Building a Clarendon parkhill 29 in Brisbane

Rebekah · Jul 02, 2017 5:20 pm

Hi all,
First time posting here but have been reading along.
We will be building a Clarendon parkhill 29 in Brisbane at the end of the year once our land is ready.
Just wondering if anyone had build one before and has any tips?
So far we have added a shower to the downstairs powder room, and a door way to the front lounge.
We have decided on our exterior colours
Brick- PGH moon dust
Roof- Bristle sanctuary
Render- taubmans apache stone
Gutters- monument
Facia- surf mist
Garage- surf mist
Cladding- undecided

If anyone has used these colours together I'd love to see pics too!

cm4 · Jul 03, 2017 9:21 am

Hello,
We are in the process of deciding either the Parkhill 29 or Metricon Mason. Have you been happy with Clarendon so far? Our land doesn't settle till the end of the year also (Southside Brisbane).

Rebekah · Jul 03, 2017 10:47 am

Hi
Oh cool. I didn't look at Metricon very well as they were a bit out of our budget. We have come in at 299k for our tender. Inc a 3k shower and 7k in stacker doors plus a few other extras.

Metricon was about the 300k mark before we had added anything.

The service we have had with Clarendon has been great. We are going through a sales assistant at the mango hill office as he has been good. We are in Sydney so doing it all long distance. The parkhill seems to be a popular design. The only one thing I personally don't like about it is the pantry being a walk through to the laundry. Cause you only have 2 sides of shelving not 3.
Other than that we love it.

cm4 · Jul 03, 2017 12:25 pm

The Metricon Mason is in the freedom range and I think was about $260k to start and they have a promo at the moment to upgrade a few things for $990.

We are waiting on a estimate for the Parkhill 29 with the stacker doors, higher ceilings for the ground floor, door for the study and maybe a grand alfresco. Did you go for the ruby or sapphire? And are you doing anything after handover (upgrading yourself?)? So sorry for the questions. We are first timers and only just staring the process. 😀

Rebekah · Jul 03, 2017 3:18 pm

Cool. The parkhill was 239k start price I think. So we are up 60k with convenant requirements, and some extra council fees based on a H slab.

I'm more than happy to answer any questions, this is our first build too. After hand over we are doing all outside. Drive, landscaping and air con.

We got the $21 promo so for $21 we got sapphire instead of ruby. We also added doors to the front lounge so it can be a guest bedroom, had this tiled and the study tiled. So all downstairs is tiles. Added smart waste drains, extended the laundry bench along the whole wall. Also have a price in there to put a door on the study which is $1100 cause they have to fill the wall in too- I'm about to take this out as it's just going to look like one massive hall way with all these doors.

I upgraded the kitchen sink- I can't stand those metal drainage mats off the sink. So that was $550 extra. We haven't extended the alfresco.

Off the top of my head that's all of our changes.

elleimac · Jul 27, 2017 8:37 pm

Hi All

We're building a Parkhill up in Gold Coast! And Rebekah, we're from Sydney and moving up to QLD so we're doing it all from here too!!

A bit of history. We purchased our land back in September and their sales pitch was it would be ready by December 2016 but the land only finally registered end of June 2017. We've been liaising with their Clarendon since January this year and they've done plans and specified rough costs to us since, so now we're keen to get the ball rolling faster now that we can build.

We're at contract signing stage now. We received the contract from Clarendon on Tuesday and after we sign it we give them the go ahead to start the process of construction, as well as obviously start dropping a lot of money.

Like everyone else building we can't wait for them to start, we can't wait to move up, we can't wait to get our home.

Happy to answer any questions you all may have, I'm no expert but happy to share our experience so far.

Us, we made a lot of structural changes to our Parkhill, so already we're up 130K from the base price, and we haven't even had our electrical and flooring appointment yet ... yikes!!

Cam

jaylex · Aug 01, 2017 5:21 pm

Hello Everyone,

We have also chosen the design of Clarendon Parkhill in 34, building in northeast Brisbane. Like elleimac here, we did love the idea of having the staircase tucked away behind the kitchen. We got our quote after listing all our "must have's" and shied away when we got the price. We started to look elsewhere, with another builder who had the exact same design. In the end, the Parkhill 34 was much more competitive in price and the consultant was pleasant to deal with. We are now in the tendering process sorting out all the tiny details. Not fun.

