We have just started our building journey with Dale Alcock and come across this great forum
We bought our block in Aveley (617sqm) in January and having traipsed around every display home in WA finally agreed on The Vines, a variation of The Willows. We got all flooring, Daikin reverse cycle aircon and internal painting in the promo package which we were pleased with.
We changed to be pretty much the same floor plan as The Willows, we changed the WIR in the master to give more wall space for furniture in the master, and from the plan attached we have now swopped the living and the home theatre around and enclosed the space at the back.
It's been pretty hectic and I was disappointed that my expectations around moving in dates and the time it would be completed (which I made very clear) were not put right on speaking to the sales guy. Probably more my naivety but would have thought he would have put me right when we were discussing. Anyhows, we move on......... A couple of other issues have been around stacking doors which we were very clear on but have been drawn into the plan as normal sliding doors and we are now told that the extra we are paying for what we thought for the stacking doors (as quoted in our original costs) are now changed and are for normal sliding doors.
On our original plans we also had full length windows to all minor bedrooms which have now changed to the normal 18c windows.
My main issue has been around things changing from when we signed with DA and gave them our deposit based on one set of costs and draft plans to where we are now with the costs seeming to escalate and plans changing to suit reducing their costs ad increasing ours.
Overall the sales guy has been really nice and I do feel confident with them, I just hoped for more openness and straight forward honest answers.
I am hoping that these issues can be ironed out quickly and not delay the start.
We also (probably silly) signed our contract immediately even with the issues highlighted to them because we were told it would not delay things. I now realise I shouldn't have done that.
Back to the build choices we have made.......
The front elevation will be the same as The Willows and we have gone with the same colours. After driving for what seemed like days looking at colour combinations it was difficult to visualise anything else as we liked The Willows elevation so much.
The intelligent home prestart we only really added a couple of data points and conduits for wall mounted TV's.
Electrical pre-start we added sockets all over and a couple of extra light switches with junction boxes in the ceiling so that we can get an electrician in after the build to put in downlights (as recommended by the sales guy) Having seen a few posts on this site now, wish we had got a quote from DA for the downlights as it appears this may be the easier and cheaper option.
We had Libby for the electrical prestart and she was brilliant. I have emailed to see if we could possibly change the electrical plans and get the downlights done by DA.
We have prestart on 13/6 so my focus is now on the colours, tiles, carpets etc.
When I had a quick look at the choices for floor tiles in their range I wasn't blown away so I am going to take a look at the different ranges available directly from the supplier (who I think is Crosby Tiles) to see what other upgrade options are available. I love the timber tiles on their website
We don't currently have a Preconstruction Co-ordinator as she left a couple of weeks ago. It's a bit difficult getting information and knowing who to speak to now on these things. I'm going through the prestart consultant who has been great and replied wherever she can.
We have applied for the finance now as we have the contract, but have had to put it on hold whilst we do the prestart and get quotes as the costs are mounting and we need to get all these in on the finance application.
Great to hear from anyone else with tips and hints.
I'm not sure how to add the floorplan? I'm using an ipad if anyone has any suggestions?
[img][IMG]http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t607/dawny-c/image_zps5e7bcdfa.jpg[/img][/img]