Choosing our Land

Remembering the day, a year ago, when we had to camp out just so we could reserve a lot.

The engineering plan was sent just several hours before the release. So while camped out, we tried to understand the technicalities of the engineering plan and picked our 1st,  2nd, up to 6th choice.  It was a first come, first served system and we were number 6 so we had to be prepared in case our first choice was taken.  Once inside the office, we were only given 10 mins to choose and complete all paper works.  The wait was not bad at all, they provided free hot drinks and we were able to chat and got to know our potential neighbours.

Our criteria:
- of course, it has to be within our budget

- not too big, because it will be difficult to maintain

- not a corner lot, because of the many restrictions

- not located in a T-junction, because of the risk of its location and many other cons
- no big fall,  because this usually means higher site cost and it is also more prone to movements (as most of the people we talk to say)
- not very close to the playground or splash park because it can be a noisy and busy.

- not very major but if we could get a land that is facing the lake or even a lakefront; that would be a bonus.  Unfortunately, in the stage that was released then, there were no lakefront lots.  And even if there was, it would be too close to the splash park.

Prior to Settlement

As soon as the land was registered,  we contacted our broker and conveyancer to ensure we are ready to settle. 

We inspected our land and made sure no rubbish were dumped on our site.

The first time hubby took the land's measurement, the measurements did not correspond with the plan. So we reported it to our conveyancer.  The developer re-surveyed the land and located the pegs.

When we inspected the land again, we found the 2 pegs in front. They were clearly labeled with our and our neighbours' lot numbers.

However, the pegs at the back were not labeled. The right back corner peg was underneath the fence.  

The left back corner peg was behind our fence.

Since they were not labeled, we were not sure if those were our pegs so we asked the developer to check again.  The developer confirmed that the pegs we located were indeed our boundary pegs.  They also sent the photos below:

Settlement... Finally!

Settlement occured successfully yesterday!  Thanks God!

Statement of Compliance

After months of waiting, our stage finally received its Statement of Compliance!  Now waiting for the land title.

Our (original) Choice of Facade

When we were house-hunting, we fell in love with the Georgian-inspired Manor facade of Boutique Homes.  Aside from its architectural design, I fell in love with its colours.  Most houses here in Australia have either brown, red or cream coloured bricks. This display home stands out from the other display homes. I think because it's the only one in this colour scheme and I'm naturally drawn to white houses and traditional facades.  Most display homes nowadays have modern facade so to me, this Georgian beauty stood out.  I also like the Hamptons style facade but at the time of our selection, Georgian style won my heart.

Unfortunately, Carlisle do not have this facade.  The closest ones they have are the Classique and Grandview facades.

This is Classique facade and it is very lovely!  But this is an additional $16,000 on top of the base price. This is not available to T-range models so this is out of our list.

This is Grandview facade, this is only an additional $3,500 to the base price and is quite similar to the Classique facade.  I think it's nice too and within budget so we initially chose this facade.

Land Title Delayed... Again

Lots of things happened in the past few months that I've been silent. There were some changes to the facade and colour selection,  some additional upgrades and some dramas in the release of land titles.

The first reason we chose to buy a land in Lakeside is because we were told that titles are expected  in Nov 2017. It got moved many times and we thought it would finally title in April so we signed the contract with Carlisle on March 26.

To our dismay, Lakeside failed the audits and at the moment,  titles are anticipated end of June 2018.  This is really frustrating. 😤😡

On a lighter note,  our home loan application had been formally approved.  So we are just waiting for the land to title so we can move on.

Preliminary Tender

We received our preliminary tender documents two weeks ago.  We were given 48 hours to review and sign it but we requested to extend it to a weekend.  Our CLE initially agreed to it but at the very last minute told us that she cannot grant us extension.  We were not very happy with it but a good thing happened as a result of the many changes we requested especially in our electrical selections.  We were scheduled for a Tender Appointment with a Tender Presenter.  We were told that we were not entitled to this because our package is fixed price.  I'm not sure why, but I think everyone should have a Tender appointment.

