Masterton Homes - The next thread 4.0

ckingo74 · Jul 25, 2014 2:29 pm

Thunder - I thought our build was going slow. Started mid-March and have just finished the bricking and roof tiling, but your's seems to be even slower. Have you been given any reasons as to why the slow progress? I heard every excuse under the Sun when I queried ours, our SS doesnt try and come up with excuses any more, no point as I think he knows I dont believe them (basically told now it is was it is).

Villinaeliters · Jul 25, 2014 2:45 pm

Thunder I expect you will find a hive of activity once the liquidated damages clause kicks in - although it doesn't cover the rent (well, certainly not our Sydney rental!), no builder likes having to give the punters money. Not that this is of much consolation to you, but it may mean things are a lot faster now than they have ever been in the past!

thunder · Jul 25, 2014 2:51 pm

Thanks for the messages - Im hoping for a dramatic transformation like yours dream_home!

CKingo - No real reasons offered, they just always blame the trades. The "(insert trade here) has really let us down big time" phrase has been given a real workout that's for sure! Nothing has been there fault so far and the communication is horrible.

Villinaeliters - Liquidated damages kicks in pretty soon, but as you say at $50/business day it wont even cover the rent. Can only hope it provides them with some incentive to get things moving

Pikey · Jul 25, 2014 8:29 pm

Pikey a couple of weeks away! Wow photos please!

Hi Cello-Collaroy
Here are some pics.
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GillyM · Jul 25, 2014 9:55 pm

Great photos Janet!!! Looking fantastic!!!!!! :z:

redwynne · Jul 26, 2014 1:40 pm

Hi peoples!

Love reading the updates and checking out the pictures. Keep them coming.

I'm replying on my mobile phone so can't see each post. I should've bought the Samsung Note!!

Thunder sorry to hear your issues with Masterton. Hope it gets better soon. I can see from your time line that there are huge delays between delivery and installation.

Pikey love your pictures. Bet you're itching for PCI time to arrive.

I heard from someone at my hairdressers that Masterton have been very slow in bricking a house due to shortages of bricklayers.

Our drama... dealing with liars. The demo company we're dealing with was pushing for us to sign the contract for his services so he said he'd throw in the temporary fence for us. Now we need the fence he said no so here we are $800 out of pocket for a fence that will be there for a few weeks, until Masterton take over. I'm p!ssed.

dream_home93 · Jul 26, 2014 9:08 pm

Janet... I love the staircase!!! I so wanted a staircase like that but we have an over exuberant 3 year old who would love to climb up the cords and test out his superman skills down the staircase. It is looking sensational!

Pikey · Jul 26, 2014 10:46 pm

Hi Dream home -Thank you ! We are very happy with the staircase. All the woodwork was being stained today can't wait to see it. BUT hmmm if the little boys in my family climb on it I will have to get my cranky nanna on. ::hyst::

We found out today the tilers are starting on Monday .Yayyyy hehehehe

ckingo74 · Jul 28, 2014 11:26 am

redwynne - we also had issues with the Demo company (the one that Masterton recommended to us). Despite quoting us $13k, the job ended up costing over $20k. They blamed it on extra asbestos that they didnt identify upfront (house was vacant for over a year, but they happened to find it 2 minutes into the job). They also tried to charge us for the fence despite orginally saying it was included. I just said, not happy and that I am going to let Masterton know about this experience...suddenly they agreed to absorb the costs of the fencing, they also gave me a bit of a discount on the whole job (still much more than quote though).

fingalbrad · Jul 29, 2014 3:24 pm

How much longer after the bathrooms are tiled do we normally have to wait until PCI? Ive been told the painter comes in next and that takes about a week, after that tiling of kitchen, hallways etc and then fit out. My SS said about 5-6 weeks but Im hoping it doesnt take that long.

Pikey · Jul 29, 2014 10:07 pm

Fingalbrad - Hope it's not that long for both of us. So close but so far. Our tiling has started as well.

fingalbrad · Jul 30, 2014 7:32 am

Here are some pictures of our build so far. we scored extra glass on our stair case as we had on the plan a gyprocked half wall coming out but the stair case mob knocked it out and installed glass all the way to the back wall.

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kitchen

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front door

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cavity sliders to home theatre

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stairs

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laundry bench

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bathroom vanity

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shower tiling

Villinaeliters · Jul 30, 2014 10:18 am

Fingalbrad are you building a Villina? Looks very similar to ours and we have also gone for the glass/timber cavity sliding doors on the front 2 rooms (study and home theatre - which will actually be a library/reading room! go figure, I am clearly last century!) - those doors look great, I presume they are getting stained to match the floors?

