Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Clarendon Noob tips 3Mar 26, 2012 6:43 pm Thanks, what house did you pick and at what stage is your build? Re: Clarendon Noob tips 6May 07, 2012 9:41 pm We have just received our DA!!! And we were about to provide acceptance for internals and kitchen upgrades, when we got not one but two variations for things which should have been included in the tender/contract. At this point I am vary cautious in recommending clarendon to others- hopefully things improve. I am not far off going to Fair Trading. Will let you know how we fair.. Re: Clarendon Noob tips 7May 13, 2012 1:29 pm Finally another Domain builder! We're going ahead with the Killara 1 and everything has been going relatively smoothly to date. There's been a few little hickups in making sure everything discussed at the sales meeting followed through to the tender and then to the contract - but I am a stickler for reading through everything with a fine tooth comb, because I truly believe this is the one document that everything falls back to as the build process happens. TBH C have been fantastic with us - my partner works internationally and is rarely in Oz, so timing has had to be spot on to ensure the tender and contract could both be signed whilst he was here (they are pretty much against working with scanning and emailing, even though this is a legal signature method). But instead they have slowed some things down and sped other stuff up to make sure everything worked before he headed off again. I know Domain had a really rubbish reputation before, and I discussed this with C. They are saying that they are managing it completely differently - and they have recently extended the structural guarantee back up to match the normal C homes, which I think is good news because there was a huge difference before! We'll see how we go now, registration of the land is holding everything up, but like I said, so far so good! Follow us at http://thepondsbirdhouse.blogspot.com.au 05/03/13 - Lock up 06/04/13 - Tile's completed 08/04/13 - Painter's start Re: Clarendon Noob tips 8Jul 28, 2012 9:34 pm loz+dug Finally another Domain builder! We're going ahead with the Killara 1 and everything has been going relatively smoothly to date. There's been a few little hickups in making sure everything discussed at the sales meeting followed through to the tender and then to the contract - but I am a stickler for reading through everything with a fine tooth comb, because I truly believe this is the one document that everything falls back to as the build process happens. TBH C have been fantastic with us - my partner works internationally and is rarely in Oz, so timing has had to be spot on to ensure the tender and contract could both be signed whilst he was here (they are pretty much against working with scanning and emailing, even though this is a legal signature method). But instead they have slowed some things down and sped other stuff up to make sure everything worked before he headed off again. I know Domain had a really rubbish reputation before, and I discussed this with C. They are saying that they are managing it completely differently - and they have recently extended the structural guarantee back up to match the normal C homes, which I think is good news because there was a huge difference before! We'll see how we go now, registration of the land is holding everything up, but like I said, so far so good! Hi loz+dug, we are also looking at the killara 3, were you able to make any changes to the floor plan and did you do many upgrades? Lexia Slim Twist with Beechwood Homes http://houseoflexia.blogspot.com.au/ https://www.instagram.com/natlyn7/ Re: Clarendon Noob tips 9Aug 13, 2012 4:13 pm natlyn loz+dug Finally another Domain builder! We're going ahead with the Killara 1 and everything has been going relatively smoothly to date. There's been a few little hickups in making sure everything discussed at the sales meeting followed through to the tender and then to the contract - but I am a stickler for reading through everything with a fine tooth comb, because I truly believe this is the one document that everything falls back to as the build process happens. TBH C have been fantastic with us - my partner works internationally and is rarely in Oz, so timing has had to be spot on to ensure the tender and contract could both be signed whilst he was here (they are pretty much against working with scanning and emailing, even though this is a legal signature method). But instead they have slowed some things down and sped other stuff up to make sure everything worked before he headed off again. I know Domain had a really rubbish reputation before, and I discussed this with C. They are saying that they are managing it completely differently - and they have recently extended the structural guarantee back up to match the normal C homes, which I think is good news because there was a huge difference before! We'll see how we go