty lucky. However we have bided our time to get there! Our current house on the block isn't much chop and we've done well to live in it for the past 5 years. Its only 100 mt3 or so inside! Our place before that was only slightly larger too. We've done the same with the down lights, will put them in later. I think the LED lights are still getting better and cheaper so happy to wait till later. Ah yes Septic - we are now having dramas with that too.... Sterling went ahead and had the engineering report drawn up for the septic with out our input. Which was O.K as they payed for it not us. Now council wants extra things added and addressed..... Good luck Our Build Here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74037&p=1255246#p1255246 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 9Jul 13, 2015 2:59 pm Alright so its been a long time between posts, and a lot has happened. Slab is down, septic is done, frame has gone up and its all moving along really quickly, hasn't stopped the post-contract variations coming in though, the house keeps getting more and more expensive. Here are a few photos of the build process so far. Footings (Messed up the beautiful leveling job we had done) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Slab went down Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Frame started going up Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The septic tank turned into a nightmare with the salesman who we did our contract with assuring me that it would come in at around $4000, got a variation today which had a total cost of $7063 on it. A breakdown of the costs is as follows. Engineers underfloor plumbing layouts drawn - $449 Engineers underfloor plumbing layouts drawn - $322 Council fees paid for wastewater application - $491 Provide Septic tank and riser - $4617 Additional 39m of sewer drain connection - $1184 I don't understand why we are paying for underfloor plumbing layouts drawn as we only moved the septic tank and none of the internal plumbing should be any different, it still all comes out at the same point originally proposed, it has just slighly changed the outside layout of the piping, but they went ahead and drew that up without consulting us anyway so shouldn't have to pay these fees for their mistakes. The septic tank is a simple 3000l cement tank which is then connected to sewerage. I had the same tank quoted up by a retail company for $1350 for the tank and $350 for the riser so I don't understand how it costs so much, maybe fitting these things costs a lot but I couldn't understand that, all they need to do is dig a hole and drop the thing in, put the riser on and fill the hole back in once the pipes are connected, I guess delivery as well could have cost a bit, but I don't see how it was nearly 3 times the cost I had quoted, wishing I sorted it out by myself now. I hope this is the last of the big variations, I am struggling to pay all of these as my bank loan only just covered the initial house and land price, I think so far we are approximately 30k over that and I've had to take a personal loan to pay for some of that. Once the house is completed I'm hoping to have it valuated and then draw a little out on my mortgage based on that to pay for the personal loan. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 10Jul 13, 2015 11:03 pm Oh dear that sucks.. We did the septic ourselves, but have to use a treatment unit. It was a pain in the but, but worth it. Remember in general the builder will add 25 - 30% on top... The only thing I could suggest is to query the sewer drain connection. The plumber we are using to put the septic unit in told me to ask for a credit back for the sewer run as we wouldn't be having one. And guess what they credited back the included sewer run. I will have to check but think it was around 20mt + and $1000 +. They did this no questions asked, but I gather they wouldn't of if I hadn't asked.... So look into the included sewer run and work out what your run is. Chase it up you need to let them know your on to it.... Our Salesman was awesome and sometimes we felt he was working for us! But has left the company now. On a positive note the slab looks great and good to see things are moving forward for you guys. Our Build Here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74037&p=1255246#p1255246 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 11Sep 08, 2015 11:05 pm How's things going? Do you have bricks and a roof yet? Our Build Here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74037&p=1255246#p1255246 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 12Dec 18, 2015 8:50 am Sorry about the delayed post, been super busy with work, I've hardly had time to go to the building site myself and Sarah has done most of the site visits. We now have a locked up house, just waiting for them to fix some of the poor quality brick job, I'll put photos of this up later. The septic tank ended up being cheaper than the above price, I argued the cost with the builder due to the allowance which was given by the salesman being a fair bit of an underestimate, with him stating to me it wouldn't go over 5k. They waived one of the underfloor engineers plans cost, and took 50% off the additional sewerage run. Still ended up costing more than the allowance, but only by 900 dollars so it was much better than the inital 2k extra. We have both bathrooms done, internal painting, kitchen in, car port doors on, everything is basically done, but the brick work was done quite poorly, that opinion is from a brick layer who sussed the job out for me, and I'm not