Building with Hall & Hart Homes

Not sure how relevant it will be considering if they have now changed and do it with HHH directly rather than at the Clipsal office but I can tell you what we arranged.


We ended up with 16 batten holder light points which we will put on light fittings later, as 27 were included as standard we received a credit back of $550. We have 43 downlights of which 32 were included (we selected the extra 20 for the inclusions package) so ended up being $1650, 2 fluro lights in the garage at $330 for both.


We kept switches as per standard so no cost. Added on an additional 21 power points at $1155, added 3 external power points at $315, extra two TV points at $170 and an extra 8 data points at $1000.

We put in an extra heat/light/fan combo in the powder room at $560 for ducted. We also had them put in wiring and extra noggins for 6 ceiling fans at $450. Pre wiring done for an additional 2 outdoor lights at $170.

Looking back at it now I think we have a huge amount of lights, you'll probably be able to see our house from space! Also not sure if we needed so many extra data points but all selected now so no going back

Hey tand,

That's great that they are taking it in-house, it means they must want to improve the selections experience and possibly the turn-around times too. As kjane mentioned, since the selections process has changed the prices may not be relevant, though we basically had batons installed for future downlights and external security lights. With junction boxes installed for facade lighting and feature lights. As for security items, we had them installed with H&H, so unfortunately I can't assist with that one.

Hi Kjane,

LOL, I am having the same problem as you whilst drawing up the electrical plans. Seems I can't get enough of the down lights.

This is super helpful. I do hope the pricing will be better now that it is taken in house but I won't hold my breath.

What are the data points for? Are they for cat 5 network cables?

Thanks for the flouro light idea. It didn't occur to me to install flouros as they are ugly but in the garage I need all the light I can get.

Hi Seren1ty,

Thanks for the intel as every little bit helps. Is there a difference between installing a baton or junction box for external lights? Is it a matter of choice or do you have to install junction boxes for facade/feature lights ad batons for security lights?

The data points are Cat 6. We tried to think where we might want to put a computer or tv now or later on.

As for light in the garage we also put in a window on the side of the garage for ventilation and light during the day. Wasn't very costly and I think will come in handy.

Thanks everyone for the advice and words of encouragement! I’d reply individually but my computer has decided to not cooperate so I’m on the iPad which won’t allow me to reply individually for some reason. Anyway ... so we have had our tender presentation and it felt like it went really well. We’ve since sent through a list of questions / changes to the tender and a raft of changes to the plan. But I feel like we’re on the right track. We’ve also confirmed that we can put in hardwood timber flooring post handover which is great. So I’ve been focusing on the external selections while we wait for the changes to be made.

I think I’ve gone off Orpheus and am back on Espresso. It goes with our bluestone paving so much better and I think will have a stronger finish. I just have to accept the chance of chipping. So off to view random houses again tomorrow. Zen you’re doing Espresso too aren’t you? Which facade have you chosen? We’re doing the Sienna Urban so will want to pair with two render colours, probably a dark grey and a white of sorts. With Monument windows, gutters, down pipes, Sambuca horizon roof, prob Surfmist eaves. Timber look garage door and front door and timber posts on the balcony.

Thanks guys for the insights into the electrical selections. If it’s at HHH is it still done by a Clipsal representative?

Thanks!

So glad to hear that the tender presentation went well and that you are making lots of changes with no dramas. I just looked up your façade and tried to imagine your selections, it will look so nice! What colour stain will you have on the wood?

I love hearing about everybody's selections. I only had pendant lights left to choose and did that last week so now don't know what to do with all my spare time now that I'm not poring over pin interest

Haha kjane! I can’t wait to get to that stage! I have no idea re stain. Where do you go to check out garage doors? As I’ll try and make the garage door and front door match. I suspect this is all discussed at the PGH selections appointment but I really need to look at things a hundred times before I’m set on a decision.

I know the feeling! I went to the tile place at least 7 times Our external selections we did ourselves without the appointment as we live overseas for now and couldn't fly back for that appointment so we didn't see any selections before we actually chose them for the externals (what could go wrong ). You could look up the Dynamic Door website and they have the colour and style choices on there http://www.dynamicdoorservice.com.au/garage-doors/

Oh wow! That’s amazing that you chose everything from overseas! Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out now.

Great to hear your presentation went well, Jacks! Were there any surprises in the site costs?

We are going with the Sienna contemporary facade, the option with the face brick and render. We still haven’t finalised our selections yet bc we got paralysed by too much choice! Initially we wanted the facade on the website but got sticker shock from the cost of timber cladding (there is the no maintenance timber-look option that came back very expensive). The different render options also got pricey and getting quotes for the various combinations of render/cladding took a while back and forth with HHH. It’s very hard to visualise the colour choices esp as we weren’t sure how much render we wanted. On this forum some ppl recommended an online business called New Home Visuals that would build a mock-up of the facade for $45. Their website works but their forms didn’t submit and emails bounced back after a week so I think they might be out of business. anyway I ended up using PowerPoint as I don’t have paint shop pro. PowerPoint is crude but effective enough to compare our options. We’ve finally decided espresso bricks, monument roof/windows/gutters, main render in Wallaby, lighter render in Surfmist, decowood garage in Ironbark. We originally considered timber posts to match garage but at a quote of $1150, we settled on painting in monument instead which was an option the austral colour consultant suggested.

At your PGH consultation, they’ll show you a folder with the decowood swatches and you can compare it against the brick, making it a bit easier to visualise. It’s difficult to pick the render colour in the consultation using their colour book. We ended up getting sample paint pots from Bunnings and painted on cardboard to make our decision.

The urban facade looks great - if it’s just deciding on colours then you won’t waste as much time as we did getting various quotes from HHH. If you are getting quotes, be very specific what you want. The time it took for them to respond took from a few days to a week.

Kjane & Seren1ty, thanks for the great advice - super helpful as always!

Zen, you may see some action on our site soon. Demo has started and big machinery will be on site next week with HHH starting a few days after. You'll likely see more of our build than we will

By the way, we just paid the $10k acceptance and now at the next stage of waiting for hydraulic plans. Very apprehensive what comes back given the stormwater issues HHH raised in our tender presentation. Wonder if the $20k stormwater provision in our tender will be used up...?

Hi guys, we’re late to the party in this group but just got underway with Hall and Hart. We’re building a Sienna Contemporary facade in Ryde Council. Demo complete and handed over to them this week. Expecting the slab complete by end of August. All progress to date has been good albeit slow with Ryde Council and a pesky tree. We’re tracking our progress on Instagram if you’re interested. Only pics so far are floorplan and demo. We’ll upload our selections over the coming weeks. On Instagram it’s Rebuilding_theLows.

Woohoo! Exciting times, kjane! Will be sure to update you when we pass by your site!

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We ended up going $700 over our PA of 20K but the sewer costs came in under so the pretty much evened out. Are you going CDC route with Ryde City Council?

Thanks!

Yay - another Ryde build! Welcome Morri! Looking forward to seeing your selections

Wish we could do CDC but have to go DA route bc our neighbour's tree is too close to our boundary. Fingers crossed it won't take too long!