The CARLISLE HOMES & SPECTRA General Information Thread

*MrsG* · Oct 16, 2009 1:37 pm

I know - we saw that, and loved the plan, and also loved the upstairs alfresco too, but in the end we figured a 50 square house is just a bit much to clean.

nietzche · Oct 16, 2009 3:48 pm

the bordeaux 40 also has an option to add a master suite downstair, in addition to the standard 4 bedrooms on the upper floor...

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 16, 2009 8:38 pm

*MrsG*

wonderland

Welcome MrsG

Good luck with your build. The thornleigh is a nice design, it's part of the T range right? Hopefully you are able to get your double shower. And make sure that you get everything in writing. I remember asking for a few stuff and they were like 'yea yea thats fine'. Come contract/tender time and apparently the draftmen's said 'no it cant be done'. But luckily i had it in writing and pushed for it!! :z:

Why are they waiting 3 months from when your land settles to start building?

Carlisle have a backlog of people waiting to build their homes - they only do a certain number per year to ensure quality control, so when they are busy, they have to book them in months in advance.
We were told on the weekend that if our block wasn't already titled, it would be started in June/July at this stage, so we're thankful that we have a titled block. (it's in an older estate - is huge though - 20m x 51!)
So that's all. We also have to get all the color selections started, we haven't done any of that yet!

Thanks for the advice re the shower, if they can't do it, we won't do the house. We had looked at the Metro (also in the Affinity range) and were happy to build that but it would just be too extravagant - I have three children to another relationship, and the youngest is 6 - so yes, we'd be able to grow in the house, but they don't all need their own ensuite! And cleaning it, well that would be a different issue again! The Thornleigh's design has a void behind the single shower, which is needed for the heating/cooling (we're going with refrig. so also have 3 phase power) which is why they are having to reposition it. I'm happy to get rid of the spa but hubby is not. We'll get there in the end I spose.

That's why we've picked the Thornleigh - it is allowing for the boys to have their own private space, and it will be a good house for my family to grow in. Hubby's even putting in a butler's pantry for me

We're quite happy with the displays, they really are easy to identify what you get as standard and what you don't get. We had our walk through with Deb at the Cranbourne display on Saturday (which now you will know we're literally at the beginning stage of our plans)

Hopefully they can get it right for us too.

MrsG, do you know how many homes Carlisle can build each year?

What a huge block!!!!

If you dont do the Thornleigh, build the Metro without all the ensuites. It will be fabulous!! Except where will all the lost space go???? Bigger rooms? Bigger WIRs?

Highly recommend you dont delete the spa.. its a standard inclusion and I doubt they will give you a decent credit back for it. Plus it is a luxury item!

nietzche

the bordeaux 40 also has an option to add a master suite downstair, in addition to the standard 4 bedrooms on the upper floor...

I didnt know Carlisle had so many floorplan options!

Marclau · Oct 17, 2009 7:28 pm

Back again after a short spell away.

We finally sold our house and will give Carlisle the 'please begin quickly' phone call on Monday or Tuesday.

Put us down for the Atlantique 39 (enlarged 36 version)..........

We are awaiting site costs which should arrive end of next week..........worried here about what hiding costs await us.

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 17, 2009 7:33 pm

Marclau

Back again after a short spell away.

We finally sold our house and will give Carlisle the 'please begin quickly' phone call on Monday or Tuesday.

Put us down for the Atlantique 39 (enlarged 36 version)..........

We are awaiting site costs which should arrive end of next week..........worried here about what hiding costs await us.

Good to see your back, and good to see your still going ahead with the house.

39 square Atlantique.... what are you adding again?

Hope site costs are reasonable. :wink:

peekay · Oct 18, 2009 7:54 am

Quote:

MrsG, do you know how many homes Carlisle can build each year?

I know I'm not MrsG

but they have a cap of 25 site starts per month, but based on demand can sometimes increase that to 30, that's just for one side of Melbourne, say for example the East. Same thing applies for the West, 25 to 30. Usually, 25 is max so that the quality of the houses don't become second standard.

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 18, 2009 10:09 am

peekay

Quote:

MrsG, do you know how many homes Carlisle can build each year?

I know I'm not MrsG

but they have a cap of 25 site starts per month, but based on demand can sometimes increase that to 30, that's just for one side of Melbourne, say for example the East. Same thing applies for the West, 25 to 30. Usually, 25 is max so that the quality of the houses don't become second standard.

