Titles At Last

I received word from the Agent today that the Solsbury Field subdivision plan has finally been registered by Land Victoria. This was confirmed by the Conveyancer who advised that settlement is set down for Tuesday, 29 September. Although its taken a long time to get to this point, it does feel good to finally be here.

Water

I was surprised to learn that the water supply had already been connected to a couple of the blocks in the estate. How is this possible when settlement is still some weeks away and Land Victoria is yet to register the plan of subdivision ?  Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of these blocks was ours. In the picture below you you can see the two water meters and and front external taps for the standard and recycled water supplies.

The logical explanation is that Orbit Homes arranged for this. 

Solsbury Field Estate – Fully Accessible

It’s been about six weeks since I’ve been down to Keysborough to check on the development. Last time I was there road access was fenced off.  I got word from Thai over the weekend that this was no longer the case (Thanks Thai).

So I drove down to Solsbury to check things out for myself. I can confirm that the estate is fully accessible from both Church Road and Red Brush Drive ends. Stanley Rd between Westwood Bvd and Church Rd is also complete and accessible.

Still Waiting

Land Victoria are certainly taking their time registering the plan of subdivision for Solsbury Field. It was lodged on Wednesday, August 19. It is now September 11. Three and a half weeks have passed and we are still waiting! It appears the estimate of 2 to 3 weeks was a little optimistic. I will refrain from making any remarks about the productivity of the state bureaucracy.

New Abode Offer from Orbit Homes

The Balwyn 196 is part of the Abode range from Orbit Homes. When we first looked at the Balwyn, Orbit were promoting their “Summer Sale”. This was $10K off the 4 most popular house designs from the Abode range. This included the Balwyn 196. On top of that they were offering 1 free lifestyle pack which they valued at $3,500.

Now, in Victoria at least, the new “Head Over Heels” Promotion offers $14,000 in upgrades. However this promotion applies to the whole Abode range rather than just the 4 most popular designs. Theoretically at least the new promotion delivers $500 extra value over the previous. However, what is not clear from the promotional material is whether there are limitations on how the $14,000 can be spent. I doubt that they could be used to cover site costs.

Interestingly, the previous promotional offer still applies in Queensland.

The Livingston is No More

The first house that we seriously looked at when assessing house designs is no more. Porter Davis have retired the Livingston and have introduced the Lamont in its place. The Lamont is remarkably similar to the Livingston. It is approximately the same size and has an almost identical layout with a few tweaks :

• The size of the family area has been increased.
• The robe from Bed 2 no longer encroaches into the lounge
• The Linen Cupboard has been replaced by the Bed 2 robe
• The number of bulkheads has dropped from 5 to 1.
• The portico in the Lamont is much smaller
• The width of the master bedroom has been reduced slightly
• The bench space in the kitchen has been reduced to accommodate re-siting of the refrigerator.
• The linen cupboard has been moved to the laundry to occupy the space where the refrigerator was.

Overall, I think these design changes are an improvement. The best news for Porter Davis customers is that the base price has been reduced. We watched with interest as the base price of the Livingston increased from $161,900 in December 2014 to $164,900 in July 2015. The current base price of the Lamont is currently $154,900.

It must have been a pain to have to modify the display homes. But that appears to be what they have done.

Building Contract Signed

We have now signed a ‘fixed price’ building contract with Orbit Homes for the construction of the Balwyn 196 on our block on Red Brush Drive, Keysborough. However, as anyone familiar with contracts for residential construction in Australia will tell you, there really is no such thing as a fixed price contract if the term is taken literally. First of all there are variations. I am hoping there will be no need for us to request any variations. Hopefully we have thought through what we need the builder to provide and what we will arrange to installed after the build is complete. Orbit Homes charge a $1,000 penalty for each variation now the contract is signed. That is quite an incentive to keep variations initiated by us to minimum.

However, the building surveyor or builder may require a variation and the builder is permitted to charge for this variation and this charge may include  a 20% markup. Standard clauses in the contract allow for price increases under the following circumstances :

• Increase in taxes
• Provisional Items
• Prime Cost Items
• Interest on Overdue Payments
• The need for a Boundary Survey

In our case there are no provisional or prime cost items in the contract. We believe the other items in the list are unlikely to apply. There are also liquidated damages payable for delays. If building completion takes longer than is allowed for in the contract then the owner is entitled to liquidated damages as specified in the contract.