Clarendon Homes Questions & Answers (page 4 of 7)

Please see details below.
Now Clarendon has gyrocked the walls and the fault is hidden. No inspection was arranged/carried out with me since the construction started.
29911516- Lot 116 Hallett Street Kellyville

Yes our insulation was also a problem and we tried to address this before Gyprock went up. We were told “the insulation trade wasn’t the brightest and you get what you get” not that satisfactory when you pay 632k to have your house built plus demolition, plus landscaping. Some of our insulation was actually on the floor after they put the gyprock up. Half the problem is no direct access to your site supervisor. Although 3 changes in site supervisor for our build also made things problematic. One consultation is hopefully they will fix it if you get mould.

Thank-you, David was very helpful explained why the previous reluctance however he gave me a "Ball-Park" estimate to allow for all extras, including floor coverings, Upgrade fittings, Ducted Air, Colorbond roof, extra footings being built where old house once was, Landscaping including Driveway, Fence letterbox etc. In other words "Turnkey" Thanks David. I can now look for land.

Because de-ending on the person different prices are given.

We are just starting, have signed contracts but are questioning something someone paid $250 for which we are being charged $1200.

Seems it can vary greatly

PA will go all the way until finish, depends on which stage, PA for colour will be removed after colour, instead it will become whatever you spend. tender $ will be different with final price, depends on how much PA you put. however, things like site cost, would be fixed after tender.

there will be no builder have a absolute fix price, if you dont make changes after contract, likely it will not change. but you will always have PAs.

You do get allowance in the contract for things like electrical and tiles, which are shown in the contract. You won't have the final prices of those things until you have attended color, electoral and tile selection appointments. You will be told the extra cost in each appointment, so you can budget it out.

Me. Just had handover 2months ago. Nothing but problems. They hire the cheapest trades that don't care. Go through a private builder. I heard they are better

Hi Narelle, I think it is clearly stated in the contract. In my case it is 29 weeks from the date the site is handed over to the builder. Mine is also a two storey house. It also varies from builder to builder. My friend is building with Metricon and their build time is is 40 weeks. Hope it helps.

Hi Narelle, With Clarendon for us from contract sign to slightly rushing handover it took them 13 months.

We are in the final stages of building with Clarendon and our contract states 42 weeks but we are well over 52 weeks in and still counting. They take all rain days out of the build period and any periods of closure eg Christmas/New Year. We are starting to get itchy feet now as we expected to be in within a year and Sydney rent along with paying the interest only mortgage is killing us. It will be cheaper to pay my full mortgage than do what we are doing. I’ve heard they only pay $15 a day for each day over. Eden Brae supposedly pay your rent each week they go over. Now that certainly sounds like motivation to finish building within the contract period! Clarendon certainly have not offered to pay me anything at this point )-:

My understanding is that project home builders like Clarendon won't negotiate the terms of the standard contract at all and certainly Clarendon is up-front about that. If you want to negotiate a contract, you probably need to use (and pay for) a bespoke builder/architect. We used Tyrells for inspections which Clarendon were totally OK with, even encouraging inspections (by Tyrells or whoever) for our peace of mind. From the builder's perspective it means you aren't complaining about things when they're really hard to fix later in the build. Then you just send Clarendon their report, Clarendon fixes any items, and the inspector checks the items during their next inspection. If you are really worried you could get the inspector to come back before it progresses but that would cost $$$ and may delay progress (but would be do-able and still would be a small % of the build cost if it would make you sleep better at night). In our case the items to fix were minor so we didn't do that.

Thank you KDRebuild convert! That's good to know!!

Yes you can, we will be

Our bank (one of the big 4) approved their progress payment schedule without hesitation. I agree it seemed a bit front-loaded: 5% deposit; 20% after slab; 25% after frames/roof trusses (so yep 50% by that point); 20% after brickwork; 20% after linings; 10% on practical completion. I got happy with it because interest rates are low, because you have insurance in case they (heaven forbid) go broke and because I saw strong continued progress even after each payment, so the work pretty quickly caught up with the amount we'd paid. You could negotiate a better payment schedule with a bespoke builder but would pay hundreds of thousands more in total cost (my experience with a previous build). Hope this helps

Thank you, that's great. It is a little difficult to choose from a small sample on the spot.

Hi Grewal, last weekend I deposited 2K on a lot (Highgrove) . I have not signed the contract yet (land or House). As I understand you are way ahead of us, what are things we should be concerned of? Please let us know your experience.

Hi As they told us this is final price. We were not aware of what kind of bricks included in our package. After signing building contract they gave us list of bricks. The free bricks that included in our package are very simple. They should make clear these things at first consultaion. Even at tender presentation they added $5000 extra to original price and for facade they only do cladding and paint, for any render as shown in their advertisement you have to pay extra. Check their brick list now May be you do not like simple bricks then you could choose Hebel .stick to what floor plan you agreed with them they can make some changes like door replacing with window .if you want that door back they ask extra money. Thanks

Thanks Grewal.

Yes we had the same thing happen when we built Clarendon 23 yrs ago. The Brickies simply didn't have enough cement in the mortar mix. Clarendon denied this was the case, but it was disgusting

So they refused to fix the issue?

Can people PM me if they've had this issue?

Hi I'm currently building with Clarendon homes in north kellyville it has been the worst experience of our lives .it all started with them ordering our frame in 2098 obviously this was the wrong year it then took 1 month for them to get the frame delivered to site. Eventually we had a frame, then it was time for the brick work, we must have had the slowest brickie Ever! it took them over 2 months to complete??? Not sure why???
It's now been a month since they finished and to date all we have had is false promises.
We started our build in November and 5 months later we are still not at lock up.
I really can't tell you why!
Our project manager calls with a weekly update and advises schedule of works. Well that's a joke because nothing is being done.
We have an unfinished shell with a multitude of roof tiles, insulation, doors etc on the floor on site with no one doing any work. Clarendon must be losing a lot of money and my concern is that they will run out of funds.
I would seriously think about choosing Clarendon??? By the way this is the third home we are building and by far the worst decision we have made.

I have the similar experience with Clarendon this time

Hi Tom and Di, as your house now been built, if so are you happy with the finished product?

Israr where is your hse being built? What stage are you at?

Thanks both of you for responding

Jen