Hard to believe isn't it... haha oh well, back to the drawing boards! I'll keep you updated when I hear back from the builder....

Well today we met with the builder, and have signed our initial contract and paid our deposit!

That will get us another soil test, with specific set out as our original one was in the strangest of placements (in the rear where we aren't building).. working drawings, and as many changes as we want until the slab goes down!



Now to wait 2-3 weeks, and see what they come back with and what changes we want to make at that point.... but wont focus too much on changes from this point until we get an accurate quote on what we have already given them. Now to entertain myself for 2-3weeks.....

WHAT CAN I POSSIBLY DO NOW THAT THERE IS NO PLANS TO WORK ON!?

Dream about plans, dream about colours & finishes....dream about plans...

Woohoo - deposit paid!! Ker-ching, ker-ching!!

Read mags, more mags, get more ideas on colours, finishes etc!

Enjoy not having to stress about plans......for now!

Yes, enjoy this time...you only have 3weeks to dream...cos once the quote comes back, you won't be dreaming anymore and it will be slash and burn time...and not fun
Now it is fun!

Hello, I thought I'd make my way over to your thread and have a proper read. Congratulations on signing.

As I said before, your plan looks great - the funny thing I realised is that the things I commented on liking are actually the bits you'd changed away from (going from separated rooms to much larger open-plan living). Just goes to show how personal this plan malarkey is, and how specific it is to how you live and are likely to use the space.

There's lots I really like about the original plan, but also lots I think you did to improve on it with all your changes (and fabulous online plan consultants). I can't wait to see what the middle ground will look like.

We kept on making minor changes to our plan up until and beyond pre-start (oops!). So the plan-dreaming didn't exactly stop at the signing stage for us. However.... pre-start dreaming turns out to be even more all-consuming and every bit as fun

Great work Jo (and Matt)! We all look forward to seeing your final plans and then watching your dreams become reality..... with loads of pics...... cause we looooooove pics!!!

Lucky I looooove taking photos!!

Well, not a huge progress, but progress all the same!!

I went to pay the block a little visit today as we have been down in Phillip Island the last few days (woohoo, no thread party while I was gone! haha) and wanted to see if anything had changed...

Appears we have those soil worms we all look forward to, which means soil tests have been done and the plans hopefully shouldnt take tooooo much longer.

[ img ]

I am rather eager to email the builder and ask what the soil test came in as but I did promise not to bug him too much, so ill leave it another week or so and see if we hear anything first.

Thats all ladies & gents, hopefully more to report next update!

ooow, we didnt know you went awol...probably a good thing!
congrats on holes.
whooaooa!

I'd be most disappointed to find out we just have really big burrowing beetles or something... *fingers crossed for more news soon*

I wouldnt be dissappointed I would be SCARED

[ img ]



yup maybe scared would work better.

will keep you posted!

Hope it's builders and not beetles!

Well, well, well..... I suppose an update is well overdue!

We haven't really progressed very far unfortunately. We got our plans from the builder, and made a few changes - minor things like re-arranging the kitchen, changing doors to/from cavity, etc. Then it went back to the builder for a proper quote, and finally, last week, we got that back! Yep, that all took 2 months!!!!

Anyway, the price came back nicely in our budget (we think - will confirm with the bank manager next week!) and possibly it will leave us some money left to make some additional changes as we see fit. Hooray!

We have a sit-down meeting with our consultant on Monday to discuss it further, but in the mean time we are trying to pre-prepare ourselves as much as humanly possible to help the next few steps move along quickly. Finally thinking about colours, lighting, finishes, landscaping, etc!

Here are some pics for those interested:

[ img ]

We are still trying to work out our external colours (façade is not yet concrete, something we are discussing on Monday so suggestions welcomed! we have no idea what we want as far as façade goes...) but so far with the façade in the plans, we are thinking light coloured cladding, dark bricks, and garage door either to match cladding, or to match wood stain on door..

Also contemplating leaving off the Alfresco 1 which is more so a pergola than an alfresco, in that it is an add on to the house - not what we had first planned, so may do this later when we have a better plan for our outside area, rather than put it in and only have to rip it out or modify it later to make what we really want.

Annnd..... I think that's it at the moment. As I said, not a huge amount to update you on - but fingers crossed that soon enough we will get to have our very own slab down. Looking forward to catching up with everyone, sadly I have neglected the boards a little in the last month. :\

Jo

Looks great!!!

That's some progress at least!

Great to hear you are back on line and everything is moving in the right direction.

Plan is looking great - looking forward to the next update!!

So now I am trying to work out my façade colours.... yikes!

I really do love "Victorian Blue" by Boral, as well as "Storm" & "Blackheath".. and was thinking of having contrasting render and cladding. I tried to do up a mock in photoshop tonight to give me some idea of whether or not my ideas really looked any good, and this is what I came up with. The Victorian Blue shows up VERY blue in the image, however as everyone probably already knows, it doesn't show up quite so blue in real life.

[ img ]

-- Render & cladding - not 100% on the colour yet. I don't want white, but I want a light colour... I have a pic of something similar that i'd be happy with, but couldn't get it right in photoshop.

-- Roof is actually going to be tiled, not colourbond - but the drawings haven't been updated yet. Thoughts are to match garage door & tiles (as much as possible), and render and cladding (again, as much as possible).... then we have the wooden door, decking on the veranda & hand rail, as well as the side fences....

Anyone have any suggestions? Opinions? Does it work, or have I completely screwed it up? haha

Also, the Stack Stone fin doesn't really show up how it is meant to in this image, but basically it goes down the whole side of that wall to the front door, and sticks out from the front of the garage, the width of the veranda (as a support for the veranda).

[ img ]

This is a house not far from where we are building, that incorporates a similar theme into the façade. I think their bricks are more like STORM, but you get the idea.

dont know