Retreat in Style

CREATING A TOUCH OF STYLE IN UPPER COOMERA

Welcome to Retreat in Style.

Our little home on the net to show off our little home in the real world. Within the pages of this site you can follow along with the build of our new home. This build was done with Clarendon Homes. Clarendon provides some stunning homes at affordable prices. For the most part, the build standard is of a premium level. There were, however, some issues along the way.

The Good and the Bad

I’ll show you some of the pitfalls that many people fall into when building a home. I’ll also show you where you can have a few small wins and score some bonuses along the way. Things you should be aware of when building your home, and other information that may save (or cause) you grief with developers and builders. 

Building Tips for First Time Home Owners.

Keep the following tip in mind and use it to gain the upper hand…

It’s YOUR home, NOT the builders or developers. YOU have selected your builder. They did NOT select you. It’s YOUR money, not theirs.

Do NOT let them fool you into believing everything they tell you is true. Do NOT let them tell you their way is the only way.

The cost of building a home is probably the biggest single factor that will influence most peoples selections. 

My Personal Thoughts

If I had to be honest, I personally would never go with a spec builder again. Spec builders (Builders like Clarendon, GJ Gardner, Hotondo and many others) have standard house plans. They don’t usually like to alter these standard designs much, as it affects their costings and may not be as profitable for them. I managed to get quite a few modifications made but I believe Clarendon is not as flexible now. Obviously, we went with Clarendon due to costs. My own father who is a builder (now retired) could not build a home for the price Clarendon quoted.

That said, You get what you pay for. IF I was to build again, it would be with a beautique builder. A builder that could build me the home that I want without objections. Yes, it would cost more but in the end will actually cost less as I would have a home that would not need more spent on it.

Please enjoy your stay and I hope you can benefit from the information within.

Cheers

Paul