Final Contract Meeting - to be continued....

Well, we had our 'final contract meeting' the other day.  The meeting had been scheduled in for sometime and we were very much looking forward to it - seeing how all our ideas and plans had come together.

We requested a copy of the 'final' site plans and variation list prior to the meeting so we could review it in detail, in the comfort of our own home and at our own pace to ensure all was in order.  The copy came through via email 2 days ahead of the meeting - not a great deal of time to review it all but we had catered for it so not such a big deal. 

The problem was our CSC (who to date has been very helpful and a pleasure to deal with) didn't receive all the information from the respective departments of M in a timely fashion and was under pressure to collate it all within one document.  So there were omissions, inaccuracies and straight forward errors.  Its unfortunate for our CSC as she is the one holding the bag so to speak, sitting across from us trying to explain others logic or lack of and now she has to correct the errors.


I can understand why some problems had crept into the contract but there are others that are simply unacceptable.   Like changing the location of light switches.  If its required for legitimate regulatory reasons - tell us and we will revise our plan.  Don't redesign our home for us...  For example, if the light switch cant go at the entry of our ensuite, dont assume our alternate location is the furthest back wall! What, you want us to walk through the ensuite in the dark to then turn the light on.... Unusual design M, definitely not what we want.

We were also awaiting the results of probe testing - to assess the level of underpinning required to support our neighbours garage.  Those results weren't available, resulting in significant provisional amounts within the contract.  Not a fan of provisional amounts... 


Needless to say, we didn't sign the 'final' contract.  We will be waiting for the required changes have been made first.  Now we wait...It has been over a week since this meeting and still nothing???!!!?

On a related note - we are keen to hear the build times inserted into others final contracts.  We had been told (admittedly by their sales team - who kindly wrote it down for me, 'handy in hindsight') the build time was around 9 months.  I had checked this with a builder mate and that period is about right for a double storey mid 40 sq house.  So, I was a little surprised to see in the contract the build time was just over 400 days - over 13 months, not including breaks for Christmas etc.

We have had approval from the local council to demolish the old house, gas and electricity are disconnected and we have organised a new underground electricity pit to be installed by United Energy (for about $2500, a great deal less than the $6000 M wanted to charge us for the same??!!). I am meeting with the demolisher on site next wednesday to discuss the next steps and we also have a renovations warehouse/reseller coming out to have a look at what fittings and items from the old home can be salvaged and they will pay us for them and then sell them on.

Things are moving on our end but now so much on Metricon's end...

Cam

More studio M and colour selections.

The last few weeks have flown by and we have been snowed under trying to get things organised to demolish the old house and get the final Studio M alterations made along with preparing for final contract signing.

First things first. We are still in the process of making corrections on our Studio M selections, especially to the kitchen and wet areas. I just want to make sure that the cabinets are correct and given that we had no internal elevations available at selections we have found it hard to find the right descriptions on the colour schedule. This is slowly being resolved. The last few things that need addressing are the addition of popup chrome plugs (I got that idea at the last minute from Rachel and Sandy… thanks!) and also getting the codes right for all our upgraded tapware.

The other major colour change we are considering is to make our lovely 2340 x 1020 front door another colour to make it pop a bit more. We are thinking of making it bright red but it is hard to see how this would look as the ‘Envisage’ program wont let you choose a bright red colour. This is what the front of the house looks like (well it is the closest façade that I could get to ours) and then the picture below if a mock up I did on paint with a red door. Still not decided!???

Next step… final contract

Kirsten

Studio M at last!!!!

Tuesday was a big day for us! After months of planning, stressing and changing our minds we finally had our colours appointment at Studio M.

We arrived bright eyed at 9am at Studio M, we had Hamish along for the ride and although he wasn’t asleep when we arrived, it didn’t take him long to drift off in the pram (perhaps all the talk about brick choices wasn’t riveting enough for him?).

So… brick choices… we spent a ridiculous amount of time choosing our bricks, went to Austral display centre, looked at our chosen bricks in not one, but 4 locations across Melbourne’s SE suburbs (with an overtired screaming 12 week old bub in the back on one afternoon). We were decided, it was to the the Austral Latrobe Brick.

Perhaps the universe had other plans however, Larissa (our Studio M gal) couldn’t find the sample hanging on the wall and we soon discovered why. 2 weeks ago the Latrobe has been discontinued by Austral and was no longer an option. It was a shame however that the people at Austral failed to tell us that when they gave us the addresses of homes to look at when we went there 10 days ago. Hmmmm…

Our second choice the Hawthorn bricks, part of the lovely Melbourne brick range, these too have been discontinued (lucky as they were a Cat 5 and more than we wanted to upgrade). So we ended up choosing a Selkirk Brick called Tawny Heritage, which even though it is a Cat 3 apparently Selkirks Cat 3 are cheaper than Australs, I am sure this is the first of many “what the?” moments that we will have! LOL

We got off to the rocky start with the bricks but it wasn’t all doom and gloom, au contraire… The rest of the appointment went smoothly and we are happy with the choices made.

