Hi all,
After months of planning....and plenty of waiting our build is finally underway. We are building the Windsor 43E by NBG. There was no display for this home so it has been a small leap of faith in that the space will suit our very large family. We have designed our own home and owner built before so we are fairly confident that we have made the right choice with this plan and overall design but it is always easier to visualise if you can walk through something first. Anyway we are just rapt that ball is finally rolling .
We did the whole sea change thing around 7 years ago and purchased our land around 18months ago to build our dream home. We are around 1km from the beach and cannot wait to be living in this home ! Slab pour is hopefully tommorow....fingers crossed. Will post up colour selections, plan changes & upgrades soon....

Contracts Signed - Aug 2010
Final Drawings - 17th Nov 2010
Colourworld - 23rd Nov 2010
Site Cut & 37 Concrete Piers - 14-25th Feb 2011
Final slab prep - 10th March 2011

Here are the plans...
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Elevations....
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Congratulations on starting your build. Does your name suggest that you have 8 kids?

Your house plan is great, I love the fact that every bedroom has a WIR.

Hope it all goes smoothly and your dream becomes a reality!

Thanks carlswil - 7.5 actually with lucky last due at the end of May and yes we can't wait for those WIR since we are all squishing into a 3 bedroom rental atm.

I hope so too Deemaree I followed your thread (well most of it!). I think you had started your build while we were still deciding on plans. The builder is saying they are getting double storeys up in around 6 months - fingers crossed but we will see. Slab has been put back a couple of times due to weather, so it has been 1 month already since they turned soil and still no slab it is looking very close now though.

Here are our exterior colour selections....
Bricks - Boral 'Mist'
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Cladding 1st Floor - Wattyl 'Graceful White'
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Windows - A&L White
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Roof - Colourbond Windspray
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Gutters & Downpipes - Colourbond Surfmist
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Garage Door - Colourbond Shale Grey
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Front Door - Wattyl 'Blue Ridge'
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Haven't posted in ages but some good progress has been made on our build. Our frame is up with roof trusses on site and this stage should be completed by the end of the week. So far we are really happy and it is fantastic to finally see the dimensions and layout of the home (since there was no display for this design at the time). Really thrilled with the ground floor layout and the 1st floor looks great (well from the ground, I can't get up the top since I am 38 weeks pregnant ) Hopefully the weather will be kind and we can get to lock up asap - can't wait to see how the exterior colours come together but so far I am loving our sexy Mist bricks (which I agonised over for weeks). Our baby will be born in 12 days so exciting times...I only wish we were in our new home instead of crammed into this shoe box rental Hopefully sooner than we think. Since completion of the slab onsite works have been solid and consistant...hope it continues

Some pics...

Slab...finally! It was a long time coming
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z44 ... G_0276.jpg

Bricks delivered
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z44 ... G_0313.jpg

Frame delivered
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z44 ... G_0312.jpg

Bricking of the garage starts...
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z44 ... G_0329.jpg

Ground floor frame up in one day...
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1st floor frame is up but haven't taken any pics yet. Will be back with those and our upgrades/interior colours

Hi,

I really like your brick selection. I did consider Boral Mist as well, but ended up selecting La Mesa bricks instead.

I bet you are really anxious to move in with being in a 3 bedroom rental with 7 kids and another one very shortly to arrive.
Hope everything goes well and you have a super fast build.

Wow looks great, love your colour choices, outside will look fantastic

Progress is slow but the build is moving along and it's all beginning to look like a real home. Not without drama's - we have had an action packed month with a new baby born, me back in hospital getting my appendix out and even the building site has been slightly controversial with some tradies having a huge brawl on site (won't say too much about that!) Bricks look like being completed over the next week and hopefully we will be at lock up very soon. I am so over looking at the incomplete exterior and can't wait for the interior to get started - hopefully progress will be a little faster since weather related delays should be non-existant (well that's the theory anyway!)



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Hope you don't mind bisenough, it's easier to follow :

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BTW, in PB you need to copy the whole IMG code to see the pics here.
In other words, all that's missing from your posted links above, is :
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before each link &
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behind each one, for the pics to appear !

Thanks Southies

Wow!! Your house is looking great. Love the floor plan!!

love your bricks. how did you find the contrast between the white and shale grey roof. we have that combination in our barn.

Hi equine,
Our roof is actually Windspray and the guttering is Shale grey. It's a bit hard to tell at this stage as the windows are still wrapped in black packaging and I still can't look past the frame. I think once the cladding is on and painted this week (fingers crossed) we will finally be able to see the result of our choices. To quote the nbg colour consultant 'the grey and the white will look hot' lol I hope she is right. Would post more pics if I could ever get away from this new baby!

you will have to post more pics, the kids are going to love the place, and I really like your enormous pantry. I really like the bricks as well they were one that we were considering.

