Thomas Archer Hue 42 Bayside Build - 2020/21

We opted for a Sanden system.

Hi all, the TA inclusions have $4500 allowance for appliances. Can I pls ask if most of of you have gone for post handover installation or is it cheaper to go with TA?

Also, have you found that the $15,000 for electrical is sufficient for your build? If not, what should I reasonably allow for?

I’ve started a spreadsheet to track costs as well and it’s amazing how easy and quickly it all adds up!

Thank you in advance

[quote="aang"]Hi all, the TA inclusions have $4500 allowance for appliances. Can I pls ask if most of of you have gone for post handover installation or is it cheaper to go with TA?

I have allowed $10k in PSQ but I’m probably going to get my own at a sale. What brands do they carry?

We took a hybrid approach for appliances - we will install some post-handover and some we will go through TA. The former are appliances we feel we can 1) get someone to install easily and 2) take advantage of more competitive pricing. The latter are appliances we feel would be better to have installed at the time of construction. For example, we didn't want to mess with the overhead joinery and ducting by trying to install a rangehood post-handover.

In terms of pricing, TA will apply a margin and their prices include installation obviously. TA have some "preferred" brands so if you go for Bosch or Smeg for example, I'm told their prices are quite competitive. However, these brands do not have "agency pricing" (i.e. their prices are not fixed by the manufacturer), so it's easy to negotiate a better price with a retailer like E&S, Winning Appliances, etc. If you are going for brands that have agency pricing (e.g. NEFF, Miele, Gaggenau, V-zug, etc), you won't be able to negotiate with the retailer, but you may still get a better price from the manufacturer via their seasonal promotions that run through the year (e.g. buy 3 appliances and get 5% off). One thing that's helpful is that Euro regulations mean all ovens need to be manufactured to standard dimensions. So if it's a European brand, they should theoretically all fit in the same cavity regardless of make and model.

So based on the above we are doing our ovens and dishwasher post-handover, rangehood through TA.

For electrical, we ended well over the 15K inclusion. We allowed for 4K extra in our PSQ (so 19K total) but when we sat down at the electrical appointment, the consultant drew up a basic plan with downlights and power points and we were already at the 19K mark before we even added any of the nice-to-haves! We ended up around 30K after adding some feature lighting (some will be done post-handover), upgrading and adding downlights, extra power-points, ceiling fans, and a lot of provisioning for alarm and network cameras - both of which will be done post-handover as I'm in technology and would like things done a certain way. We didn't add any integrated smart home features either other than for HVAC which was priced separately.

Hope this helps.

Thanks - how long is the electrical appointment?

I have only allowed for 3phase, med alarm, video intercom and a Sungrow 6kw SolarPack lite. Total appro $11k ontop of $15k. I have not allowed for lighting etc.

Sorry forgot to add that we are also getting our stovetop from TA as well. We didn't want to mess around with the stone post-handover.

They allow for 3 hours, and ours went for approx. 3 hours.

Wow interesting - we were told we are ONLY allowed the Rinnai hot water heat pump system. Which model did they allow you to get?

We are planning on getting our oven/induction cooktop done post-handover, do you recommend we get the cooktop through TA? I assumed it was pre-cut and there wouldn't be much messing around with the stone other than placing the cooktop on it.

To be honest, I think doing the cooktop post-handover is OK. It just comes down to us being risk averse, so didn't want to risk it in case we damaged anything trying to do it post-handover or if it wasn't cut quite right. The risk of this admittedly is probably low so I wouldn't worry about it if this is the path you've chosen.

As our appliances are also agency priced, we wouldn't have managed to negotiate a better price on the cooktop with a retailer anyway and it wasn't much more to have TA install it so we decided to just let them do it.

Right that makes sense. We are getting a Qasair 90cm rangehood, which at E&S is approx $3.2k but that is no ducting or installation. TA quoted us just under $5k for the same system installed with ducting, so we just went with TA to save us the headache. We are going with Electrolux Induction/Pyro oven, and are saving about $1.3k for cooktop and $2.3k for oven doing it post handover, so it is quite significant. But now you have me worried. I am risk averse too, generally opting to pay a little more for it to have less risk. Now I am not sure what to do haha.

We're getting a Qasair too. We're hoping to save a couple of thousand too on the appliances if we manage to time it with some good promotional offers.

Didn't mean to worry you. I was actually hoping to put your mind at ease with my response. Given you'd probably have to pay TA's (utterly ridiculous and unnecessarily punitive) variation costs at your stage, I would just leave it.

We did our appliances separately.

$16k for electrical + 10k for feature lighting purchased outside of TA (not including garden).

They may have limited the options from when we started. I'd ask the question again to double check

I got the one with the narrow but tall tank. Can't remember the model number, but it was the slimest.

We did our range hood through TA and all other appliances post handover (including induction) if that helps put your mind at ease too. The risk to do the induction post handover is so so minimal I would not worry about it we had zero dramas.

I was told to look at Harvey Norman Commercial for what they can get more easily and at a better price point. Bosch is their preference for most competitive pricing i believe.

Thanks for this jehn. It is very helpful indeed. I've collated a list of pricing from websites like appliances online and winning appliances and will have it on the ready when we go for the styling appt. I was thinking the same that some things are easier to install post handover than others but i guess it'll come down to price. But golly i didn't think to allow for that much for electricals. I had $5k provisioned for in our first few rounds of PSQ but then was convinced to remove it cos "we wouldn't need it". I better add that back to our spreadsheet again.

Is this $16K on top of the $15K originally included?

Is this $16K on top of the $15K originally included?

Oh great, thanks for the extra reassurance. I guess we are going to pull the trigger on the appliances!