Positives

I wanted to jot down a few notes on what has been done well to date... given I've mainly focused on our frustrations in the posts from yesterday:

• flexibility - given we're dealing with a project home builder whose prices (whilst not cheap by project builder standards) are a lot less than custom designs, we were able to play around with the floor plan quite a bit.  They even offered a bunch of pre-designed variations for our home choice.  Big things we did included adding a dining room at the back of the property, having our alfresco sliding doors meet at the corner with no pillar in the way (at some cost of course), flipped the master bedroom to the rear of the property, and added a small office upstairs
• CDC approval process was all handled very well.  We didn't have to do much at all and it all went through reasonably quickly and without many issues
• Fallen tree disaster.... early in our build process, an enormous tree at the front of our property fell over in a storm.  It wasn't clear whether it was on our property or our neighbours' property and also what the implications of the fallen tree would be.  It knocked over our new electricity pole, and ended up in the SES and energy companies having to clear it all overnight.  Whilst not yet fully resolved, (and whilst we received a few odd emails early on which claimed we'd arranged for removal of the tree without their permission) they've taken care of the issues so far and assured us that insurance companies would cover all costs.  Our involvement has been limited which is good.
• Response times - whilst correspondence hasn't been that satisfactory and at times quite unclear, they are always quick to respond to emails.  We've rarely had to chase responses from all departments we've dealt with
• Choices - with the exception of the carpeting choices which were to be frank, rubbish, the choices available within their standard range have been extensive and of a good quality.  Tiling choices were excellent, and despite extensively upgrading our kitchen choices (including large island benches with caesarstone tops, quality taps, integrated Euroean appliances etc) the extra cost wasn't too bad

That's all that immediately comes to mind.  More to come (we hope) as the build progresses!