External drainage completed

Every weekend we pay a visit to our site and this weekend was no different. The external drainage was completed and we could check them against the downpipe locations on the plans. This was pretty quick!!! We have been told that next week frames should be arriving on site as well. We are all excited to see the frames going up and the house beginning to take shape. Also the soil dumped into neighbouring block during excavation was taken off and poured around the slab.

We met few of our neighbours as well who were also around to see the progress on their homes. A number of houses have started building and street is beginning to take shape as well. 

Slab poured

I was at work today when I got our second invoice which is due once the slab has been poured. I called up the accounts to find out why I got this invoice to which I was told that the slab engineer has confirmed that slab has been poured today. Called up our Site supervisor who also confirmed that the slab has been poured. So we decided to pay a visit to the site in the evening.

During piering there was no fence set up at the site and I had raised this with the SS and this had now been put up. The fence prevented us from going too close to the slab but we were able to make out footprint of the house. The area where the entrance, garage and alfresco will be are slightly less elevated and we could clearly make them out. The footprint of the house didn't look that big and we tried to guess the approximate location of wet areas from the waste stacks that we protruding out from the concrete slab. We spent some time looking around on neighbouring blocks. There was an Eden Brae home behind us who did the excavation and piering before us but there slab had still not been poured.

We noted that some of the soil from excavation for slab had been dropped into neighbour's block. I pointed this out to the SS who said that he had noted this as well and would get this fixed once the external drainage is completed. We will again visit the site on Friday and by that time the external drainage should be completed as well.

Work commences on site

Got our first invoice from Clarendon yesterday which was passed on to the bank for processing. Got a call today morning from the slab engineer that piers would be done today and that the slab would be poured next week. Was not expecting this to happen this fast as our file had only recently been passed on the permits department. Anyways, the piers were done at lunchtime and we were able to visit the site in the evening.

We had been waiting for last 6 months to get to this stage and there it was in front of us. It was really amazing to look at it. We spent some time looking around the site knowing that soon a fence would be set up and we will not be able to roam around freely as we are doing now. 

I am attaching a picture of it here.

Team leader does an excellent job

After our previous discussion with the team leader, things have taken a turn for the good. The team leader took over our file from our CSC and I can see things are flying now. All the internal selections have been finalised real quick. There we changes to our butlers pantry as we have added the cooktop and rangehood. The team leader got the kitchen people to quickly finalise the changes, and which they did.

The post contract variations were also finalised and all processed. Got an authority to commence from the bank as well and this was passed on to Clarendon. I have been told that our file should now be in construction phase and that the slab be poured within 4 weeks.

Also the final plans and consolidated changes were sent through which we signed and handed back to Clarendon.

Cant believe that Clarendon has turned around things so quickly. Based on the previous progress we were thinking it would be months before we even get to this stage. But thanks to our team leader and manager who did turn around our file real quick.

Cant wait to see work commencing on the site.

6 months and no sign of starting, decided to complain and team lead/manager shows us attitude.

Its 6 months since we started the build process. With tender expiry approaching decided to complain to the CEO on 10th Apr 2012. Called up their office but was instead passed on to the PA of CEO as CEO was on holidays. Told the PA all of my concerns and that I am fed up that there has been delays, no body responds, takes weeks to finalise any selections, and that if I had known this would be the progress and customer service I wouldn't have decided to go with them, and that by going at the current pace we dont see work commencing at our site in the next 2 months. The PA praising the CEO's personality and that he would be happy to meet us when he's back on thursday. Then she says that she will drop emails and find out whats happening on our file and why is the delay and that she will give us call by morning today, 11th Apr 2012.


Received no call by lunch time so decided to call her back. Had no concrete answers to our questions. I insisted that I need to talk to the CEO and she tried to keep us away from that. Further she told me that she had been told that work should commence on our site by end of April. I said that when they haven't booked us for electrical and tiling appointment which will be a date atleast 2 weeks away and that they will take another 2 weeks to finalise any selections and then further time for tender changes then how do they expect to start work by April end. To this she insisted that the lead leader /manager would be the best person to answer our queries


Got a call from the so called team leader/manager (lets call her Mgr here) in the evening which I missed and called her back. The way she started the conversation full of attitude made me feel like as if they are paying me for building my house. I told her that my file has been delayed and pointed out the Dec2011 -Jan 2012 period when our CSC didn't came back to work and that during this period it took them 6 weeks to finalise external selections (can you guys believe it ). She instead told me that she had recently sent me some internal colour documents to sign. She talked if that is what is holding up everything. The documents were sent to me on 5th April and I looked on them through the Easter weekend and found a issue. I replied back asking the issue to be fixed. On 10th Apr I got an email with the issue fixed but today after 1 day I am told that I didn't sign and send it back and she acted as if I am holding up everything. It took them 6 months just to get here and I haven't even got 1 day to sign it. I didn't sign as I was trying to get a meeting with CEO to get answers. (Not writing everything here as it will take me a day to write all that.)