now, registration of the land is holding everything up, but like I said, so far so good! Hi loz+dug, we are also looking at the killara 3, were you able to make any changes to the floor plan and did you do many upgrades? we have also gone for the domaine range - lyndhurst. we liked the killara styles, but too big for our land and apparently council requirements. we had to wait ages for our land to register and now that it has, we hopefully can get papers into council this week to get things moving. our tender expires in november and hoping that construction can start sooner than that.. we had an appointment last friday, for the externals, plus they have restructed the appointments so we managed to do internals and kitchen appointments then too. but still yet to lodge papers to council as we are now waiting to hear back quotes re upgrade bricks and sarking costs and larger front door, glazing quotes for the bathrooms. we went to beaumont tiling showroom afterwards to get a head start for the tiles we will be selecting, and it so easy to pick from the vast range. we are fearing there will be a catch to this later on, when we actually have to pick them. we kept within the standard gold or silver stickers and wrote down the names/codes for future reference. any comments we'd love to hear it we are building in NSW, in new Gregory Hills Estate thanks First Time Building - Nervous and Excited!! Explorer St Gregory Hills http://lyndhurst21gregoryhills.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Clarendon Noob tips 10Aug 14, 2012 7:35 pm Hey, We did the same as you and went to check out Beaumont before appointment and were suitably impressed when we had a hard time finding a tile without a gold or silver sticker( excepting porcelian). Further - we spent only 60 on upgrades at tiling- our cheapest appointment yet! Because we chose ahold and red dot! Tiling was probably our best appointment to date in terms of assistance and lack of surprises when it comes to cost. Especially when we were thinking it was going to be quiet expensive! Dan Re: Clarendon Noob tips 11Aug 19, 2012 8:19 pm natlyn loz+dug Finally another Domain builder! We're going ahead with the Killara 1 and everything has been going relatively smoothly to date. There's been a few little hickups in making sure everything discussed at the sales meeting followed through to the tender and then to the contract - but I am a stickler for reading through everything with a fine tooth comb, because I truly believe this is the one document that everything falls back to as the build process happens. TBH C have been fantastic with us - my partner works internationally and is rarely in Oz, so timing has had to be spot on to ensure the tender and contract could both be signed whilst he was here (they are pretty much against working with scanning and emailing, even though this is a legal signature method). But instead they have slowed some things down and sped other stuff up to make sure everything worked before he headed off again. I know Domain had a really rubbish reputation before, and I discussed this with C. They are saying that they are managing it completely differently - and they have recently extended the structural guarantee back up to match the normal C homes, which I think is good news because there was a huge difference before! We'll see how we go now, registration of the land is holding everything up, but like I said, so far so good! Hi loz+dug, we are also looking at the killara 3, were you able to make any changes to the floor plan and did you do many upgrades? Hi Natlyn, We could have made changes if we wanted to. We were quite happy with the floor plan (we had actually changed from a previous builder because we would have made too many changes to get what we wanted with them). By not changing the floor plan we were able to take advantage of their "smart builder" promotion which was good. We are first home owners and are really trying hard to stick within a budget, so we are being really strict with ourselves over upgrades. At the colour meeting they are really good at showing you what you can do and what you can upgrade. You can change almost anything you like - at a price of course! They offered a lot more choices then I expected within in the standard range. The other builder was only offering us 2 types of ceaserstone, where as with Domain we got 5 different types for instance... hmm upon writing it doesn't sound like a lot haha. Garage doors was the same, and a few choices with handles and skirting boards as well, for instance. This actually surprised me - I was expecting to be really limited in choices. Overall they were really helpful and patient at letting us stare at paint samples until we decided on which "white" we wanted to go with! At the moment we are just waiting for the final costing on some of the things we did upgrade - like drawers throughout the kitchen, changing the shower door to something more modern and putting a different front