Eden Brae Windsor 42

Bloody big !

I think that it is the NSW version of Petal's home isn't it?

We looked at building it but in the end couldn't justify building a two storey when we have such a huge block.

The display is amazing. Our friends are building the Entertainer with them and are still waiting on the build to start - and they have been out of council for over a month. So are a little peeved to say the least.

I just changed the title of the first post. We've decided to reduce the size of the house to accomodate the 3rd garage.

Hi, we are building a Memphis28Mk3 in a Northern Suburb of Syd. The 46 is a huge house. We looked thru it out at homeworld but for our needs, the layout of our block, $$$$, and the Local Coucil floor space ratio rule (0.4:1)we knew it wasn't going to be.

EB are great. (so far) however........

Bad - Not directly an EB person but their soil test engineer contractor we encountered was a bit suspect. Seriously could not understand him on the phone. I negtotiated an appointment with him because I wanted to be there to see what he did. (I know it's just a couple of core holes but hey I'm paying for the hole so I want to see it.) He ended up turing up when I wasn't there and then he didn't fill in the core holes.

Good - On the other end of the scale, the surveyer was fantastic. Turned up on time and went about his business no probs.

Good - The Tender was drawn up and presented in a profesional manner with no pressure to sign you up on the spot.

Good- Building Contract and intial drawings were then drawn up and presented, again no pressure to sign up straight away (I was never going to sign up on the day) we took it away and had it reviewed by someone far smarted than me.

We asked a stack of questions and had written explanations provided to our queries.

Once happy, we signed the contract (set aside at lease 40 mins for the signing, initials on all 70 odd pages x 2, your copy and EB's) and handed over the 5% deposit no probs.

We are up to floor and wall tile selections next week. We have done the main color selections inside and out, carpet selection is done and I did the electrial plan today.

Tip - If you like the display home finish and fixtures and you think "I might get that for my house" get prepared to hear "that's an Upgrade Option" a lot.

Just about everything in those display homes is over and above even the "Living Package" they were promoting recenlty. I knew that fact before the intial meeting but my GF left the meeting somewhat dissapointed. We optioned a few things but unless you are loaded $$$$ you won't be able to get everything.

In the end it's a compromise between need, want, and affordability.

Good- The initial color selection consultant we met with for brick/roof tile/ interal paint and fixtures etc was fantastic. Very knolwegable and did not impose her preferences onto you straight up. She let us have a go at what we liked and then made a few sublte suggestions after we had had a crack at it.

Good- The electrical plan apointment went off without a hitch no probs.

Tip - Prepare for the sparky meeting in advance - ask them for a standard electrical plan and an electrical price list for the house you choose to build and then goto the display home with a couple spare hours to burn to see what you get electrically in the price and what you have to pay for. (You will be surprised at what you don't get)

The tile place they use in Syd is Delor3nzo's at Bella Vista. They stuffed up the appointment and we ended up getting bumpped to a differnet day. The place was close-by so we drove up to sus it out anyway seeing we had a couple hours to kill.

Tip - if you drop by to have a look at the EB tile selections without a scheduled appointment they don't help you very much. All we got was a "ohh they are over there" which I can sort of understandgiven we didn't have an appointment but is was them that made the error and double booked us on top of someone else in the first place. We will see how they go next week when we turn up for real.

This is all I can report on so far. I hope this helps you with you decision on who to go with. EB or someone else....

Note: Look around, there are plenty of builders and plenty of houses. You just need to find the one that suits all of your requirements and is a builder that you feel comforatble doing business with.

Sorry for the long post but buidling a house in my book is a pretty big life decsison.

Rgds

Leonard.

Our modifications to the upper floor means that the ensuites (besides the main bedroom ensuite) get eliminated and replaced with 1 main bathroom. I wouldn't want my wife to be cleaning that many bathrooms as well.

We will be making the laundry smaller as well. It's way too big as it is.

Good idea with the bathrooms.

In the house we are building I have joined the laundry and the study together to make a huge Laundry. I spend so much time doing laundry ( probably more time than in the kitchen) so for me a large laundry was a must- I wanted some where that everything could be done in the one place- washing, drying, folding up and ironing ( room for the ironing board to be left up) as well as general storage. Then I can just close the door and walk away- without having to look at it. I am so looking forward to it (sick I know).

With EBH ( as with most builders probably) expect the paper work process to last a long time. With us it was like a very slow tennis match- back and forwards, back and forwards. Stick to your guns and make sure that everything that was promised to you by the sales staff is what you get. Get everything in writing. If the house has a display get the sales staff to walk you through the house and detail whats extras and whats included in the price. Tell them your budget and say that you wont go over it- but you really like the house! ( they may discount some items to get you there and the sale)

Remember thoughout the whole process how much is it costing $$$$$$$$
and that you deserve a good quality product for your $$$$$$$$

Good luck!

Looks like a big house should be great.

Ironically, I think having a bathroom per bedroom is less cleaning. For a start, each child can take some responsibility for keeping their personal bathroom clean. Secondly, the biggest time killer in cleaning bathrooms is mould. If you have three people share a bathroom, it could be wet for 9 hours a day. With one person it's 3 hours. Mould don't get a foothold since it's not wet for long enough.

That is the main reason I have chosen one bathroom per bedroom in my house.