Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 20, 2015 7:18 pm Hi, we are first time builders. Thinking of building Grandworth 40MKIII with Allcastle. Base price is around $265,000. Quote for Easy Build package is $344,950. Easy Build package includes air-conditioning, ground floor higher ceiling, upgrades to internal features such as kitchen and bathroom and also includes basic site costs and basix. What I want to know is, has anyone built with the Easy Build package? Do you think it's worth the extra $$$? Also, I'd like to hear from anyone who has also built without the Easy Build package (basic package) with not much upgraded and what were your thoughts on the look of the kitchen and bathroom and generally the whole house? Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 2Sep 21, 2015 10:00 am We are building the Savannah with an easy build package, what you get is upgrades to a lot of inclusions, which when we did our colour selections you can tell the difference in quality between the upgrade and the standard inclusion. I would go with the easy build, and if you want to do things like flooring yourself, just get it removed and they give you a credit... Just be careful with the extra's bonus package as they will not credit for anything that is removed as they are classed as free. Also, the easy build does include site costs, but not everything, so you can still expect there could be at least $15-20k extra, our was about another $18k for piering, Bushfire, Drop edge beam, saline slab, removal of fill etc. We where luck we did not need an upgrade to H Slab, which would have been another $4k. Also we initially did looks at the Grandworth 40 and 42.5, the Savannah is a very similar layout but only 34 squares, rooms are smaller but in most cases are still a reasonable size. We just felt that the Grandworth's where just additional space to vacuum. The Savannah we are building is still going to have 6 bedrooms the same as you can do with the Grandworths, might be worth a look if you have not already, it is on display at The Ponds...it is around $20k cheaper from memory Check out my progress, we are currently in Week 5 of the build... http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=78229 Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 3Sep 21, 2015 11:00 am Thanks Wazza773. I have checked out your page. Good luck with everything. I know we're going to be in for additional $$$, but just was basically wondering whether it was cheaper to do the stuff in Easy Build ourselves (for what we want) or whether it is actual value for money. It's difficult because they don't break-down the cost to see what it's actually worth. Some of the upgrades, I'm not pushed on, such as shower roses, video intercom, and taps. Taking out the site costs (because we did get a tender a couple of years ago with it itemised when Easy Build wasn't around), it seems like the Easy Build is around $60,000 extra. And that's not including the price increase. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 4Sep 21, 2015 11:26 am On it's own the easy build would not be value for money, so you need to include the extras package which they advertise as free, but essentially you are paying for it in the easy build cost, hence why it is only available if you get the easy build...The reason they do it that way is so if you decide you don't want something in the free extras they can take it out, but they don't have to give you a credit for it... The sales people have a list of most extra's and how much they are worth, you should be able to sit down with them, and get an idea on the costs so you can compare the two... I know the increase to ceiling heights is worth around $6-7k as we had issues with that inclusion... Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 6Sep 27, 2015 12:39 pm Hi Wazza773, you mentioned above that you had issues with ceiling height increase above. Was this included in the EasyBuild package? It mentions it in the brochure, but it's not clear the way it's worded. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 7Sep 28, 2015 5:37 am When we did initial tender, there was no increased ceiling heights offered, but once our initial tender expired the packages had changed and the cost had gone up $14,000, but they included increased ceiling height. We was initially told by the Sales person that as the increase ceiling height was not initially included in our package, we should get a $6,000 credit. This did not happen, and all they offered us was either a $2,000 credit or to be upgraded to the new package and get the increase ceiling heights. So was annoyed we didn't get what was promised by the sales person, and the whole situation meant we got very close to walking away. The increase to the ceiling heights have never been part of the easy build package, it is part of the bonus package, the package ended up with was the Dream Package which included the ceiling heights, but the new package, More for All, you have a choice of increase ceiling heights or a 12 month fixed price, which is a big benefit if you have unregistered land and an option we would have taken if it was available at the time of our first tender. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 8Sep 28, 2015 8:15 am Thanks for the info Wazza773. I get a little nervous with all this stuff because there doesn't seem to be one area where it includes what everything is included with the Easybuild. I have bits of paper everywhere. I did however email the Sales person (because I thought it would be better in writing to get an answer). They did come back and say it was included if I get the Easybuild package. I have until Wednesday to sign the tender, otherwise it goes up about another $10,000 from 1st October. Thanks for your help. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 9Sep 28, 2015 8:52 am Hi, My tender as the easy Build inclusions listed separately in the Tender under there own section. The extra package I assume for you the 'More for All' is listed as the first Item in the customer variations as complimentary, which summarizes the inclusion but also says (See Attached), a copy of the inclusions in listed at the end of the tender. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 10Sep 28, 2015 11:11 am Yep, that's how it is with my tender. Just gets confusing with so many bits of paper all over the place. I also got a re-quote for it without EasyBuild, but it's not that much less considering we still would have to tile and carpet and aircon the place. I'm hoping that costs won't blow out too much more for site costs. We still have to demolish our current home, so that's an extra $15K approx. