Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 22Jul 09, 2015 5:05 pm apparantly it's full of fills, and the land slopes up a bit so they need to excavate it and retain the soil from goin into the neighbour's block. i dont know why we weren't offered fixed site costs and being a noob we copping it hard. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 24Jul 10, 2015 9:51 am I'm not convinced you'll need retaining walls mate. Why don't you try speaking to another builder or is it too late? If another builder is willing to do a fixed site cost, you can probably use that to nego with yours? Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 25Jul 10, 2015 10:02 am Well now that the builder knows what the site cost is, they cant go back to fixed. I tried. Yes i could go with another builder but it's been a year already and coming up with a floor plan u like, all the little changes here n there ... shudder shudder lol.. The retaining wall component is only 2.8K The "fixed price rock removal" is where it hurts the most. 9K ! the rest is slab upgrade to E class -9k, site cut and fill 4k. rest is concrete piers and edge beams. In the west, it's highly reactive soil, therefore an E class slab is good and will be worth the upgrade. M class slabs or even H ones might cause problems few years down the line given it's higly reactive soil in the area. I've heard about many houses condemned n builders facing class action suits in the past coz they cheaped out on the slabs. Rock removal... well... it is what it is i guess. again, my fault for not going fixed at the sales stage. I wasn't offered it but i didn't know to ask for it either. come back and bite me. such is life. haha Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 26Jul 10, 2015 12:29 pm Brett and I brought in Elmstead Release alike to stAn3x6. I asked about the conservation area at the end of our street when we looked at the land initially. The land sales office agent said although they are designated as conservation areas this may be subject to change. The bike track however looks like it is here to stay. We fixed our site costs so we didn't want any surprises. I will check these for you stAn3x6 and get back to you what we locked in and for what. I do think there is a cause in the contract that has a variation - let me check on this too. Our land is dead flat, we will need to look at drainage carefully with this. Soil reports, survey reports just came in and seems there is a few rocks around under the old airforce base...they must have laid the tarmac over them!! We are building a double storey house. Just wondering if you have both thought of obtaining the services of a new house inspector. I have been looking at quotes to maybe get them to check on the slab and framework specifically however you can get them to do reports on all stages. These I felt were more important. If you have reviewed this, do you have any recommendations? I am getting back costs of ~$550.00 per report required. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 27Jul 10, 2015 12:37 pm Hi Jo, Thanks, any info would be helpful. The site survey details does mention highly reactive soil so please make sure the builder's not cheaping out on the slab and piers etc. Your site could be different from mine though. It also mentions the place has a lot of fill in the area. Yes i do want to employ the services of a building inspector, just havent looked into getting their contacts just as yet. Please share any info if possible. The slab stage atleast is very crucial. Depending on the costs, i wouldn't mind going all the way.. I'd pay not to have to deal with the builders post handover if there's such a thing... or minimize as much as possible. Cheers Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 28Jul 10, 2015 12:46 pm Yea likewise, I was planning on getting an inspection for slab, frame and PCI but haven't gotten around to getting quotes etc so please share any info if you guys have any. Also I was planning on doing lots after handover (driveway, tile flooring, electricals), so again we can share/recommend any good trades? Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 29Jul 10, 2015 5:48 pm Could u guys at elmstead please pm me your total land n construction price n valuations. My total is over 670k due to high site costs i wanted to see where i stand come valuation time Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 30Jul 16, 2015 8:15 am stAn3x6 had a quick look at the site costs for Carlisle Homes which we locked in initially with sales person. They were $14,643 for the footing adjustment/s-flashing/rock removal/unknown engineering/ and shade cloth protection. There were another $6,455.00 for council requirements for temp fencing/temporary timber crossover and sediment control barrier (however as it is not bushfire area we go approx. $4,000 back off this at signing contracts) the other parts for $5,357 were for developers guidelines for the area - rescode windows/timber sliding door to balcony/ timber awning/ smart wiring NBN Co etc. Brett and I are building a double storey home $736K with all our changes. Our valuations all came in fine and starting building shortly. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 31Jul 16, 2015 3:17 pm Thanks so much for the info Jo. I've approached Carlisle stating your example (fixed site costs). When i questioned not being offered fixed site costs at all, they tried to argue back they "don't offer fixed site cost in some estates at all". -- well we happened to be on the same estate! He's said leave it with him and he'll see what he can do. I did mention walking away from the deal altogether. Haven't even started building and already feeling stooged. At color selection, we WERE verbally told we were on fixed site costs. I only realised we weren't after the site costs came back and hit us out of nowhere. He said he can't negotiate the site costs down. I've asked for credit somewhere else. Let's see where this takes us. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 32Jul 17, 2015 1:32 pm my house valuation came in 27k less. I am building with henley. I am confused in 2 things. 1 - Am i really making an expensive house? should i go back again and reduce upgrades (35k upgrades) or 2 - It does not matter coz i have the deposit even with less valuation. Building Lexington Belle Q1 With Henley in Merrifield, Mickleham. viewtopic.php?t=77094 Getting There.... Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 33Jul 17, 2015 1:41 pm Hi Yd143, Are you in the same estate of Elmstead? what was your total cost? It's ok if it's a double storey i guess. If you can cover the shortfall, i'd rather cover the shortfall and get the house i wanted as opposed to gettin rid of the upgrades but that's just me. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 34Jul 22, 2015 10:36 am Stan, how did you go with your valuation? Jo, how long did your builder take to get on site once land was settled? Mine keeps telling me they need to wait for council plans etc and don't think its starting anytime soon which is frustrating since we got everything (contract etc) ready months before our land was settled. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 36Jul 22, 2015 10:45 am Apparently its for the location of sewerage/water pipes etc.... but I can't see why it is taking almost 2 months to get this done unless they were sitting on their thumbs. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 37Jul 22, 2015 10:48 am Geez. Nothing makes it easy does it lol. U go past one obstacle another one sticks it's head up from nowhere lol. Can you ring the council to confirm the builder's not stuck somewhere else n perhaps speed the process? Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 38Aug 06, 2015 9:04 pm So I think we will be starting soon.. there has been plenty of other builders who has already started, some with slabs and even frames up. Anyone here engaged their building inspectors yet? Would appreciate any recommendations. Re: Williams Landing Elmstead .. bank valuation low!! 39Aug 06, 2015 9:58 pm I'm still yet to sort out the finances.. some banks came 80k under for valuation. Some 40k. I'm going with the one that came 20k under lol. Congratulations on starting to build soon. I drove through the area and saw quite a few temporary fences up already. Hope we get there soon. 2 2938 I am looking to design an entry door to a lower ground basement that has 2200mm between the external entry height to FFL of the ground floor. This door will provide an… 0 11382 How much are you ahead in payments compared to where the build is at? Have you fully drawn down the loan? 5 11933 |