Follow-up After Tender Accepted

We haven't heard anything from Elderton's office within 4 weeks after we accepted the tender.  The suspense was really killing us.  We spent the last 4 weeks getting inspirations for house decorations, internal and external color schemes, landscape designs etc.  With the plethora of options, we are now screwed!!  Are we going for a warm or cold palette? Do we go for a rustic theme or contemporary design? Should a we go for a timber look tile or a plain grey polished tile? Ok now... don't fret.  We will someday find our groove as we continue to look for more inspirations.

Alas! Finally Elderton contacted us after the 4th week. The latest variation (removal of smart hub and revision for the bedroom layout to make rooms a little wider) came in. Elderton also scheduled us for a color selection appointment in mid-April.

We were instructed to pick the bricks and roof tiles before going to the color selection appointment.  We need to visit Austral brickyard in Horsely Park - which we had already done.  We thought of going for a darkish facade, so the bricks that took our attention were Blackbutt (Wilderness Range) and Orpheus (Whitsunday range).   Next assignment was to visit Boral Display centre to pick the roof tiles. 

Tender Accepted

After a month, the final pricing came out and we accepted the tender.  A payment of $4,000 was also done for the tender deposit.

Final Tender

When Elderton came back from the break, we had requested for a re-tender.  Our major concern was to cut some upgrades and put in some little ones. This was really starting to be a test of our budgeting skills or lack thereof.

Here's the list off all changes we had on the tender/re-tender... (ones with the strikethrough were the ones that we didn't proceed with)

• New layout for WIP-Laundry-Powder-Garage storeroom
• Additional theatre room with sliding door
• Hume Nexus door 1020mm x 2040mm
• Alfresco stacker door
• Window splashback
• Flyscreens to laundry door and alfresco stacker door
• Obscure glazing to ensuite and bathroom windows
• Larger shower in ensuite
• Understairs storeroom (credit for linen removal)
• Soundproofing on walls
• Privacy locks
• Platinum Range Staircase
• Kitchen bulkheads
• Larger benchtop (length 1000mm)
• Benchtop waterfall edges
• Gold range vanities
• Shampoo nook to ensuite and bathroom
• Round rain shower
• NBN smart hub
• NBN wiring provision
• Move gaspoint to alfresco
• Provide weatherproof powerpoint
• Additional 15 downlight wiring provisions
• Facebrick letterbox
• 3x facade wall lights
• Remove ground floor coverings (credit)
• Remove porch and alfresco coverings (credit)
• Entry feature balcony (Facade requirement from the estate)
• Provisional allowances for Landscaping and Tiling
• Plus a discounted 12 months home price guarantee

Overall, we were quite satisfied with the price as it sat on our budget.  We would love to add more but at that stage, we had to limit ourselves.  We were giving ourselves a little buffer for anything that comes up throughout the build process. 

Tender Presentation

It was John that presented the tender to us.  We had met John before -- years ago when we were sniffing around North Kellyville for land sales. The meeting was done at  Elderton's office in Norwest.  John was very kind to explain every single details in the tender.

We liked what we saw in the tender.  However, there were a couple of upgrades that we needed to take out to bring the price down to a more reasonable one.

We had the whole Christmas break to think things over.

Finding Bob the Builder

Not long after securing our land, the search for Bob went on.  Basically, the goal was to find the cheapest option. Hahaha.  

Took us several months before ending up with Elderton Homes.  We had arranged meetings with the other builders to see what they can offer. Here's a rundown;

Champion Homes
Casaview
BetterBuilt Homes 
Hotondo Homes 
GJ Gardner Penrith
White Design & Construction

Obviously, we went with Elderton Homes.  For us, they had the edge. The real clincher was the promotion and the flexibility on the design of the floorplan.

Elderton Homes was offering the Spring promotion for free.  These were the upgrades;

- 2600mm Ceilings to Ground Floor of home. Includes raising all windows with eaves. Doors to side and rear of home to remain standard height with fibre cement infill's over. 
- Gold Range concrete roof tiles (Vougue range flat profile) 
- Gold Range Hume Newington XN1 Front Entry Door with clear glass. 
- Gold Range Hume Accent HAG9 internal doors. 
- Fibreglass flyscreens to openable windows only. 
- 900mm Smeg SA9010X Upright Cooker. 
- 900mm Smeg PUM90X Intergrated Ducted Rangehood. 
- Undermount Kitchen sink and Platinum Range mixer tap. 
- 15x LED downlights to selected areas.

To add to this, they had been really flexible with their design.  The basic design was a Watermark Grange 30.  We requested for an additional theatre room and WIP.  The sketch that was made by the sales consultant was fantastic. The addition of the WIP made room for a good-sized laundry area and storage area in the garage.. Score!! The entire first floor design was also changed to accommodate what we looked for.  Due to the Elara Estate requirement i.e. an entry feature, we had to go with a facade that included a balcony. Ouch!! that really hurt because it had incurred additional costs.  We ended up with this sketch.

In the Beginning

So, we spent almost 3 years looking around Western Sydney for new land developments before we ended up in Elara.  We had a look at The Ponds, Bunya, Ropes Crossing and North Kellyville.  All of which we didn't push through, maybe because we weren't ready yet or the prices were a bit over our budget.  ;(

Year 2013, devastated with our previous endeavours of finding the right land, our search for our new home came into a halt and shifted our interest in purchasing an investment property.  Plus, we thought that it was a good time for us to enter the property market and start our portfolio at the age that we were in (i.e. 25 y/o **wink wink**). The plan was to create a property portfolio and maybe midway through, purchase the residential home that we want. Luckily, we were successful in closing a deal for our first investment property in Berkley (Wollongong area).  It was a great learning experience and would definitely do it again.

As the house and land prices soared, we thought that we need to step up our game.  Early 2014, we revisited land developments and found our foot inside Greenway Living's doorstep.  This estate was situated in Marsden Park.  The word on the street was that there will be a big development in that area and property growth looked very promising. We fell in love with a house and land package that was offered by Greenway Living, and the price was just inside our budget. We were ready to jump in but there was a big buzz -- Stockland had started to develop an estate in Marsden Park also, not far from Greenway.  That was the Elara Estate.

So we dropped Greenway and secured a land from Stockland's second release (Melaleuca Release).  The lot we got had a size of 483sqm @ $350K.  We were fortunate that the demand that time was not so high.  

Our Journal

This blog will serve as a journal for our first build.  Many years down the track, we thought that it would be nice to look back on the memories (hopefully good ones) in building this home.

In this journey, we aim to record important details, as such, prices, dates, key events, experience and lessons learned. Grab a seat and enjoy the ride...

NOTE:  The timeline and masterplan is available on separate tabs.