Boston 42 with Clarendon

Hi everyone,

We are just starting our process of building Boston 42 with Clarendon in Sydney. This design seems relatively new. Anyone else building Boston in Sydney?
Looking forward to spending many hours browsing this forum for ideas and tips!

Hi I am in advanced stages to sign a contract with Clarendon for Boston 35 + 5...effectively a 40SQ house...where are you building?

What are the pitfalls to be aware of during Contract presentation? THANKS

I'm building in Epping. We haven't signed contract yet so can't help you with that one! Please let me know how you go!

They had the 42 on their website not long ago and now it has been removed.... anyone got the actual floor plan available??? 36 layout is nice but just a tad small for us.

https://www.clarendon.com.au/nsw/home-designs/boston-42-/pdf

Hi,

I have started the process of building a modified Boston 42 from Clarendon near Epping NSW.

Im yet to receive the tender next week.

Could you pls share your experiences/suggetions on what to look for in tender and contract?

Did you experience any surprise during color appointment or in clarendon lifestyle studio?

Any price increase after you signed the contract?

Hi Sam,
Which suburb are you building in? I'm building in Epping!

We pretty much didn't modify the Boston 42 at all, just got rid of the sliding door from the study to the bathroom downstairs, and we went with half of Grand Alfresco.

You should ask for your tender to be sent to you few days before you have your appt so you have chance to look through it. We didn't, so we didn't sign on the day so we can look through it. They may pressure you to sign on the day, I would recommend you don't so you have chance to go through it properly.
You have to make sure you go through it thoroughly as there were few mistakes I picked up.

Same as for contract, but there shouldn't be any surprises there from the tender if you have asked them to fix any mistakes or amend etc.

Which fascade are you doing? Things I wished I had done which is too late now is 1) Extend the garage as standard is only 5.5x5.6m or something like that, 2) put eaves on the garage.

Are you in a hurry to build? I would advised you to book in your lifestyle studio in early, as I have heard of people waiting upto 4 weeks to get appointment. I made mine even before I signed my contract so didn't have to wait long.

Surprises;
Kitchen upgrades are very very expensive. For the gloss finish for the cabinets were about 3k which is included as standard with another builder. We spent about 15k on kitchen upgrades.
Electrical was about 7k, home security about 3k.
We knew we could save more money by doing some electrical stuff post handover, but then decided to just get it done through clarendon as electrical downstairs such as lights can be hard to do for 2 storey post handover.

We are doing floors point handover.

So yes, price increase after the contract with all these added in. Then of course you have to factor in the demolition cost, landscaping etc.

Good luck!

hi Loz

thanks for your advise.

I'm building near epping
moved master bed back with same wir and ensuite configuration as in parklea display home.
merged ground floor laundry area into garage
shower in guest room
no alfresco, just an open bbq area of 5x2m near meals
replaced bath tub in second bathroom with a wc as my kids are grown up and don't use tub.

i selected evolution with addition of water point for fridge
no carpet on stairs
20mm waterfall edge on kitchen island
I selected the classic facade which i will render after construction with a feature.

what did you spend over kitchen, alarm and electrical?

did you get someone to review your contract?
any insurance?
is your project a knockdown rebuild? how much did you spend on demolish?
do they provide the tv cabinet in theatre?
are you going with their centralised aircon? I'm planning to put 7 split (inverters) across whole house to save cost.
what about downlights?

sorry for too many questions , I'm going through initial trauma phase with sleepless nights.

oh interesting about your modifications! Do you have your plans? would be interesting to see it! Although we can't change anything now!

So we got the sapphire range and we also got the EOFY promotion; so all the kitchen appliances got upgraded to Miele appliances and got about 20k off the build price due to promotion offers.

We are doing floor post handover so should get about 10k credit back for taking out tiles and carpets completely.
We wanted the classic fascade but got told it looks bit dull and bit 'flat'. I like pure brick look so didn't want to render etc. Opted for Oxford which I still don't like that much but was prob the next best option. Not having the rendered wall like the pictures thou.

