Browse Forums Building A New House Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 6Jul 10, 2015 7:44 am Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. From my experience don't expect he house to be build in 34 weeks. It will take at least 52 weeks from the construction stat date till handover. Then you will still need to get your driveway done etc. Also don't expect to be compensated for the delay as a 1mm rain on the day will be counted as rainy day. Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 8Jul 10, 2015 12:54 pm I think every build is different, I have built before it was only Single Storey but was built in 19 weeks... I have heard some have taken 52+, but there are plenty of builds done in less than the contracted time...A good site supervisor plays a part in that. We will see thought, would be disappointed if I was still making posts for week 52 of our build... Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 9Jul 10, 2015 1:49 pm Wazza773 We will see thought, would be disappointed if I was still making posts for week 52 of our build... Once you reach practical completion, the builder can take as long as they like till handover. That's because time takes is no longer counted as build time. Also they will delay rectifying any fault you find at practical completion since it does not cost them anything. They already have most of your money. After all the delays, you will give in to get the keys. Trust me you will find out all the tricks the builders have up their sleeves. Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 10Jul 10, 2015 3:43 pm As long as any faults found a Practical completion are not a health and safety issues, I would be fine to proceed to handover and get the faults fixed during the 90 day period. We built with Beechwood and in the end, and that worked quite well. I assume from your comments you have experience of building with Allcastle, any feedback is useful to know. I did read all the blogs and reviews on Allcastle, some of the good ones seemed to good and could have even written by Allcastle for all I know... The bad ones, all builders have them I found them useful on what I could expect, one or 2 things did occur, but the biggest complaint was rude staff, slow responses and staff that did not know what they was doing when it came to plans, variation, colour sections, etc. Didn't really encounter any of those issues. The whole process could have been a little faster, but it didn't take that much longer than our last build... Electrical variations was a good example, the girl only works 2 days a week (Wed & Thu), I got the variations back to review on the Thursday afternoon, reviewed and responded on Thursday with some changes and issues, but missed her. Thought this was going to take weeks to complete and sign off. Got a call from her on Wednesday morning the following week, couple more calls and changes that morning and it was all wrapped up & signed off by Lunchtime, so couldn't really complain about that. If I had to give Allcastle a score out of 10, I would probably give them an 8 at the moment pre-build. Sales person was good at the beginning, but when you get to the contract stuff we started to realise that some of the things we was told were not entirely true. Lost another point for some steps taking too long, most annoying part was the file gets passed around, place must be run by Men as there doesn't seem to be any Multitasking involved in the Process... Have to see how the build process goes to see if they keep the 8/10... Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 11Jul 13, 2015 5:12 pm Got confirmation today that the Site is OK to start after the inspection. They have until the 10th August to start. I knew the inspection was being done on Friday as I got a call from the Sales guy as the construction manager was lost in the middle of Gregory Hills. He was not aware that the only way to access our land is via Gledswood Hills as we are all the way over in the corner of Gregory Hills, and the 2 roads planned that will link us to the rest of Gregory Hills are not built yet. Sent a map to Allcastle on how to access the land so they can put it on file, don't want trades not bothering to turn up as they can't fine the land... Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 12Jul 30, 2015 10:09 pm The land was pegged out last week so should be getting close to starting. Haven't heard anything from the builder yet, but will start chasing next week as Friday is the end of the 20 day period where they have to start. That is unless the pegging out is classed as started. Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 14Aug 02, 2015 9:37 pm Thanks, next step is the cutting out of the site, hopefully that will be this week. Good thing about the fence it will make it difficult for anymore concrete to be dumped. I asked the manager at Gregory Hills what I can do about the concrete, basically it is contact the council to report it, but he said the council will not take any action unless you have evidence so unless the builder moves it on request there is very little I can do. I have another Allcastle that has just had the site cutout near my parents in Riverstone, so they are about a week ahead of us, so will be keeping an eye on the progress and see how it compares to ours... Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 15Aug 09, 2015 1:27 pm Contacted Allcastle on Friday to get an update as the start date was Friday. Told that the file will be passed to construction dept in the next few days. Little bit disappointed that this still had not happened. We should get a letter very soon with the start date interested to see what the date is as anything latter than the 7th August would be past the 20 days stated in the contract Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 16Aug 09, 2015 1:31 pm Visited the land yesterday, so we now have temporary fence, portable toilet and they have marked out the location of he house ready for the levelling of the land. Hopefully that will happen this week. Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 17Aug 18, 2015 12:58 pm Finally received our letter yesterday confirming the start date, Thursday 13th August 2015. My opinion it should have been earlier, but the letter stated that it required a council inspection before they could start, not something they had mentioned before when they told me everything was set to start. Not really sure how true that was, or if they just added it to the letter to justify why the start date was 4 days after when it should have been. 34 week contract and 5 weeks Xmas shutdown, completion date should be 12th May 2016, plus the days they count as a rain days Will be visiting the site this weekend, to see if anything has happened during what is now classed as Week 1 of the build process. Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 18Aug 24, 2015 8:15 am Week 1 - Land was cut towards the end of the week and was contacted by customer support to book in the Piering which is schedule for Thursday 27th August. Fingers crossed for no rain. The progress for the week was a surprise as we were not expecting any action this week. Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 19Aug 29, 2015 8:18 am Week 2 - weather was a concern for early in the week, but out customer liaison person contacted us a few times during the week to keep us informed. Luckily the weather cleared for Thursday and our piering went ahead as scheduled. Tender included 80m as I bumped it up, came in at 48m so a big plus and quite a few $1000 less. Our first build (Beechwood) at this stage we owed the builder $6,500 in additional costs for fill removal, fill import and additional piering. We are currently $3,500 under so will have that as extra at the end. For anybody new to building I would recommend adding another 50% piering to what the builder recommends, better to have extra money returned at the than trying to find additional money early in build. Indication now is that the slab will be completed in 2-3 weeks so framing up of the slab will probably start next week Re: Allcastle Savannah- Gregory Hills 20Sep 07, 2015 9:40 am Week 3 - Paid a visit to the site on Saturday. On approach all we could see was the pile of fill from the cut and the piering that had still not been moved, so made the assumption that nothing had happened. As we got closer we could see the waffle pods and steel reinforcements had been delivered, and as we pulled up, the first part of the forming up of the slab had also been completed. Next step I believe is the pluming pipes that need to be set in the slab will be installed, then the remainder of the Slab forming up will be completed. So slab being poured could be end of this week or early next week. Hi we are looking to talk to people who have built with them recently. We have signed mid range built contract but identified that a lot of things are not included.… 0 742 Was the offer also on their website? If so, you could check the Wayback Machine. 1 1018 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11039 |