Pre Construction Meeting & Start Date

Had a 2-hour preconstruction meeting with Casaview’s General Manager yesterday where he went through every page of the plan explaining details which are beyond a commoner’s knowledge and understanding. He further discussed the variations making sure everything was accounted for and as requested and then the finer details of every standard and upgraded fixtures and fitting. They do these meetings to ensure that the client, Casaview and its contractors are reading from the same document.
 
The GM’s understanding of our project was just amazing and seemed like he had already built the house to muster so much knowledge. What impressed me most is their attention to details and some of the structural changes they have introduced to mitigate factors like natural expansion and contraction of steel/wood beams and its effect on things like ceilings. The GM informed me that those mitigation factors have been introduced by Casaview after evaluating a number of houses they built. And that they want their houses to be structurally solid and not just superficially beautiful.

There was a minor last minute change and their in-house architect corrected and revised the plan as we were meeting. Thanks Casaview for meeting me at a time convenient to me and also for reaffirming my confidence in you as a builder. Truly impressive!

We have been given a start and finish date for the construction but ofcourse this depends on mother nature.

Green lights ...

Our house plan was approved by CDC yesterday. We’re still finalising various variations before the final meeting with Casaview.

Casaview Upgrade Package

• Hyne T2 treatment to house frame, heavy duty sarking under roof tiles, upgraded ceiling and wall insulation (R3.5 and R2.0 respectively) and 3 coat paint system throughout
• B&D Panel-lift garage door with remote
• Stainless steel Omega® appliances (dishwasher, 900mm canopy rangehood with external ducting, 900mm gas cooktop, 600mm double oven and microwave with trim kit)
• 40mm Caesarstone® kitchen bench top, POLYTEC doors with sheen finish, bulkhead to all kitchen cupboards, halogen down lights to Kitchen area and Dorf® Kytin single lever mixer tap
• Semi frameless shower screen, stone top vanities, polished edge mirrors, Gen Y® bathroom wall fittings, Caroma® Elegance tapware and lamp heat light/fan to two bathrooms
• Gainsborough® Omni trilock to front door and contemporary roof tiles from Boral or Bristile
• Gainsborough® Liana internal lever handles, 94 × 18mm Solid Pine skirtings, designer stainless bar balusters to stairs
• Outdoor gas point for BBQ connection and electric power connection and metering

External Selections

Our external selection meeting has occurred and the Casaview design consultant has been very helpful with our design ideas, to the point she organised a second meeting to go through some of the undecided items on the list.

We have chosen for the following for the external features.
 

Brick: Boral Graphite and Reubellite from the Horizon range 

Roof tiles: Boral Contour (a slimline type part of the Casaview upgrade package)

Fascia: Gull Grey            
Gutter: Monolith
Downpipes: Monolith
Garage Doors: B&D Panel-Lift® Madrid profile (premium range door part of the Casaview upgrade package)

Eaves: Surfmist
External: Shale Grey         

Beautifying the front facade ...

Our Bennelong will come with standard brick facade and we’re planning to have the rendering as it appears on the artist’s impression post-construction. Got a couple of good quotes but now tossing between prospects – cement render with weathershield® exterior paint, cement render with acrylic paint, bag and paint, tile/stack stone or a combination of a couple of these. The Casaview display home in Catherine Field has render and tile and it looks great.

Casaview Homes ...

Our experience with Casaview has been very pleasant so far and we’re impressed with the manner in which they have made various often-stressful stages of pre-constructions such a breeze for us.

What we liked the most ...

The staff at Casaview are the company's best assets - the reviews I have read have all said this and I can now understand what they mean. Their sales staff at Parkbridge Estate have been very helpful when we were doing our initial research. The colour selection, architectural team, the estimator and admin and legal staff have all been extremely friendly and professional.

What I find most beneficial is their ability to work across various medium to expedite the client-builder communication process. Plans and quotes are efficiently saved as PDFs and emailed, way before we get hard copies by post for signature, giving us extra time to scrutinise details.

Casaview standard inclusions contain some things that other builders charge extra for. Some examples:

• Casaview uses Granitguard as the standard termite   protection which is a better system than the reticulation systems that need annual maintenance checks.
• Drop edge beams despite relatively flat piece of land
• Copper shower trays for all showers providing double reinforcement
• Tiles under kitchen cabinetry and skirting to avoid moisture problems
• Double sink as standard
• Mirrored sliding doors to all robes
• In-house architectural services that expedites any changes to the plan
• Door from garage to inside with proper triple lock
• 24.5° pitch to roof and not 22.5

Because Casaview is building a number of other homes as well as its own display homes in the estate, they took the onus of getting most site specific details for our lot. We only had to supply proof of ownership - they did the rest.

Fixed price tender as long as there are no additional requests or statutory requirements.


What they can improve on ...

Offer 2600 mm ceiling height as standard for homes with open plan – higher ceilings we realised, too late, gives a greater appeal than 2400mm ones.

Casaview should consider providing a total turn-key package because the package we purchased doesn’t include turf, fencing, clothes line, mailbox or screen doors. This makes getting quotes for loan approval a nightmare – some service providers don’t respond on time, other cannot provide quotes for things that do not exist yet and for owners there is very little time for proper research and a greater range of quotes.