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Final plans
Slab pics
Brickwork pics (Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11Day 12)
Roof frame pics
Colorbond moment
Grey float (Day 1 & 2 Day 3 & 4)
Ceiling and White Set


TIMELINE

Block O&A: 01/04/11
PPA with RBC: 31/08/11
Settlement: 08/09/11
Decided not to build with RBC: 31/12/11
PPA with Gemmill: 21/01/12
Building Contracts: 04/05/2012
Planning Approval: 19/05/12
Prestart: 30/05/12
Finance Approval: 30/05/12
Building Permit: 05/09/12
Earthworks: 08/10/12 - 31/10/12
Footings: 26/11/12
Slab: 27/11/12
Temporary Power Installed: 14/12/12
Bricks Delivered: 18/12/12
Bricking: 17/01/13 - 09/02/13
Service Trench Dug: 31/01/13
Roof Timbers: 12/02/13 - 21/02/13
Render: 21/02/13, 27/02/13, 13/03/13
Roof Cover: 26/02/13 - 06/03/13
Grey Float: 14/03/13 - 20/03/13
White Set: 20/03/13 - 04/04/13
Ceilings: 27/03/13 - 04/04/13
Glazing: 08/04/13
Lockup: 17/04/13
Render Texture Coat: 19/04/13 -
Painter: 22/04/13
Cabinets: 24/04/13
Garage Grano: 26/04/13
Tiling: 02/05/13 - 14/05/13


THE LONG VERSION

I'm back.... with a new builder and a new plan. For those of you are interested (and have a few hours to spare) our building journey so far can be found here viewtopic.php?f=31&t=50300

For those of you who would prefer the short version, here it is...

About two and half years ago Hubby and I started to think about where we wanted to build our "forever" house. We came across Waterwheel Ridge Estate in Bedfordale by complete accident and soon after decided it was where we would build our house. The block we wanted was finally released for sale in March 2011 and we secured it soon after. It officially became ours when titles were issued in September 2011. During the time we were waiting for the block to come on the market we started looking at display houses and fell head over heals for a couple of houses from the same builder. Once we secured the block we approached the builder about combining the two plans to create our dream house, hoping that by the time titles were issued most of the paperwork stage would have been completed and construction would be able to start ASAP. Things have not gone to plan and we recently made the decision to change builders.

To justify walking away from the first builder and losing close to $10,000 the new house had to be extra special. We started looking at plans all over again and quickly realised that none of them really suited us so I bought myself a graph pad and started to design a house that incorporated all the things we want in a house. We then approached a few different builders to see what they could do for us. A couple weeks later we had designs and costings (very impressive considering we waited 4 months to get to this stage with the first builder) and decided to build with Gemmill Homes.

The service we have received has been absolutely fantastic and I cannot recommend our sales and design consultant highly enough. He has managed to turn my chaotic sketch and ramblings into a fantastic plan which I just know we are going to love living in . It became apparent when talking with the other builders that our budget was large enough to allow for some bling, something which we didn’t think we could afford based on the price of original house. Wanting to see just how much we could fit into our budget, we went a little crazy with the upgrades and have ended up with a house plan that is so much more than we ever imagined we could have. The cherry on top is that we get all this for $65,000 less than what we would have spent on the first house (which only had upgraded stone benchtops in the kitchen). They also threw in ducted aircon and a $10,000 prestart allowance to sweeten the deal.

Some of the bling includes:
- 34c ceilings to entry/theatre/dining/living and 31c to the rest of the house including alfresco, portico and garage
- Aquacheck lining to alfresco, portico and verandahs
- Awning windows
- Fixed window kitchen splashback
- Bifold window and extended benchtop in kitchen to alfresco
- Stacker doors in living/dining to alfresco
- Upgraded external and internal doors and door furniture
- Hobless showers in ensuite and bathroom
- Pot drawers, bin drawer and overhead cupboards to kitchen
- Upgraded cornice to entire house including alfresco, garage, portico and verandahs
- Upgraded tapware
- Stone benchtops to kitchen, laundry, utility, ensuite and bathroom
- Colorbond gutters, fascia and downpipes (standard inclusion)
- Soft closers to all kitchen drawers and doors (standard inclusion)
- Colour consultation with interior designer (standard inclusion)

So without further ado, here is our new plan

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Love your plan as l would, similar to mine but sooooo much bigger.
Wow $65.ooo, Right think to walk away,if it doesn't feel right
then it probably wasn't,will follow your journey,sure it will be a
happy one.

Congratulations SB,
Will be following your build with interest and hope it is smooth sailing from here. Seems like it was definitely the right decision to change. congratulations
Love the plan, HUGE!! you know Kiwi will give you a hard time for no sink in the toilet though

I JUST THOUGHT THAT!! then read the 2 comments and saw yours!! I was thinking...owww, big house, guests wont go into the bathroom to wash their hands as that loo is really the powder room cos there is no loo near the lounge blah blha then saw...BINGO!!! gogo read my thoughts ,....

NO POWDER ROOM>>>>>>>>>>>> poo on the handle..if they do bother to go into the bathroom to use the basin

see... if guests had to use the kids loo..I would just be freaking each time someone 'popped in' cos I wouldnt be sure if they had to relieve themselves or if they can hold on till they go home and if they cant..is the kids loo CLEAN>???????..arrghghg??????????

so tell me? why no powder room? or why no basin in the kids loo? this is 2012 SB

that utility area/ store room would make a good powder room (take some pantry. a powder room is a loo and basin that you know is clean enough for the meter man to use if he so desires etc) esp for playing outside...they can just come in there, dump and leave it for you to flush!

but great plan otherwise...