happy at all with it, a lot of fixing needs to be done, some of the plaster board could have been done better as well (around the bay window in the kitchen). A tile in the main bathroom going into the toilet is also about 2 - 4mm higher than the surrounding tiles on one edge, almost a trip hazard so I'd like for that to be fixed, but I don't know if they will fix it. Overall I am not happy with Sterling Homes at the moment, over the past 8 weeks they really have done almost nothing at our house, then blamed the fires in the area on the delays, I understand there were nearby fires, but would this really delay a painter by 6 months? If anyone else builds with Sterling Homes, probably a good idea to not make the rookie mistakes I made and go through the contract properly, there doesn't seem to be any liquidated damages clause so if the house goes over the 7.5 months they allocated, it really doesn't matter to them, this gives them no motivation to finish the house. It's been 6.5 months now, but the 2 weeks of holidays they have over xmas add on to the finish time, allowing them to take longer. I will write more in the next few days about the experiences we have had with Sterling Homes. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 13Dec 23, 2015 3:43 pm Jaycastle just waiting for them to fix some of the poor quality brick job, I don't want to burst your bubble, but a bricky told me some of their bricks are poor (cheaper) quality with fine hair cracks. If you look very close they can vary greatly in size, with some contractors paid more to lay them with extra cuts etc Overall Sterling contractors don't seem a happy bunch, perhaps they are not paid enough? Good luck. Arfur Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 14Feb 25, 2016 12:56 pm Alright here is an update on the last few months which in short seemed to be turning into a nightmare, but it got sorted out very quickly when I mentioned a potential consumer affairs case for going over the 7.5 month build time. We had an inspection with the site manager on the 21st of January. This inspection started well, the site manager came across as being a reasonable man, and informed me that some previous concerns I had about brick work had been attended to. This was good news to me, but then we started the walk around. We went to the brickwork which I had specified was not acceptable and this site manager had simply expected I wouldn't notice that nothing had been done. I had my partners father with me who use to work for Fairmont Homes. He argued with the site manager about things which needed attention, he shouldn't have needed to argue. I was lead to believe that the inspections purpose was to point out any poor workmanship, if anything was below standard the site manager would attend to the issues before the final inspection. This site manager didn't want to hear about it, kept using the statement "It's within spec", my response every time was "So I could expect the quality to be this low on a display home?", his response multiple times "You can't expect display home quality.", my response "Why not? I believe this is the standard your works should be done to, a display home is your advertised product.". We paid 2.5k extra to have panel lift garage doors installed, the installer obviously didn't bring the correct brackets to mount these, so in light of this he seems to have grabbed some skirting board off cuts from the bin, cut them to size and used them to mount the runners? The site manager claimed that this was within spec and that's not skirting board (it quite clearly was), we answered with "Would you let your daughter take a house with skirting board used to mount the runners for the garage doors?", he went quite and wrote it down on his list of things to do. Inside we turned the shower on to find out our plumbing was blocked, took under a minute to start backing up with water, the shower screen leaked, half the doors inside didn't close, our kitchen had chips and paint blotches on it, they forgot to fit quads around our laundry door, the list just went on and on. I'll write it out below: -Paintwork : Lining Re-Flushed, All touch/ups required -Gap fill eaves/Window (Underside) Flush -Quad missing L/Hand Elevation -Garage P/Point Cover Plate -Bathroom / Shower Waste / Screen leaks -Laundry Door Quad (rough edge) -Back of sink cupboard (paint) -Ensuite Water Flow (Waste) -Ensuite shower screen (adjustment) -Meter Box Caulking, fix bricks around meterbox -Kitchen (marks on cupboards) -Underside of benchtop (front) -Ceiling kitchen (flushing) -Inside robes / doors -Bed 3 door adjustment (Check all doors) -Brickwork (meterbox, r/hand elevation sill) -Tile elevation bathroom -Carport panel lift door runners mounting By the time we had this many things on our list the site managers attitude had gone dramatically downhill, basically pushing us to get out, closing all the doors and locking everything when we had clearly not finished, we continued to take our time, we have just made a large investment in this house, I don't think a couple of hours is a large investment of his time to let us inspect the house thoroughly. We finished our inspection and we were told that we would get a call in 1 week to organize an inspection the following week. It got to 2 weeks and I hadn't heard anything, we had also been to the house and found absolutely nothing had been attended to. At this point I called Sterling Homes customer service number, I was told that the staff member who dealt with my house was on the phone and she would call me back ASAP. I waited 4 hours and heard nothing, I