Building a home was never on the cards, and our families certainly didn’t encourage it. The assumption was that we’d buy an already established home, move in, and our worries of renting would be over.
Boy, were we wrong!
So what changed our minds? The reality is, this decision was an impulse decision. Decided in just one weekend! I’m sure it’s not the normal way to make such big decisions either. I’d see this as being a little more thought through, weighing up the options, taking the time to review all builders and what comes in each package, which floor plan is better suited to your needs, any structural changes you may like to make, if it's more cost effective to buy land independently or a house and land package etc.
In short, that didn’t happen for us. We knew building would take at least 12 months, allowing enough time to save up the rest of our deposit. We knew we could take advantage of the First Home Owners Grant of $15,000 and possibly avoid stamp duty. We knew western Sydney would be ideal from both a budget and public transport point of view. And finally, we knew one family who had built multiple homes through Eden Brae.
We had seen online that Eden Brae had house and land packages available out west in Sydney. So with that said, we decided to head to The Ponds to walk through the Eden Brae's Display Homes.
There are three homes on display out at The Ponds; Lincoln 35, Sheffield 25, Livingstone 22. Our preference was the Livingstone 22, which technically is the Livingstone 23 as it includes the alfresco area. We really fell in love with the open plan living at the back of the home - perfect for entertainment. The Livingstone 23 also fell within our budget and meant we could afford any upgrades, should we wish!
In case you weren't sure, the numbers after the house name represent the size of the house in squares (which is an American measurement), when converted to the metric system a square equates to 3.048m x 3.048m = 9.29m2.
In hindsight, at this point, we should have taken it away to digest all our options and start our research journey. But instead we put down our $2,000 holding deposit and the decision was made.
We spent eight hours over two days with our Eden Brae Sales Consultant, who patiently walked us through the home detailing what was standard and what was an upgrade, what promotional offers were available, the structural changes and upgrades we wanted to make, our preferred facade, as well as details around the land component.
From a cost point of view, we left knowing our base costs for the house and land package, our promotional offers, and the upgrades we had chosen from the upgrades list. However we would have to wait until our Tender Appointment to find out the costs regarding the structural change requests.
We were also provided with a detailed process document outlining each stage and the actions required by both parties, floor plans, and the promotional offers. All of which are posted below.
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| The original floor plan of the Livingstone 22 before any modifications |
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| The Smart Start Bonus. This was automatically deducted from the house package at the time we put down our holding deposit (separate from the First Home Owners Grant) |
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| Process document for fixed price house and land package (split contracts) |
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| Process document for fixed price home packages |
