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.