door on. We'll see how they come through. What stage are you at? And where are you building? Follow us at http://thepondsbirdhouse.blogspot.com.au 05/03/13 - Lock up 06/04/13 - Tile's completed 08/04/13 - Painter's start Re: Clarendon Noob tips 12Aug 20, 2012 12:48 pm HI All, Just thought, given my comments above I would give an update on our situation. Quote: At this point I am vary cautious in recommending Clarendon to others- hopefully things improve. I am not far off going to Fair Trading. Will let you know how we fair.. Although still a little cautious, everything is going really well. My current feelings are if you can handle and get past the incompetence of many in the Sydney office then you should be happy- well that's how we are at the moment. Just try to view it as a means to an end. Lets hope it stays that way---- I am sure I am on some handle with care list!! The concreters are the only trades I have had any interaction with to date and they were great, and have done an excellent job on both internal and external surfaces. If everything gets finished to that standard then life will be great! Carpenters have obviously been there as frame is standing, but I have not met them yet. Re: Clarendon Noob tips 13Aug 27, 2012 7:08 am Hi fellow Killara builders, My partner and I have been perusing the double storey homes, until we thought we'd just check out a C single storey when we were at the parklea display village...wow! What a game-changer! I always was of the belief that single storeys scrimped on size/space, but I'm sold!! Haha! Does anyone have any idea of the cost of changes to the floor plan (we want to add another 2 rooms), and also how much they charge to upgrade (as we can't get the designer inclusions from the C-branded homes)? Re: Clarendon Noob tips 14Sep 14, 2012 12:16 pm Ooh crappy they don't have the Domaine promotion going anymore - that's what we got. It was really good - stone bench tops in kitchen, butlers pantry, upgrade on water heater, upgrade security etc etc ... sorry to rub it in ... We're cutting it really close to end of tender date because the land was delayed by so much. We're going into Council this week, I can't see how we can get out of there and have a slap laid before tender expiration. sigh. Follow us at http://thepondsbirdhouse.blogspot.com.au 05/03/13 - Lock up 06/04/13 - Tile's completed 08/04/13 - Painter's start Re: Clarendon Noob tips 15Sep 14, 2012 1:22 pm They do not need the slab laid by that date, you just need to have signed the building contract 2 Re: Clarendon Noob tips 16Sep 14, 2012 2:47 pm Ah sweet - I don't know why I had that in my head! Thanks for that Follow us at http://thepondsbirdhouse.blogspot.com.au 05/03/13 - Lock up 06/04/13 - Tile's completed 08/04/13 - Painter's start Re: Clarendon Noob tips 17Sep 18, 2012 9:37 am Quote: I always was of the belief that single storeys scrimped on size/space In my opinion many single stories use space a lot better. Sure double story house often have more space, but to me it seems the use of such space is less considered. All the single stories we looked at made much better use of the space they had. Re: Clarendon Noob tips 18Oct 18, 2012 10:16 pm dvestate They do not need the slab laid by that date, you just need to have signed the building contract 2 Thought I might just mention this, in case anybody needs the info. Through our recent experience ive learnt that you need to be much further on than signing the contract, it also includes being completely out of council, this approval having been received by C as well as the Letter of Commencement from the bank being received by C. I have just asked (and had granted) an extension for our tender because we are simply waiting for the letter to make its way from the bank to C - and apparently we are lucky because our council is quite quick in getting their final certificates as well, otherwise we would have been caught up simply waiting for approvals to happen. There's a few other things as well that are needed, but if you are getting close like we were, worth having a look at your contract. Different builders have different requirements though (as I've discovered through talking to my future neighbors) Must say though that C have been really good at helping us through this, pushing elements along, answering questions and keeping us informed every step of the way. Follow us at http://thepondsbirdhouse.blogspot.com.au 05/03/13 - Lock up 06/04/13 - Tile's completed 08/04/13 - Painter's start the stair balustrades? There is nothing special about these and I imagine literally every stair installer will be able to do this. 1 6747 The two 15mm holes are obviously not compliant. The Dept of Fair Trading would love to see this one! Do the gutters pool water after it stops raining? Although it's… 4 7872 Just be careful with building stability during construction, that is when the structure may be weakened, refer to your engineering drawings for stability methodology. 1 7231 |