We have finally reached this point and it's a HUGE relief to be here after everything.
We couldn't have signed the contracts without some sort of drama though :P
We received a copy of our contract and working drawings last night and low and behold there was an error with THAT wall. The wall that caused all of the dramas and subsequently the forged signatures that caused us to leave in the first place.
The dimensions of that wall were still larger than we had promised. I called our pre-start consultant who advised us that the wall was drawn to how it was described in the PWC. I'll admit, the wording in the PWC was a bit ambiguous, but it still wasn't what our sales consultant had promised (and confirmed) we would get.
ALL CREDIT goes to our sales consultant (David from the Berwick Waters Estate). I sent him a message regarding this issue (on his days off) and he was on to it straight away. We walked in to our contract signing appointment this morning and our pre-start consultant had advised us that David had phoned and got everything sorted out and our wall will be exactly what we were promised. We were given a drafting clarification to sign and I was a VERY happy lady :)
We walked out of that appointment finally feeling very happy about the whole process of building and that we were getting the house we wanted from the start.
Things are looking up!
Friday, 8 May 2015
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
The depressing wait
So just found out today that our site start won't be until approximately September now; which means we won't be moving in before Christmas :(
Apparently it takes Boutique Homes 8-10 weeks (from colour selection) to get everything organised and on top of that they're currently running about 2 weeks behind schedule *double :(*
Not sure what takes them so long; we're signing contracts on 8th May and our colour selection isn't until 1st June. Colours is just colours, why couldn't they get all of the building permits organised once contracts are signed? I guess there's a lot more to it than I understand.
This whole drama has now pushed us out more than 6 months behind our original plan. That's building for you.
Never again.......
Apparently it takes Boutique Homes 8-10 weeks (from colour selection) to get everything organised and on top of that they're currently running about 2 weeks behind schedule *double :(*
Not sure what takes them so long; we're signing contracts on 8th May and our colour selection isn't until 1st June. Colours is just colours, why couldn't they get all of the building permits organised once contracts are signed? I guess there's a lot more to it than I understand.
This whole drama has now pushed us out more than 6 months behind our original plan. That's building for you.
Never again.......
Friday, 3 April 2015
Evolution of a block of land
Went and visited our block again today; we only live a few minutes down the road, so it's becoming a weekly event now.
We have some rear fencing completed now which is a bonus as I thought we had to arrange that ourselves.
The evolution of our block....
 |
| Our very first pic |
 |
| Early Days |
 |
| Civil works begin |
 |
| Civil works complete |
 |
| Rear fence is up |
 |
| Concrete Way is complete |
Looking up the street...
 |
| Our concrete Way is finished |
 |
| Houses are starting to come alive |
 |
| Looking towards the end of our Way |
 |
| Needs a good clean |
 |
| Parked in our driveway :) |
St Tropez 28 Display
Time to start getting excited about our build again.
Everyone loves photos, so here are some of the St Tropez 28 display in Berwick Waters.
Kitchen:
Kitchen/Family/Dining:
(Don't get me started on that corner less alfresco)
Family:
Theatre room:
(looks terribly small in this picture)
Study:
(This room is terribly small, but it serves it's purpose beautifully)
Master bedroom:
Ensuite:
Bathroom:
Comparing these photos with those of the Essex 27, I'm surprised just how much smaller this house looks/feels, yet they are both almost identical in size.
Everyone loves photos, so here are some of the St Tropez 28 display in Berwick Waters.
Kitchen:
Kitchen/Family/Dining:
(Don't get me started on that corner less alfresco)
Family:
Theatre room:
(looks terribly small in this picture)
Study:
(This room is terribly small, but it serves it's purpose beautifully)
Master bedroom:
Bathroom:
Comparing these photos with those of the Essex 27, I'm surprised just how much smaller this house looks/feels, yet they are both almost identical in size.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
All roads lead to St Tropez
Just a quick post tonight. I've been blah blah blahing for so long now, I'm sure you're all sick of reading my rants.
GOOD NEWS!!
After speaking with David from Boutique Homes this morning I'm happy to say that we've re-signed our PWC with them and we're building our first choice in home all over again.
They were apologetic for what happened and were happy to honour the original pricing from last year. I'm pretty comfortable they won't go forging any signatures again. David has also promised he will check over everything personally himself also. Absolutely THRILLED to be dealing with David again.
I feel like such a weight has been lifted and I can breath (and sleep) again.
GOOD NEWS!!
After speaking with David from Boutique Homes this morning I'm happy to say that we've re-signed our PWC with them and we're building our first choice in home all over again.
They were apologetic for what happened and were happy to honour the original pricing from last year. I'm pretty comfortable they won't go forging any signatures again. David has also promised he will check over everything personally himself also. Absolutely THRILLED to be dealing with David again.
I feel like such a weight has been lifted and I can breath (and sleep) again.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
We officially own a block of land......meh!
Settlement went though at 11am this morning, after 10 months, we now officially own our block of land and I couldn't be less excited about it.
When I got the call from our conveyancer this morning congratulating us, all I could say was "Oh yeah, thanks"
I was hoping owning our first block of land would be exciting, but this whole process has totally drained me and honestly? I wish we had never bought this block of land.
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Sleepless night...
I did not sleep a wink last night. After receiving the bad news that our site works were going to cost us $40,000 I was up all night stressing about what we were going to do.
