Got a CSO assigned

Got our CSO assigned near end of Nov, gave us a call to introduce and sounded very pleasant. Very prompt at first to any calls or messages. Soon he started throwing responsibilities on to us. Asked us to get the Sydney water plans from the developer, where as this was Clarendon's permit departments job. I ended up making a lot of calls to Landcom and the then to their contractor to get the plans only to be told later that the plans have been sent to Sydney water and Clarendon should get them from Sydney Water.

Got a letter from our solicitor that land had been settled. Now is the time to feel excited. The developer has taken off the fence blocking the entry into the area. Paid a visit to see our land. Very nice feeling.

signed off external selection, did landscape plans

Received the quotes from our external selections and signed and sent them back within a week.
The CSO gave us call and asked us to quickly get the landscape plans done and suggested a landscape architect. He said that we must get the plans right to get the developer approval as quickly as possible.

Choose to do the landscape plans ourself. Read all the developer guidelines and did bit of research on google and created our own landscape plans. Wasn't hard enough. Went one by one thorough the guidelines to make I have included everything. Choose not to have a very big tree in our backyard as it could branch out too close to the house. Also to minimise maintenance chose evergreen plants. Hate leaves falling off.

External colour appointment - Mess all over

Got our external colours appointment scheduled near end of Nov. We were not given any heads up as to how the selection process would proceed. We are asked to spare around 5 hours. We were under the impression that we would be asked to choose stuff that they would present to us.

Went to brick selection section first. First question thrown at us, so what bricks did you choose. Well gave them our selections and they presented us the samples. Then it all went like a flash, the rep wanted to just run thorough each of the external selections, such as gutter, fascia, windows colours, garage door colours, etc. I felt like asking her, is this a selection process or a marathon race. No on the spot quotes. Got the quotes later for the bricks we choose. So no turning back on your selections in case they are costly, as you don't have another external selection. Kitchens went thorough fine as we wanted stone benchtops and they were included in the upgrade we had chosen so not fuss there. Beware the side stone edges to benchtops can quickly add to the costs. 

Stairs were another quick as we chose to settle for maple wood as that was the only option that we could afford to pay for. Air conditioning was the quickest. Another place you could save if you get an independent quote. 

SUGGESTION: Get all your selections done before hand or you could end up confused and lost.

Extras and options

An upfront suggestion, if you can get something later on that would save you heaps as you can have multiple quotes and you can negotiate. Also you can save on the builders margin. Could be anything such as pantry, alfresco flooring, etc. If you get into it, you will figure that out yourself.

Initial tender presented

Asked for site costs to be estimated before we could sign the initial tender, however the developer didn't allow assessor the site access due to wet weather.

Initial tender presented with an allowance of site costs, (to be calculated when the developer allows access). The presenter at their head office makes some really useful suggestions. Helps to put every available corner to good use. Responded promptly to all our questions and emails.

Clarendons 180 day tender period.

We looked at the 180 day tender expiry period and thought its too good to be true. But soon found why its 180 days. They take too long to go from one stage to another, maybe because they have too much work load. If you are impatient or already paying rent somewhere and also mortgaging for the land, you could have a hard time.

We are renting with my relative and can wait a bit.

Initial drawing by Clarendon no good

When we received the drawings from their architect, they had lot of issues, a few of the changes that we had asked for didn't make it to the drawings. Passed this onto the sales rep who said that she would herself go the the main office and make the corrections. On 24 Oct 2011 got our initial tender presented to us after much waiting.

The plans had errors all over the place even though we had tried to make sure that all the changes were included. Shot an email back copying the sales rep as well that the plans are not even close to what we had discussed. A day after got a call for head office and ended up explaining all the changes over the phone. They had interpreted The Ponds articulation guideline wrong and instead of asking us the changes their architects decided to do whatever they felt like. However another email later and a couple of phone call later got the drawings amended to what we wanted.

Made a home selection with Clarendon

After looking at a no of plans, we decided to build with Clarendon. Loved their display homes. So it was time to speak with their sales rep. Did an initial cost analysis and found the home that we have selected nearly within our budget and took the floor plans home to analyse and see what we can modify. The good thing was if you are moving internal walls they dont charge anything unless you move wet areas. Looked at the plans, made some changes and met the sales rep at her office the next weekend to do some initial plan changes.

Spent around 2 hours to making rooms bigger, changing bathroom locations and converting guess room into a bedroom, making wall articulations to meet The Ponds developer requirements. Could see that the rep needed a coffee once she was done. Took the plans home. And if that was not enough, went back to sales rep to redo everything, could feel she wanted to go out and breathe fresh air after another 2 hours session. I guess the prospect of her sales commission kept her going.


With initial plans done, it was time to get them into proper drawing. Paid 1000 to proceed with drawings.

Heads up to whoever looks at the display homes and think their home would end up the same. All homes are displayed with optional extras, make sure you know whats included and what not than getting disappointed later on. To get a facade as on displays can cost you as much as 50k. So make sure you ask every thing out. We wanted to go for gallery facade but when we heard the costs we backed down to Elite, which looks nice as well and doesn't cost a fortune.

Started looking at plans, selected Clarendon

After selecting our block of land at The Ponds, we started looking at the display homes to do our selection. We went through a lot of display homes at Kellyville, The Ponds, Oran Park and Gregory Hills. The Metricon houses were the ones that we liked the most, but turned out bit expensive for our budget. Eden Brae home were also good. Didn't find others impressive as we wanted to build a double storey home and most of them only specialise in single storey. Eden Brae homes were good but found their rooms wouldn't suit us. Looked at Clarendon homes and they had a good range of double storey ones at slightly cheaper price. So first look at one of their homes and we decided that we could merge rooms to our taste. Made more visits to their display home to make sure we are going for what we want. Next, its time to speak their sales rep.