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 11Sep 28, 2015 11:39 am Have they done a site inspection? If they have done that then then tender should cover most site costs, there are just some provisional amounts, piering is the once that has the potential to blow out. There are also rules that will now be in place that may not have been when your current house was build such as Bushfire rating's which can add quite a bit. We had to pay an extra $5k for BAL 12.5, and we have about 10 tree's spread out that are about 80m away. There is also acoustics if you are near a busy road, but I don't now much about them, but from the point of view of Allcastle, if you are affected by acoustics you can't have weatherboard at the rear of the house which is common to a lot of Allcastle designs, must be brick which adds quite a bit... Just some other things to keep in mind that will come along during the build, that we have encountered so far that are no in the Tender... Gas Connection - $125 Electric Connection - (not sure but was around $500 the last time we built) Moving of fill from Piering - $550 per load (50m is normally 1 load) Tiling - You don't choose tiles till after the slab is completed, and any upgrades are paid direct to the tilers. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 12Sep 28, 2015 7:29 pm Ok, thanks for that extra information. We paid for them to do the site inspection when we got our first quote. They accepted that one from a couple of years ago. We're lucky not to be in a bushfire or flood zone and we don't live on a main road. We already have included in the quote to brick the back up where they have the weatherboard, which is $5K extra. We're also on a corner block which means we now (according to SEPP) have to have articulation to the side of the house, this is an additional $4K. We've added 3 piece downstairs WC. I can't believe that they only have a toilet and no basin included in the standard. Where are you supposed to wash your hands? Even external ducting to the rangehood in kitchen is extra that we've had to include. Not sure where the smell/smoke is supposed to go if you don't get a hole in the wall. We haven't got long now to accept tender, so there is still a lot to think about. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 15Oct 08, 2015 9:59 am Yes, I was at the Ponds display home on Saturday to do some measurements and grabbed a price list. The Savannah that we are building is now $20,000 more than what we are paying, and $34,000 more than what is was when we signed the Tender back in July 2014. We had to pay the $14,000 increase in Jan 2015, but avoided the $5000 in Apr and $5000 in Jun. I have heard that a lot of builders have put prices up this year by large amounts. Probably due to demand, which is high at the moment as more land is becoming available. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 17Nov 19, 2015 8:08 pm We were forwarded our draft plan which had our proposed house sitting low. Looking at the plan, they have cut areas that we didn't want cut. We went to our plan presentation meeting where items on the plan were explained. The Construction Liaison Officer was very nice. We did, however, ask for the site to be raised a bit more (less than 200mm) but were surprised as to the increase in cost. Our original site variations were around $15K, this one has come back an extra $30K to total $45K . Not sure why we have been quoted so much. I'm going to ask them how they came to these figures. This has blown way out of our budget and I hope this figure is incorrect. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 18Dec 22, 2015 8:29 am We're still going with the raised height of the house. Have paid the next tender deposit. At this stage, looks like demolition of our current home in mid March. Going through a private certifier, rather than Council, to get approval to demolish. Council has too much paperwork and seems like they'll take ages to approve. Justine from Allcastle has been pretty good with regard to communication and our requirements. We also now have to find somewhere to live locally in the meantime which will be a huge added expense. Fingers crossed. Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 19Jan 18, 2016 12:39 pm TaraDog We're still going with the raised height of the house. Have paid the next tender deposit. At this stage, looks like demolition of our current home in mid March. Going through a private certifier, rather than Council, to get approval to demolish. Council has too much paperwork and seems like they'll take ages to approve. Justine from Allcastle has been pretty good with regard to communication and our requirements. We also now have to find somewhere to live locally in the meantime which will be a huge added expense. Fingers crossed. Hi Tara, how did you go with the raised height? iam looking in to build with Allcastle as well. Just paid a deposit on the soil test and contour survey, Just wondering how long did they give you for tender acceptance? May i ask where you are building? iam planning to build in Ryde. ZC Re: Allcastle Homes Grandworth 40 MKIII 20Jan 19, 2016 1:59 pm we're building a 40mkIII in Baulkham Hills which is up to brick laying. total cost so far is $430k including $10k in tile upgrade, third garage, alfresco, and we transplanted the kitchen out of the newbury 37 into ours, which has a servery window onto the al fresco. the frisge is now where the kitchen to stairs entry way is, and the double doors to the pantry which looked ordinary is now a single door. we also had a few extra site costs due to some excav and drop edge beams on the slab. there was some traffic control needed due to being on a main road. there is a 3 week delay on the bricks which we upgraded, but we were advised that that may occur months ago. cant fault anything so far. AH communication is great, with regular emails indicating whats happening, although i drive past it daily so am always aware ! by the look of it, the base price is about $20k more than when we signed in August 15. Hi we are looking to talk to people who have built with them recently. We have signed mid range built contract but identified that a lot of things are not included.… 0 707 Hi Would anyone have the copy of cashback offer AllCastle had for end of 2023? They are saying there is no such thing it’s not in your tender unfortunately I’d do not… 0 190 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74701 |