Our first home Dunedin 29 Porter Davis -See blog for updates

P.S I cant wait to see this fish tank!!

Hi katemorley91,

Thank you, yes I agree. We really need to add something that breaks up all the greys and makes it more inviting. So far we have the white stone bench and hopefully with the addition of similar splash back as the second option we can make it feel a little more inviting.

Agreed! It's a great topic and the summary page really helps going through all the points instead of scrolling through all the pages. Yea anewhouse is a great site with lots of information/blogs and for $4 you can download a guide that runs you through all the things you should ask. It also includes a checklist! Really handy.

Thank you very much

Yea, really excited to get it up and running. It's going to be a huge project but should pay off.

More tile shopping...

We're still not 100% on the tile for our main living, kitchen and entrance area... so we did some more looking around this weekend and found a few contenders.

These first pictures show a nice light grey tile, but it is a very safe option as it's just a plain colour.

This tile is currently in our 'Top 3' love the fact that is light but still has some dark bits in it. I think it would make it muck easier to pick furniture to go well with it without having to break it out with carpet.

This tile is also in our 'Top 3' and probably our favorite... My fiance prefers a more solid coloured tile but I like a little bit of a pattern. So this is a good compromise

Finally, we went to Masters and got a sample tin of our preferred wall paint and an off-cut of plaster board, then came home and painted the board to see what it would look like on a bigger scale. The colour is called 'Mushroom White'. We also put some of the tile samples we got against the board to see if they go together. The darker tile is the one we liked from Anytile but unfortunately they cannot source it and they don't have an ETA

Our tender appointment is only a couple of days away... excited but nervous at the same time.

The exciting part is that we finally get to see how much everything will actually cost us (ish) but the nerve-racking part is making sure everything we have asked for is on paper and mistakes are fixed!

Any last minute suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Tender appointment completed. I thought I would share what actually happened on the day as it was still unclear to us before we went. Here is a brief outline of our experience:

1. What was involved
- Went over a Tender Document which is basically the same layout as a sales quote with more detailed descriptions and accurate pricing
- Went over the basic house layout
- Confirmed siting
- Finalised any structural changes
- Added/removed any changes or components we had in the original sales quote
- Paid 3% deposit

2. Experience
- Staff were really friendly, patient and knowledgeable.
- Most quotes were accurate. However, the one that weren't were WAY off. Some up to 3x as much.
- Minimal mistakes found (still need to be on the lookout)

All up, the experience was quite positive. The only disappointing parts were the price variations (non-negotiable even if they stuffed up) and the fact that they still didn't confirm the feasibility and cost of the alcove for the fish tank.

Hope that helps anyone planing to build with PD in the near future.

congrats joea!
I like that wall colour that you used to sample against your flooring. I will keep that colour in mind.
sounds good all in all and thank you for that because I had no idea what the tender appointment actually entails either.
did you make many upgrades or add any extras, what were they?

Thank you

I'm glad I could give some insight on the Tender appointment. Yes it's a really nice colour, not too White and has a tiny hint of a bluey/grey in it.

I have a list of all the upgrades we have made so far on the first page. Few minor changes here and there based on the new price given/budget.

If you have any particular upgrade in mind PM me and I can tell you how much we have been charged to give you an idea of what it will be.

Cheers

Hi All,

Need some urgent help with our cross over and garage alignment.

As you can see below, our garage door is not aligned with our cross over at all. We raised this during our Tender App but we were told that we need to speak to developer to try and align the cross over with the garage. I got the engineering document for our block and it seems that all the other blocks are in the same boat with having the cross over as far to the edge of the block as possible.

Could someone please provide some advice on what we can do in this situation? We can't really move the house any further North as we would be loosing space on the alfresco side and be gaining space on the 'dead' side.

Is it ok to have the two so far off each other? Would it look odd?

Thanks in advance!

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag297/joeassi/ED_zpsda80724e.jpg

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag297/joeassi/SitingModified_zpsa3aabe0b.png

My Block is the same, but my garage is on the boundry line so lines up perfectly, seems that is the common thing with all new estates now

Hi Sogg,

I see. So basically it depends on the layout of the house and which side you want the offset to be on.

Thank you.

Yep, in my case i have 1800 on both sides with the garage on the boundry.
Have you gotten Developer approval yet? Id be suprised if they let it pass as it is

No still no developer approval as the land hasn't even titled yet. Yea me too, it looks so odd!

Spoke to our BC this morning regarding the crossover/driveway issue. He is going to check what can be done and get back to me. Hopefully I will hear by the end of today, otherwise I'll be having some sleepless nights this weekend

Dont stress about it... Its not like the slab has been poured and then you realized. Plenty of time to resolve the issue

Yes you are right. I'm a stress head by nature so I tend to freak out.

Thanks for the great advice and reassurance.

Can see what you mean, it's a tricky one. My first thought, if your budget allows, is to extend the width of the garage so that it lines up properly ... even give yourself a roller door through to the back. Could also think about getting council approval for a double cross-over? Bit of a pain though. Hopefully someone else out there, or PD, has an easier solution. A curved driveway can sometimes look nice, if you want to go that way. Have to say though, we have a curved driveway at our current place and visitors are forever cursing it!

Hi Jasdan,

Yea I think that is a great idea. Need to find out how much that would cost though. I remember reading it was somewhere around the 3k mark. I've got my fingers crossed that PD or Developer has a better solution

Yea I think it would look OK at the end of the day but as you said it's not as easy as driving into a straight driveway.

Cheers!

Hi All,

Had a chat to our SC today (who has been wonderful BTW) and she advised to extend the garage, move the garage door to the far left and add a small 600mm wide awning window to break up the gap. Approx cost is 2k per 1m width.

We really don't want to move the house so our options for now are:

1. Move the cross over
2. Extend the garage

Decisions... decisions...

I extended my garage... the additional window was a great suggestion.

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