Madison 35 by Clarendon Homes - Handover!!

We’re building the Madison 35 with Clarendon Homes in Brisbane. After reading seemingly every building thread on homeone I decided it was about time to start one of our own!

My goal with this thread is to chart our building adventure from start to finish, along with hopefully providing useful information to anyone else embarking on their own building project.

This first post will have the milestones progressively updated, next will come a summary of our process up to tender, and the build info will follow.

TIMELINE
Quotes
- June 2018 – Started looking through display homes at Rochedale, as well as sifting through available land in SEQ
- 24 July 2018 – obtain first quote from Clarendon for Paddington City 30 on H&L package in Rochedale
- 27 August 2018 – $1,000 holding deposit on land in Thornlands. Contacted broker to arrange finance
- 01 September 2018 – Received land contract. Sign and forward to solicitor
- 12 September 2018 – Obtain quote from Plantation
- 13 September 2018 – Quote generated by OMNI homes, however not provided without face to face meeting
- 16 September 2018 – Obtain second quote from Clarendon for Madison 39 in Thornlands. Paid initial deposit of $2,000 to lock in promotion (also required to pay this to order PBA).
- 19 September 2018 – Obtain third quote from Clarendon, changing to Madison 35.
- 27 September 2018 – Receive final quote from Clarendon. Signed quote and ordered Preliminary Building Agreement (including soil testing).
Tender
- 3 October 2018 – Pay balance of land deposit, as required by contract. Solicitor negotiated with developer to push settlement back to get closer to build start (so we didn’t have to pay interest on land while we wait for builder).
- 5 October 2018 – Settlement extended to 9 December 2018.
- 10 October 2018 – Finance approval. Land contract unconditional.
- 10 October 2018 – Soil test received (H1 slab required, no piering expected).
- 13 October 2018 – Preliminary Building Agreement received.
- 16 October 2018 – Variations made to Preliminary Building Agreement
- 20 October 2018 – Signed and returned PBA, paying $1000 to order contract.
Contract
- 3 November 2018 – Building Agreement (contract) received.
- 8 November 2018 – Building Agreement signed. Balance of 5% deposit paid.
Selections
- 17 November 2018 – Tile selection appointment at Beaumont
- 29 November 2018 – Council pre-approval
- 6 December 2018 – Colour Selection Appointment (including A/C and security screen meetings)
- 12 December 2018 – Full building approval
- 19 December 2018 – Covenant approval (notified us on 7/1/19)
- 31 December 2018 – Letter of Commencement issued by bank
- 7 January 2019 – File forwarded to Drafting & Estimating
- 18 January 2019 – Electrical appointment. Final plans completed and file passed to construction

START
- 21 January 2019 – Welcome to Construction letter received
Base Stage
- 25 January 2019 – Site excavation
- 1 February 2019 – Underground drains & electrical installed. Bricks delivered.
- 6 February 2019 – Formwork , pods and steel installed
- 7 February 2019 – Slab poured
Frame/Enclosed stage
- 14 February 2019 – Frame started
- 26 February 2019 – Frame and roof truss complete
- 27 February 2019 – Upper and lower fascia and gutters installed
- 4 March 2019 – Upper roof installed
- 8 March 2019 – Windows delivered on site
- 11 March 2019 – Windows and lower roof installed
- 15 March 2019 – House wrapped in sarking. Gas lines fitted. Plasterboard delivered.
- 19 March 2019 – Plumbing and air con rough in
- 20 March 2019 – Electrical rough in
- 27 March 2019 – Smart home rough in
- 4 April 2019 – Bricks started
- 10 April 2019 – acoustic and thermal insulation
- 13 April 2019 – wall and ceiling plaster
- 17 April 2019 – ground floor bricks completed
- 18 April 2019 – cornices fitted
- 26 April 2019 – scaffold installed
- 3 May 2019 – bricks completed
- 9 May 2019 – bricks rendered
- 17 May 2019 – Top cladding, downpipes, eaves finished. Brick clean, top painted.
Fixing stage & practical completion
- 4 May 2019 – stairs installed
- 10 May 2019 – Waterproofing to wet areas
- 11 May 2019 – Skirting and architraves installed. Internal doors hung
- 17 May 2019 – Lock up. Kitchen and vanities installed. Plaster finished. Cavity sliders hung. Balusters fitted to stairs
- 22 May 2019 – Scaffold stripped from exterior
- 24 May 2019 – Kitchen/laundry splashback and bathroom tiling started
- 30 May 2019 – Wet area/wall tiles installed
- 7 June 2019 – Internals prepared for painting
- 14 June 2019 – External painting complete
- 21 June 2019 – Internal painting complete
- 28 June 2019 – Garage door installed
- 29 June 2019 – Main floor tiles installed
- 5 July 2019 – Plumbing and electrical fit off completed
- 12 July 2019 – Hot water system installed
- 25 July 2019 – Carpets installed
- 26 July 2019 – Practical Completion Inspection
- 8 August 2019 – Handover
FINISH

