Building with Kurmond Homes

mckz · May 05, 2014 9:22 pm

No action this week again for us. A bit disheartening (again) seeing everyone else racing ahead! Site supervisor says that we are definitely scheduled in for frames Monday next week though. I'm starting to think we made a critical mistake not insisting on liquidated damages in the contract, this may explain a lot!

For Alonso, the cost of the upgrades for us were:

- $90 to convert each of their included downlights to LED (they include 20 non LED ones in the tender)
- $1100 for the NBN connection (includes tv point, data point)
- Tap to fridge space was $330 as well
- Gas outlet outside is included

Also - the wardrobe fitouts were quite good value. You get to those at colours. You can also do blinds through Betterview blinds in Richmond and they get installed before handover but we have saved ourselves $2k installing ourselves.

My experience so far hasn't been anywhere near a disaster, but, it seems to have differed greatly from some of the other posters here who have had a very positive experience. It took 9 months to get from tender acceptance to build and required a lot of effort and hassling for them to complete items they said they would and we had a lot of different staff who left and got passed around so that didn't help. Additionally they opened up their display homes in Kellyville and were quite under-resourced it seems. But - there were no major screwups..it's just been... slow... with little care factor. Hoping this doesn't continue on with the build! There have been some staff there though who have been great so I think it depends who you get.

Alonso · May 06, 2014 9:26 am

returntoshire - Thanx for the information, with the high impact resistant plastic membrane did they break down the costs for that?

we are waiting for land release in Elizabeth Hills, where are u building ?

mckz - are the LED down lights they have equivalent to 50w halogens?

returntoshire · May 06, 2014 11:18 am

Alonso

returntoshire - Thanx for the information, with the high impact resistant plastic membrane did they break down the costs for that?

we are waiting for land release in Elizabeth Hills, where are u building ?

mckz - are the LED down lights they have equivalent to 50w halogens?

Sorry Alonso, I didn't get a breakdown cost for the plastic membrane.

As for the down lights, I have 15 LED lights included in my tender & 6 outdoor downlights (which are not stipulated as LED).

returntoshire · May 06, 2014 11:18 am

I'm building in Greenhills Beach, near Cronulla.

Alonso · May 06, 2014 11:41 am

returntoshire

I'm building in Greenhills Beach, near Cronulla.

No worries Cool

Gods Country aye

mckz · May 06, 2014 3:23 pm

Alonso

returntoshire - Thanx for the information, with the high impact resistant plastic membrane did they break down the costs for that?

we are waiting for land release in Elizabeth Hills, where are u building ?

mckz - are the LED down lights they have equivalent to 50w halogens?

I'm not sure. They're quite bright and the electrician made a point of showing in the colour studio that they had quite a large spread (we only needed a total of 16 to cover our entire downstairs area). Can anyone else answer?

The alfresco and porch downlights remained as standard which I believe are miniature compact fluorescents

Beanzy · May 06, 2014 4:06 pm

Hi all,

It has been a flurry of activity. We have a slab! Finaly have progress after what seemed years in the adminsistration phase (actually since June last year - be prepared for that). External drainage later this week and electrician and frames next week.

Im not sure how many watts the down lights are. we upgraded to the top of the line ones which give a much better spread. upgarde was $45 each light. We also upgraded the outside lights to LED for $40 each.
We also upgraded to ful floor to ceiling tiles in bathroom and ensuite and powder room - $330

HTH

Beanzy

unrealhome · May 06, 2014 7:25 pm

My guess .. builders charge varying costs according to overall tender preferences (by client) and price margins of builders. Margins are margins, and you can only assume that bills need to be paid .. so $100 off one tender may mean $100 added to another. That's building, I guess. Thanks for sharing the prices.

unrealhome · May 06, 2014 7:28 pm

For those looking at LED lighting, I can thoroughly recommend the ATOM LED AT9012 (and others in that same range) - http://www.atomlighting.com.au/?page_id=461

UpsizeTime · May 06, 2014 10:20 pm

We have roof tiles on top floor, lots of work done just hard to see progress. Need to hire a helicopter to appreciate the progress.

unrealhome · May 06, 2014 10:23 pm

Helicopter may be cheaper than the bricks, Upsize :0)

mars78 · May 08, 2014 2:24 pm

Roof is on and the colours look great! That's a relief. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

G + C · May 08, 2014 7:19 pm

Looks great mars, is that dune gutter and fascia? Love that colour.

unrealhome · May 08, 2014 8:55 pm

Mars - it's coming along really nicely! Great stuff.

UpsizeTime · May 08, 2014 9:24 pm

Mars that's great, your roof and bricks look great.

Ours has slowed down now, roof looks complete more bricks have been delivered. Wondering when our roof and gutters get done down stairs.

mars78 · May 09, 2014 8:52 am

G+C yes it's dune. It can look a little grey or purple, but with the right colour combination it's more beige.

G + C · May 10, 2014 9:12 am

Mars - I think that's why I love that colour so much, it changes depending on the light. Looks great! We have also chosen dune for our fascia, cladding and render.

UpsizeTime · May 10, 2014 3:55 pm

Love it, bricks started again on a Saturday

Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

Guys working hard brick laying this morning and then went by again at 3pm and they were setting up the bricks for tomorrow.

HousesforMouses · May 13, 2014 7:59 am

Wow Upsize, it looks amazing. Also yay for Mars and Bazinga. I love seeing the progress!

We have our first tender and version B plans now. Getting there. Just to confirm my understanding, if an alteration is on the plans but not the tender, does it mean no costs were involved? Our changes to window sizes do not appear to have incurred costs, which is nice. May I ask what variations others had in their initial tender?

mckz · May 13, 2014 2:18 pm

^^ We did the same thing, changed a bunch of window size in the plans and before signing off on it they produced a final tender which had those costs in there. In saying that, it wasn't very much at all.

To guesstimate though what I did was google the price list and window sizes off their framed window supplier, added 20% on and it was roughly in line with what was in the tender.

In other news - no action yet on our block. Frames were meant to be yesterday but I was told by the site supervisor that the truck "had a crash" on the m7 yesterday so it's been pushed back to today. I haven't been out yet to see but that would make it over a month between slab and frames now. :-(