Extras we included:
Grand Alfresco with extended concrete
Added Bathroom downstairs
Sliding doors to the Living Room next to the study.
Converted WIP to Butler's pantry
Upgraded a few items in the kitchen. like undermount sink & glass splashback (I don't enjoy cleaning the grout)

We're still waiting for our Land to be registered which is expected to be from Jan to March 2018. (A long time to wait but it's already Aug !) A little nervous about extra costs after the soil test.

I look forward to seeing all of your future posts in here.

cm4 · Aug 02, 2017 2:04 pm

Hi fellow Parkhill People!,

So we have decided on the Parkhill 29. We are in the process of going to tender and are just waiting on a few extra costings. We are just waiting on estimates for moving a wall 500mm in one of the bedrooms to make it bigger, and are entertaining the idea of closing in the alfresco and doing a deck and patio type thing on the back ourselves after handover. Also maybe getting the garage plus where there make it bigger for extra storage. But this will all come down to price!!

So we have added/upgraded:
Sapphire Kitchen - under mount sink, 900mm bench, cupboards above the rangehood
Higher ceilings on the ground floor
Larger front door
Sliding door to study
Stone top to powder room
Stacker doors to alfresco if we don't close it in

Is anyone adding the full stackers to the alfresco area? Like what they have in the displays (usually in bi folds) where you can open the whole walls to the outside? I love it but don't know how practical it is when you add flyscreens etc

Also has the finishing under the stairs such as plaster, paint and tiles been included in your tender/pricing? I don't think it is in ours.

Anywho - looking forward to keeping up to date with everyone's progress.

elleimac · Aug 02, 2017 2:31 pm

cm4 jaylex rebekah Feel free to follow me as I'm blogging about our building process. I've just published a blog post about recently signing our contract and our variations and changes.

You can find blog post here: http://bit.ly/WhyOver100K

cm4 we're doing the complete open to the alfresco when you open both side stackers. How we want to do the fly screen (post hand over, when we have money again 😫) is do a retractable or automatic one and install it between the pillars of the alfresco area. We first discovered these types of fly screen options at Clarendon's Sydney Colour Studio, not sure whether QLD's office offer it at build stage? I notice in the Sydney office they offer a lot more "included work" options, such as the driveway, internal vacuum, security, plantation shutters, fly screens etc at a cost I'm sure.

Here's a link to an image of what I mean. (I don't know how to add images here? Please teach me someone) http://theshadeshop.net/backend/wp-cont ... nside2.jpg

Check out product range from Freedom Screens (http://www.freedomscreens.com.au) for patio fly screen ideas if you decide to keep the alfresco.

Lee54 · Aug 02, 2017 7:04 pm

Rebekah

The only one thing I personally don't like about it is the pantry being a walk through to the laundry. Cause you only have 2 sides of shelving not 3.

The reason I don't like "combo" pantry/laundries like that is that a pantry is a place to store your dry foods and your veges which need cool, dark places. An adjoining laundry would surely add condensation to the pantry, potentially damaging your stored food.

jaylex · Aug 03, 2017 12:25 am

@elleimac - To add a picture click on the icon next to the smiley face and enter the url link of the picture. To find out the url link, right click on the image and select copy link. I'm not sure how to upload a photo directly from PC so will need to figure that out myself.

Wow, your laundry is huge and good idea about the shelves.

We had a look at the silver range at Beaumont Tiles that Clarendon and most builders use and so disappointed with this range. MEH ! I want porcelain tiles and this is going to cost. We're thinking of getting another tiler to lay it after handover.

Is anyone else here thinking of doing the same thing? What are you doing with your flooring ?

elleimac · Aug 03, 2017 8:35 am

jaylex we're doing the floors ourselves post hand over. I want a herringbone design on for our hard wood ground floor but Clarendon dont offer parquetry flooring so going to get someone else to do it who does.

