Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 10, 2014 10:22 am I have been going through many of the forums about New Homes here. Now that I am into it, thought of starting a new trail on my experiences.
We have been looking at many designs through different builders, but the ones that particularly interested us from the very beginning were Simonds Avalon and Metricon Merricks. I came up with a list of all the upgrades that I wanted, and passed it on to both the builders and got quotes from them. It was initially very difficult to choose which one to go ahead with. Still we were only in the initial stages of the house. The quote that we got from Metricon was much more than what Simonds gave us and hence made up our mind to go with Simonds. By this time, we also started looking for a land which would suit our needs. After almost 6 weeks of search, managed to find a titled Lot in Forsyth Park, which ticked all our boxes and hence paid the advance for that on 16th of July 2014. The land was 546m2 (14*39). Its after visiting the Avalon display home, my husband felt that its not wide enough . As we had a lot which had a frontage of 14m, we wanted something even wider.. And that's when we started thinking about Cleo and Harcrest. The sales consultant(Al Twig) we were dealing with was very helpful. He gave us a quote for both the houses. Finally we decided to proceed with Harcrest - the most important reason was that it had a retreat along with the Master Bedroom. Since then its been a long journey.. We changed a few things in the floorplan and added an Alfresco.. We had to go back and forth on some of the items with the sales consultant and get things sorted out. Finally, we paid the advance on 4th of August. And then, after a few days, we got a call from our CRC (Crystal Stanley) , to collect out Tablet... It was exciting to get something at this stage.. The land finally got settled on the 4th of September. We had our gallery visit on the 16th of September, where the lady kept on increasing the price on some of the items, which were already reduced by our sales consultant. She said it wasn't estimated correctly, and if she didn't do it , the estimator would increase it. Even though we didn't agree to that, we thought of taking it up separately with the sales consultant. We selected all our interiors, electric items and tiles. There was an extra of almost 16k added to our total price, as part of the gallery additions. We were very happy with the electric appointment, as she (Negin Said Shakoor) sounded quite sensible and helpful. She gave genuine reasons for every increase in the price and helped us a lot in selecting the right items and upgrades. We did not upgrade anything when it came to tiling. We selected all the standard items. We were anyways planning to do the ground floor tiling outside and not go with Simonds tiling. So the only tile that we had to select were for the wet areas. We were happy with all our selections/upgrades and the only slight disappointment was the increase in the prices , that came to us a surprise for the items that were already agreed - such as carpet, windows and so on. All in all a really great experience with Simonds so far... Progress so far... Settlement of Land: 4/09/2014 Gallery Appointment: 16/09/2014 Contract Signed: 9/10/2014 Developer Approval : 31/10/2014 Building Permit and Insurances: 3/11/2014 Finance Approval: 10/2/2015 Site Start - Drains and Plumbing: 17/2/2015 Base Slab Pour: 27/2/2015 Frame Stage: 13/3/2015 Ground Floor Bricklayer: 31/3/2015 Lock Up Stage: 10/4/2014 First Floor Bricklayer: 17/4/2015 Fixing Stage: 24/4/2015 PCI: 23/6/2015 Occupancy Permit: 26/6/2015 Handover: 17/7/2015 Fence: 17/7/2015 Flooring (tile): 20/7/2015 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 2Oct 10, 2014 10:46 pm Congratulations. We are building the Avalon in Adelaide. Did our Gallery selections on 3 September and waiting for our contract. We've never seen it only a plan, so a little nervous that you say it seemed narrow. But I don't know why that bothers me, there's only two of us and a lazy dog! There's another Adelaidean in here (Pam) who'll be building the Harcrest next year. She'll be pleased to see this thread! What facade have you chosen? Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 3Oct 13, 2014 9:30 am TomCat Congratulations. We are building the Avalon in Adelaide. Did our Gallery selections on 3 September and waiting for our contract. We've never seen it only a plan, so a little nervous that you say it seemed narrow. But I don't know why that bothers me, there's only two of us and a lazy dog! There's another Adelaidean in here (Pam) who'll be building the Harcrest next year. She'll be pleased to see this thread! What facade have you chosen? Thanks Tomcat...We have selected the Plymouth façade. What's the size of your Lot? Our Lot has 14m frontage, hence we got inclined towards Harcrest which has a width of 12m. But if your Lot is 12m wide, Avalon would be a perfect one. Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 4Oct 13, 2014 9:46 am We changed a few things structurally as listed below: 1) swapped the position of the kitchen and family room. 2) changed the position of the pantry 3) added an alfresco and a few other minor changes... Finally, we signed our contract on the 9th of Oct.... We are waiting for our amended plan...As soon as I get that, I will post a picture of my updated floor plan... Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 5Oct 13, 2014 4:33 pm Got my amended plan today. Everything looks good. My CRC has applied for the developer’s approval and also placed the file into the permits department. Things are moving at a good pace..I cannot wait to get my home onsite and for the construction to begin!!!
