Browse Forums Building A New House Re: mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 25Oct 11, 2011 3:39 pm mak_ A lot has happened but nothing has happened at the same time. PD rang me on the 1st to say there North office if now moving back to Keilor park, they moved from there to Bundoora in April...our file was stuck in limbo until last Wednesday when they emailed me saying I have a new CSC - i tried calling him straight away and finally got through to have "the chat" he was great said pop it in an email so we have it on file. Sent the email Thursday morning - 3pm received a call from a sales rep trying to keep us. Of course after all this time they don't want to see us go, but surely if they "really" didn't want us to go, they would have come to the party from day 1. To go from "no Site Cost's" to "Budget no more then xxxx" for it to blow out over 42% We didn't want to go 2nd best with PD or skimp on what we want. We did exhaust the PD range but because of the amount of price rises since 2010 we were losing no matter what option we chose. In the end we decided to go with Henley - we love the floor plan we have chosen - it might not have a rumpus room but we can convert the Living into a theatre and we don't need an alfresco - FH is a carpenter and we will have a MASSIVE entertainment area. The square size - Henley comes out as bigger 28sq with no Rumpus and no Alfresco - Darnley is 29 with Alfresco and Rumpus. So PD is no more - maybe our 2nd house, we still like PD and was gutted with what happened. But it came down to principle and budgets... We should received a call this week to get our Henley CSC and book everything at the next available. Pretty excited to be starting fresh. We should (fingers crossed) see a slab by christmas Great News Mak.... Its about time luck was changing your way Have a mate that built with Henley and they said they were fantastic. Only thing they mentioned was it ran over time. But the quality of work supurb... To be honest Henely was my first choice builder but would not touch my slope - so Im slightly jelious Cheers, Alpal Building PD Heathmont 40 BLOG: http://alpal-pd-heathmont40.blogspot.com/ Deposit paid 19/08/2011 Contract signing 3/10/2011 Site Start 10/11/2011 Slab 23/11/2011 Re: mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 26Oct 17, 2011 1:30 pm it's all coming along!! Colours is booked in for Wednesday, Tender Next Monday and contracts on the 14th November. Our CSC said she wanted us to get contracts sorted so they can get rolling before christmas. I went Cosham on the weekend and was very very impressed by everything! If you are not sure on pricing - they give you the booklet with most prices and can "approximate" on what they don't know. I drew up our electrical plan this morning, and going to have a look at brick colours - Austral - Mushroom or Latte Re: mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 27Oct 18, 2011 8:44 am mak_ I drew up our electrical plan this morning, and going to have a look at brick colours - Austral - Mushroom or Latte Nice.... We got the Austral Chocolate bricks... We really like them... I think ours were Cat 3... but not that much more expensive... DaMatt -- Built Henley's Monaco Q1 Mernda Villages Re: mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 28Oct 19, 2011 2:19 pm damatt mak_ I drew up our electrical plan this morning, and going to have a look at brick colours - Austral - Mushroom or Latte Nice.... We got the Austral Chocolate bricks... We really like them... I think ours were Cat 3... but not that much more expensive... how funny!!!! I ended up choosing those bricks with a light render on the house and a dark on the garage. I loved the mushroom but I couldn't really picture any external colours I liked, whereas ith the chocolate I could put together much more that 1. I like 2. It works Double door entry Double wall oven with Kitchen layout the same as the Monaco Nouveau Landscaped overhead's - Pumice colour 3 x Pot draws Bath feature tiles - similar to stack stone look Chocolate timber stain Front door and Garage door - Jasmine Brown/Jasper Island bench cupboards - Divine Oak with Linen Caesar stone B'rms and Ensuite - Divine oak with Ice snow Caesar Walls - Beige Royal Half Doors Skirts - Lexicon Quater Veggie Spray Overheads OVER rangehood thinking of adding in the fireplace recess and gas point so we can add in our fireplace after handover I think that is all Oh we added in dead locks to laundry door and garage internal door JIC Very happy with what we chose!! Re: mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 31Oct 21, 2011 10:20 am Hi all, We are building Double Storey Henley Wiltshire Vogue Q2 in Doreen. We were wanting chocolate coloured bricks. We chose Boral - Brown Terrain