We are still getting Clarendon to do our floors of wet area, tiling, stairs and upstairs flooring.

cm4 · Aug 11, 2017 11:03 am

Happy Friday!

We are just trying to finalise our plans at the moment - I am a little concerned about the distance between the kitchen island bench and the corner to the alfresco (the corner between the meals and family room). Hubby has been able to draw the house on our block and it is looking like it is only about 800mm between the corner of the kitchen bench and the corner. Have any of you looked at this? Or know the dimensions?

@jaylex - we are going with the grand alfresco as well and you said you are getting extended concrete? Can you please let me know what that means? We also hope to extend the alfresco ourselves but if we can get it all done at the same time that would help a lot!
@elleimac - thanks for the screens! I would love to have it all open but it will come down cost. Your tiling however sounds awesome. Cant wait for pics!

And has anyone had their colour appointment yet?

jaylex · Aug 11, 2017 11:28 am

Hi there CM4,

Are you building the Parkhill 29 ?

I haven't noticed the distance of the bench to Alfresco corner but i will keep it in mind in my next visit.

We want a larger area than the current grand Alfresco size. So we wanted to extend the concrete just to the eaves of the roof line. I think ths is about half a metre but I have to confirm that. I noticed that the Display homes all have an extended Alfresco and makes a difference. I checked a Parkhill under construction and the Grand Alfresco didn't look so grand to me. That's display homes and their trickery.

We haven't had color selection yet. Still waiting on our tender document.

Jaylex14

elleimac · Aug 11, 2017 1:07 pm

cm4 We too didn't like how small that space was so we extended that wall out more into the alfresco, which means our alfresco width area is smaller and more home floor space. It does cost though cause more floor space means more materials.

Just checked our plans, the space between kitchen island table and corner point of the alfresco is 1390mm for us.

We just got an email about our colour appointment. We're scheduled for 8 September.

cm4 · Aug 11, 2017 1:34 pm

Yep - Building the Parkhill 29 in southeast Brisbane. We have put the holding deposit down and now I am not too sure of the process from here on in. We have a bit of time as our land doesn't settle till Dec. We aren't changing any of the layout - just upgrading/adding a few things. I will look into extending the concrete. That's a great idea. We are thinking after handover we will make a larger alfresco by turning it into a square and just have half with roof and do some sort of pergola sort of thing over the other half. Still deciding on outdoor areas. It would be great to see a Parkhill under construction. I should ask if there is any on the Southside.

@elleimac - so yours is 1390mm after you extended the wall into the alfresco? Have you extended the Alfresco as well? Or left it as a smaller width? I will look forward to hearing all about your appointment (and seeing pics if you have them). Exciting!

elleimac · Aug 11, 2017 3:07 pm

cm4 Yes, this is the new distance after we extended that wall back. From memory, we asked them to extend that wall to the same width as the down stairs hallway.

No, we didn't extend the alfresco. The grand alfresco is gorgeous and we did contemplate extending, it was just other must have's took priority.

We love entertaining so we do want to create a nice space there and in our backyard, but it'll probably be a day 2 or 3 project (when we have more money 😞 )

Will definitely keep you all posted and share photos. Now that we have our colour and tiling appointment scheduled I'm feeling overwhelmed with making such big final decisions. (Hubby said he's leaving colour choices with me.) I was looking and pinning ideas on Pinterest for months, but I'm realising it's actually a waste of time because the stuff you see on Pinterest are from custom designer homes who aren't limited by vendor or budget. Like jaylex x kind of disappointed at the limited tile options Beaumont Tiles have.

Rebekah · Aug 16, 2017 9:46 pm

elleimac

Hi All

We're building a Parkhill up in Gold Coast! And Rebekah, we're from Sydney and moving up to QLD so we're doing it all from here too!!

A bit of history. We purchased our land back in September and their sales pitch was it would be ready by December 2016 but the land only finally registered end of June 2017. We've been liaising with their Clarendon since January this year and they've done plans and specified rough costs to us since, so now we're keen to get the ball rolling faster now that we can build.

We're at contract signing stage now. We received the contract from Clarendon on Tuesday and after we sign it we give them the go ahead to start the process of construction, as well as obviously start dropping a lot of money.