Thanks peekay.

Remember theyre building in the North now too.. So say roughly 80 homes a month.. 960 homes a year!

Jayneylou · Oct 18, 2009 9:37 pm

For the time being 8 a month is apparently the cap in the North

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 19, 2009 1:05 am

Jayneylou

For the time being 8 a month is apparently the cap in the North

Thanks for the confirmation Jayneylou. I guess they have to start small first in the north..

How did you know this?

Jayneylou · Oct 19, 2009 5:07 am

I just signed with Carlisle for the Westbury 26

peekay · Oct 19, 2009 8:19 am

From what I heard, it's only single stories for the first three months that they're site starting in March, April & May then in June, July & August double stories will introduced and thus the cap increased.

*MrsG* · Oct 19, 2009 8:56 am

Salt&PepperMkII

What a huge block!!!!

If you dont do the Thornleigh, build the Metro without all the ensuites. It will be fabulous!! Except where will all the lost space go???? Bigger rooms? Bigger WIRs?

Highly recommend you dont delete the spa.. its a standard inclusion and I doubt they will give you a decent credit back for it. Plus it is a luxury item!

Yes I know, we are very lucky. A little while ago we were looking at a 700m2 block and thought that was the be all and end all ... then I got cold feet (it's nothing different to where we are now, except its closer to the school) so pulled us out much to hubby's disgust. At least we found something special, it's in the best area in the town we live in.
As for the Metro, I'd love to build it, but hubby said no this time. We are quite young (he is only 28) and you've gotta draw the line somewhere! I can't clean all that! Unless someone knows a good cheap cleaner!
Re the spa, it's the only thing that we wanted in our current house that we didn't get - so we made ourselves a deal, if we build again, it has to have a spa in the ensuite. We're going to approach Carlisle to switch the toilet and the shower in the ensuite, put a door again on the shower space to make it a toilet, and expand the current toilet space to make it large enough for a double shower. They can't expand the current shower because it has a supporting beam in it... bit sad really, the house would be briliant if they could just have a double shower as standard. Same as the metro ... why not have a double shower as standard?
Hope they start your house soon! We're not selling ours first, so hopefully it sells fast after the new one is built. (We need the trees out the back to thrive ... we've just replanted most of them because we sort of bought puppies in January and they like to eat trees *groan*)
So I have put a wire fence around the garden beds, if the little buggers so much as try and get to the trees, they will regret it...
At least this has given us some tactics for the new garden at the very least!

prom38 · Oct 19, 2009 11:05 am

Hello all
We started building the Prominence 38 late May and we are settling this Thursday. We had our PCI last Thursday 15/10, three pages of things to complete/which are mostly painting, and yeah settling on 22/10/09. Building has been a very happy experience for us. Carlisle Homes staff, from Customer Service especially our Site supervisor have been great.

SammyJ · Oct 19, 2009 11:48 am

Hi Prom38,

Congratulations on your settlement date, you must be very excited!

we are having our PCI this Friday! So hopefully there isn’t too much to fix!! We are having an independent inspector coming with us. Yes I must say our CLE and SS have been fantastic, always returning our calls and answering our questions!

Fingers crossed for Friday!
::wornout::

Cheers,
Sam

prom38 · Oct 19, 2009 2:45 pm

Hi Sam

Thankyou. Yes very excited, anxious, etc. coming up with more stuff on the list of to dos each day, eg fence, driveway, make sure curtains (this one I'm a bit nervous about) installed by next week before we move in, removallst for the big stuff, ring council for the bins, etc. etc.

We thought of getting a building inspector as well, but somehow that got sidelined. However, we kept a close tab at each stage of the building process and my husband has years of experience in the building trade so he sort of knew what he had to check on but yeah I think it's a great idea as it is the biggest expense in one's life and to have the assurance of a professional behind it is just a relief!

All the best with your PCI on Friday.

Which one did you build.

Can't wait for Thursday, when I can put my own key in and would not have to ask for my SS to see the house!!.

Cheers
Prom38

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 19, 2009 3:53 pm

Jayneylou

I just signed with Carlisle for the Westbury 26

Oh ok. Good luck with your build. :wink:

peekay

From what I heard, it's only single stories for the first three months that they're site starting in March, April & May then in June, July & August double stories will introduced and thus the cap increased.

Hmm, thats quite interesting. Thanks for that.

