Hello,

Well, I have decided it is time to start a thread of our build. I have loved reading others and all the pics so I hope that others can enjoy our journey..

The history:
Owner Built our 1st & 2nd homes - both sloping sites
Had the building bug so
December 2009 - deposit on block of land - 859m in Highton, Victoria.
Told we would settle in June 2010, fairly confident that would happen so sold our home & moved into a rental
..........................time went by and finally we settled on our block in February 2011....
May 25 - submitted plans for approval
July 20 - Got building permit
August 2 - Excuvation of site (we have a sloping block - falls from side to side and front to back
Mid August - plumber said he would start
September 9 - Today.... still waiting for plumber but he has been this morning and put his little sign up and we have given him until Monday to get his rough in done because we have the concreters coming on Tuesday morning to start boxing up, etc.....

What are we building??.. our forever house (I say that now but we don't have a good track record at forever ) ... I had a huge wish list (lucky my husband is also our draftsman - because we have had alot of changes in the last 18months!!)
5 Bedrooms + Study
3 Baths
Open Kitchen/Living/Dining
Playroom off Kitchen (to be able to see the kids playing while in the kitchen)
Downstairs rumpus
At least 2 kids bedrooms on same level as master bed
Spa Bath in ensuite
Triple Garage
Study off the main living area
Big Kitchen/ Pantry...... my list just went on and on and on....

I haven't got elevations to show you yet so it might be difficult to understand but the block falls away from the street so most of the house is upstairs with a rumpus, laundry, etc. underneath... I have just taken photos of the plans on my phone so they aren't very clear.. sorry.. will try & put others up at some stage. There is no dimensions on this so to give you an idea of sizes the triple garage is 9m x 6m and our massive 'parents retreat' sits on top of that and our island bench in the kitchen is 4m (I know - Yes, big, I'm excited about that!!!).
I have never done this before so here goes...
Plan deleted - sorry!!!
I got this cool app for my phone that allows you to draw your house and then walk through it in 3D. This is just a photo of it.
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The site cut
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I'm not expecting it will be a quick build.... at this point still hopeful of moving in 12months time but we will just have to see.
I am truly addicted to this forum and I will hopefully get better pics soon.... I know how much everyone loves a pic or 2 or 3 or.....

Wow that is kool Master bedroom looks huge as does the WIR ... look forward to following your third build and hope all goes well for you!

woop woop~~!!!!! looks great, so excited for you both

we did 5 beds, a study and 3 baths too.
all the best and good luck

Thanks Mclaren & Kiwi. You 2 are pretty much famous on this forum!!!
We are so excited to finally be starting. Every day I find myself imagining how good it is going to be living in our new home.
Mclaren - your home is beautiful. Can't wait to see some move in pics
Kiwi - I am only up to page 36 of your thread....but great floor plan - excellent use of space.

Oooh thanks ... I think ... famous for what??

Mclaren - 2645 posts!! Wow!! Famous? Should I have said infamous instead!! Either way I feel honoured that you will follow our build.

Well, I drove past this morning and saw the plumber was there with his little digger... progress! Yeh!! With any luck I will have a pic of a slab be the end of the week! I shouldn't have said that out loud, should I?

No offence but it looks too big, how many people are you housing??

This is a great site that may be of intrest at this pre build stage
http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/index.html

We currently have 2 children, planning at least 1 more if we are lucky enough!!
We wanted the downstairs to be almost like a granny flat type set up if we have any of our parents to live with us (hopefully not for a few years yet).
The plan has been designed so that we can live almost entirely upstairs, except for the laundry. The back wall in the downstairs rumpus is going to have the provisions for gas & water so that in future we can put a kitchen downstairs. That is mostly why we also decided to do a 2 way bathroom downstairs.
I'm actually very excited about the size & I'm the one who has to clean it!!!

Anyway, slab is getting boxed up. Slab next week.

We have a SLAB!! I'm so excited.
I feel like a kid on Christmas morning waking to see that Santa has been. Only difference was that my Santa's were a team of concreters!!!

Will take photos next time I visit, which may be tonight because I seriously want to sleep there

A couple of pics... taken from different angles. One the guys still working on the slab and then finished (my kids had a great time with their scooters zooming around on it)
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We have a bit of a wait now for chippies to finish on another job.
The brickies are ready to start but we have a wait on the brick that we chose.
Water tanks to be delivered in a couple of weeks (they are going under the house where the excuvation has been done).
Even though nothing is really going to happen for a bit it is very exciting to see progress. We moved out of our last home in March last year!!!

Hey Rocketship,
Love your plans
Great master and love the downstairs, although I wouldn't be putting the parents downstairs, I'd be throwing my kids down there, then locking the door

Oh and that kitchen, our cooktop will look great.
Now we need colours external and internal please

Thanks gogo65. re: our sexy cooktop - as well as learn to cook, I need to make myself look as sexy as the chick in the ad!!!!

