Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Arden Homes - Votivo 43 - New home build 56Jan 21, 2018 10:55 am I guess I owe everyone an update but thanks for asking Ezza. So we signed our contracts last end Nov. and paid the deposit. We are now waiting for land to title - developer said it might be April. My thoughts on the contract process: - there have been a lot of errors from Arden's side that were not captured properly. Maybe partly because we changed from Votivo37 to Votivo43 during the sales stage, but not all changes have gone through from colours -> tender -> contract. IMO, there's been 5 months total in that process - enough time to get it fixed. - make sure you review your contract drawings, electrical, and tender. Question all items that are in doubt. Clarify. - I've found Arden to be accommodating when doing post contract variations. Maybe because i threatened them not to sign contracts due to the number of errors that were there? Don't know. But I've been able to do a few PCVs with no charge. You can change electricals, colours, etc. Just don't change anything structural or anything that will impact your energy rating. In my case I've revamped my electrical plan (their fault for not doing it correctly despite discussing in tender), and my kitchen cabinet changes, and bathroom changes that were also in the tender sketches. I've also upgraded my AC from brivis promina to contour (because of the motorised weather seal so heat doesn't escape during winter). - I also found that the "contract" plan isn't the "final" plan. They said that before mobilising they will update the drawings with all the pending stuff they should've done at tender, and that will be the final opportunity to review all the details and get them corrected. - To sum I up, the process isn't what I expected it to be, but their flexibility allows my to make sure that we have opportunities to correct whatever was missed, even after contracts, with no charge so far. By the way, i visited our block this weekend and this is how it looked like - they sill need to build the infra. My block is maybe the 4th from the left. Not confident that this will be done in April although the previous release to ours was done relatively quicker. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building the Votivo43 - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Building the Arden Votivo 43 Follow me here: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Re: Arden Homes - Votivo 43 - New home build 57Jan 21, 2018 11:19 am g33kerb0t I guess I owe everyone an update but thanks for asking Ezza. So we signed our contracts last end Nov. and paid the deposit. We are now waiting for land to title - developer said it might be April. My thoughts on the contract process: - there have been a lot of errors from Arden's side that were not captured properly. Maybe partly because we changed from Votivo37 to Votivo43 during the sales stage, but not all changes have gone through from colours -> tender -> contract. IMO, there's been 5 months total in that process - enough time to get it fixed. - make sure you review your contract drawings, electrical, and tender. Question all items that are in doubt. Clarify. - I've found Arden to be accommodating when doing post contract variations. Maybe because i threatened them not to sign contracts due to the number of errors that were there? Don't know. But I've been able to do a few PCVs with no charge. You can change electricals, colours, etc. Just don't change anything structural or anything that will impact your energy rating. In my case I've revamped my electrical plan (their fault for not doing it correctly despite discussing in tender), and my kitchen cabinet changes, and bathroom changes that were also in the tender sketches. I've also upgraded my AC from brivis promina to contour (because of the motorised weather seal so heat doesn't escape during winter). - I also found that the "contract" plan isn't the "final" plan. They said that before mobilising they will update the drawings with all the pending stuff they should've done at tender, and that will be the final opportunity to review all the details and get them corrected. - To sum I up, the process isn't what I expected it to be, but their flexibility allows my to make sure that we have opportunities to correct whatever was missed, even after contracts, with no charge so far. By the way, i visited our block this weekend and this is how it looked like - they sill need to build the infra. My block is maybe the 4th from the left. Not confident that this will be done in April although the previous release to ours was done relatively quicker. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building the Votivo43 - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Is it after the closed fence - then April is just a figure but I hope they finish major earth works before it starts raining - could you see whether they have laid drainage - if not I think you looking around June/July follow my build Arden homes Votivo 37 iin south east: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88622 Re: Arden Homes - Votivo 43 - New home build 58Jan 21, 2018 11:28 am pEast g33kerb0t I guess I owe everyone an update but thanks for asking Ezza. So we signed our contracts last end Nov. and paid the deposit. We are now waiting for land to title - developer said it might be April. My thoughts on the contract process: - there have been a lot of errors from Arden's side that were not captured properly. Maybe partly because we changed from Votivo37 to Votivo43 during the sales stage, but not all changes have gone through from colours -> tender -> contract. IMO, there's been 5 months total in that process - enough time to get it fixed. - make sure you review your contract drawings, electrical, and tender. Question all items that are in doubt. Clarify. - I've found Arden to be accommodating when doing post contract variations. Maybe because i threatened them not to sign contracts due to the number of errors that were there? Don't know. But I've been able to do a few PCVs with no charge. You can change electricals, colours, etc. Just don't change anything structural or anything that will impact your energy rating. In my case I've revamped my electrical plan (their fault for not doing it correctly despite discussing in tender), and my kitchen cabinet changes, and bathroom changes that were also in the tender sketches. I've also upgraded my AC from brivis promina to contour (because of the motorised weather seal so heat doesn't escape during winter). - I also found that the "contract" plan isn't the "final" plan. They said that before mobilising they will update the drawings with all the pending stuff they should've done at tender, and that will be the final opportunity to review all the details and get them corrected. - To sum I up, the process isn't what I expected it to be, but their flexibility allows my to make sure that we have opportunities to correct whatever was missed, even after contracts, with no charge so far. By the way, i visited our block this weekend and this is how it looked like - they sill need to build the infra. My block is maybe the 4th from the left. Not confident that this will be done in April although the previous release to ours was done relatively quicker. