Wow... what an experience.
As we were on our way to UEH, I got a phone call, but as I was driving, and my mobile was in my pocket, I let it ring out. Got to UEH and the voicemail was from them saying they were running late with the previous appointment. So we sat for a while. Then got shown a number of documents by someone else - to fill the time - and after 45 minutes we went through to see someone different.
Turns out this wonderfully helpful lady was the operations manager, and she was from Johannesburg too! Not only that, but she lives in Eynesbury herself! Well, that got the after off on a great footing. We got to see our consultant, and shame, she'd had a hectic day, but she was terrific. She answered 99% of our questions, gave us personal input - she has small kids too - and was so amazingly helpful. And even though we left after 16H30, we were in a lot better mood than when we arrived. I cannot say how much of a difference spending an afternoon with this lady has made.
So...the Tender is 90% done. We're waiting on the costing of the laminate flooring, and of a few other things. All of which we should receive before the end of the week. At which point, we'll take a week to completely finalise our outstanding choices and settle down for the wait.
Still no concrete info on the bricks though...but that'll come tomorrow...we're hoping our first choice isn't an upgrade...but we'll have to wait and see.
It was really amazing to see our house plans drawn up properly with all our alterations... sooo cool. We've got to work out what to do with the kitchen pot drawerns, because 48cm drawers just seem a tad too small to me... so...thinking cap on and off to the Home One forums!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
And then there were 3.
And so, as per UEH's instructions, we have narrowed our list down to 3 possible bricks. Boral's Escura Flame Red, Boral's Elan Labassa, and Austral's Homestead Tan.
During our drive through Eynesbury, we noted so many different colours of bricks that it still puzzles us as to why there is even a list. Oh well... let's see what those 3 brick types may cost us.
During our drive through Eynesbury, we noted so many different colours of bricks that it still puzzles us as to why there is even a list. Oh well... let's see what those 3 brick types may cost us.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Bricks, the saga continues
If you recall, we're new to building a house in Australia, so we don't know much about the process. So it's easy for us to get frustrated and confused. We started off thinking we had many bricks to pick from and really, since the rug was whipped out from under us, we've yet to recover our footing.
We're not pointing fingers. This is the process of building in Eynesbury. Just... people buying land and planning to build there, need to be given the below list of bricks right at the start. Just like we're given the list of plant and fencing restrictions/requirements, so too should the bricks be included. Even then, with a limited number of builders, the builders either do not enquire often enough, or the updated list is not circulated by Eynesbury. So the list below that was sent to us by Urban Edge isn't the most recent - we got that from Eynesbury ourselves, but it does cover 90%+ of the bricks.
And to add to the confusion, because those bricks are not in the "Colour Book" we were given at the start, we had no idea what category many of the Eynesbury bricks fell into, and when categories can differ by thousands of dollars, it matters. Then we're told that bricks in the same range, are actually different prices, often 2 or more categories apart. Then you get an unhelpful salesman at a Boral display area that simply wouldn't give my wife any sort of pricing to be able to at least compare - yes, just the price you sell to the man-in-the-street, not a builder's "account price". And then there are the terms. Standard/Upgrade vs Category. Is Standard the same as Category 1 or 2? Is the Upgrade the same as Category 3? 4? 5?!
I'm sure the ladies at Urban Edge are as frustrated as we are, and they are being as helpful as they can. Had the list been given to us right at the start, we wouldn't be chasing our tails right now. So tomorrow its off to look at more bricks at the display centers. Hopefully come Monday, we'll have a resolution and we can move on to the next item(s). :)
And here's the list:
We're not pointing fingers. This is the process of building in Eynesbury. Just... people buying land and planning to build there, need to be given the below list of bricks right at the start. Just like we're given the list of plant and fencing restrictions/requirements, so too should the bricks be included. Even then, with a limited number of builders, the builders either do not enquire often enough, or the updated list is not circulated by Eynesbury. So the list below that was sent to us by Urban Edge isn't the most recent - we got that from Eynesbury ourselves, but it does cover 90%+ of the bricks.
And to add to the confusion, because those bricks are not in the "Colour Book" we were given at the start, we had no idea what category many of the Eynesbury bricks fell into, and when categories can differ by thousands of dollars, it matters. Then we're told that bricks in the same range, are actually different prices, often 2 or more categories apart. Then you get an unhelpful salesman at a Boral display area that simply wouldn't give my wife any sort of pricing to be able to at least compare - yes, just the price you sell to the man-in-the-street, not a builder's "account price". And then there are the terms. Standard/Upgrade vs Category. Is Standard the same as Category 1 or 2? Is the Upgrade the same as Category 3? 4? 5?!
I'm sure the ladies at Urban Edge are as frustrated as we are, and they are being as helpful as they can. Had the list been given to us right at the start, we wouldn't be chasing our tails right now. So tomorrow its off to look at more bricks at the display centers. Hopefully come Monday, we'll have a resolution and we can move on to the next item(s). :)
And here's the list:
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