Post Handover
- 8 August 2019 – Security screens installed
- 9 August 2019 – Walk in Robe fiited
- 12 August 2019 – Standard hot water system exchanged for Solar hot water. Excavation and formwork for concrete driveway and path around house
- 13 August 2019 – Sides and back path concreted. Formwork completed for driveway and front path. Top tier of retaining wall cleared of weeds and debris
- 14 August 2019 – Driveway and front path concrete poured and washed
- 15 August 2019 – Dishwasher installed. Electrical upgrades started
- 22 August 2019 – Letterbox
- 27 August 2019 – Additional Laundry cabinets installed. Electrical finished. Bins delivered
- 29 August 2019 – NBN connected. Pre-pack at old house
- 30 August 2019 – Move into new house
- 4 September 2019 – Theatre speakers wired and installed
- 6 September 2019 – Additional fencing complete. Acid wash all concrete. Exposed aggregate sealed
- 8 September 2019 – Initial curtains/blinds installed
- 11 September 2019 – Covercrete applied to alfresco and side path concrete
- 19 September 2019 – 10m3 underturf delivered
- 24 September 2019 – 9m3 underturf delivered
- 1 October 2019 – Soil finished and levelled. Garden edging started
- 2 October 2019 – Garden edging finished. Yard turfed and irrigation installed


History of the build from the same perspective

This post is a bit long, but follows our house design selection. If you want to get to the plans, they start at the 3rd post.

My wife and I previously lived at Yarrabilba but decided to move closer in to Brisbane to reduce travel time to work and family. Our previous block was about 640 m2, and we were amazed at how small the land divisions are around Brisbane now… the days of living on a ¼ acre or more like a lot of us grew up on, sure are disappearing fast.

We were open to the idea of buying existing or building, but just couldn’t find anything existing that had a floorplan we liked, or even something that could be renovated to be what we liked, without costing an arm and a leg. As a result, we decided to build a house that had as much of what we wanted as possible.

We started out at the Rochedale Displayworld II, going through all the displays, quickly discounting some of the more luxury builders like Stylemaster and McCarthy mainly due to price, and narrowed in on Brighton (formerly McDonald-Jones), Clarendon and Plantation. We liked different things about all the builders on display, but felt our top 3 had the floor plans best suited to our needs.

After visiting Coomera, Springfield, Pallara and Mango Hill display villages, we narrowed it further to Clarendon and Plantation. We found the main differences between the two were that Clarendon had the floorplans we liked the most, however Plantation had the better inclusions, once you got a side by side comparison.

We had initially sought to build in Rochedale, but decided the price for land was outrageous, and given it’s our first time building, thought the risk of a major budget blow-out on already high pricing would be too uncomfortable to bear, so found a nice block at Thornlands. It’s a nice area and there are amenities fairly close by, with more in the pipeline. There are also some nice trails to walk or cycle, as well as playgrounds and open grassland.

We obtained the price list from Clarendon, individually went through the designs and noted our favourites and compared. Through this, we eventually narrowed our selection down to the Crestmead 40, Madison 39 and Sheridan 38. The best part was being able to see each of those designs (or a similar variant) on display. We wanted to do some minor tweaking to the plans of each, but were happy with the layouts overall.