The first image has all the changes that I had mentioned in my previous post: We increased the size of Bed4, and made the Rumpus 500m small... This is the only structural change that we did for the first floor... Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 6Oct 13, 2014 9:41 pm Fantastic. The Plymouth is a nice façade. Should be lovely. Our block is 15 metres wide but we're on a corner, so want to take the most of space we can down the corner side. Also, we are not allowed to build our garage on the boundary line -- we have to leave 1 metre down the side, so we lost a metre there. I liked the Cleo better than our Avalon, but like the Harcrest it has a big kick-in behind the garage which would be dead space on our block. We get more out of our block by having more space on the opposite side of the garage (the corner side). Can't wait to see your house progress Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 7Oct 13, 2014 10:12 pm Hi, we're building with Simonds too - the Palisade. The process has been really good so far. Just waiting on our land to settle this Wednesday then everything can start moving again. Good luck with it all! Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 8Oct 14, 2014 9:34 am TomCat Fantastic. The Plymouth is a nice façade. Should be lovely. Our block is 15 metres wide but we're on a corner, so want to take the most of space we can down the corner side. Also, we are not allowed to build our garage on the boundary line -- we have to leave 1 metre down the side, so we lost a metre there. I liked the Cleo better than our Avalon, but like the Harcrest it has a big kick-in behind the garage which would be dead space on our block. We get more out of our block by having more space on the opposite side of the garage (the corner side). Can't wait to see your house progress Ok... So Avalon is going to fit in your block really well. I liked the Avalon more than Harcrest, because it had the Alfresco inbuilt... In Harcrest, we had to add one, and it would look like an extension to the house...But the final decision was based on the width of the house... Which façade have you selected? Did you get your final drawings? When are you planning to start the construction? Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 9Oct 14, 2014 9:37 am nextbigstep Hi, we're building with Simonds too - the Palisade. The process has been really good so far. Just waiting on our land to settle this Wednesday then everything can start moving again. Good luck with it all! You would be really waiting and excited to get your land settled tomorrow, isn't it?... Good luck with that.. Which façade have you selected for your house? Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 10Oct 14, 2014 9:51 am That's a lovely floorplan harmelb. I really like the master bedroom/retreat area in the Harcrest, such a lovely space. We are just about to take handover on a Simonds Sierra here in SA, we've been incredibly happy so far with them Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 11Oct 14, 2014 10:08 am deluxes That's a lovely floorplan harmelb. I really like the master bedroom/retreat area in the Harcrest, such a lovely space. We are just about to take handover on a Simonds Sierra here in SA, we've been incredibly happy so far with them Congratulations deluxes ! You would be really excited to get the keys... Really happy for you to know that your journey has been really smooth and incredible so far... Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 12Oct 14, 2014 10:19 am I like your floorplan, it really makes good use of the space. We're also building with Simonds but in Qld & a Sierra. Do you have any photos of your selections? Building a Sierra on the Gold Coast https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68899 Full timeline on Pg 1 Settlement: 13/05/14 Retaining Walls: 20/06/14 Site Start: 02/07/14 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 13Oct 14, 2014 11:01 am StephyD I like your floorplan, it really makes good use of the space. We're also building with Simonds but in Qld & a Sierra. Do you have any photos of your selections? I will upload the photos of our gallery selections soon... I have still got to consolidate everything. Which façade have you selected for Sierra? Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 14Oct 14, 2014 11:16 am I'll keep an eye out for them. We have the St Ives and we changed a couple things on it. Building a Sierra on the Gold Coast https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68899 Full timeline on Pg 1 Settlement: 13/05/14 Retaining Walls: 20/06/14 Site Start: 02/07/14 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 15Oct 14, 2014 12:11 pm A few of my gallery selections:
Brick - Homestead Blackwood Mortar - Off white Roof Tiles : Barramundi Carpet - Black Magic #98 (Cat3) Kitchen Benchtop - Osprey Kitchen Cabinet - Cavia Lini Front Door - Simonds Chocolate Stain Windows - Dune Brick - Homestead Blackwood Expansion Joints - Redwood Garage Door - Dune Caprice I will upload my tile selections later, as I need to format the images... Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 16Oct 17, 2014 12:44 pm Whilst we are still awaiting for our unconditional finance approval and building permit, we have got our final colour selection document and electrical plan. My CRC has informed me that they are waiting on city west water to provide them with the plumber documentation that the building surveyor requires and then we should have the building permit, insurances and stamped plans... Below are the some of the upgrades that we opted for : • Upgraded Brick to Category 3 and mortar to Offwhite • Upgraded Pantry to Butler’s pantry with a sink. • Remote control to Garage • Upgraded Entry Door and handle • Added long window to kitchen • Stone bechtop to kitchen and island bench • Stone benchtop to ensuite, bathroom and powder room • Changed the meals area window to sliding door • Flyscreens to 7 windows • Mirror to Bed 2 and 4 wardrobe • Overhead cupboard for Refrigerator Space • Added a number of data points, exhaust fans, external flood light with sensor, door bell and a few other fittings • Alarm System • Evaporating cooling and Heating with zoning • Increased the ceiling height for both the floors • Added Downlights • Overhead cupboard for kitchen • Upgraded carpet to category 3 • Added doors and privacy locks to ensuite and WC • Upgraded kitchen sink and the cooker • Tiled base to shower • Upgraded shower model in ensuite and bathroom • Added niche to ensuite and bathroom • Tower rail and roll holders Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 17Oct 17, 2014 12:48 pm Very nice selections, they'll go together beautifully I love your kitchen cabinet colour choice! Hehe one of the things i love most in our place. It'll look great with the Osprey tops you've picked. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 18Oct 30, 2014 1:20 pm There hasn't been much progress in the last few days..The bank has done its evaluation and they are in the final stages of the loan approval. I am expecting to get the approval by tomorrow. Simonds CRC is waiting to hear back from the developer with the approval and then get the building permit. It seems that the pegs for the land boundaries are not all there. We are trying to get a re-establishment survey/boundary pegging done...
At this stage our site start is expected to be on 14th of Nov. Including a few more photos of our gallery selections: Shower: Cooker Tiles: Wet Area: Simplicity Dark Grey Kitchen Splashback:Cafe Grind Matt Laundry Splashback:Cafe Cino Matt Paint :Whitewash Windows : Dune Gutter Facia and Pipes :Monument Garage : Dune Cabinets- Cavia Lini Matt Laundry Bench - Carrara Matt Shadow Line - Strata Grey Matt Butler's Pantry Benchtop - Snow Fabrini Ensuite Shower: Bathroom Shower: Front Entry Door: Front Entry Door Handle: Towel Rail Re: Our Simonds Harcrest in Melbourne 20Nov 03, 2014 2:35 pm Hi Harmelb, Exciting times for you ahead. Lucky to have a lot pretty close to the park. We are building in FP too and cant wait to get started. How did you go with the site costs for your home, did you fix e'm ? Regards.. I do enjoy the drama:-D In his latest two videos he has started bringing security guards to site, I am waiting for the punch on to begin lol 6 35654 It's all about wireless, self install now. The cost/benefit of wired setups for the house are no longer what they used to be. Lots of wireless options. Eufy, Arlo and… 2 6816 I’m in a similar position except I’m after sliding 3 stacking doors. I am on a second-story apartment of which the balcony would not adequately fit any bi-fold or… 5 12160 |