*MrsG*

Salt&PepperMkII

What a huge block!!!!

If you dont do the Thornleigh, build the Metro without all the ensuites. It will be fabulous!! Except where will all the lost space go???? Bigger rooms? Bigger WIRs?

Highly recommend you dont delete the spa.. its a standard inclusion and I doubt they will give you a decent credit back for it. Plus it is a luxury item!

Yes I know, we are very lucky. A little while ago we were looking at a 700m2 block and thought that was the be all and end all ... then I got cold feet (it's nothing different to where we are now, except its closer to the school) so pulled us out much to hubby's disgust. At least we found something special, it's in the best area in the town we live in.
As for the Metro, I'd love to build it, but hubby said no this time. We are quite young (he is only 28) and you've gotta draw the line somewhere! I can't clean all that! Unless someone knows a good cheap cleaner!
Re the spa, it's the only thing that we wanted in our current house that we didn't get - so we made ourselves a deal, if we build again, it has to have a spa in the ensuite. We're going to approach Carlisle to switch the toilet and the shower in the ensuite, put a door again on the shower space to make it a toilet, and expand the current toilet space to make it large enough for a double shower. They can't expand the current shower because it has a supporting beam in it... bit sad really, the house would be briliant if they could just have a double shower as standard. Same as the metro ... why not have a double shower as standard?
Hope they start your house soon! We're not selling ours first, so hopefully it sells fast after the new one is built. (We need the trees out the back to thrive ... we've just replanted most of them because we sort of bought puppies in January and they like to eat trees *groan*)
So I have put a wire fence around the garden beds, if the little buggers so much as try and get to the trees, they will regret it...
At least this has given us some tactics for the new garden at the very least!

Has Carlisle told you of a resolution regarding the spa yet?? Double showers are great, we have one in the bathroom, but a normal one in the ensuite. BTW, we already built our Atlantique! See photos thread.

prom38

Hello all
We started building the Prominence 38 late May and we are settling this Thursday. We had our PCI last Thursday 15/10, three pages of things to complete/which are mostly painting, and yeah settling on 22/10/09. Building has been a very happy experience for us. Carlisle Homes staff, from Customer Service especially our Site supervisor have been great.

Thats good to hear! Whereabouts are you building?

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 19, 2009 5:14 pm

prom38

Hi Sam

Thankyou. Yes very excited, anxious, etc. coming up with more stuff on the list of to dos each day, eg fence, driveway, make sure curtains (this one I'm a bit nervous about) installed by next week before we move in, removallst for the big stuff, ring council for the bins, etc. etc.

We thought of getting a building inspector as well, but somehow that got sidelined. However, we kept a close tab at each stage of the building process and my husband has years of experience in the building trade so he sort of knew what he had to check on but yeah I think it's a great idea as it is the biggest expense in one's life and to have the assurance of a professional behind it is just a relief!

All the best with your PCI on Friday.

Which one did you build.

Can't wait for Thursday, when I can put my own key in and would not have to ask for my SS to see the house!!.

Cheers
Prom38

Good luck for your PCI!! I presume your not a fan of blankets and sheets on your windows - or temporary blinds? Neither am I.. :lol:

Blinds were an absolute MUST for us.

Isnt it a great feeling to organise everything for your new home?? Although at times it can be stressful..!

We didnt get an independant inspector either and were satisfied with the finished product.

*MrsG* · Oct 19, 2009 7:51 pm

I'm depressed. They absolutely cannot do us a double shower in the ensuite. There are load bearing things in the way.

Salt&PepperMkII · Oct 19, 2009 7:56 pm

[quote="*MrsG*"]I'm depressed. They absolutely cannot do us a double shower in the ensuite. There are load bearing things in the way. :([

/quote]

What??!! So theres ABSOLUTELY no way you can have the double shower??? :::

Are you sure??

Will you still be going ahead with the Thornleigh? It would be such a shame if you cant build the house because of the shower size... keep hassling Carlisle and hopefully you can come to a good conclusion? Hope things work out for you MrsG.

SammyJ · Oct 20, 2009 8:36 am

Thanks Salt&PepperMkII & Prom38! if you dont mind me asking what were the main things that you picked up at PCI that need to be fixed?

Prom 38, i am building the madison 30, we started on June 30, so it has been a quick build time but have been very happy with everything so far! :z:

Cheers,
Sam