In terms of upgrades;
7k at colour studio; upgraded all the internal doors as the standard one looks so cheap and tacky. (about 2k in total), 2x whirly birds put in, Double glazing to south and north facing windows, upgraded the cornices downstairs only etc
15K for kitchen; for putting in butler's pantry (no sink), extend the kitchen island to 300mm overhang, extend vanities etc.
Alarm about 3k; got the smarthub which i knew wasn't necessary but we can't be bothered sorting thru that stuff post handover etc plus not very good with handyman stuff, Got remote controls for the alarm system and also the module so we can access alarm through our phones. The bloody antennaes alone cost $660!!! I know ppl have done it post handover but figured just easier to get it done through Clarendon.
Electrical bit over 7k; Ended up upgrading some of the upstairs to downlights, put in the Fan/light/heater combo in bathroom, fascade light, external junction boxes etc, have about 3 powerpoints in each room.

No didn't get someone to review contract, but I had a copy of another builder's contract and the NSW HBA contract to compare. Clarendon's progress payment schedule is so crap compared to other builders, you're paying lot of money upfront as they ask for payment BEFORE the prelining stage too. Wanted it changed but Clarendon adamant that they will only change if bank was unhappy with it and our bank was fine with it so let that go.
Which insurance are you talking about?
Yup, ours in KDRB. Haven't demolished yet, still living in it, our CDC not lodged yet. Got quote from 4 different demo companies, ended up going with Sitedemo; 2nd cheapest surprisingly as lot of ppl say they are most exy. will be bit over 20k.

No TV cabinets in theatre, i'm sure you can ask for it to be done thru Clarendon but we didn't bother.

upgraded the aircon to inverters and yeah ended up upgrading to like 7 or 8 zones can't remember. upgrade was about 5 or 6k for the aircon. Got the myzone 5 thingee too.

Had 20 downlights included in our promotion, just in process of forking out more money and changing upstairs leisure and corridor lights to downlights too.
Initially was going to get the downlights done upstairs post handover, but after looking into it, probably only saving about $30 per downlights by doing that, and we're only adding in about like 10 downlights as extra so figured not worth the hassle. Depends if you really wanna watch your budget or just would rather fork out bit more money and not have to worry about it after.

Thanks lozsyd

Thanks for sharing the details.

see the preliminary plan attached. My tender is on 20th Sep. Bit worried about the site costs which is ranging around 70k at the moment due to 1m slope

Due to this unexpected site costs, Im planning to do butler's, WIP, downlights, fan, timber floors post handover.
what else can we do post handover?

I found a good checklist on this website, lot of interesting stuff for first home builders, check this

https://www.statecustodians.com.au/checklist-for-building-a-house

https://1stbuild.club/

can you help me with few questions? sorry for a big list, Im panicking before the tender ....

1. did you went through the colors appointment before the contract?
2. How will you deal with skirtings if will do the floor post handover? will you remove and reinstall or put extra skirtings?
3. are you also planning to get the tiling done in bathrooms post handover?
4. tiling till ceiling with them or later?
5. how long did it took from tender to contract to CDC approval? i think I might not be able to get the slab done before christmas
6. do we need to take any kind of insurance incase clarendon goes bankrupt and doesn't complete the project?
7. which aircon model did you upgrade?
8. can you share your floorplan, Im confused about my window sizes
9. are you leaving the standard shelves only in WIP?

Hi Sam_Syd

oh wow your plan looks great!! Great idea about having the void over the top if you don't need so many bedrooms!
We raised our ceiling upstairs to 2.6m, but if you have that void I guess that's already like a really tall ceiling!

Oh far out, your site cost is a lot!! From what i have read on the forums, it appears that you may not be saving that much money for doing WIP and butler's post handover unless you know a friend who will give you mates rates?
Are you taking out all carpets too? and tiles?
For downstairs electrical I would recommend getting it done through Clarendon as it's apparently hard to fiddle around with downstairs in a 2 storey. Upstairs you can do whatever you would like and will be easy.

I guess you can try and do things like install antennae post handover?
But definitely upgrade the aircon with clarendon as will be near impossible or more exy if you try and do it post.

So in regards to your questions;

1. did you went through the colors appointment before the contract?

No, my understanding is you can't do the colours appointment until you have signed the contract. BUT if you want to save on the waiting time, try and book in for the colours appointment when ur at the tender meeting. The contract meeting will normally be about 2 weeks post tender meeting. I heard waiting time for appt for the colour studio can be upto 4 weeks. So the earlier you make it, sooner you get it post contract appt.

