Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 06, 2015 12:09 am Hi guys,
I've been lurking around this forum for months now and finally thought it's time to start my own thread. H1 has been such a massive help and inspiration with my build so far. So my partner and I bought a block of land in the Aria Estate in Plumpton in September last year. Is anyone else building here? Since then we've visited plenty of display homes. Initially we were going to go with one of the big volume builders, but having a look at their costs and estimating the upgrades we would want, we were going to go way over our budget. Our land sales guy recommended ClearView to us, and actually showed us the inside of a house they just finished building and we were quite impressed with the finish. Has anyone else built with them? We've seen a few houses in our estate being built by them. We contacted ClearView before Xmas last year and arranged a meeting. We didn't fall in love with any of their existing floorplans but as they also custom build, we brought with us a floorplan we liked from a volume builder. We made some changes to the existing floorplan as we didn't love that one either. As our land wasn't expected to title until June 2015, we had plenty of time to finalise everything so we took our time. The aim was to have everything finalized and ready to build as soon as land titled. We went back and forth quite a bit, making changes to our plan constantly. We finally had our colours selection in May this year - let me say, that was the longest 5 hours of our lives! Who knew there were 68 different choices for aggregate concrete for the driveway! So our land didn't title in June. It was only delayed by a month though. For some reason time crept up on us and we hadn't finalized our building plan at the time. Land titled on July 14th and we had a month til settlement. We had a broker and a conveyancer to help us sort this out, but was very disappointed that we didn't settle in time. The broker/bank said it was the conveyancer's fault and of course the conveyancer said it was the bank's fault. Although the delay had nothing to do with us, we had to pay a penalty interest rate of almost $800!! Very unfair. We're in the process of trying to get reimbursed from both parties - but what's the chances of getting it all back right? Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Anyway, we finally signed our building contract on Thursday and now just waiting to sort out finances (we have pre-approval), and pay our 5% deposit. So excited to start! It's been almost a year since we started this journey so can't wait to see it all happen. Sorry for the long post - so much has happened in the last year! I wanted to add a picture of my floorplan but don't know how to. Help anyone? SJ Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 5Sep 06, 2015 5:16 pm Thanks! Can't wait to start. Yeh you might not be able to get an alfresco into your plan. But maybe a pergola after handover. Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 7Sep 06, 2015 6:03 pm Sure! Here's our selection for our ensuite and bathroom. The darker tiles will be for the floor and the lighter for the walls. The patterned tiles is for the feature wall, which is the shower wall for the ensuite and the bathtub wall for the main bathroom. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 9Sep 06, 2015 6:28 pm Here's our flooring. We picked 2 different floorboards at our colours appointment as we weren't sure yet, but we've decided on the colour on the right. Floorboards to the whole house except for the theatre room and WIR - where we'll have carpet. We also changed our mind on the stone benchtop. The one in the photo is New Crystal Salt, but we thought it had a bit of creamy tinge to it in person, so have changed our selection to Torrone. Cabinets will be vinyl wrap in Polar white. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 10Sep 06, 2015 6:30 pm can see u upgraded to the artesan range.. and any cost to do the whole house to floorboard ? i read so many negative about vinyl..really not sure should i stick with it or just choose gloss only.. Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 11Sep 06, 2015 7:41 pm We didn't like any of the cat 1 or 2 tiles. So upgraded to cat 3. And the feature tile is actually cat 4. Artesan range, are you talking about the floorboards? They're Bolero which is a standard. We did have to pay more to have them in bedrooms as they're only standard to living areas and hallway. This is what it looks like in an actual house. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We're very unsure about the vinyl wrap too - I've read mixed comments. But i like the glossy look. Hopefully it's the right choice for us! Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 12Sep 06, 2015 7:59 pm Here's our exterior. We originally wanted charcoal coloured tiles, but then realized it's an upgrade we couldn't justify. Besides, our front is all rendered so we chose to stick with the standard range and chose the bottom of the 3 bricks - Austral Indulgence Truffle. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We also have stacked stone and some timber in our facade. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 14Sep 07, 2015 8:48 pm Congrats on having a slab down! Where about are you building? And how long was it between signing your contract/paying the deposit until the slab went down? Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 15Sep 07, 2015 9:09 pm SJ_house13 Congrats on having a slab down! Where about are you building? And how long was it between signing your contract/paying the deposit until the slab went down? Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Thanks. Deposit paid: 29 Apr Contract signed: 4th Aug Slab: 4th Sep There was a bit of back and forth with design... Gallery really took a long time. To get an appointment 2 weeks. To get the variation 2 weeks. Changes to variation another 2 weeks. We went to two extra appointments because covenant issue. Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 16Sep 07, 2015 9:14 pm Oh, that's quick between signing contract and slab. We've done selections already and you're right, took ages to get the variation list from Gallerie. We're hoping we could get slab down soon too, but ClearView said they won't be applying for a permit etc until we pay the deposit so we're just waiting for the bank to finalise our finance. Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 17Sep 07, 2015 9:23 pm Yes. Before contract we also waited for 2 weeks for developer approval. Then we signed contract and paid 5% deposit with bank pre approval and land title.... So they went ahead and applied for permit. Bank full approval took 3 weeks after I submitted the fully signed contract. As soon as I got the bank approval they started the work... With my 5% deposit and pre approval they did a lot of site prep work... They waited to pour the slab after full approval. Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 19Sep 07, 2015 9:45 pm jai.m Yes. Before contract we also waited for 2 weeks for developer approval. Then we signed contract and paid 5% deposit with bank pre approval and land title.... So they went ahead and applied for permit. Bank full approval took 3 weeks after I submitted the fully signed contract. As soon as I got the bank approval they started the work... With my 5% deposit and pre approval they did a lot of site prep work... They waited to pour the slab after full approval. Oh that makes more sense. I think we already have the developer approval and we also have pre approval from bank. So just waiting for formal approval now. We're hoping to start by october some time. Thanks! Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 Re: Our First Build with ClearView Homes 20Sep 07, 2015 9:48 pm SJ_house13 jai.m Yes. Before contract we also waited for 2 weeks for developer approval. Then we signed contract and paid 5% deposit with bank pre approval and land title.... So they went ahead and applied for permit. Bank full approval took 3 weeks after I submitted the fully signed contract. As soon as I got the bank approval they started the work... With my 5% deposit and pre approval they did a lot of site prep work... They waited to pour the slab after full approval. Oh that makes more sense. I think we already have the developer approval and we also have pre approval from bank. So just waiting for formal approval now. We're hoping to start by october some time. Thanks! Our First Build /viewtopic.php?t=79716 If you have paid deposit (5%) then you can ask them if they will apply for permit and do prep work in advance I have posted this before: We hired Darbecca to do every stage inspection, and I strongly recommend them to anyone that asks me. They were amazing. Thorough reports… 2 4480 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 23758 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17516 |