No agreement about the floors

After talking to the CSO this morning he called back and said that because the floors aren't included in the contract that I have to go through Lockwood's privately. I said OK but does this mean they can still be laid before the keys are handed over? and he said yes as they have done this before.

Off I went and made arrangements with Lockwoods for the floors and then called Allworth HO to speak to the Construction Manager. He is on leave so I left a message for the person acting-up to call Lockwoods and organise for the floors to be installed.

Long story short - NO. CSO denies he said anything like that. Acting CM said it's not in the contract and they won't agree to it because there will be no insurance covering it if any damage or vandalism occurs to the floor coverings and if the flooring guy causes any damage there will be an argument over the claim. It strikes me as very bizarre that there is a provision in the special conditions of the contract for works by the owner with the written authority of the builder when in fact it appears they will never give you permission to do anything.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I asked about fencing and retaining the rear of the block because the neighbour has a child but I was told by the CM that Allworth wouldn't give approval for that either. This however appears not to be the industry standard as other bloggers, such as one who has built with Eden Brae, have been allowed to install underfloor heating into the concrete after the formwork and pods and everything where positioned but before the concrete was poured, and another was allowed to do ducting for an air-conditioner and the cabling for a smart home being that blue cable you see in some people's pics.

Acting CM was also very belligerent in the conversation because he refused to accept that the reason it is not in the contract is because of their error. Apparently because the facade is outside the usual range this meant the package was not available and the contract reflects that I made the decision to just have the alfresco added. Not bloody likely as it is making it more expensive to have a large entertainment area added whereas a regular rectangle would have been much easier to install an awning into. Right now I wish I could say take the alfresco away and credit me back the difference.

Also been told I should be grateful that I received a $2,000 credit in the first place - despite the fact I received this because of the delay they caused by originally submitting plans that did not comply with Council regulations. What I'll be grateful for is when this nightmare is over. If ever I thought I would have a phrase tattooed on my body I know right now what I would elect to have it say is:

This too shall pass...

The most frustrating aspect of all of this is that no one person takes responsibility for the whole of the process. What happened with the old plans isn't seen to relate to what is happening now. What happens as part of the consultation, contract or construction isn't seen to relate to any other stage. They all say "that has nothing to do with me" or "I can't comment as that's another departments responsibility". But for me it is all part and parcel of the frustration that I am experiencing and to try and compartmentalize it is like a man saying getting a woman pregnant means he has nothing to do with the pain of labour that in fact is the infants responsibility. So I asked Acting CM who can I speak to and he said the CFO or someone equivalent. Now I am waiting to talk to that person.

Therefore, my words of wisdom are:

• to go through your contract with a fine tooth comb and make sure everything you are expecting to receive is listed somewhere,
• the number somewhere near the front should be the base price you are expecting to pay,
• if you need anything done to the block, like retaining walls, fencing, a swimming pool, or you would like to do your own works, such as cabling for a smart home, ask about this before you put your deposit down or do it before the builder commences work if you can, and,
• to confirm a conversation by sending an email immediately after before relying on anyone's representations.

The Acting CM also tried to suggest that what I am asking for is irrelevant as what is the difference whether it happens before or after handover as all it will do is delay handover by a week? Considering all that is left is painting, taps and handles and clean-up, I fail to understand how the three days for flooring could not be accommodated and would push the completion out another week. I also said to him it doesn't matter whether it makes sense to him or not as it makes sense to me.

Appears however painting starts tomorrow and clean-up should be Friday 15th October with anything else happening between now and then. This means the PCI should happen early the following week with any defects resolved by that Friday and the keys handed over the week of October 25th.

Still waiting on the Commencement Letter

I've been sick and sleep late, so it was unexpected that this morning I was woken by a call from the Customer Service lady. She advised that there's been some phone-tag between herself and the Mortgage Broker regarding the fact that the Lender doesn't have a copy of the contract signed off by both parties, and so could I call our Solicitor as we were having held there for safe keeping.
Long story short is, usually contracts are exchanged by the purchaser having a copy of the page with the vendors signature, and vice versa. So my Solicitor was happy with that, had given the Mortgage Broker access to our copy and thought that Allworth should simply come to the table by providing a copy of their page, i.e. our signatures. But no, they wanted us to just sign our copy and be done with it.
Well I don't know who was right or if anyone was right, so I thought just to keep things rolling I'd go and collect our copy, sign off on it, and drop it into the Mortgage Broker. It makes me a bit cranky more so because I was happy for it to stay in safe keeping (that is a fire-proof safe where law firms generally keep original documents of wills, contracts and the like, either indefinitely or for an agreed period of time, which for us was as long as the builder's warranty was in play). Also I'm a little bit peeved that the builder doesn't just think of us as first-timers and give us explicit instructions along the way instead of assuming we would figure it out.
However, all done now, the contract and it's annexures are with the Mortgage Broker. He'll get it off to the Lender tonight/tomorrow morning, and we should have the Commencement Letter issued Monday!

