Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills

In June 2014 we purchased a 538sqm block in Gregory Hills, the land registered in March 2015, and we are now close to starting the build...

Below is a timeline of the events that have occurred so far....and I plan to do a weekly update on the progress during the build process. Please post any questions regarding Gregory Hills or Allcastle happy to advise on my experiances, I found these blogs useful on what to expect, so is doing this blog to assist others...

Feb 2014 - Sold our Beechwood house that we had built 8 years earlier.

April 2014 - Had been looking at new houses for a while. Had settled on the Allcastle Grandworth 42.5, but we then visited the Allcastle display at the ponds and saw the Savannah, which is smaller at 34 squares, but it a similar layout. We found the Grandworth had a quite a lot of wasted space, where the Savannah had the same amount of rooms in a more compact space.

May 2014 - Had some additional discussions with Allcastle to get an idea on price and the size of land that we would need. 500sqm was the minimum in order to gain approval via CDC. Price was also cheaper as due to the smaller size of the Savannah.

June 2014 - Did look at land in the Schofields/Riverstone area , but after a visit to Homeworld South and looking at the land in the area, we considered a piece of land that Gregory hills had available. It was an odd shape, and also included a Padmount Substation, but the price was considerably cheaper than land in the North West. After discussions with Allcastle, on if the Savannah will fit and any impact from the Padmount Substation. This all worked out OK, so we put the deposit on the land.

July 2014 - Exchanged contracts, and started discussions with Allcastle. Tender was supplied which was OK, although the Site costs were only estimates. It was made clear that the 150 day tender would expire before registration, so that would involve an increase in the base cost. Was indicated that would be in the low $1000's. Signed the tender and paid the $995 deposit.

August 2014 - Received the initial set of plans, the Savannah, which included an extension to the Study and inclusion of built in Wardrobe, and extension to the Media Room. All other changes were minor. Was happy with the plans so paid the additional $3005. Was told a 6 month build so should be in the house by the end of 2015, which was perfect as our kids would have to move schools and it is important to us that they start a new school year at the new school.

September 2014 - Received a package in the Post with Selections, and was told to start the external colours. They were finalised a few weeks later in a meeting to also discuss the plans. It was now a wait until registration, when Allcastle can access the land.

November 2014 - Roads have been completed, and on a visit to the land, we managed to access for the first time, and stand on the location of our new house. This was happy times until we noticed a double communications pit directly in the path of our driveway. We looked at what could be done with the house, but our options were very limited. Spoke to Dartwest the developers, as the pit was not on the plans, the General manager was very helpful and got his Project manager to deal with Opticomm the owners of the pit. Option was approval to put the driveway around the pit and upgrade the lids or to move the pit. After about a month Opticomm agreed to move the pit by 5m.

January 2015 - Took at while but the pit was moved by Opticomm, this was also a bonus in the end as they moved it 15m. Also visited the display home this month to show my Mother in Law the house. The prices had increased that Month, a lot more than what was first indicated, the Savannah had increased by $14,000. Was concerned by this but after a discussion with the salesman who told us that the new price includes increased ceiling and door heights on the ground level. These are worth $6000, which would not be included in the increase as they were not included in our tender.

February 2015 - Started the dealings with the Bank to get loan approvals. Banked needed an updated Tender as the current one expired in Dec 2014. Received the new tender and copped the $14,000 price increase, after a number of unsuccessful arguments with the builder and an offer to credit $2000, had to include the increased ceiling and door heights even through we did not want them. Was not very happy with the builder at this time, but after comparing price with other builders, Allcastle were still good value for money, plus we could not find another house that had a layout that was suitable.

March 2015 - Land registered (On time), and builder was able perform the site inspections. Arranged Bush Fire certificate and was rated BAL12.5 which had already been costed.

April 2015 - Settled on the land, and received the tender that includes Site costs. This came as a shock, as it was an additional $25,000 which put the house build over our budget. The site costs included fill, drop edge beams around the whole of the house, scaffolding costs, increase piering, machine hire, saline protection for the slab. For some reason, not sure why, they decided to increase street appeal by raising the house. After discussions with the pre-construction manager the house was lowered by 200mm, which dropped the tender price by over $10,000, plus we had another bonus when the soil sample confirmed we didn't need an 'H' class slab so another $5,000 saved. We also moved the house another 300mm away from the padmount substation and another $5000 saved in the 60/60/60 fire ratings... We where now back under budget, paid the next $4000. Allcastle Prices increased again, but after discussion with the pre-contruction manager, she got approval to extend our tender until the end of June 2015. Plans were now finalised and after 1 week we had the Basix certificate. House went for CDC.

May 2015 - Did the internal colour selections which went well, electrical had some delays as the Allcastle person only works 2 days a weeks. Most annoying part of the process is that Allcastle do everything sequentially, which does cause some delays waiting for your file to move from person to person. Got the contract and was informed that the build time is 34 weeks (8 month), 2 months longer than the sales person told us, another lie. Next was an issue with CDC, after 3 weeks they could not get approval, we have an arc at the front and the interpretation of the set backs was different between Allcastle and the certifier. Allcastle contacted the certifier they use on the south coast and he interpreted the same as Allcastle and 3 days later the house was certified.

June 2015 - All the Variations where finalised early in the month, and remainder of the 5% deposit was paid. Final step is the construction plans, which take 10-15 business days. Tomorrow is day 15, so we are hoping to receive them this week. Once we sign off those they have 20 business day to start.

Hope is they will start by the end of July 2015. Unfortunately 34 week build plus the Xmas shutdown we are looking at the end of April for Completion, which is not good for our kids starting a new school in 2015, which is the most critical for us. We have been told that 34 weeks is a maximum and they normally do finish well before that, so our best hope is completion during March 2015 which would still mean a 50 minute journey to drop them at school if we moved them at the start of the year.

I will try and do a weekly update on the progress as the build starts