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building the Votivo43 - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Is it after the closed fence - then April is just a figure but I hope they finish major earth works before it starts raining - could you see whether they have laid drainage - if not I think you looking around June/July I hope it doesn't stretch to June as that will mean slow start to slab and frames due to rain and cold weather. Building the Votivo43 - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Building the Arden Votivo 43 Follow me here: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Re: Arden Homes - Votivo 43 - New home build 59Jan 27, 2018 11:08 pm Hi G33kerb0t - If I am not mistaken from your last picture we building right next to you with Arden as well (we are in Lillee Park Release) - we are going for Belmont 35 (were told land will title late 2018 ). We are currently on pre color selection stage Was looking through other posts of people building with Arden to see if I missed few things and your adding a drainage in wet areas was spot on, I totally missed it and also expected it to be standard, thank you for that. Few questions, if you do not mind answering (will also put some info that might be useful for other fellow "building with Arden" people: A) I was told NBN box will cost us 2k - I do not think we need that as per my own research builder contacts NBN people, they come, hook up the property to NBN and the only thing I should worry about is where the exit point is (socket) so that I can hook up the ISP modem - can you advise if you were told same/what is your understanding of that? B) Did Arden as standard offered sarking to the roof? I seen it being part of BAL rating package (if you are in the BAL zone, our land was removed from it a month ago), but not sure if having it is default for Australian builders (would be a bit crazy to only have naked roof tiles, but I also see builders only offering single-glazed windows, which nobody in europe uses in new builds for past 2 decades so things might be different here ). If sarking was an extra can you advise how much was it? C) Were you upgrading your inner house wall insulation? We found walls to carry sound very easily in display homes so we are thinking of adding sound-deadening insulation via Arden - when we were quoted during initial sales appointment it came up to less than 2k to do whole house internal walls and changing from 3.5R to R6 to roof space. We are also going with double-glazing (need to bring it up on color with them as sales did not have exact cost) D) We found Arden fridge space to be standard at 900mm - this is not enough for 80% of "big style american double-door fridges" that you can find in most stores - will be upgrading it to 1m otherwise they might not have enough "breathing" space. E) The amount of rocks that builders dig up on this land is scary, quite concerned about initial costs and any rock removal fees, was quoted 25k for site costs initially.. Re: Arden Homes - Votivo 43 - New home build 60Jan 28, 2018 12:08 am Witch Hi G33kerb0t - If I am not mistaken from your last picture we building right next to you with Arden as well (we are in Lillee Park Release) - we are going for Belmont 35 (were told land will title late 2018 ). We are currently on pre color selection stage Was looking through other posts of people building with Arden to see if I missed few things and your adding a drainage in wet areas was spot on, I totally missed it and also expected it to be standard, thank you for that. Few questions, if you do not mind answering (will also put some info that might be useful for other fellow "building with Arden" people: A) I was told NBN box will cost us 2k - I do not think we need that as per my own research builder contacts NBN people, they come, hook up the property to NBN and the only thing I should worry about is where the exit point is (socket) so that I can hook up the ISP modem - can you advise if you were told same/what is your understanding of that? B) Did Arden as standard offered sarking to the roof? I seen it being part of BAL rating package (if you are in the BAL zone, our land was removed from it a month ago), but not sure if having it is default for Australian builders (would be a bit crazy to only have naked roof tiles, but I also see builders only offering single-glazed windows, which nobody in europe uses in new builds for past 2 decades so things might be different here ). If sarking was an extra can you advise how much was it? C) Were you upgrading your inner house wall insulation? We found walls to carry sound very easily in display homes so we are thinking of adding sound-deadening insulation via Arden - when we were quoted during initial sales appointment it came up to less than 2k to do whole house internal walls and changing from 3.5R to R6 to roof space. We are also going with double-glazing (need to bring it up on color with them as sales did not have exact cost) D) We found Arden fridge space to be standard at 900mm - this is not enough for 80% of "big style american double-door fridges" that you can find in most stores - will be upgrading it to 1m otherwise they might not have enough "breathing" space. E) The amount of rocks that builders dig up on this land is scary, quite concerned about initial costs and any rock removal fees, was quoted 25k for site costs initially.. Hello there Witch! Finally there's someone else building in my estate. See my answers to your Qs A: I did not do any of that. Just the pit to the garage connection ($472). In my case it will be into the internal garage wall. There's a discussion about it on the arden Facebook page. You'll see the posts in there. (Join in if you're not already). B: Sarking is not standard. My block also isn't BAL classified so I didn't go for this option. Double glazing - this is bit expensive. Depending on your window size, it can be around 5-10k. C: I just kept the standard insulation to the exterior wall. My ceiling batts got upgraded to R5 due to energy assessment. D: i increased my fridge space to about 1m wide because we have one of those 2 door samsung fridges. E: I was quoted 17500 for my site costs, although they haven't done a full site survey yet. Building the Votivo43 - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Building the Arden Votivo 43 Follow me here: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88553 Can anyone recommend a good/affordable retaining wall and fence builder that I can get a quote from located in Sydney? 8 45817 If you are in Victoria you have a statutory right to your own building inspector regardless of builder's consent. No negotiations are required. However the builder will… 1 2937 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 23484 |