Like everyone else building we can't wait for them to start, we can't wait to move up, we can't wait to get our home.

Happy to answer any questions you all may have, I'm no expert but happy to share our experience so far.

Us, we made a lot of structural changes to our Parkhill, so already we're up 130K from the base price, and we haven't even had our electrical and flooring appointment yet ... yikes!!

Cam

Ohh wow! How exciting! It's a bit tricky doing it all from here isn't it. We just keep visiting the parklea displays and their colour studio here. We went to the Brisbane one on Monday and it's sooooo much smaller and no where near as much info.

Wow that's a lot of changes. We don't have much moving room in our budget and this is our first house and with 2 boys under 5 we aren't keen to go too high end just yet.

I just finished reading your blog post. I love what you have done with your laundry. I would prefer that for sure. I'm not a big fan of the pantry opening into the laundry. But we don't have much land to extend. Only 350m2 block.

Would be great to keep throwing ideas around, I didn't get any notifications that anyone had replied to this post, just came back and found it all on here now.

Rebekah · Aug 16, 2017 9:50 pm

jaylex

Hello Everyone,

We have also chosen the design of Clarendon Parkhill in 34, building in northeast Brisbane. Like elleimac here, we did love the idea of having the staircase tucked away behind the kitchen. We got our quote after listing all our "must have's" and shied away when we got the price. We started to look elsewhere, with another builder who had the exact same design. In the end, the Parkhill 34 was much more competitive in price and the consultant was pleasant to deal with. We are now in the tendering process sorting out all the tiny details. Not fun.

Extras we included:
Grand Alfresco with extended concrete
Added Bathroom downstairs
Sliding doors to the Living Room next to the study.
Converted WIP to Butler's pantry
Upgraded a few items in the kitchen. like undermount sink & glass splashback (I don't enjoy cleaning the grout)

We're still waiting for our Land to be registered which is expected to be from Jan to March 2018. (A long time to wait but it's already Aug !) A little nervous about extra costs after the soil test.

I look forward to seeing all of your future posts in here.

Hey! We are building in Newport, is that a similar area to you? Our land has just been bumped back from a sept registration to November. Hoping it's not further than that!

I agree we are fans of the tucked away stairs. Love the idea of not making a feature of them.

We also added a door to the front lounge room and added the shower downstairs. We also went the undermount sink. Haven't decided what to do with the splashback. But I'm not great with cleaning our granite one we have now.

We have done our tender revisions, which I want to revise again now. Joys of having so much time to think.

Rebekah · Aug 16, 2017 9:54 pm

cm4

Hi fellow Parkhill People!,

So we have decided on the Parkhill 29. We are in the process of going to tender and are just waiting on a few extra costings. We are just waiting on estimates for moving a wall 500mm in one of the bedrooms to make it bigger, and are entertaining the idea of closing in the alfresco and doing a deck and patio type thing on the back ourselves after handover. Also maybe getting the garage plus where there make it bigger for extra storage. But this will all come down to price!!

So we have added/upgraded:
Sapphire Kitchen - under mount sink, 900mm bench, cupboards above the rangehood
Higher ceilings on the ground floor
Larger front door
Sliding door to study
Stone top to powder room
Stacker doors to alfresco if we don't close it in

Is anyone adding the full stackers to the alfresco area? Like what they have in the displays (usually in bi folds) where you can open the whole walls to the outside? I love it but don't know how practical it is when you add flyscreens etc

Also has the finishing under the stairs such as plaster, paint and tiles been included in your tender/pricing? I don't think it is in ours.

Anywho - looking forward to keeping up to date with everyone's progress.

We are doing the cornerless stacking doors with recessed tracks. The tracks have a track just for flyscreens so you can add them in later. I haven't even looked into that yet.
I'm not so much a fan of them when the track isn't recessed though, it's more like an annoying step to trip on if it's raised.
Ours are just shy of 7k I think. But we feel they really add that alfresco into the house.

I asked our sales rep and the under the stairs is all finished like the rest of the laundry as per the display homes. I was also wondering if it was or not.