A Bit of History...

Here is a bit of history how we came to make the decision in favour of Metricon...

28/06/2012
Met a friend who told us that they were building their new home with
Wisdom (MANHATTAN43). Went online to see the design and got
impressed. The prices seemed to be within our budget and then we
thought why not to go ahead with looking for options for us as
well...

30/06/2012
We drove to Oran Park to see Anne Wisdom office. She is a very
affectionate lady and very accessible and accommodating. She helped
us in deciding the design and also working through the variations
and the upgrades. We chose 44 (ensuite) with Nova Terrace facade and
put a deposit of $2000.00 for the tender preparation.


01/07/2012
When we came back we discussed about the whole design and then we
had around 20 questions back for Anne. She was very patient and we
went through the whole design again and revised back on lot of the
design issues.


07/07/2012
We went to Oran Park today and met Anne. We handed over the 149
certificate that we had received from the council. We had a few
variations in mind which we discussed and got the estimation
changed.

28/07/2012
Went to see the Metricon display homes in The Ponds. Were very
impressed to see NOLAN45 house. Started looking for this option...
And then we realised we could have this house instead...

29/07/2012
Paid $2000.00 to Metricon to organise the Tender for the same. The
idea was to have both the tenders and then decide which one to go
for. As far as the design is concerned, NOLAN45 stands out. The size
of all the rooms is bigger than Wisdom's MANHATTAN43 and there is a
better space management in the design.

19/08/2012
Went to see Ben (Metricon) on Sunday and he went through all the
variations plus all the documents. Tried to understand what was
displayed and what was standard inclusions. Was almost 3hrs
exercise. Then he got us to sign the papers. In one the final papers
it was mentioned that we will not have any more structural changes
and if we did we will have to pay them $1000.00 per change. We have
gone through all the plans so many times that we knew that we do not
need any changes as we are happy with all the structure of the
house. So we signed.

22/08/2012
I got a call from Metricon saying that there will be a tender
presentation on 31st Aug FRI at 2PM. I am excited about this as
there is a good chance that there will not be very significant
price increase Ben had put 47k for the site costs/BASIX and Storm
management costs. There are not many variations in the case of the
Metricon where as there are significant number of variations listed
in the case of Wisdom. I was really surprised that there were no
doors in the toilets and WIR. We had to put more than 10 doors in
the house.

We are looking forward to the Metricon Tender appointment now.
Hopefully they will not raise the site costs as it already covers
most of it ($47k). Wisdom had 12k in the estimate and they eventually came back with almost 25k. So let us see which one is better pricewise. Somehow I am thinking about the Metricon one. Looks like everyone is going for rendering the house these days around our place and this will give us an opportunity to revive the house as well if we want to change the house colour. Although I can
understand that there will be cost involved if we do so every
couple of years. Because of Hebel, I am hoping we will able to save
some money in electricity consumption as well. Somehow I feel that the building experience could be much better in case of Wisdom. But I have talked to two of the people who built through Metricon and they do not seem to be very negative. We will just see how we go.

31/08/2012
We had the tender presentation with the Metricon. Anna went through
all the points and the costs involved therein. At the end of the
tender presentation she mentioned that she has an offer for us
since that was the last day of the month. She offered us the air
conditioning unit worth $12950. We had been already credited with
$2000 for the Wisdom tender that we had spent. So we happily
deposited another $4000 for the plans to be prepared for us.

05/09/2012
I talked to Anna, Metricon and told her that we are keen on going
with Metricon and requested her to revise the tender with some of
the points that we had raised with her in the tender presentation
meeting. She said that she would send us the revised tender and then
she would arrange for the contract sign day.