@David, i'll definitely let you know how long the council takes to approve everything. I'm hoping soon because our bank won't sign off on any progress payments until this is done.

@tonycfc, as David pointed out, the price on the Firststyle website is the absolute bare bones. If your land is on the fringe of Parkbridge, mandatory fire protection alone is 7k. I was shocked when i was quoted something like $600 for the mailbox!

@Selkie, good luck with the loan process, we had headaches with ours too.

Thanks Ryan, well I hope it does come through for you quickly.
I went with CBA for my loan, hopefuly they won't ask the same.
Which bank did you go through?

im currently waiting for Firstyle to get back to me with the tender... i hope it wont go over 280K for Newbury 32... it doesnt include tiles (flooring) and carpet because I will get someone else to install them for me after the house been built...

I went with St George. The first stage of the building process which involves drawing up the plans, submitting it to council etc. costs about 9k. We couldn't get this 9k drawn from our loan because St George won't release any funds unless its council approved. So we had to use 9k from our savings, which we should get back when everything is approved. Hope that made sense

Ok, yes that makes sense. For me, the CBA is releasing the loan in progress payments as required for us. 1st is obviously the land portion, then the house by instalments or drawdown milestones. But Im waiting on the bank to approve the way the the builder wants the progress payments... I don't like the way it's done but i'll wait and see what my solicitor and bank says.

Hi everyone,

How's you been? I am finally can give a good news to you that we finally get our ACC and should be starting our construction very soon. Finally i can get excited.

Hope everyone in here is well and everything go well too.

Hi Robbie,

That is a good idea but you should check your contract with your real estate agent as our agent had stated one condition about we can contact buyer in the auction privately in a certain period of time after the auction. If they find out we will be in trouble. Maybe that is just my agent but just check your contract which u signed with your real estate agent in case it is same as us. And our agent not even let us attend to the auction at all we all need to hide in the back of the house so we don't know who had come. Maybe we just have a doggie agent after all.

seem everyone go to the council and bank stage. How excited it is.

@ ryan ~ we are in Robey Ave. Our fire protection thingie added 8.5k too. So indeed you are cheaper than us. Where is your land?

@Tony ~ it will be cheaper if you do your tiling after handover yourself. We will do our after handover too.

Selkie, congrats on your construction phase! We have about 2 weeks left to go before council approves our plans so hopefully they'll start on ours soon.

We're building on Robey Ave too so we might be neighbours The BAL-29 bushfire requirements actually set us back $7900. Let's hope this rain clears out soon so your slab can settle properly.

Hi Ryan, great to hear you have only 2 weeks left in council prior to the builder then prepering to commence the build! In just over a month you will have a slab going down!
Jealous!!
I am still waiting to hear from my bank! So far 14 days and no final response or request for more info.... I guess i'll just keep my fingers crossed. All I have been told is to expect a response by next week.
Good luck with the final preparation stages and hope it's all smooth sailing for the commencement of the build!!!

Hi Ryan where is your block? As Robey Ave is really long and go around the bush too. I didn't hear back from Mirvac yet. They said they will let us know what to do next after we send them the ACC, so don't know when they will start yet but hopefully soon.

I just check that Mirvac indeed charge us $19000 extra from the base price for the bushfire requirements. I am shock i keep thinking it was $8500 but when i checked tonight i was shock.

Hi david hope you get your bank approval soon so everything can move forward. I will cross my fingers for you too.

And don't be jealous i am sure your will get there soon too. As i mention before your house is a single storey i think even you build later than ours you might finish building before us.

Hi Selkie, thanks for that! I went for a drive past on Sunday afternoon ( in the rain) and noticed that you have your site fence up! Looks like they will be doing the slab soon! Since my brother lives in Parkbridge we usually go around the area once a week and see how things are progressing in the neighborhood. Some houses go up so quickly!

@David, hehe thanks mate. I'm sure we will get all our houses done before Christmas

@Selkie, i'm on the far far west of the estate along a line of plots still available for sale. I think I know where yours is, its a plot of land with a substation on it right? If it's the one close to Starfire Ave we were very close to buying the land next door! We decided last minute to buy the one on the west of the estate. Did they explain why you had to pay an increase on the bushfire requirements?

Hi Ryan, Im in Corsair Avenue and there are houses starting to go up all around us which is making it painful watching others go up and our block just sitting there. lol.
Here's hoping for good weather for everyone to aid with the build process!

Hi Ryan, Yeah we are in the concer of starfire and robey. LOL!! That is us. We went yesterday and the wood slab is already there and they told us that our slab will be poured by WED if it is not rainning. Fingers cross the rain go away untill next Wed, at least the soil will be dry before they pour the slab. My grandpa was a builder in China so my mum know a bit how to build. She told me after they pour the slab if it rain it is not really a matter just take time to dry but before that the soil better be dry before the slab down.

We did ask for the cost break down but the sale never explain and break down for us. only told it must be done so it is in the total price. We had too much headache from the loan and broker so we didn't pay much attention to it untill you talking about the BAL-29. We been thinking it is a normal price for it before. We know it is no point to ask now as it is all set. But $19000 is a lot.

Hi David,

Really hope ur bank will get back to you by tomorrow. All the best.

We tried to drive around yesterday but it was pouring rain. We can't find you land. But I am sure next time i can find it when it is not rainnig. Am going to check out the site again on the SAT if it is not rainning. Just can't believe how many house are built already.

The worker told us if we build a single it will be very very quick but we told him we are building a double then he said oh then it will take awhile. LOL!! So as i mention before your house will be built before you know it. I think maybe within 6 months you will have your house ready to move in. As i know we may get our partly done house hand over in around 6 months time. (as we do our tiles and landscaping after handover) so I am sure your will be a lot faster.

Our back yard is tiny. we think 4 Meters time 11 Meter will be pretty alright size for us as we don't want a big back yard. but when we go to the site and see there don't seem like 4 meters at all. I think we are over estimate our 4 meters backyard. Oh well need to design our backyard better to fit the garden bed that we plan. LOL!!

Thanks Selkie,
I think everything will be ok. Just waiting on the independant valuation which should be back to the bank by friday so all seems promising.
The weather has been terrible. It has delayed a lot of builds. Lucky for the very few people where painters, tilers and the internal work can still go on and their build does't get delayed too much. Hopefully the weather clears up and everyone's builds can move along quickly.
I hope the weather clears up enough for your slab to go down Selkie!!
Most back yards these days are not very big. That's why I was lucky to get the block I did. I end up with 12.5m long and 9.6m deep back yard with a 23m long single story house. We have a dog so need a bit of space for the pooch!

hey David,

How's going today? hear from the bank yet?

nothing yet... going to chase them up shortly.
Hopefully everything is looking good.