About two weeks ago we decided to get ahead of the time to choose lighting placement and power points by visiting the display home and marking it down on the plans. Unfortunately while we thought we were getting ready early, we realised we should have done this before plans were finalised.
Upon looking at the layout on the 1st floor which had a large wall area between two doors that a flat screen tv was hanging on, we realised that the door placement was different from our original plans to maximise this area to enable a large screen to be handily placed between the doors. This allowed a lounge area to be placed opposite making the configuration nice. But we didn't notice this until now and our plans were already submitted. We were told it would be a few hundred dollars for amendments to plans once submitted.
Additionally downstairs in the great room, we were trying to plan out where the dining area and lounge, tv etc would be situated that made best use of the alfresco position and view. Again, if we had gone through this exercise before plans were finalised we would have positioned windows and doors in different places to maximise the layout of furniture. This was another change, would this mean another few hundred dollars? We weren't too sure but the change we wanted downstairs was not just a simple interior door placement, it would have meant change to council plans and more delays costing us money. So we would have to live with it.
Not entirely ruined but could have been better planned. Its one of those things you know, when you know Hank could have been a perfectly planned specimen but now we know he has some flaws that we overlooked. Still, one for the experience books.
Advice, plan as much ahead as possible before final plans.
Showing posts with label alfresco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alfresco. Show all posts
Monday, October 20, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Allcastle tender... burnt to a crisp!
Well we received our tender from Allcastle and really didn't have too much to say as the saleswoman went through the details. I think we were thinking that it was a lot more expensive to Masterton's quote.
Fixed site costs were about 5K but provisional site costs came out to 41K! compared to about 6K provisional site costs from Masterton. The alfresco area attracted the most cost, with the whole thing costing about 20K compared to Masterton's quote of about 8-10K. It was really hard to compare the two tenders as the two companies had different suggestions for ways of doing the alfresco and storm water etc so it made it difficult in the end to decide which company's recommendation was the best.
Additionally, we were concerned about double handling and traffic control as our land is on the main road with no stopping in front. We reminded the Allcastle sales rep who said it shouldn't be a problem although there was a clause to say they could charge if it turned out to cost something. So we asked her to chase it up again as it was costing us several thousand from Masterton for double handling.
Other additional costs from Allcastle were squaring off the rounded corners of the dining area as our council has privacy issues with windows facing neighbours. The quote for squaring off the top and bottom came to more than 10K as well as another 12K for 2.7 metre ceiling height to top and bottom as required by council. Masterton only gave us quote for the bottom at about 5K so i imagine it will turn out less than Allcastle's quote plus the Masterton design does not need any squaring off the corners.
At this point we are heavily leaning to Masterton as the price seems cheaper and includes alfresco plus the inclusions in the Mansion package are also pretty good. They also knocked 5K off the price when we complained about the high site costs. They offered us a deal on airconditioning but as our tender has past the two week due date, they are reconsidering this. Our only drawback with Masterton is they have two kitchen options only, the entertainer or conniseur design. We wanted to have 900mm cooktop and rangehood but this is only available on the conniseur package but we don't want to upgrade totally to this package. We will see on our next meeting whether we can push for this still.
Fixed site costs were about 5K but provisional site costs came out to 41K! compared to about 6K provisional site costs from Masterton. The alfresco area attracted the most cost, with the whole thing costing about 20K compared to Masterton's quote of about 8-10K. It was really hard to compare the two tenders as the two companies had different suggestions for ways of doing the alfresco and storm water etc so it made it difficult in the end to decide which company's recommendation was the best.
Additionally, we were concerned about double handling and traffic control as our land is on the main road with no stopping in front. We reminded the Allcastle sales rep who said it shouldn't be a problem although there was a clause to say they could charge if it turned out to cost something. So we asked her to chase it up again as it was costing us several thousand from Masterton for double handling.
Other additional costs from Allcastle were squaring off the rounded corners of the dining area as our council has privacy issues with windows facing neighbours. The quote for squaring off the top and bottom came to more than 10K as well as another 12K for 2.7 metre ceiling height to top and bottom as required by council. Masterton only gave us quote for the bottom at about 5K so i imagine it will turn out less than Allcastle's quote plus the Masterton design does not need any squaring off the corners.
At this point we are heavily leaning to Masterton as the price seems cheaper and includes alfresco plus the inclusions in the Mansion package are also pretty good. They also knocked 5K off the price when we complained about the high site costs. They offered us a deal on airconditioning but as our tender has past the two week due date, they are reconsidering this. Our only drawback with Masterton is they have two kitchen options only, the entertainer or conniseur design. We wanted to have 900mm cooktop and rangehood but this is only available on the conniseur package but we don't want to upgrade totally to this package. We will see on our next meeting whether we can push for this still.
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