2. How will you deal with skirtings if will do the floor post handover? will you remove and reinstall or put extra skirtings?

I asked Clarednon if they can just tack on the skirtings, they said no, that it has to go on. So yeah it will have to removed and then reinstalled post floors.

3. are you also planning to get the tiling done in bathrooms post handover?

No, tiling has to be done in the wet areas so you can't ask for this to be taken out. They will only take out the tiles in the living areas and the corridors. All the wet areas like laundry and bathroom has to be tiled by clarendon to meet some sort of builder requirement etc i'm told.

4. tiling till ceiling with them or later?

Definitely do it with Clarendon. You won't save much money doing it post, also may have issues getting tiles to match. We asked for this to be included in our tender. It was about 5k for both bathrooms from memory.

5. how long did it took from tender to contract to CDC approval? i think I might not be able to get the slab done before christmas.

Haha I will let you know when I have my CDC approval!!! We signed our contract in July, and finished all of our appointments by August. our CDC only got lodged last FRI!!! I'm told if we have demolished and got the peg out done by early to mid Nov we may have slab done b4 xmas. So I would highly suspect if you're still at tender stage, you won't get it b4 xmas. I think we were waiting on stormwater designs to come back which took close to like a month!!

6. do we need to take any kind of insurance incase clarendon goes bankrupt and doesn't complete the project?

I think Clarendon has builder's insurance. I highly doubt Clarendon will go bankrupt. Are you getting construction loan? Hopefully bank will sort this out if this happens, it's their money! One of the reason I didn't go with smaller project home builders was cuz of this risk. I think Metricon, Masterton and Clarendon are pretty solid. But yeah, I honestly don't know the answer to that.

7. which aircon model did you upgrade?

Think Fujitsu inverter 2000kw or something? Don't worry the aircon guy does the same spill to everyone. and tells you he has just sold the last one and has to borrow one from his friend at masterton/metricon etc. He will magically find one for you if you do decide to upgrade.

8. can you share your floorplan, Im confused about my window sizes; I'll attach mine below. We changed some of our window sizes and upstairs main bedroom window size had to be reduced to meet the CDC requirements.

9. are you leaving the standard shelves only in WIP? We are putting in a stone benchtop and some cupboards by the window. We got the glass splashback as a promotion. But the side of the WIP yes, leaving shelves as they are. Was getting too $$$ to do too much with kitchen.

[quote="lozsyd"]Hi Sam_Syd



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thanks heaps Loz !

Im bit scared to touch skirtings as it might need painting later when you put it back post floors? Also, I heard the standard tiles range at Tiles Direct is only 400x400, any size bigger is an upgrade $$$

thanks for the tip to get colors booked at the time of tender

All of my customizations are costing me just 21K, the site cost is a killer
let see what comes up in tender

thanks for sharing Loz !

Hi Loz

I saw you have chosen 2750 ground floor height and 2600 first floor, what are the benefits of high ceilings ?

Also, how to decide where to put toughend glass and where double glazing?

High ceiling make the room/house look more spacious and luxurious.
The first floor ceiling of 2.4m felt too low for us.
It's also one of the selling points if you wanna sell your place further down the line. It's something that can't be done post handover so we definitely wanted it.

We put in double glazing in all the bedroom windows that are south and north facing. We live on quiet street so it was more to keep the heat/cold out. And was not as expensive as I expected. Also more exy to do post handover as the whole window needs to be changed.

hi guys ,

Your discussions very helps to the other that in the same situation.
Can I please ask if Clarendon charge you anything to tack on the skirting board? Or they have to do fully fixed which will be hard to remove and install later which can damage the gyprock with no cost?

Thanks

they said no to tacking on the skirting. they will fix it as per standard i guess

I will 100% doing the same in my next build. The last investment house I built earlier this year was about 208sqm (single level) with 2700mm ceiling, even some of the tradies thought the house was much bigger than 208sqm. Add 300mm to your door and window heights and it looks fantastic compared to a standard 2400mm ceiling. That (single storey) upgrade cost about $7300 (in QLD) and was worth every cent.