Sooner or later they have to finish .... you will get your house! It's looking good ....!
Iquote="fingalbrad"]Here are some pictures of our build so far. we scored extra glass on our stair case as we had on the plan a gyprocked half wall coming out but the stair case mob knocked it out and installed glass all the way to the back wall.

fingalbrad · Jul 30, 2014 10:53 am

Hey yes its a villina 32. Our study at the front doesnt have a door. We just left it open. yeah the doors are getting stained.

Pikey · Jul 30, 2014 1:15 pm

Fingalbrad and Villinaeliters - Great minds think alike. We have cavity sliders to our home theatre as well with translucent glass.
Fingalbrad your house looks great love seeing the pics.
I don't have a pic of the theatre room as yet but here is some of my kitchen and BP before the stone went in.
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bleaky · Jul 30, 2014 10:45 pm

Hi everyone,

Loving the pics of your houses coming along, they are looking fantastic. Its exciting to think that sometime in the future I'll hopefully be posting pics of my own.
We have tiles/carpet/bamboo and Q Central next week, have visited dons tiles a few times now. Have definitely decided to upgrade the carpet and underlay. No doubt will cost a bit but I think its worth it.
I have a question re tiles. Did anyone pay to get them up to the ceiling and if so how much did it cost? Also did anyone upgrade their tiles? Is it just paying difference between tile allowance and new tile?
Thanks

redwynne · Jul 30, 2014 11:32 pm

bleaky

Hi everyone,

Loving the pics of your houses coming along, they are looking fantastic. Its exciting to think that sometime in the future I'll hopefully be posting pics of my own.
We have tiles/carpet/bamboo and Q Central next week, have visited dons tiles a few times now. Have definitely decided to upgrade the carpet and underlay. No doubt will cost a bit but I think its worth it.
I have a question re tiles. Did anyone pay to get them up to the ceiling and if so how much did it cost? Also did anyone upgrade their tiles? Is it just paying difference between tile allowance and new tile?
Thanks

I agree, I'm hoping one day soon I'll be able to post my pictures too but at this stage we have our house surrounded by a wire fence waiting for demolition. Next week hopefully *sigh*

We paid to get the tiles up to the ceiling but can't tell you how much sorry. It was included in the quote but not itemised. We upgraded our tiles, as I suspect most people would've, and yes they are supposed to calculate it so that you pay the difference.

Fingalbrad - love the pictures. We considered sliding doors with translucent glass but thought it might not work too well for the theatre room. Love the doors though and am wondering whether we should've stuck to our guns and kept them!! Too many decisions, only one house

ckingo74 - no way, really?? Your original price for the demolition sounds about right as ours is about $14k. We don't expect there to be asbestos and fingers crossed we don't encounter any. We organised our own demo.

ckingo74 · Jul 31, 2014 10:44 am

redwynne - yeah we went with State Demolition. To be quite honest their quoting process was quite dishonest (they gave me a heads up that the cost could increase by $2k if they found asbestos in one particular area, but then went on to find asbestos in a number of other areas, such as behind the walls. They should have identied this upfront (they found it immediately when the job started...), but I interpreted this as them under quoting and then hitting you with costs when you can't back out). Unfortunately we had to get our job done prior to Christmas so we were stuck. When I spoke with another demolition company (to see if they could do the job, when I found out about the cost) and mentioned my dealings, they said this is quite normal (for State Demolition). I couldn't cancel my job as no one could complete prior to Christmas and I didnt want to hold the job up.

I am reading a lot of posts where people have upgraded their tile selections (got me a bit worried now). We were able to put bamboo flooring through the bottom level instead of the 4 tiles they had on offer, for no extra cost (came across this option by accident, wasnt mentioned by Masterton). Not that we can do anything about it now, but we went with the darker tiles they had on offer for the floors of our bathrooms upstairs (my wife didnt want white tiles on the floor). Has anyone gone with this selection (dark grey from Yes package), and do you have any photos to share of what they look like?

bleaky · Jul 31, 2014 3:51 pm

Thanks Redwynne, I guess I'll know how much in a week or so.

Another newby question. When does the bank issue the letter of commencement?

Pikey · Jul 31, 2014 7:49 pm

bleaky

Hi everyone,

Loving the pics of your houses coming along, they are looking fantastic. Its exciting to think that sometime in the future I'll hopefully be posting pics of my own.
We have tiles/carpet/bamboo and Q Central next week, have visited dons tiles a few times now. Have definitely decided to upgrade the carpet and underlay. No doubt will cost a bit but I think its worth it.
I have a question re tiles. Did anyone pay to get them up to the ceiling and if so how much did it cost? Also did anyone upgrade their tiles? Is it just paying difference between tile allowance and new tile?
Thanks

Hi Bleaky we upgraded our bathroom tiles and went to the ceiling plus put a feature tile in the niche (as well as a strip from floor to ceiling in the ensuite)for around 2300 per bathroom. Hope that helps.