Our last electrical appointment was not very satisfactory.  Our consultant was not very thorough and not helpful at all.  A lot of things were not explained to us.  Our emails were not replied to and when we called Carlisle office, it was only then that we were advised that our consultant no longer works there.  Most of our changes are electrical selections and it's difficult to do this via phone or email.

We also had a lot of questions about the preliminary tender and we refused to sign it without being explained to us in details.

The morning of our Tender appointment went very smoothly.  We were able to change and add items to the Tender document.  Before going for lunch, we asked the presenter why the door on the first floor is not aligned to the door on the ground floor.  As you can see in the photo of the facade, the windows and door upstairs are symmetrical to the ones on the ground floor.

But in the drawing the door upstairs is not aligned to the door downstairs.  There is a big void space on the right side of the door.  This is not what I am expecting with this facade.  Being OC, this is not acceptable.  I expect the doors to be symmetrical.  Anyway, this was not resolved on the day and we are going to have another appointment to discuss this further.

Grandview Facade Colour Selection

So here are the 3 facade colour selections on Grandview facade, from 1st to 3rd... I personally am confused between our 1st and 2nd choice but still leaning towards 1st choice because of the uniqueness of the grey bricks.

Tough choice... 

Colour Selection - Part 3 : 3rd Choice Facade colour

We were also told to choose a brick from another manufacturer.  We chose PGH Category 5 Mist.  We couldn't find a PGH brick that is close to AustralBricks' Steel but PGH's Mist is very close to our second choice which is AustralBricks' Biscotti.

In Visualiser, it looks more grey than brown. However, the actual colour of PGH's Mist is closer to Biscotti (brownish). Here's how it looks like in Visualiser:

This is a bit cheaper than Steel but a bit more pricey than Biscotti. Upgrade to Mist costs $3100.  I don't know if this needs neutralisation too like Steel.

Colour Selection - Part 2 : 2nd Choice Facade colour

We were told to choose another brick as our 2nd choice in case our first choice is discontinued. 

For our second choice, we picked AustralBricks Category 3 Indulgence Biscotti. This is cheaper than our first choice and I think it looks good too. For this brick, we only have to add $2,400. Not so sure if this needs neutralisation too. The more I look at it, the more I like it.

Here it is on a different angle in a different lighting:

Colour scheme is similar to the first choice, it's just the brick and balcony render that is different. Instead of Dieskau, the balcony render is in Grey Pebble. 

I tried it on visualiser and this is how it looks like:

Colour Selection - Part 1 : Facade

We had our colour selection last month.  I thought we came prepared but there were still things that we were unsure of during our appointment. By the way, we are building with Carlisle Homes.

These are the colours that we chose for the facade: Hopefully it will look like how we imagined it to be. The brick is AustralBricks category 5 which is an additional $4,900! This type of brick needs neutralisation which is an additional $800.  To accentuate the colour of this brick, we also upgraded to off-white mortar.  I don't have the price yet but you guessed it right, it's an additional cost too!

I tried it on Carlisle's Visualiser but it was very limited; the facade was lacking some features like moulding on the garage and windows. The colours in visualiser do not look like the actual colours.  

We originally picked Grey Pebble for the Balcony render but the designer thought Dieskau will blend better with the Cat 5 bricks "Steel".  I was unsure whether I wanted the windows to be in Monument or Surfmist.  Either will look good but the designer thought Monument will give it a bit of contrasting effect so I opted for Monument.  I wanted to have a brighter and lighter shade of white paint for the first floor, mouldings, timber posts, entry door and garage door but it's a bit tricky to pick the right shade of white.  Too bright a white and it will look like a primer so again I chose Surfmist.  This is what they used in most display homes and I've seen how it looks like on actual houses so I think it's a safe choice but will still give me the look that I want.  I hope they will look good together... fingers crossed.