After triple checking the preliminary contract several times and agreeing everything we wanted was listed I noticed last night that the window in the reconfigured bathroom was ultra tiny and looked quite lost from the rear elevation. We have asked for it to be made larger and higher. Glad we caught that before the final contract as it could have cost us an extra $1500 in drafting and drawing fees. I knew there was a reason for waiting another week before signing off on it.
So with the fine tuning completed and a flurry of initials we signed the papers and paid another $1000 - looks like we are building a house!!
It will take around 4 weeks for the final contract to be drawn up and then we will know what the spend is so far.
Couldn't help but go for a drive to admire our patch of dirt and grass afterwards, it's hard to imagine what it will look like in a few months time once the build is underway.
Popped in to the display homes at Underwood for another look seeing as Austral bricks is only a few minutes drive away and were surprised to see our SC Greg there on his day off, apparently he had swapped shifts. He suggested that if we waited an hour we could go through and make amendments to the prelim today rather than Sat morning as scheduled. No problem saves us another trip so I'm off to relax by the pool while Sandy goes and takes some measurements and more photos.
Amendments:
Upgrade doors on butler's pantry and powder room to 2340mm and change to timber with translucent glass
Provide eave over front of garage door and gym area
Remove laminate finish to bulkhead above overhead kitchen cupboards as we have changed our minds after looking at the kitchens this morning
Alter fridge opening to 1000mm and provide plasterboard bulkhead over
Fly screens to all openable windows and sliding doors. Approx $45 a window - good price.
Get a quote on 2kw solar system
This appointment took about 90 minutes as there are a lot of points to cover but it is worth it to make sure you get what you ask for. Once the plans go to final contract you will have to pay to have the plans redrawn if you make any structural changes so it makes sense to spend the time and effort getting right. However, there is no fee if you want to change cabinetry layout or design after this stage.
Didn't sign off on the prelim today as want to go to Studio M, Tile studio and the Heathwood display houses this weekend so felt it best to wait in case we get tempted to add, alter or remove more things.
See you next week Greg - hope we're not turning in to the Nolan build from hell.
The prelim contract is a many paged document with house plans (basic), location of house on site and over 100 points that need careful attention to ensure everything you asked for is included, the plans are drawn correctly, nothing has been added by mistake and it is the first opportunity to see how much it all costs. It took us about 2 hours to go through with our SC so I will try to make this as brief as possible.
The Nolan 45 Chateau sits fantastically on the block of land which is 1000sqm giving us ample usable space for a pool and a garden and the plans with the alterations we have asked for look close to spot on. We notice a few errors like the gym room part of the triple garage is too large and no provision had been left for a workshop/storage area. No door on powder room and who left that sill bit of wall there by the WC, the laundry layout is wrong and the air con pad needs moving over as there will be no where to put a washing line. No problem, a few scribbles and lines drawn on, alterations made and photocopied.
What are all those in fill areas over the garage and windows? Aaargh it's fibreboard which will be painted, no way that's ugly so we request that gets changed to brick knowing it will cost more but it will be worth it for the aesthetics.
Draw on position of pool and it's far enough away from the house that we won't need additional reinforcing, no extra cost there then.
Now it gets interesting.
- Nolan 45 Chateau fixed price package including butler's pantry, triple garage and grand outdoor room 2 comes in just shy of $367k including site fees (must get a breakdown of the figures so I can see what we were charged for site fees). We had guesstimated $370K so that was no surprise.
- Land has slight fall so will need some cut and fill.
- Soil is 'S' type which means slightly reactive so it doesn't expand or contract much when it goes form dry to wet and vice versa. However the engineer recommends upgrade of the slab to suit 'M' class soil and some concrete piers to support the weight of our massive house. This will cost slightly more but it is the chance you take we you do not opt for a fixed site fee. However be aware that a fixed fee is usually based on the worst classes of soil and you may end up paying more than you needed on site fees.
The contract lists all the additions and alterations with costs and we are surprised to see that we get a credit for some of the things we didn't want or reconfigured. But mainly it is debits so the upgrade price is slowly climbing over the $400k mark and we are only halfway through. We also have a list of things we forgot to mention for the initial wish list. I'm starting to feel faint!
Some upgrades are quite reasonable price wise and others seem over the top like $1500 to put 2 additional shelves in the butler's pantry - they quickly get deleted as we can get those done at a later date.
- Cedar cladding to the massive outdoor room is going to cost $8k now I am going to pass out! We agree that it is an indulgence and quickly cross it out.
- Ceramic recessed shelves to shower $384 seems good value.
- Timber and glass cavity slide doors to study and en suite almost $6k. Hmm need to give that some serious consideration. Let's keep going and come back to that later. Oh but they will look so amazing.
- Electrical provision we have included $10k and hopefully will get a credit if we manage not to spend it all when we do the electrical plan.
- Huge kitchen island with extra caeserstone gable ends, additional kitchen cupboards, pot drawers and extra oven approx $8k - no negotiating on this we have such a lovely kitchen where we live now that we will not accept any compromise in our dream home.
- Reconfigure bathroom and floor to ceiling tiles in bathroom and en suite approx $4.5k
- Ducted reverse cycle air con $14k. Oh but we get a free i-Text control (whatever that is) as part of the promo.
Grand Total = $440k ....... so far as we would also like
Timber stairs $8k
Bricks and roof tiles $7k
Solar guessing $4k
Security system around $1500
Upgrade carpet $3k
Picture windows to dining room $3,400
Upgrade doors to butler's pantry and powder room guessing $2k
Render to portico $1800
Then there will be the additional cost of finishes on kitchen cupboards and vanities plus we want to go for wall hung vanities which will obviously cost more.
Looks like we will come in around $100k+ over the base price, may have to reconsider those fancy doors to the en suite and study?
Didn't sign off on anything today as we wanted to go over the contract in fine detail again as surely we've missed something or can save money somewhere.
Got a call from our SC today letting us know the Preliminary Contract is ready for us to give the once over. Booked to do this Saturday as we will have to go through it point by point to check our wish list has been added correctly, see how much we've spent so far and if there are any alterations that need making.
Looking forward to Australia Day at the beach tomorrow.
CSC e-mailed us to say that our preliminary contract has been ordered.
Also reminded us to check out Studio M and not leave it all until the selection appointments.
How exciting it's really starting to happen now.