and amazingly they were category 1. We are currently nearly at lock up stage and are very happy with the way they look. It is so had to decide colours when you are looking at samples. mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 32Oct 22, 2011 10:44 am The thing I love about Henley is that what you "think" would be an upgrade...isn't...I was so surprised on the standard colours and even to upgrade bricks to Cat2 are great bricks. So we def had enough money in the budget for a few extras in the kitchen and lighting...dad reckons I've put in too many...might upload my "great" drawing We have Tender on Monday morning --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-37.715672,145.015610 mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 33Oct 22, 2011 10:47 am Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Colours and tiles etc Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-37.715737,145.015647 mak_ - Our Monaqo Q1 - Mernda Villages 34Nov 28, 2011 11:51 am Ok so I have been so so slack with my blog!!!! Trying organise house and wedding stuff I have been reading and posting on other topics but not keeping mine up to date...lazy me We had our contract date with Henley on the 14th November. It went really well, no mistakes and no hassles, i felt light after handing our deposit over in cash The only thing i did question was the "Council Strategy Plan Infrastructure Levy" CSC said it was a one off fee payable to the council to build the roads. Henley only know if it is payable once the building permits have been lodged...Sure enough I get a phone call...I had to go down to the Whittlesea council and pay $170 to a fund Mernda Villages has to build the roads isn't this what the government is for?? Last weekend we went down to have a sneak at the block and look what we found Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ By mak_2012 at 2011-11-27 Looks like someone has just picked up their dirt and rubbish from their back yard with all their moving in boxes and dumped it on our block you could just imagine how "happy" i was. Spoke to FFIL who has a forklift and he was going out yesterday to flatten the rubbish. It rained alllllllllllll day saturday so looked what happened yesterday when we went to level the block Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Uploaded with [url=http://imageshack.us]ImageShack.us[/img] Took 4 hours and a tow truck later to get him out Re: mak_ - build in Mernda Villages - Darnley29? 35Nov 28, 2011 11:56 am FH and I had a bit of a chat last week. We really want a pool...it is going to push us over budget but we decided we have no side access so even if we save up and get it done after the wedding it is going to cost so much more trying to crane it all in!!! We also said we don't have kid's and while it is just us 2 we can pound the mortgage while we can. So I spoke to the broker and she said if we get a quote and incorporate it in with the valuation we will be sweet... Wonder how it's going to go down with henley?? We got out estate design approval last week and now just waiting on the building permit. Fingers crossed !!!! mak_ - Our Monaco Q1 - Mernda Villages 36Nov 28, 2011 5:51 pm Mak_, Henley were really good about us having a pool installed first, as long as there was at least a temp safety fence, it was more than a few metres from the house (so it did not interfere with the slab) and the pool was boarded up. However all landscaping work had to then wait until after handover. Chatz Re: mak_ - Our Monaco Q1 - Mernda Villages 37Dec 01, 2011 8:28 am Hey Chatz, Henley rang me back on Tuesday. They said it was too late because they are ready to start. There was (what they thought) was a mix up they wanted to clarify. We wanted the glass on the door frosted, but the side lights as clear...they thought it was a mistake and wanted to make sure that IS how we wanted it. They said the pool will be easier for them AFTER handover, that's sweet...I checked last night and the 2 blocks next to us are still not sold Fingers crossed we see something Monday!!! Re: mak_ - Our Monaco Q1 - Mernda Villages 38Dec 06, 2011 7:37 am Got a call from henley, we have a site supervisor and appointed our CSC.woooooo. She said they will have a meeting on Wednesday and to watch our for site start date letter in the mail by Friday!!!!! This is 100% true. You can not hang anything on steel frames. very frustrating 8 10651 Regardless of wall hung toilet or floor pan toilet your feet will be right on drain, seems to me the waste should not be in that location given the design. Also are you… 6 7697 I second taking your plans elsewhere. They're yours (unless you ended up in one of those cheaper arrangements where you don't own the rights and the build will be tendered… 2 802 |