Colours, well, If I knew, you'd know!!

I change my mind nearly everyday!! It is always a last minute decision with me.

So colours today are basically:
Austral Zinc Brick (only small section from out of the ground to the bottom of the front bedrooms) - These are ordered so won't change
Natural White Render to most of the house
Natural white matrix cladding to fascia
Black windows - ordered so won't change
Charcoal/Black render to the garage
Charcoal/Black garage doors or maybe timber or maybe.....
Small amount of feature timber

Inside
White, white and more white!!!
Kitchen will be mostly white with upright section of cupboards and overhead cupboards in black gloss
Floorboards - most likely Firestreak or Blackbutt
Carpets in bedrooms and playroom - mid to dark grey/browny shade
Bathrooms - no idea really until I step into the tile shop
As I said, I am very good at changing my mind so you can't hold me to any of that!

Update on progress: water tanks have been delivered and chippies have done the downstairs frame and floor joists but now have to wait for bricks before they can do anymore. Next week, hopefully..... I'll post some pics soon.

Rocketship, colours sound great. Will look lovely.

AS for the cooktop, yeah have made the comment that I need towork on the sexy body like the chicky babe in the picture, so I remember you saying you a=were getting a barazza sink....
Well we went shopping today and what did I see a lovely Barazza flushmount sink matches the cooktop perfectly..... DH says to me, I think we should get that!!

Were you looking at the flushmount or undermount sink??

I will have to have a good look at those sinks when I'm at my computer but the one I was looking at doing is the Abey Schock sink in black or white. Have a look at the Abey website. I am seriously in love with them. As far as sinks go I reckon they are a good price. You can get them around $900.

We have had some progress since I last posted on here a couple of weeks ago.

The bricks are now complete (there were only 4 pallets in total so a small amount of bricks only) We are so happy with them. They look fantastic. Austral Elements range - Zinc.

The chippies came yesterday and put the floor joists down and this morning they started laying the flooring for the 2nd storey. It is so great seeing it starting to take shape. I hope that maybe tomorrow or early next week we will start to see a 2nd storey frame. I think getting to walk through the frame for the 1st time is one of the most exciting parts...

We have made some decisions about cooktop, oven, dishwasher, sink (but we can't decide on black or white- I will post kitchen ideas soon & would love some opinions from the experts - that means you lovely people reading this!!!) We have also change the ensuite layout. Swapping the vanity and shower and cupboard around so now when we walk in we will see the vanity instead of a cupboard. We have narrowed down to 2 spas and 2 gas log fires (decision will probably come down to which we can get the better deal on)....until I change my mind again......

Anyway, will post pics soon.

So we are a little more advanced now... very slow progress for a little while there but seems to be things happening this week so the photos are a bit behind but will post them to update (a few now and maybe a few more later when I get a chance to get them onto the computer).

Bottom storey frame
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water tanks and front brickwork
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Bricks (I love them - so happy with them) in need of a good clean. Mortar is a different colours only because part will be covered by the front decking.
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Flooring
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Water tank under house
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Beam being put in upstairs
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Living/Dining area
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Walk in Robe
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Master Bed and View from master bed (will eventually be houses all over the paddocks but the land falls away next to our block so should keep most of the view. Fingers crossed.
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I'll post more later. These photos actually seem old now considering all the work that has been done this week so I will post more photos later to get this thread up to date. Sorry for photo overload....

Wow, what fantastic views
The home looks huge, love the bricks as well, cant wait to see this progress.
More photos please

Thanks for your comments gogo. We are so excited and happy how it is all starting to come together. It has been in our heads for about 18months!!!

A few more photos.

This will be the kids playroom
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This is the kitchen area. Playroom entry to the left. Pantry to the right.
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Laundry
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Storeroom
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Understairs storage
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Front (from edge of neighbouring block)
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Front - front door on right hand side just above brickwork
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Garage from backyard with Master Bed above
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We have since had nearly all the roof trusses completed (some are up in these photos) and the windows have been put in. I was hoping to get more photos yesterday but after all the rain we had here yesterday I think the site will be an absolute mud heap. Will try and get some later today.
We are having to make decision everyday at the moment but it is great making decisions and shopping for house stuff when there is progress to keep you motivated. Picked all our taps, sinks, toilets, etc. last weekend which is exciting. Now we are just waiting on the quote!! That could be interesting!!!

Geez rocketship thats kitchen is looking small NOT!

Some photos with our trusses up and windows in.

Front facade
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Front - corner peg in front of shot
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Kid Playroom
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Looking out from where the sliding door will be to the where the deck will be. it goes across to the other sliding door in picture
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Entry
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That's it for now! Scaffolding goes up for roof and fascia to be done sometime in the next 2-3weeks.