Browse Forums Building A New House Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 42Jun 07, 2016 11:33 am Awesome. That's good to hear that once construction starts you see things move quick. Did you make many modifications to your design? Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 43Jun 07, 2016 12:53 pm Not really. We're having the executive facade, 2.4m ceiling to the front of the house and 3.3 to the rear. We've changed the layout of the butlers pantry to add sliding doors out to the alfresco. We're also putting a double sink and the dishwasher in the pantry. Also a heap more shelving to the laundry with a hanging rail. Otherwise it's pretty much as per plans. Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 45Jun 07, 2016 1:48 pm Wow its moving fast. Looking great! ~Shellby~ GJ Bridgewater 203 11/3/2016 - Site Work Started 29/9/2016 - Handover 142 Work Days 6 Work Days Over https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80174 Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 46Jun 07, 2016 4:18 pm That's unreal Fiat. Bet it feels good to see that progress and to see your new place taking shape. Looking forward to seeing something similar on our block - maybe in a couple of months. 3.3m ceiling in the back (kitchen, family, main bed, etc) areas would be awesome. Thanks for sharing, and please update in this thread anytime. Very keen to see it progress more. GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 47Jun 07, 2016 4:50 pm Thanks Hazza I've read all through your thread today and we will end up with a similar end product! We're having a 7x9shed with concrete drive down to the back of our block. And we're having an 8 X 6 pool. We will also initially concrete our internal courtyard (just brushed) but have plans to turn it into something the below over time. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but I fear our $25k landscape budget won't stretch that far!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our other outdoor areas will be silver travertine. Your French oak floor boards will look awesome!!! We toyed with the idea, and eventually may lay engineered wood (loved Mafi flooring but way to expensive!) but are just doing polished concrete for now. Except wet areas which will be tiled. What other finishes have you decided on? Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 48Jun 07, 2016 6:29 pm It does sound like we're building similar properties. That courtyard design you posted looks shmick. I'm still thinking about the courtyard slab - we'd like to create a pleasant garden feel in that area. Not sure if the slab we've decided on is too prominent at the 6.6x3m... we thought it could be broken up with some pot plants, furniture, etc. It will have plants surrounding it and a bit of a feature garden along the driveway to the alfresco. We're also likely to use timber look stencil-crete to help it blend in whilst being low maintenance. The landscaping budget we thought we had, which was reasonable, has been eaten away in massive bites. We originally chose Tasmanian Oak (proper wood) satin finish as our floorboards, but the quote was way, way over what we were expecting. The laminate we've chosen is Solomons' top quality, so hoping it looks the part - it still cost a considerable upgrade! I am hoping that the colour consultation doesn't have too many surprises in terms of extra dollars. Did you apply Award Series inclusions? Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 49Jun 07, 2016 7:36 pm Yes I know what you mean - it's a huge space to concrete. But agreed - breaking it up with furniture and pot plants will make all the difference. We're also planting a tree in a space there too - the landscaper said that evergreen frangipanis are good as the root system shouldn't cause any damage to the house or the concrete. We also plan on connecting the courtyard with the alfresco with bluestone Pavers and a nice garden. Tasmanian oak is gorgeous - we've chosen that on our alfresco and portico ceiling. Laminates have come along way over the last few years, so I'm sure you'll be stoked with the final outcome on your floor! If you've chosen from the builders range or the award range then there shouldn't be too many surprises for you at your colour consultation - if you know your choices I'd love to see them! Absolutely everything we've chosen is an upgrade. It apparently took hours and hours to enter into their system as it all had to manually be entered. All came under budget though, but it was a huge amount over the base price. Lucky for us the valuation came back fine. One area we did save a few $$ was changing the driveway down to the shed to be concrete tyre tracks instead of a full driveway. The amount we saved there covered the cost of concreting the internal courtyard. Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 50Jun 07, 2016 8:25 pm Concrete tyre tracks? I'm guessing that is grass between concrete. We've got a 2500m2 block - the more I concrete the better! I've been measuring out the courtyard slab again now! hehe I'm thinking of bringing it in 1m from each end - will give a lot more garden beside the lounge and upon entry looking through the large window at the end of the foyer - I'd like the garden feel walking down the lounge hallway - then instead of 600mm from the house making it 750mm. So the new slab would be 4600mm x 2700mm. Still big enough for a table and chairs (nothing big) and an egg chair, etc. Have done a very quick photoshop of the area to give myself a guide. Should give us close to $500 back towards upgrades at the colour consultant too! I've also planned to join the courtyard