Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 11Aug 27, 2013 2:27 pm P.S. You've got 3 smoke alarms!! I asked for an extra one and they said it's not normally done (which I thought was an odd response because our last house had a third one and was about the same size). Hmph will have to speak to them again. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 12Aug 27, 2013 2:50 pm Our son is at the early quoting stage with Plantation for a Retreat Vogue or Nouveau ( the display at Brightwater comes close) to be built at Augustine Heights. Already there is inconsistent advice from different sales people from Plantation as to what's included and what's not. One says it won't fit on an 18m wide block and the brochure says it will. One says concrete is standard for the front porch and alfresco. The other says that concrete is extra. Each quote gets dearer as they add in more for soil type. One sales person says that the owner is responsible for providing cut and fill ready for the slab. The standard inclusions allow for 500mm cut and fill. What worries us is whether this is a form of price gouging as the potential buyer gets more committed to the plan. I would be interested in others experiences at the initial contract negotiation phase. Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 13Aug 29, 2013 1:22 pm EmyN Hiya again! Sorry for my slow reply too hehe. Thanks for all your answering points and diagram above, it explained a lot! I'm surprised Plantation talked about breezes on the siting plan, they didn't mention breeze direction to us! :s That sounds like a lovely idea about the stepped wall in the front yard and pool etc. My understanding of house siting is that North facing windows should be maximised to provide lots of light and warmth in winter (not as important as Brissy but still!) and I worry that your alfresco will shade a lot of the light and warmth from your house. Our current rental house has a similar situation with the main north facing window shaded by an alfresco and its so dark inside the house. Anyway, you're quite far down the building path now so it's probably a useless discussion! The plans are looking great. Cool dressing room and love the garage storage! The only tip I could think of would be a bulkhead where the entry meets the hall to the right, to help separate the areas again. I think they look nice. minor point though. I also wonder if the bath and toilet in the ensuite could be swapped around so the bath is under the window, then the toilet could face outwards into the room for more leg room. Also with the kid's TV area wondering where you'll put the couches and TV? Would it be worth moving the door to bed 3 down to the bottom, then you'd have some central wall to put the TV on and the couch on the other side. Those are my random and probably useless thoughts! Yes, we deleted our water tank too. We probably SHOULD have one but it is just so expensive and we can't fit it down the sides of our house so we cut it. Definitely not mandatory anymore, strange they don't know that.... unless sunshine coast is different to Bris? I would have thought it was a statewide thing! Yes we found the stated costs by the salesmen turned out to be more. But I've found them to be pretty fair otherwise. I've queried a few of the amounts on our tender and asked them to break it down and double check the amounts because of these reasons blah blah blah and they are always happy to. I've managed to get a grand off the price here and there for querying things. What stage are you up to now? Are they doing up the contract drawings?? You'll overtake us in no time hehe they are just preparing our 4th tender now! (Our poor tender lady is very patient!). Hey Thanks again for your feedback. Good point about the alfresco. I probably is a bit late now to change anything, so will just have to cross fingers that we get plenty of light in through the family room that makes up for it. We are still having a battle about our RWT - as far as Council it isn't required and the Develop says verbally it isn't required, but because the development approval document still has it in there, Council still need to enforce it. I have written to the Develop to see if they can get this changed and still awaiting a response. Good old red tape eh! Yes, I have successfully managed to get a little bit of money off too, particularly for the areas that were so badly mis-quoted. I put in a complaint about the Salesman we had as we were not impressed by the mistakes he made. No issues with Head Office at this stage. We have our Contract/ Colours appointment next Friday - can't wait! Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 14Aug 29, 2013 1:26 pm brog Our son is at the early quoting stage with Plantation for a Retreat Vogue or Nouveau ( the display at Brightwater comes close) to be built at Augustine Heights. Already there is inconsistent advice from different sales people from Plantation as to what's included and what's not. One says it won't fit on an 18m wide block and the brochure says it will. One says concrete is standard for the front porch and alfresco. The other says that concrete is extra. Each quote gets dearer as they add in more for soil type. One sales person says that the owner is responsible for providing cut and fill ready for the slab. The standard inclusions allow for 500mm cut and fill. What worries us is whether this is a form of price gouging as the potential buyer gets more committed to the plan. I would be interested in others experiences at the initial contract negotiation phase. Hey there Without naming any names, I would just be very very careful with the quotes you receive from some of the sales people. There is definitely inconsistencies with how things are quoted and what information is given so you really need to watch it. We have been close to pulling the pin because we were so put off by this, however our love for the home we have chosen has won over! Head Office have been great and very apologetic about the process. My advice is don't get your heart set on anything until you have gone to Head Office and had a formal tender provided. Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 16Sep 07, 2013 8:55 pm hunk_ktm Hi there ... Are you all building homes in stockl@nd community? If yes, in which stage ? I am about to buy a block @ Augustine heights in Stage 5B. Hi, no I am building at Peregian Springs on the Sunshine Coast .... but I think there may be others building in that subdivision. Contract Signed and Colours appointment Complete! 17Sep 07, 2013 9:28 pm We had a very successful day in Brisbane on Friday and signed our contract and picked all our colours and fittings. We had a pretty clear idea of the look we wanted and luckily my hubby and I have similar tastes, so it wasn't too painful! We have gone with very neutral colours and will bring in some bold colours into our artwork and styling. So here is what what we have chosen: Main Tiling (Kitchen, Family, Dining, Hallway, bathroom, office, kids retreat, entrance way and laundry: Euphoria Latte Gloss Wall Colour (throughout) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Grand Piano (looks more grey on the screen but is quite a warm neutral colour - see below room sample) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Express Ligna Silk Finish for Kitchen Cabinetry Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Glass Splash Back; Landrover White Gold (which is actually more silver) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Polar Quantum Quartz for Bench top Main Bathroom Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Wall Tile: Almond Gloss Floor Tile: Euphoria Latte Gloss Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bath Hobb and Feature Mosaic for Shower: Gloss Mocha (is more chocolate than shown) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Vanity Top: Polar Quantum Quartz Ensuite Floor Tile; Vibe Latte Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Wall Tile: Almond Gloss Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Shower & Vanity Mosaic: Pax Chocolate Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Vanity Top: Polar Quantum Quartz Carpet (Bedrooms & Media) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 19Sep 10, 2013 2:07 pm How exciting Tans!! I wish we were moving along as fast as you are! The plans are looking good, what a lovely wide entry you have. We had to steal a little space (20cm each!) off both our front bedrooms to make our entry 2m wide because I think it has just such a good impact! Yours will be awesome. What happens now for you? How long have they advised is the wait between signing the contract and slab down (council approval and all that)? Also, it didn't seem to be long between your tender signing and your contract appointment? How long was it? I thought it was supposed to be around a month or so? Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Redesigned Retreat Q2 Home 20Sep 12, 2013 11:34 am EmyN How exciting Tans!! I wish we were moving along as fast as you are! The plans are looking good, what a lovely wide entry you have. We had to steal a little space (20cm each!) off both our front bedrooms to make our entry 2m wide because I think it has just such a good impact! Yours will be awesome. What happens now for you? How long have they advised is the wait between signing the contract and slab down (council approval and all that)? Also, it didn't seem to be long between your tender signing and your contract appointment? How long was it? I thought it was supposed to be around a month or so? Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I hope that the entrance will look good - we have got a lovely pivot door we have chosen rather than the standard with side windows. It's all coming along nice and quick at the moment. It was about 3 weeks between the Tender and Contract appointment. We had a good page and a half of changes, but nothing too major. Everything is meant to be going to Council within the week or so of contract signing - so should be just about there now. They told me that some approvals are coming back in 3 weeks!!! ..... lets hope that it ours!! From there, they said it would take a couple of weeks to do the allocation of materials and assign a supervisor and then it should be all go! So best case scenario in about 6 weeks. I won't get my hopes up just in case We have just got back our Developer approval so that is good. They did say that Developers can hold things up - so pleased it wasn't a long process there. We have also had to do a Build over Sewer application to Unity Water as we are building within 1.5 metres of the 3 metre sewer easement! (why they just don't make the sewer easement 4.5 metres I do not know )) so now,we just have to sit tight and wait for Council ..... oh yes and our formal bank approval! Will need to make a decision on our appliances too soon. I think I mentioned we deleted them from our contract and will source our own. I think I know the answer but just checking to see if anyone has had experience with it. 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