Our options as I see it?
1. Pay the $40k and build this house
2. Change house design and put a smaller house, or a double storey house on the block instead
3. Sell the block of land and don't even think about building a house ever again
The other issue we have to compound this problem is the promotion we received when we bought our block of land. Our developer (Villawood) will pay our 5% builders deposit if we sign an unconditional contract within 12 months of signing our land contract; that makes it May 10th.
If we change house design, we need to start the whole process all over again (for the 3rd time). Porter Davis were happy to remind us that if we decided to change house plans then we wouldn't make it in time to sign a contract before May 10. There is absolutely no way they could possibly help by speeding up the process, that would be just too helpful.
I was so stressed out that I couldn't go to work today. I needed time to think this through.
The first thing we did was get in contact with our land sales consultant and told him of the issue we were now having with this new builder and that our contracts could be pushed out yet again. He was incredibly patient and said that we would still get our builders deposit. He will advise Villawood of the issues we keep facing. The service we've received from Nabil at the Pasadena sales office has been nothing short of exceptional. This bloke deserves a medal.
As usual our Building Co-ordinator with Porter Davis was absolutely useless and couldn't help us with advice on how much we need to change our design so that it fits better on our block and we don't need to sell our first born to pay it. We tried going back to the sales office to speak to someone but unfortunately the sales consultant was at a meeting. We took some brochures home with us to look through more designs......we couldn't find anything we liked.
What came next was totally unexpected.....I suggested we go back to Boutique Homes. We were unsure about this, but figured we could at least go and chat with our old consultant. After all, he has been the most professional and trustworthy rep we have dealt with any builder. Thankfully he was there and we had a chat. He did not make us feel awkward at all and was really quite respectful. He said he would drop everything and get in contact with his Manager and see if there is anything they can do for us. He is hoping that we can just kick off were we left off, hopefully with all the same pricing.
He wasn't kidding either. About an hour later we received a call from him just to let us know that he's been trying to contact his manager but hasn't had any luck as yet. The customer service from this bloke is second to none. He was calling us just to let us know he is still working for us. In contrast with service from Porter Davis? I've had to email, call and even rock up face to face, just to get a response from someone. And finally when I do hear back, I get a standard response of, "Thank you for your email, unfortunately I am unable to assist with this...."
David (from Boutique) called me back again this evening to advise that he was able to get in contact with his manager, who was happy to hear we're thinking of coming back and will contact the General Manager to discuss our situation.
We're going back on Saturday to discuss the possibility of returning to Boutique Home. I have a sickness in the pit of my stomach about this; after the forgery situation, I'm worried about trusting them, and I'm concerned they will try and take advantage of us for returning.
I guess we'll find out on Saturday.
Our options as I see it?
1. Pay the $40k and build this house
2. Change house design and put a smaller house, or a double storey house on the block instead
3. Sell the block of land and don't even think about building a house ever again
The other issue we have to compound this problem is the promotion we received when we bought our block of land. Our developer (Villawood) will pay our 5% builders deposit if we sign an unconditional contract within 12 months of signing our land contract; that makes it May 10th.
If we change house design, we need to start the whole process all over again (for the 3rd time). Porter Davis were happy to remind us that if we decided to change house plans then we wouldn't make it in time to sign a contract before May 10. There is absolutely no way they could possibly help by speeding up the process, that would be just too helpful.
I was so stressed out that I couldn't go to work today. I needed time to think this through.
The first thing we did was get in contact with our land sales consultant and told him of the issue we were now having with this new builder and that our contracts could be pushed out yet again. He was incredibly patient and said that we would still get our builders deposit. He will advise Villawood of the issues we keep facing. The service we've received from Nabil at the Pasadena sales office has been nothing short of exceptional. This bloke deserves a medal.
As usual our Building Co-ordinator with Porter Davis was absolutely useless and couldn't help us with advice on how much we need to change our design so that it fits better on our block and we don't need to sell our first born to pay it. We tried going back to the sales office to speak to someone but unfortunately the sales consultant was at a meeting. We took some brochures home with us to look through more designs......we couldn't find anything we liked.
What came next was totally unexpected.....I suggested we go back to Boutique Homes. We were unsure about this, but figured we could at least go and chat with our old consultant. After all, he has been the most professional and trustworthy rep we have dealt with any builder. Thankfully he was there and we had a chat. He did not make us feel awkward at all and was really quite respectful. He said he would drop everything and get in contact with his Manager and see if there is anything they can do for us. He is hoping that we can just kick off were we left off, hopefully with all the same pricing.
He wasn't kidding either. About an hour later we received a call from him just to let us know that he's been trying to contact his manager but hasn't had any luck as yet. The customer service from this bloke is second to none. He was calling us just to let us know he is still working for us. In contrast with service from Porter Davis? I've had to email, call and even rock up face to face, just to get a response from someone. And finally when I do hear back, I get a standard response of, "Thank you for your email, unfortunately I am unable to assist with this...."
David (from Boutique) called me back again this evening to advise that he was able to get in contact with his manager, who was happy to hear we're thinking of coming back and will contact the General Manager to discuss our situation.
We're going back on Saturday to discuss the possibility of returning to Boutique Home. I have a sickness in the pit of my stomach about this; after the forgery situation, I'm worried about trusting them, and I'm concerned they will try and take advantage of us for returning.
I guess we'll find out on Saturday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)