Thanks! Yeah I can' wait for the pantry - determined for it not to become a dumping ground for clutter
Carpenters have turned up to do the foil wrap & cladding but nothing exciting has happened yet. It looks like some of the windows had to be reset so they spent time doing that.

Here is our list of upgrades & changes...


Bonus offer we took
- Colourbond roof
- Full fitout to all wir. Shelving units, shoe racks etc
- Spa to ensuite
- Stone benchtops to kitchen, bathroom & ensuite
- Wall to wall carpets
- Aqua water filter

Upgrades -

- Selected different style of windows to front facade
- Painted weatherboard cladding to entire 2nd floor (more expensive than brick due to paint work apparently)
- Add french door to main bedroom
- Home theatre system supplied & installed by builder with built in laminated shelving. Different paint colour to all walls of HT
- Reconfigured kitchen with extra bench & cupboards. Extra pot drawers. Laminated back of island bench
- Walk in pantry
- Added small media room/study
- Larger linen cupboard
- Additional overhead cupboards to laundry and built in clothes drawer
- Extra downlights. A couple of extra outside lights. Installation of some interior lights that we are supplying
- Tiled hob/extra step to spa
- Timber lock flooring up & downstairs except wet areas and kids bedrooms
- Increase height of 2nd story ceilings to 2550mm to match ground floor. All internal doors increased to high hinged 2340mm
- Staircase upgraded to stained timber
- Kubis showerheads
- Vac pan to kitchen
- Glass feature tiles to ensuite & bathroom
- Extra power & tv points
- Towel rails and minor bits & pieces

Good choice in upgrades and glad that things are progressing (saw an update in other thread).

That WIP will be fantastic!

Looking good. Generous sized rooms.
You'll love the inclusions.
We just love our wardrobe fit-out, water filter and got the vac pan in kitchen too.
Home theatre is tops.

Oh i love your floor plans. Definitely we'll keep in mind of it when we build again next time
May I ask what colour code of Nature Lock did you choose for upstairs and downstairs?

Haven't posted in a while but our house is finally at lock up. Rather peeved at how long it has taken, although we are happy with the quality of the work so far. There is no way we will be in by end of September which is what we were quoted by the builder back in March, even their 'worst case' scenario date of mid October is extremely unlikely So disappointing and extremely frustrating. We've been promised that things will move quicker now that weather won't be an issue (will believe that when I see it!)

I will need to take take some more pics to show the completed roof over our bedroom and entry. I am really happy with how it is looking although the colours haven't turned out quite like I expected. Husband is very meh about the top cladding colour, he was expecting something a little more dramatic. I thought our colours would look more grey, especially after paying a graphic designer to mock up an image of our house with our selected colours. It's amazing how colours can change under different lights - the roof isn't as dark as I imagined and from a distance the painted cladding throws a cream tone but close up it is a grey white. Oh well too late now! I do think the colours look fresh and 'beachy' in our coastal estate, especially in the sun.

Hopefully plastering will be starting sometime this week...

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What will be the kitchen... with servery window out to the outdoor area and wip to the right.
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Hi Jnny123.
The colour of the nature lock is 'exotic blackbut'. It was just a standard one, we didn't bother upgrading. I hope it stays looking good for the years to come as we have it just about everywhere - only the home theatre and study downstairs are carpeted and the kids bedrooms upstairs. I have read your thread and seems you have had some bad luck with some of the frame collasping . I also know what you mean regarding the frustration of driving past your site everyday and see no work being done for extended periods. We live around the block from our site and walk or drive past 3-4 times a day - sometimes I think living so close is a bit of curse. I hope your experience improves!

And thanks Rowena. We are so looking forward to those inclusions . The wardrobe fit outs will be bliss and we can't wait to kick back in that home theatre. I just found a website where a guy hand cuts glow in the dark stars for a realistic looking night sky (http://www.theglowpatch) they look awesome and will definitely be getting some for our ht.

Hoping to post up more pics next week of the plastering....fingers crossed

I also have nature lock, but it's just for upstairs in the main area only. All bedrooms will have carpet. And downstairs we thinking of tiling.

I passed by my site twice a day as the house is just around the corner from where my son's school, so before I drop him off at school, he wants to see if there are anyone onsite. He's as excited as we are.
We have some progress in the last week and by Thursday, I received an invoice from the builder's office. I was told that Framestage stage finish. It didn't look finish to me, but I guess the builder can say it finish. I can't wait to see the roof tiles. Not too sure when that will be done as no roof tiles arrive onsite yet. I wonder when as the floorboard that they use for firstfloor have been like 4 weeks and I was being told that it shouldn't expose for too long out in the rain/sun.