HOW BIG IS THIS HOUSE!

losing 10k but saving 65k....do the maths....meant to be! well done
(and Jay aint going to be coming on here anymore is he? droning on? )

Thats an amazing plan SB, glad you found a builder you are happy with

Wow SB that plan looks great, we are building with Gemmill Southwest and they have been fantastic so far, we found their quality and standard inclusions were far better than a lot of the other builders, we are close to site work starting

Looking forward to following your build

Pattycake - I just read your thread and our plans are very similar You obviously have amazing taste

Gogo - thanks I'm hoping for smooth sailing to, although I know we are likely to encounter a few issues as you would with any build, but its has to better than what we have gone thru so far.

Kiwi - I knew it was coming To be honest a powder room just wasn't high on the list of priorities and I actually had one taken out of a plan that was drawn up by another builder. I hate cleaning toilets so the less toilets to clean the better! Also I think that 2 is enough for 4 people (only the 2 of us now but will hopefully be 2 kiddies in the not too distant future). We did consider making the ensuite toilet into a powder room but I'm not willing to give up the storage space. I live in a house with minimal storage and it drives me crazy, no room for anything and everything is cluttered so storage was a big priority for the new plan. But I'll tell you what, just for you I will reconsider having a basin in the kids toilet because it really wouldn't mean losing a lot of space in the WIL. Most of the compact wall hung basins I have seen are so small that you can't really wash your hands properly without splashing water all over the floor and this means more cleaning for me but I will have another look and if I can find one that you can actually wash normal size hands in then I will have a serious think about if it is worth sacrificing my beloved storage space

Tinkster - thanks Hows the house coming? Must be great to finally be in after waiting so long for titles!

Excited - I have been stalking your thread I came across it when looking for reviews on Gemmill. We too were very impressed with the quality and standard inclusions and were amazed at how reasonable the upgrade prices were

As for the size of the house, it is HUGE 460sqm total and 304sqm living

THANK YOU!! I LOVE YOU!!!!
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(yeah, I hate too many loos...good idea to have just 2 but one as a powder room..whooaoao!)

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kids will enjoy playing in there, so it will be like another rumpus room!

yay you. WAY TO GO!!!

and kiwi is one happy bird!!

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and congrats on such a huge house. your time will be spent cleaning that, rather than an extra loo, so bring on those huge floors.

coming to visit one day.....you have been warned.

Love your new plans SB I'm soooo jealous. Look at all that space! I'll let hubby know he can find me at yours

And don't worry about poop on the door handles! My kids use stuff called toilet paper these days - less mess. It's great, comes in rolls. No need to just use bare hands. It IS 2012 afterall

ha ha

yeah...but SB doesnt have any yet..and when she does, while they are learning about toilet rolls and their use...it will be smeared on more than the door handle!!

Trust Kiwi to turn a thread into talk about poop on door handles!!

Looks like a great plan...& huge.. love all your storage, good work!! Missed your other thread I think, but following this one...

hee hee

her fault....didnt have a basin in the loo.

let that be a lesson to everyone. your threads will have this in them if you dont put a basin in your loos people!!!

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I LOOOVE your plan...that alfresco is just HUGE!

mmmm...wondering what kinda kids are raised in kiwi land...my 4 year old has never got poo on her hands, or any where other than the toilet...must be a cultural thing?!

I am surprised that the other builder didn't fight to keep your business...but I would say you had already decided a better deal was getting done with this builder, a great plan, great extras, and great price!

Good luck for a smooth build!

Oh yes i found you,maybe that could be a bad thing

You know we have felt your pain but now we share your excitement

Poo on the door,nope not mine,though one did think it was good to use to paint the wall,ewwwwwww
Was a baby,so thats makes it ok,doesn't it

very nice and huge house and alfresco. how much is the area?

Yup, 4 and 2yo here and never had poop anywhere but toilet, potty or nappy (or undies )

If we'd had the $$ it would have been great to have a guest toilet with basin though

you could do what we did,turned the kiddies toilet into a powder room,just add a basin & mirror,bingo,powder room

Geez all this talk about poop, I thought I'd make it a few pages in before the poopie talk started I am going to look at wall hung basins today and if I find one that I like that won't take too much room away from the WIL, we might do what KA has done.


Thanks chuffy You're welcome anytime


Thanks rocketship Yep soooooooo much storage, hubby thinks its its just an excuse for me to buy more things to fill it up


Thanks Vans It is huge, we worried at first that it was too big but then figured we had the space so why not To tell you the truth, even if the other builder did try to get us to stay, it wouldn't have made a difference as it would have been too little to late, the damage had been done.


Geez I can't hide from you anywhere Welcome to my new thread KA \


Thanks CC The total area is 460sqm with 304sqm of living

H1 is such a wonderful resource that teaches us so many things, including things that don't even relate to building. The lesson for today... do not take toilet training advice from a Kiwi

Disclaimer If when I do get to the stage of toilet training if I end up with poop on the door handles, I will retract the above statement

i'll show ya

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we plant em.

no poop that you can see!!