She was not ready to listen to any complaint and was instead talking to me as if I had held them up.


We were quiet for 6 months and they were happy and chose to respond when they did. Now when we decided to complain she was talking as if we are the responsible for all delays and issues. I knew she was furious that I chose to complain one day, spare a thought for us who are dealing with people like you for the past 6 months, paying you money and still getting your rough attitude. 


They take 6 weeks to finalise external selections - we are responsible.
They take 2 weeks to respond - we are responsible.
They make mistakes - we are responsible.
They choose not to respond - we are responsible.
Their CSC leaves job - we are responsible.
Make a complaint - we are responsible.


Yes, we are responsible, because we chose to build with you.


Let me get a face to face appointment with their CEO and I will print and take all emails with me where I have been asking them to hurry up and their CSCs dont even bother responding and then you end up dealing with people who will try to do everything to belittle you.

Product reviews website is another website that has heaps of reviews to look at. I have also posted this review on that website.

Dear team leader/manager, show your attitude to someone else.

I WISH WE HAD NEVER CHOSEN TO BUILD WITH THEM.

Plans approved by council

The plans were lodged with council in the last week of Feb2012. Everyday I would jump on the councils website to see the progress of our application. For around 3 weeks it was on notification. Then on 26th Mar when I opened the website it showed our application had been approved. That was a quick one. In just around 4 weeks the council had approved our application. Passed the information to Clarendon who reverted 2 days after that they had received approval from the council as well.

Plans approved by the developer

After some delay, the external colours and initial plans were finalised and passed on the developer for approval. They said they would take around 2weeks to approve them. When after 3 weeks we didnt hear back from Clarendon regarding approval, we decided to call the developer. We were told that they had been approved just a day earlier and passed back to Clarendon. Next day Clarendon informed us that they had received the approval and we were sent the copies of it as well. I guess because of the backlog due to Christmas closures it took them 3weeks to approve our application.

I was expecting some changes to come back as I had done the landscape plan by myself but surprisingly there was nothing that would require changes and resubmitting for approval. There were minor changes that were pointed out but they were only important for council approval.

There was a minor change to the driveway and some clarifications regarding the retaining walls. These were quickly incorporated by Clarendon into the plans and we approved them.

The next stage is to prepare our file for council approval.

Plans delayed - CSO wont call back

After our land registered, I passed on all the information to our CSO to be updated on the file and he advised that this has been done. Almost 2 weeks passed since we finalised external colour selections and I decided to follow up. Started calling my CSO to find out what happened but even after repeated calls, emails and voice messages he wouldn't call back.

Decided to call up our sales rep to find out whats happening. Raised the concern that no ones bothered to call me up and explain whats going on. Raised concerns that we may miss the 6 months condition so save stamp duty to which she says that an application be made for extension. (WHAT AN ANSWER, THIS IS THE CLASSIC THAT YOU GET FROM EVERYONE HERE). She said she will find out about why our file has been delayed and will ask someone to call me. No calls still.

Got an email before mid-Dec regarding our external colours that they have been finalised and passed on to permits department for preparation of developer approval. Also got a email from my CSO that he will be on leave from mid Dec to mid of Jan.

The first shock came in late Dec when another CSO asked me information about our land settlement, which I had already passed on 3 weeks before. Thats when I realised that guy didn't add the information to our file. I had also asked the DP nos to be updated on the plans. Nothing happened on that side as well. So, had to pass the same information to our new CSO as well.

Got another email in early Jan with plans showing external colour selections. 6 WEEKS TO GET EXTERNAL COLOUR SELECTIONS TO PLANS. UNBELIEVABLE.

Finally after mid January the plans were lodged to the developer for approval (thats what I had been told), only their permits team know when they made it.

Our CSO, supposed to return back from leave hasn't showed up and Clarendon wont tell us if he is still working for them or left. My guess is he's gone and made a mess of our file.

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.