A simple tapware upgrade with an Epic cost

Eden Brae's standard tapware range across their Prestige series homes is Dorf's Jovian range. One of the challenges with the Home Options process is that the full range was not on display. After visiting a number of different showrooms, we decided that we wanted to change a number of items from Dorf's Jovian range to the Dorf Epic range. The Epic range maintains square angles but is a little softer and cleaner. We found the Jovian range a little chunky for our taste.

Dorf Jovian v Epic (images from Dorf website)

To get a rough idea of the potential cost change, we did a calculation using the recommended retail prices (RRP) published on the Dorf website. Seemed reasonable enough. Based on the unit cost difference and the quantities required, we calculated an overall cost increase of $203.00 to switch ranges. Note: this excluded basin mixers as we have selected a mixer from Astra Walker.

When the costing came back from Cook's Plumbing Supplies, the figure was a whopping $2,068.19! That is a little over 1000% more!! For example, the RRP difference between the wall bath mixers is $5.00 online, but the cost increase from Cook's is $257.27. Really!

Now I understand that Eden Brae and/or Cook's Plumbing have no doubt done a great deal with Dorf on the Jovian range for Eden Brae's Prestige series homes but that cost increase is truly "epic".

We queried it with Cook's Plumbing. The explanation was that their pricing is not RRP and that the pricing on Dorf's Jovian range is the result of a bulk discount to Eden Brae. Sounds reasonable but surely does not explain the huge difference. Our contract says the builders margin is 20% but with no transparency, the consumer is left with no option but to trust the builder.

This small example does show very powerfully just how costly upgrades can be.

Scotia problem solved!

I had a very positive conversation with Bev at Eden Brae today about our Kitchen and the use of Scotia. Bev was very responsive, friendly and solution oriented – big tick from us!

The plan is to install the kitchen first on the slab as per their normal practice, minus the kickboards, barback and waterfall stone bench. Once the floor is laid, kitchen installers will return to install the kickboards, barback and benchtop. This will involve an additional cost as it involves a call back for trades but it is a cost we are happy to accept to get the result that we want i.e. no scotia. We still need to communicate this with Kitchen Culture, but Bev did not see any problem.

The most important issue is to make a decision about flooring and understand the impact of that decision. Hardwood strip flooring requires a 40mm allowance, whereas a floating floor requires 20mm. This has implications for bench heights, window splashback etc and even floor levels throughout the rest of the ground floor eg. carpeted rooms.

The lesson is to consider all these potential issues upfront. The challenge of course is that this requires a keen eye for detail and the advice of people around you who know what they are talking about, because not all of us our experts.

Scotia Nightmare!

We love hardwood floors, so during the tender process we allowed for a flooring upgrade.
In preparation for our two meetings to select finishes and colours, we visited Di Lorenzo twice to look at carpet, hardwood flooring and tiles. At our first Home Options meeting last week, we were required to choose our interior colours and finishes for kitchen and bathroom vanities, but to do that we needed to have considered flooring i.e. will our colour and finish selections work with our flooring? Eden Brae's process of choosing wall colours etc., first seems 'arse about' to me. I would have thought you build your palette of colour and finishes from the floor up. As a print designer this makes sense and speaking to friends who are interior designers only confirmed my thinking. The right process is incredibly important to good design.

Scotia! Aghh!
When talking to the sales people at Di Lorenzo about hardwood flooring options, we were told that we would need to select scotia to run around the edges of our kitchen cabinetry. To say we were shocked is an understatement. On further investigation, we discovered that Eden Brae's standard practice is to install the kitchen first and then lay the floor – whether it be tiles, a floating floor or a hardwood floor.

Scotia

Scotia is therefore required to finish off the edges because an allowance has be made for the floor to expand and contract. Tiles on the other had can be cut for a tight fit and finished with grout and caulking.

When you speak to flooring experts however, best practice is to lay a hardwood floor first. Then other trades can walk on the floor to fit out the internals. No protection of the floor is required, because the floor is sanded and finished once the internal fit-out is complete. This results in the very best result and removes the need for scotia, which looks bloody awful!

Scotia installed around an island bench in a Metricon display home. Let's be honest – it looks crap!

A hardwood floor (i.e. strip flooring) can bear the weight of a kitchen. We have some conflicting advice on engineered floors – most experts say an engineered floor can not bear the weight of a kitchen whereas we know of one supplier who claims it can. Whatever the case, we do not want scotia ruining a beautiful kitchen.

We have spoken to our Customer Service Administrator (CSA) about this issue and have been advised that Eden Brae will not change their process. I can only guess that Eden Brae is totally geared towards the investment market with 70% of clients investors who would select a standard floor inclusion i.e. tiles. We will be writing to management on this issue, but if anyone has any insights it would be appreciated.

I hope I don't sound like a whinger but attention to detail is the difference between an average job and a great job, the difference between ordinary and quality. Eden Brae I am sure would consider themselves to be a quality builder but on this issue, their process is wrong. As I said above, process is critical to good design and it is also critical to quality building.

What is really disappointing is that the use of scotia was not made clear during the tender process. We were very clear that we were interested in a hardwood floor. I believe we should have been told that the floor would be laid around the kitchen not on top of it. We just assumed that the job would be done properly. We assumed wrong.

If you have your heart set on a hardwood floor and want the job done properly…choose another builder.

Confusion with Facade

Sent an email to Eden Brae today. Ever since our tender presentation in November, our chosen facade has been referred to as 'Long Island' not 'Hampton' as per previous discussions. We referred to the initial email and photo that we had sent to Eden Brae's sales representative that did not appear to have a balcony despite Eden Brae now telling us that the facade would have a balcony. It didn't make sense. We were assured that we would love the 'Long Island' facade.

Over the christmas New Year break, SJ did some digging and worked out that Long Island is in fact a different facade. Both the Hampton and Long Island facades are from Porter Davis in Victoria which has the same design partner as Eden Brae – RSS Design Studio. We requested the Hampton facade from Porter Davis, which Eden Brae agreed to provide in early 2016.

Both Long Island and Hampton are hampton-style facades but Long Island has a balcony and Hampton doesn't. To make things even more confusing, the Porter Davis site now promotes a facade called New England which looks very similar to the Hampton but applied to different floor plan/s. In fact, it looks like they might even use different names for the same facades across difference ranges.

The Hampton facade. Image sourced from Porter Davis website.

The Long Island facade. Image sourced from Porter Davis website.

The New England facade which looks very similar to the Hampton facade.
Image sourced from Porter Davis website.

So I sent an email to Eden Brae today ahead of our contract meeting at the end of the month. Hopefully we can sort it out before their design team starts on plans and elevations. The big lesson here is – check, double check and keep on checking. Hopefully the promise of the facade doesn't turn out to be a facade.