to the alfresco with blue stone pavers. A bit like the image below. I like the sound of a frangipanni - it was our wedding plant. The French Oak is only in the lounge and bedrooms. We'll be tiling the main floor - apparently the tile choice allowance is quite reasonable - so we're hoping to choose a decent tile within the Award Series - ie. 600x600. The extra for floorboards over carpet has been mostly factored already in the contract price, as well as extra electrical (which was a fair bit) and tiling for alfresco/porch. It's great to hear that your valuation came back positive. My fingers are crossed our valuer on the day, sees what we see. Our builder is overseeing the house, pool, shed, concreting, fencing (rear and from side to house - side boundaries already in place), solar, etc. We're willing to live with the price! Apparently, the local display home has Award Series tap-ware, sinks, tiles, handles etc - we're quite happy with those. We'll be opting for the 3 step cornice in the living areas and slimline floor skirting. We're basically going in with light colours (whites, off whites, etc in mind) and will listen to the design consultant on advise. Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 51Jun 07, 2016 9:17 pm Ha ha! Yes it is - we've got 1800 so less than you, but still big enough for a ride on!! That mock up looks amazing! Question re the garden beds next to the house - will it void termite protection? I'd love to have the gardens right up to the Windows, but didn't think that was advisable because of the termite barrier. It certainly would look better than pots and concrete. That's how we plan on setting out the pavers too. We don't have a display close to us so didn't have a chance to see an example build using the award range, but we did get to check out other previous builds. Our builder contracted the shed, pool house and driveways too. We added the extra quotes for window coverings (15k), landscaping (25k) and solar (7.5k). To be honest, I was really surprised that it valued up so well. I thought we were being a bit cheeky going for such large amounts in extras. We'll add in a bore at some stage to water the garden with, and only needed to do one side of the boundary fence as the others were existing. Hubby built that with our neighbour last week. Looking forward to seeing the results of your colour consult!!! Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 53Jun 08, 2016 7:12 am Will double check with the builder regarding the termite barrier conditions. My thoughts were if the garden is rocked with leafy plants and it's well below (one and a half bricks) the weep holes it should be OK. But will get clarification. Here's what I was able to find regarding the termite barrier that will be installed: Would be great if you're able, to show your colour/design selections. We're certainly still quite open minded, and would appreciate seeing your choices. GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 54Jun 08, 2016 11:07 am Ahh thanks for that - I might wait until all Brick work is done and then get the landscaper and builder there together to see what's possible. Here are some of our choices: Roof - Colorbond Basalt Weatherboard (linea board) - Colorbond dune Garage door/timber features/ceiling of alfresco and portico - tassie oak or tassie oak look Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ External flooring - silver travertine Internal floor (excluding wet areas) - polished concrete (minimal grind) Family bathroom and w/c floor tiles - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ All bathroom wall tiles are white satin subway tiles with ash grout Master ensuite floor tiles - hexagon Nero Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Master ensuite vanity and mirror cabinets as per this Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ But with mizu drift black taps and lower profile sinks Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ All master ensuite tap ware is black. With both an overhead shower head and hand held shower. Having 3 X black robe hooks instead of towel racks. Towels tend to end up on the floor anyway Kitchen island and bench is smart stone Calcatta blanco with 70mm fascia and waterfall edges on the island. Tap is a pull out black mixer similar to this one but it's a bit different. Top cupboards are eggar laminate in Arlington oak Bottom drawers are all laminex polar white in a satin finish. Mirror splashback No handles (c-channels instead) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Island pendants X 3 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Butlers pantry is Blanco Piedra smart stone, as is the laundry benches, some of the bathroom vanity tops Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 900mm smeg oven and gas cooktop Internal colour - wattyl kitty grey Feature walls - Kedron Blue Entry pendant Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Powder room cabinetry in the Arlington oak : Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Laundry and in Arlington oak with Piedra stone bench. That's all I can remember for now! Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 55Jun 08, 2016 5:08 pm Awesome - thanks for sharing your choices. Looks like your place is going to have some character in it. My wife really wants neutral and white tones throughout - I'm trying to convince her a bit of personality here or there wouldn't go astray. I might be lucky and the pantry doors might get a bit of texture look or something like that, or a bit of a feature tile in the bathrooms. Hopefully the design consultant will be able to give some useful advice, as I'm sure she will. Won't be long for you, and you'll see all those designs/colours in your own place. That'll be cool. We're doing pendants in the foyer and 3 over the kitchen bench too. I phoned the Kordon Termite barrier installer here and he said that as long as the Kordon barrier isn't compromised (garden above the weep holes) it is fine - he advised against bark, etc as that'll attract termites. Rocks are fine and he said he uses sand as well as it is good for weed prevention. Anyhow, it's left the option to shorten the concrete slab for us - so will be thinking about that. Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 56Jun 08, 2016 5:57 pm Below are what we're putting forward and open to suggestions: Brick (pretty important for us as this is our facade - no render) - between PGH Moondust or the style on the GJ Gardner website for Mandalay - these might even be the same? Roof/fascia/downpipes/garage panel/window panels/: as per GJ Gardner image above - or close to. Except ours will be colorbond, not tiled. Weatherboards: as per GJ Gardner image - I guess we quite like the look that they've chosen there! Ensuite: shower rail and overhead as per below Vanity (wall hung)/sinks/taps/bench/mirror: pretty much as below (Award Series in display home) Main bath and powder room in same style as above Ensuite bath: freestanding with floor tap as below Main bathroom: shower head as below Foyer pendant lights x 2: as below Kitchen bench pendant lights x 3: An off white type floor tile, hoping 600x600; kitchen and bathroom feature tiling - quite open-minded to more experienced suggestions. We'll likely change our current 20mm stone waterfall and use that credit towards other upgrades. From our plans, I'd say we'll fill in tiling voids that are close together, but have gaps - if it's a slight price difference. From the plan it looks like our cupboard heights in the kitchen/laundry stop at 2100mm... with 2550mm ceilings, I think it looks like too much fill above... so will be asking to raise the cupboard height (more cupboard) to reduce this look. So, nothing radical in our design - but for us it will be clean, new and pretty awesome - as we have been in an aged (1980 built, maybe 1990 kitchen/bath) single bathroom place for the past 10 years. Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 57Jun 09, 2016 7:41 am Love those choices! I think that's the same bath we're having - the posh solus 1870 from memory. The vanity looks really nice too - heaps of storage which I'm sure your wife will appreciate! I'm jealous of the floor tap! That was one thing I decided against due to cost. That roof colour looks like woodland grey maybe? Whites can be the most difficult colours to choose. It took me ages to choose the white paint for our internals- maybe try to get a sample of the off white tile, the wall paint and stone bench and make sure they all go together? What are tiling voids? Is that normal tiles v tiles with rectified edges? Ha ha - you guys won't know yourselves after having such a small dated house! We sold our house back in feb and now live in a small 3 bed unit while we build. It's trying times with 3 kids in a confined space, but will be all worth it in the end. Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 58Jun 09, 2016 4:25 pm Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 59Jun 09, 2016 7:43 pm Ok, that makes sense now. That's a good idea - I might look into that. It certainly makes for a cleaner look. I asked my builder again about the internal garden, and it's actually more to do with the structural integrity of the foundations and walls. I found this earlier: https://www.qbcc.qld.gov.au/sites/defau ... 20Home.pdf So I guess it is possible to do the garden if you follow those precautions. After a delay yesterday the roofing started today as well as the concrete grinding. It should take a week to get the the final finish then fingers crossed it doesn't get damaged during the internal fit out. The man who does the grinding/polishing said that its up there with one of the best slabs he's ever seen...very encouraging! I forgot to say earlier that those pendants are gorgeous - great choice! Re: GJ Gardner - Mandalay 298 - QLD 60Jun 09, 2016 9:32 pm Thanks for sharing that guide. It was very informative. Our property is H1 class clay. Makes me think, my original plan was to run an agi drain around the courtyard slab and beside the driveway to past the shed. I reckon with fall to the agi drain, and making sure the agi drain falls adequately to the rear, planting drought tolerant small root plants could stay within the guidelines. Then again, the storm water pipes could throw another spanner in the works. That's unreal about your place having the roof started and the floors ground. Bet it was a good feeling to know that the slab was poured and finished to a high standard. Your place is going to be so cool - I'm not a design person by any means, but I like the natural look of polished concrete, and combining it with your other features will look very sharp. Lots of character. I guess your windows will be arriving soon? On my way to work I drive past a couple of GJ homes, and they've just had their roof trusses fitted out ready, and noticed their windows are on site. May I ask why you chose not to use GJ Gardiner? I'm actually meeting with one of the sales guys tomorrow for an appointment. Definitely not signing anything yet… 3 14036 Hi all. Anyone know when the $11,000 limit was set in legislation for renovations in QLD? Ive been renovating for 5 years now and this was the limit back then. As we know,… 0 4827 Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5673 |