After seeking quotes from the Clarendon sales consultant, we received the bombshell that the Crestmead and Sheridan wouldn’t fit on our block due to the upper level setback required in our estate guidelines. We queried the possibility of relaxing those guidelines, but were told they were already a relaxation on the building code and further relaxation would be incredibly unlikely. It was very disappointing, but ultimately would work out for the best.

Left with the Madison 39, we obtained a quote with some variations thrown in. After receiving the price (with all the extras to get the house liveable), we were dismayed at the price – base cost with Sapphire inclusions was $324,000, and had jumped to over $390,000, and that didn’t include any interior upgrades or landscaping/driveway/fencing.

Evaluating our options, we found the Madison 35 contained the same ground floor (which suited our needs perfectly), but the upstairs wasn’t so crash hot. Fortunately, a few shifts of things here and there got it to what would suit us well, and work very well on our block. At this time we also looked at the Fairmont 34/35, which have a great living area and upstairs, but didn’t have the theatre and music room we wanted.

After a bit of tweaking, we decided to go with a modified Madison 35, and put a deposit in to lock in a good promotion that was running. Below is the evolution of the floor plan

This is the original Madison 35. Our was flipped so we could zero line. It also meant the living areas were protected from the western sun.

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This is the plan as things currently stand. We deleted the downstairs study to make a larger WIP and laundry; pushed the rear wall back 0.5m and shrunk the bench by 0.3m to allow a complete island bench. We also moved the theatre wall into the family to create a larger theatre, as well as deleting the WIL to make a larger ensuite and bed 4, placing cupboards instead in the rumpus.

I'm interested if anyone has ideas on ways to maximise this plan, or if there are obvious flaws we haven't picked up.


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I've tweaked the design a little as you can see below - flipping the shower/toilet in the ensuite. This makes for a bigger shower and seems to open the space up. Will then do a tiled nib or full height wall in the shower, making for a shower room.

I've also changed the laundry/garage/powder configuration, getting rid of that hallway and creating much more storage space. It means there's no broom cupboard, but we could add one in the laundry for sure.

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Nice to see you now have a thread, and happy to see another QLD Clarendon build.

Really like the downstairs modifications you have planned. And definitely, you can put in a broom cupboard in the laundry if you felt it was needed. Will the stair design allow you to utilise under stair storage, or are you planning on an open tread design?

I'm not sure if you can do anything further with the ensuite. When you say nib wall, you mean between shower and toilet, so as to enclose the shower space a bit more?

Let me know if there is anything you want a price on you don't have already you were thinking of (since I didn't list them all in my thread), and I'll see if I can give you idea.

Thanks! Doesn't seem like there are many Clarendon builds on here in QLD at the moment, so it's good to be able to follow another one

I think it will - in one of the Madison's on display (can't remember which) they've placed one of those half height door storage cupboards, so I think we'll do that too.

Nib wall is probably the wrong description for it, but that's the idea - partly to close the shower in a little from the toilet, but also to allow a toilet roll holder to attach somewhere.

That would be awesome if you had any other pricing - we received the PBA today (quick!), so need to finalise any changes in the next 7 days. Pricing came back $4k cheaper so I'm looking through the quote like a mad man seeing if there's anything missing.

Other pricing in our BA:

• 2 continuous rotating roof vents: $600
• Wall and the 2 820mm cavity sliding to theatre: $1,140
• 2 620mm cavity sliding to study: $685
• Magnetic door stops: $165
• Wall tile allowance in Ensuite (for full-height tiling): $2,000
• Smart tile floor waste: $110
• Wall nice in shower (other than ensuite): $180
• Bank of 3 pot drawers (with soft close): $690
• Adding floor waste to laundry: $205
• Acoustic insulation to theatre walls: $530
• Tiling to alfresco and porch: $2,640

We also ensured we increased/added in the electrical allowance and flooring upgrades.

House plans look great

Can I ask what final price came in at?

Our final price on our BA came in at $484,000.

Thanks for that - we're going to be including some of those items, so very handy to know the pricing!

You're going to have an amazing house, those are some excellent inclusions!

