Friday, March 20, 2009

Tender Appointment

Fuzz mode! That is what my brain is at the moment.

Why?
Our tender appointment went rather smoothly yesterday (although after I explain it may seem like it didn’t) – but I guess it had to as there really aren’t many options, either accept the price and keep something in or not like the price and take it out (hence, not getting the upgrade you may have really wanted).

The initial price we looked at was really scary - not including any electrical work, nor extras such as driveways, fencing or demolition of the current house. However, because we have been active while waiting for the tender appointment I have received quotes for carpet, floating floors and tiling and no matter how we looked at it, it was less than half of the quoted price from Henley’s suppliers and tradies. Predictably we took these options out of the tender.
The news of our really bad soil wasn’t all that good though with Site Footings coming in at $27 285 plus Earthworks cut and fill at $5850, totaling $33135, which is $15135 over our provisional allowance of $18000 (which I also thought to be high). But what can you do. ACCEPT IT. Would rather the house to be safe and secure than go back to square one of the whole building thing.

Other minor variables were the cost of the air conditioning unit (which was quickly sorted out), additonal double hand rails in all bathrooms, changing of tile selection for the balcony and some thought being needed about downlights in the overhead kitchen cupboards and the porch cement slab based on cost. Each of these I will follow up as soon as I can.

At that point I discovered a current promotional Greenfields Saving (of living in a metro area) had not been discounted. YAY! – a saving of $10000, boy did we need that. I pointed this out to T, who thought I had it confused with the house base price being a certain amount and the discount already being applied. I restated that on our original meeting with V, Head Office agreed to us getting a certain discounted base price even though a price rise had just been applied through the Melbourne offices. I also followed this up on the Monday following our meeting via a phone call as V accidently recorded on our paper work two different amounts on 2 different pages. V. confirmed she would make the corrections on the paperwork prior to the Henley office receiving it. T tried to contact V at our appointment but had no luck. An email received today from T, tries to put it all back on us, saying V thought it had all been sorted out and we have to contact V who will explain it to us. Explain it to us I think not, we will explain it to her and she can correct it like she said she would in the first place. $10000 is $10000 and something I am willing to argue about.

On the positive side of things, through receiving the engineers report I now have a scaled drawing of 1:200 to submit to council to apply for demolition of the existing house. I just have to organise an arborist report to send along with the application.

So jobs to undertake now:
Get an arborist report for the significant tree on our block.
Get a quote on a cement slab for the porch.
Decide if $ for 4 downlights is worth it.
Visit Beaumont Tiles to ensure we are happy with our new tile selection
Phone V to follow up the house price.
Phone T to clarify - the type of Panelift door we want, the fridge width, and to request a detailed breakdown of costs for the Site Footings.
Submit the Development application to Port Adelaide/Enfield council for demolition.

Over the past week (through numerous emails and phone calls) I have also tried to follow up W from Henley’s recommended Electricians for a quote. On Wednesday (18th March) when I finally got hold of him, he said he would have a quote for us by Friday this week (originally told by Thursday last week). This still has not arrived by email as promised. He told me by having the weekend to look at it we could make an appointment next week to discuss it further. This of course will be delayed further as he has not come through with the goods. Under normal circumstances I would say stuff them – I’ll go elsewhere, but what can you do when they are the only mob Henley will deal with and it needs to be completed during the build process not after handover.

After a busy day at work, with many follow ups there needed too, my brain has kind of gone into melt down. I’m on my second drink and it’s only 6:20. For anyone who knows me, this is not good as I will be off with the fairies anytime now! Oh well, I must fly off for now, as another busy day ahead tomorrow painting our investment property. We have to move there by the 6th of April, not the 16th as originally thought. Blah!!!

P.S. Sorry for rambling, I kind of do this a bit. Will try to keep it to a minimum from now on.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Our footings price came in around this also and after picking ourselves up off the floor, we requested the engineers report and a breakdown...but the fact of the matter was, that like you, we just couldn't be bothered going through the whole process again and decided that even if we were to find a builder that came in less, it was all time and effort and we wanted this house so just had to accept it. HOWEVER I agree that you need to tackle the issue over the 10 grand and as mentioned keep all documentation with T...as we think this may be an area where there are a few issues later on!