called again before 5pm, when they close, this time I mentioned that I will be consulting with consumer affairs (this was my next intention), I was called back 5 minutes later and they had found time to consult with the site manager in this 5 minute period. I was now told on the phone that Sterling Homes had met all requirements and my house had reached practical completion, whilst on the phone I was speedily sent my practical completions account letter by the accounts personnel at Sterling Homes, in what I imagine was a rush to cover their asses. At this point we were over the 7.5 month build time by a few weeks but Xmas allowed 4 weeks over this period so still within their time frame. She assured me on the phone that I would be called by the site manager within the next few days to organize a final inspection. This didn't happen, and no work was completed on my house, I looked into the HIA SA contract at this point and searched old mate Google for the definition of "Practical Completion", found that my house didn't fall into this definition due to the blocked plumbing, and also that I had not signed any PCI, I emailed this information to Sterling Homes customer service, they seemed to backpedal hard at this point realizing they are close to breaching the agreed build time, the following Monday the site manager went to site with the construction manager from Sterling Homes, where I believe the construction manager was not happy with the build. Sterling really pulled together at this point and all items brought up by us were attended to, an inspection was arranged with the same site manager and we signed a PCI at this point. A formal complaint will be going in against the site manager who I believe was the root of all problems. We still have no keys, waiting for the bank to do a valuation, release the rest of our funding and we will get the keys hopefully in the next week. Then I can play master tiler, I will put up more photos when we have the keys and then after that I will document how to lay 600x600 porcelain tiles when you've never done it before. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 15Feb 26, 2016 4:10 pm Today the bank did their evaluation and released my funds, I went to the bank at 1:30PM, grabbed a bank cheque, this took a little while but after grabbing the cheque I proceeded to call Sterling Homes, it was around 2PM at this point. As usual I was connected to the reception staff, I asked to be connected to the accounts staff so I can book a time to do a handover. I was put on hold for a little while and then told "She will call you back.". I go on my merry way and get back to work for a little while, at 3 o'clock I still haven't been called back, waited an hour so far. All I want to do is come in and exchange the bank cheque for my keys. I pick up the phone and call reception again, I mention that I still haven't been called back and ask if it will happen today, I am informed it will happen before the end of the day. I ask if I will be able to do my handover today? "No, she is booked out with handovers today.". I get off the phone again. I thought about this, please correct me if I'm wrong but an in office handover should take 15 minutes tops? If this is the case it means they are doing 8 more handovers just this afternoon, I really find it hard to believe this is the case. I have never done a handover though so I am unaware of the time required, maybe being booked out with handovers is a thing. I am having trouble finding any pros of building through Sterling Homes at the moment, apart from one of the customer service staff members, I have found most staff to be unreliable and sometimes rude. Tip for Sterling Homes, pick up your customer service game, it would go a long way in keeping people happy. On a positive hopefully should have the keys by next week sometime, I just really want them today so I can get to work over the weekend. Waited nearly 18 months for this house now. First Home Build thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75852&p=1317992#p1317992 Re: Building our first home with Sterling Homes "Watervale 1 16Mar 06, 2016 6:22 am Jaycastle you may find Sterling homes (among my least preferred builders) have adopted a stalling attitude, we encountered with Fairmont a few years ago, when an owner finds many faults and things not finished. 'Practical Completion' is another description for 'near-enough'. What builders rely on is your mortgage payments and current living costs (rent etc) and most owners over-eager to occupy to minimise expenditure. We were paying cash and living rent free, telling Fairmont they could board the place up for 12 months if they liked and I would erect a huge sign out the front saying works had stalled due to the builders lack of interest -- Result, no more stalling! Don't waste your time with Consumer Affairs or Office of Fair Trading or what ever name they hide behind because they are as helpful as an ash-tray on a motor bike. Try looking for a relevant Ombudsman who wield much more power and gets results. Having a home built is where the builder squeezes as much out of a client for doing a barely passable quick cheap finish Arfur Last year, 50% of their staffs left. Is it going be bankruptcy this year? 10 31048 Thanks NativeZen! I can't wait to start landscaping, though it's going to be a while away yet. No movement on site yet as of the weekend. Hoping to see some earthworks… 3 2149 of course there are legal avenues. You've already mentioned it. Sue them. I find it odd that lawyers wouldnt be willing to take on the case, given CCT evidence and… 1 14628 |