Thanks! If we can ever stop tinkering with the design!!

On 13 October 2018 we received the Preliminary Building Agreement (tender), which straight away we observed a few errors/omissions from the requested plan, including

Over the last few days, we've been going back and forth with some improvements and compromises. The main issue was that the ensuite change I had proposed wouldn't actually fit. We've come up with another possibility and have put that forward so will see if that can be done.

The other big issue with the plan was that the ducted air con unit, situated outside the pantry, took up 1.5 m of a 1.7 m gap to the fence. This meant the garage and laundry doors led to nowhere (and so served no real purpose), and I'd have to move a car to get the mower out.

We've since changed the plan to delete the external garage door, and have butted the A/C unit into the corner instead. Now the laundry will lead straight outside, and I can get the mower out easily - albeit through the laundry. I'm a bit OCD though and brush it down after use, so don't see it being a problem at all.

So these are the plans provided at tender. We've changed them a bit more, but will hopefully have all that finalised in the next couple of days.

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Looking good. With our current house we go through garage > laundry to get the mower out into the backyard and it works fine. Lucky you realised that now!

Hope you end up with an ensuite layout that works and you like.

That's good to know it's a reasonable option to go garage -> laundry then outside. I was speaking to a friend, and he has to carry his mower over carpet to get it outside... that's an unfortunate design!

Thanks, it turns out all of the ensuite modifications we put forward won't work, but that's ok. It was to optimise the space more than anything. We're pretty happy with the changes we've made, so now just need to wait for the modified tender to be completed so we can order the contract

It's been a couple of days, and there's an update so it's time for a new post.
We signed the Preliminary Building Agreement and put in some variations today, as well as paying the $1000 to order the contract. We've been advised 2-3 weeks, but Clarendon have been ahead of schedule so far, so hopefully that continues.

Here is some pricing we obtained along the way, to give people an idea of what to expect. The base house prices went up on I think 1 October; I'm not sure if other prices went up also. If you want to see some other prices, check out the thread from TiredHalo at viewtopic.php?p=1824894#p1824894

Madison 35 in Sapphire specification - $314,300

- Acoustic Insulation to Theatre - $530
- Three Phase power - $540
- Zero lot fees - $1450
- Grand Alfresco - $8250
- Cold water point to fridge space - $95
- Window splashback in kitchen - $380
- Gas point in Alfresco - $380
- Recessed tracks for Alfresco door
- Hollywood cupboard $1100
- Sliding doors to robes with 1 mirror - $120 or 2 mirros - $160
- Platform to Theatre - $1200
- WIP/laundry/garage in lieu of study - $990 (definitely recommend if doing any of the Madison designs).
- Tiled seat/shelf in ensuite shower $300
- Stackers in lieu of sliding doors - $750
- Heat pump $2600
- double solid core sliding doors - $1200
- 900mm wide island bench - $290
- Adding windows generally costs around $300 - $700 depending on type and size. Fixed pane is cheapest


These prices would changed depending on which house you're building, as dimensions would all be different. It should serve as a rough guide to doing a bit of customising.

If you were to build a Madison 35 in Sapphire, and there were some good promotions going, I think you could have it move in ready for around $340k. It might not have so much of a luxury feel, but it gives you an idea what you could start with and - if you want - upgrade things from there.

I got a quote from Plantation for a similar sized house. It was about $355k, but included driveway and I think fencing and landscaping, plus a few extra finishes around the house. So really, I'd say Plantation and Clarendon are fairly close on price.

House prices sliding, building approvals sagging. building product suppliers already squealing, and the building industry is putting up its prices! Interesting days ahead in this sector of the economy. Time to sit on the hands?

We are thinking the same but our hand might be forced with more kids on the way. It could take awhile to play out, especially outside of Melb and Syd. Interest rates on the way up will also put a drag on the sector.

It's hard to say... on the other hand you could wait and prices get worse or interest rates go up. That's always the trade off. All you can do is make the decision you feel is best for you at the time and live with it. One thing you can always be sure of - there are plenty of people ready to take more than enough of your money, whether you're buying or building a house