We are waiting for our list of colours from Metricon but in the meanwhile time for some of the details that you all want to know……

OUTSIDE

Roof Tile – Boral Ebony Classic Profile

Brick – Selkirk Tawny Heritage

Aluminium Windows, Sliding and Bi-part doors – Black Satin

Garage Door – Gliderol Tuscan Profile – Colorbond Monument

Cladding – Heifer (the lightest colour)

Render on far left study wall and around garage – Champignon (medium colour)

Render on front pillars – Raku (darkest colour)

Front Door

• Corinthian Madison 101 pivot door (1020 wide) in Monument with clear glazing insert and clear glazed sidelights

• Gainsborough back to back pull handle with roller bolt mortice lock

INSIDE

Paint

• Walls –Beige Royal Half


• Ceiling – Lexicon Half

Kitchen

• Pantry Wall and overhead cupboards – Polar White Vinyl Wrap Gloss
• Island Bench and Underbench cupboards – New Graphite (Natural Finish) Contour Edge
• Benchtop – Caesarstone White Shimmer

• Handles – Drawers to have large horizontal square handles (top in picture), cupboards have medium vertical square handles (middle in picture), this is for all bathrooms too.

• Baumatic 900mm multifunctional oven with 900mm 5 burner gas cooktop in lieu of upright all in one.
• Baumatic grill/microwave with trim kit
• 2 x Clark Epure large undermount sink

Laundry

Under and overhead cabinetry – New Graphite Contour Edge

Caesarstone Benchtop – Osprey

Clark Flatline 8420 Stainless Steel Trough

Powder Room/Upstairs Bathroom

• Under and overhead cabinetry – New Graphite Contour Edge
• Caesarstone Benchtop – Osprey
• Basins – Fowler Regent inset (x2 in family bathroom)
• Tapware – Vito bertoni Vito CD Fixed wall taps/spout (x2 in family bathroom)
• Fowler Regent toilet suite – soft close

Ensuite

• Elevated wall hung vanity unit in Polar White Vinyl Gloss
• Caesarstone benchtop in Urban


• Basins (x2), tapware and toilet same as powder room

Flooring

• Downstairs entry, hall, kitchen, living and dining room – “Style” Strand Woven Bamboo Timber flooring in Coffee

Study, Sitting and Rumpus, Stairs and Whole upstairs Carpet – “Andrew in Karaoke” colour

Miscellaneous Inside Stuff

Jetmaster Gas Log Fire – Ours is bigger than this and will be wall mounted rather than floor mounted.

Internal Door Handles - Elena

 Upstairs Linen Cupboard Handles (the middle ones)

PHEW, what an epic post… I;m exhausted!

We are moving into our rental on Tuesday, going to electrics this Thursday, final contract on the 30^th… yay yay yay!!!

xoxo Kirsten

The countdown is on....

Settlement is about to occur any day now on the old house and pretty soon the demolishers will  move in and knock it over.

We have been in discussions with our Sales Consultant and our new CSC (incidentally, our second CSC in as many weeks), we didn’t even speak to the first guy. After speaking with our new CSC yesterday, Cam felt that we were in good hands. She was knowledgeable and pleasant and seemed to know what she was talking about, which is great.

We have booked in to go over our preliminary contract on 31 May and have another appointment on Tues 6 June to make our selections at Studio M. Exciting times ahead.

So now I am starting to stress out. There are so many decisions to be made and I am worried that I haven’t given the paint colours etc much thought at all L.  I am interested to know how others chose the colour scheme. Did you do it all on your own, or just say I like that colour in that display house etc? Looks like a trip to look at more display homes is on order! The kids will be so pleased…

Speaking of kids, I thought that now might be an opportune time to add in some photos of our darling little boys.

Our ‘Cheeky Monkey’ Lachie (3 years)

 Our ‘Lil’ Monster’ Hamish (14 weeks)

Until next time…

Kirsten

Studio M tour booked

Things are moving along nicely. We took a trip to Mernda to have a look at the facade and I must say it was lovely. We also have some good ideas about colours which is also good. At this stage we are thinking of getting the render of the front facade done post handover. It looks as though it might save us quite a lot of money, we will have to discuss with a renderer before deciding though.

I have worked out the kitchen design finally and it is just a matter of getting that priced up. Serious as though you spend so much of life using the kitchen it is really important to get it right!!! I'm considering overhead cupboards that lift up over the stove with a cabinetry shelf between them and the bulkhead. I am concerned about being short and not being able to close the doors once they're up.

We have an appointment at Studio M in a few Sunday's to have a tour and get an idea of the basic categories/standard inclusions. It's a start.

More soon...