CDC & Finance Approval
It has been a while since my last update, and a lot has happened, milestones have been reached and the road paved to finally start the journey.
I received the good news two weeks ago that CDC approval had been granted. The certifier sent the plans directly to me, which included final house plans, foundation plans, and a set of documents put together by Provincial.
Made for an interesting read, especially the foundation plans. I couldn’t exactly tell what the depths were going to be, but it looked like there are going to be a lot of piers to be drilled. Hopefully they aren’t all very deep !!! Otherwise my piering allowance may fall short and well concrete isn’t exactly cheap !!
Looks pretty hefty I think.
The CDC process was pretty painless, some things to consider or look out for when you are going through it is.
· Will I need a landscape plan ? Cost circa $300 - $400
· Bal Assessment ? $660
· Sewer peg Out ? $800 - $900
And then depending on the above, added costs that may come up due to findings, it seems that bal and sewer requirements can be quite expensive. Thankfully I wasn’t impacted by any of them, and I felt that Provincial did right by me and battled a few wins when it came to my water board approval.
Final Contract Variations
After you have the CDC approval you will get your final contract variations, which if you have planned well shouldn’t be too much. Mine included hardwood flooring, and some upgrades made at internal colour selections. My advice would be to include as much as you can during tender time in order to make the bank approval process a lot quicker. For example if you know you will do flooring though the builder then add it in, don’t wait till internal colours. I had to wait a week for the bank to do a new valuation based on the increased tender price (mainly due to flooring).
The only other item we had that was unexpected was increased cost for BASIX requirements, about $1k all up.
One word of advice is to make sure you read the final tender and contract variations carefully, and make sure you understand all the charges. To be fair Provincial does tell you to read everything very carefully and to make sure you are happy before signing. They can’t be held responsible if you miss something.
I had to clarify a few things with them, and my consultant (who has been fantastic by the way) clarified everything for me. My main concern was a few charges which were explained, and the wording around the water tank changed, which had me questioning if I would be getting an ugly plastic one. Confirmation was received it was a metal colorbond one which made me happy, I am being a bit fussy with this one because it is visible from the road and will pretty much be a little in your face.
Overall whilst I had a few sleepless nights over some things I think the process was pretty smooth and trouble free. At this stage I have no complaints J. The wife and I were even dreaming about building our next house with them in the future..... but then reality kicked in lol.
The process has been pretty painless. Having said that I have done a lot of research into a lot of the steps that builders go through, which made it easier to understand things. My advice for those who are going through it is to do your own research so that you understand things that come up.
Next step is to find out when they will start. I am hoping I am kept up to date via txt messages or e mails so I can pop down and take photos from afar to keep this blog going J