Mid-May and where are we at?

Well we are approaching the final hurdles before building commences. Right now I feel like Homer Simpson climbing Mt Springfield, I reach a peak and cheer, but then I look down and look up and realise how much further there is to go - D'oh!
So what are the final hurdles. Today I spoke to our Customer Service chick, who isn't much chop I realise as last week she said she would find out why the engineer's report hadn't been received and let me know when it was expected and when it was anticipated to go to Council and then the Construction Certificate be prepared. Well, she didn't. So I rang her this morning, and yes the CC is being prepared and we will be called in once it is available to come into Allworth Parramatta office to sign off on the fixed price contract. And no, weekend appointments are not available, appointments are Monday to Friday at 9.30am, 11am or 2.30pm.
I think if I haven't heard from her by Thursday morning I'll call her up because as I realised last week, the ER should have been due mid-week and the CC one week later, so by my calculations, on Wednesday the CC should be in their hot little hands.

My Uncle and Aunt were also over on the weekend and we were talking about all of this and in particular if we could turn back time would we go with Allworth again, and really, maybe yes. For our price range, being in total $215k for the house (4 bed + study), landscaping and some internal dressing, there were very few options. Allworth is in fact including a pretty good extras package, have one of the quickest build times both according to their promise and what we have heard, and I found the website user friendly - I really loathe having to download a plan to view it. Huxley homes might have got a look in if the website had have been easier because their staff we really great to talk to at Kellyville, but Allworth's main appeal was the promise of speed.
That's why this really has been a let-down. So what I think is important is about having a good sense of how much time things will take and having confidence that the builder has built in the area and has a good understanding of the Council's requirements.

Really, Camden Council had a fantastic turnover time, which you can monitor by typing your suburb in and looking at similar applications in your area, so for example I knew that Spring Farm single stories were taking no more than three weeks. But had Allworth complied with Council guidelines we probably would have had DA back in January. But instead we were arguing whether to put in an application for non-compliance or to change the design and start from scratch, so we went through the original process twice in fact. If we hadn't, yeah I think I might be sitting in my new family room right now as Allworth has built a similar design in Spring Farm over in the Cornish side and those people have moved in about three weeks ago now (yes it pays to ask to get addresses to see your design being built - they won't give you an address after the people have moved in though).

So fingers crossed for a dry Winter now, as I still have my sights set on signing off early next week at which time 20 days starts to count down. Should be a June start then. But I guess the good news is I will be establishing a garden come Spring.

Back on track

Despite a few obstacles we are back on track. Almost 2 weeks ago now my MB advised that CBA had withdrawn the loan for building the house, which left us with a block of land, lands on foot, a contract requiring us to have moved in by late September and NO MONEY.
So after feeling like the earth had fallen out from beneath me I collected all the paperwork and shot of an email to the MB with what I thought were good reasons to suggest that CBA were being unconscionable. Once I calmed down I realised that my over-reaction may ultimately lead me to cutting my nose of to spite my face and sent another one simply asking for the reasons and retracting my demand that an appeal be lodged immediately.
Well the good news is that one week later the MB emailed to say he had spoken with CBA and it was all worked out, so the loan was back on track and a new application was no longer necessary. But the CBA continues to have some concerns about the delay in commencement and want what documents are available now to be lodged as a sign of good faith from Allworth.

I called Allworth and spoke to our CSO and asked if she would be able to comply with this. She explained that typically the stamped plans, copies of insurances, construction certificate and fixed price contract are not provided to the mortgagor until the contract was signed and all documents provided as one lot. I suggested that because this was a bit to a back to front effort in any event that maybe something could be worked out to satisfy CBA. She is going to look into it.
Whilst I was on the phone I asked where everything was up to as the geo-tech report was provided 2 weeks ago and previously she had told me the engineer's report took 2 weeks, and the construction certificate then takes 1 week. She advised that the engineer's report has not yet been received but she would follow this up.
Since I had this conversation yesterday and I didnt hear back from her today, I will call tomorrow to get an update. But fingers crossed we will be in next Saturday week to sign off which will start the 20 day countdown and hopefully have a start date no later than the week of 7 June 2010.