Building with Hall & Hart Homes

We found out the arborist included up to 9 trees on the report, including trees on neighbouring properties, so we didn't end up going to Council to check which tree specifically. At our site inspection, the arborist said one of the trees on the neighbouring property was too close to our fence, our options were to ask if they would consider cutting down the tree (more delays since we have to apply to cut down the tree through council) or H&H would have to redesign how they are doing the cut and fill (and potentially redesign the house layout). Good news is - the tree is just far enough away that we don't have to cut it down, will just have to prune the roots later when we start construction. Huge relief! Now just waiting for our other neighbour to consent to us connecting to the stormwater pipe on their property, hopefully after their due diligence, we will get their consent soon. Slowly knocking off one council issue at a time, fingers crossed will be done soon and council can start their actual DA assessment!

Doing our home options appointment next week. Finally getting to the fun part of the KDR process!


How's your build going? Weather has been awesome so you should see lots of progress this week

Good news on the trees, although frustrating that it slowed things up for you. We also initially had issues with a tree on a neighbours property but a storm came through in Jan and it partially fell down so council removed it, lucky as we had been quoted 11K . Hope the stormwater gets sorted ASAP. Have fun at home options, what paint colour did you end up deciding on? Brace yourself for the Clipsal appointment, the cost adds up so quickly.

After getting the kids enrolled in school we are now trying to get a rental sorted for the 6 months after we move until the house finishes. Do you have any tips on agents etc in the local area?

Or house is travelling along well, just got our update from SS to say all frames and trusses were completed last week and bricks and brick hardware delivered yesterday. Aim to have bricking done up to scaffold level by weeks end, then first floor next week. These are some photo's that SS sent last week before frames/trusses finished but gives an idea of window size etc.

That's fantastic progress, kjane! With the frames up, the inside space looks huge. Weather has been a bit wet this week, hope they managed to get the bricks up for you.

We've never rented before, so don't have any tips to share though I've saved alerts on domain and realestate.com.au so I can keep an eye out for rental prices near my home. Are you looking to rent near your place to keep an eye on the build? You might find that owners prefer to do a 12 month lease so they have more certainty - if you're looking for a 6 month lease, it might limit your choices a bit.

We have bad news, our arborists came back and changed their advice on the neighbouring tree - instead of saying it was fine to keep, they are now saying it's a problem for the build and recommended we do a root mapping exercise to see how many roots need to be pruned (another $1k-2k cost). Even with the root mapping exercise, we might find that the tree isn't viable if pruned and will have to be removed or change our build design. We decided to just ask our neighbours if they would be willing for us to remove the tree and they've agreed (thank goodness for good neighbours!) so now we have to prepare our submission to council to remove the tree...hopefully council agrees and comes back relatively quickly so we can get on with the rest of our DA. If they don't allow us to cut it, it will be back to square 1 again. Oh the joys of council!

Did our internal selections yesterday, did it in less than 3 hours with bub in tow! Even the consultants remarked how efficient we were. We're waiting for quotes to come back on upgrades (internal doors, front door lock, translucent glass). Surprisingly, we weren't able to choose our laundry security door (kjane, I remember you mentioned you chose that during internal selections) - so we have to go back to H&H to get costs. We also chose different kitchen and laundry mixers, shower rail and got those upgrade costs back on the same day. Forgot to add the water filter so sent an email to the sales consultant. We found everyone to be very helpful with good advice. They all kept remarking on how good the standard inclusions were in the H&H package and I agree, especially the Dorf taps and basins. 1 appointment down, 3 more appointments to go.

Our internal colours - we chose Cotton Ball for walls, Brilliant White for architraves skirting etc, for the feature wall we chose Grey Wolf (didn't realise we could choose a feature wall so had to make a decision relatively quickly and decided to put it in the master bedroom in case it doesn't look good...lol. For those still do to selections, think about where to put your feature wall and colour (and avoid last minute decisions like we did). Also recommend going to the Home Options gallery before your appointment to see the bathroom, kitchen and laundry inclusions and do your research on what you like from the showroom (they display the model numbers so you can research the models and read reviews). We are doing that after the appointment which is probably not the most efficient.

Oh man, you can't catch a break with those trees! Sorry to hear it's not going smoothly with the DA. When we were having all sorts of trouble with a tree we found the council list of preferred trees (really big list with some lovely ones on it) and also the document that states which species of tree you don't need a permit for so is generally straight forward to get council approval to remove. I was surprised about how many species they classify as pests so are happy for you to take down and replace with a preferred tree. I'm sure you and the arborist are all over it but if you want me to send you those links I dig them out for you.

I'm really happy with how our place is coming along, the roofline is really nice (I think anyway!). The bricks are onsite and hope we had some action there this week. Thanks for the tips about renting. Yep we are looking to stay close to the build mainly because the kids have been enrolled in the local school and I'm hoping to be able to walk to school.

Good to hear the selections went quickly - all your research paid off! Yeah, we added our laundry security door at home options in the colour selection appointment. We upgraded the same items as you - we must have great taste For the kitchen water filter we switched out the kitchen mixer entirely and went with a zip 3 way one, it worked out cheaper and the consultant gave us the advice that one tap may look better on the island than two separate ones. It's a nice looking mixer too, not like an office style one.

I've read through the Tree Management Manual and the Tree Preservation section of the DCP, were there other documents I should look at? The tree we want to remove is a jacaranda, fortunately it's not a native tree but it's also not on the pest list so council decision could go either way. I'm worried council could take a while to come to a decision. Our tender expiration is in May...we need to get a move on

Was your water filter from Oliveri? Do you have the model of the 3 way water filter you selected and the cost? The updated quote provided by the sales person doesn't have a 3-way tap option and now that you've mentioned it, having 2 taps next to our little sink in the butler's pantry wouldn't look good.

Which kitchen mixer did you go with? We want a pull down hose version and tossing up between the Dorf (extra $337) or the Methven Minimalist (hopefully no upgrade cost). The Dorf is so well made and will match the bathroom taps too, but will anyone really notice it matches?

It will be amazing to be able to see your own build in person, especially when they start doing the internal fitouts! When do you plan to move back?

Lucky the tree is not native, I wonder if you propose replacing the jacaranda with a smaller native (especially making note that it is on the council preferred tree list) with a non invasive root system if it would help sway things in your favour? This stuff is so tricky and hard to predict which way council will go, I really feel for you guys.

The kitchen mixer we went with is zip 3 way filtered sink mixer #94574. It provides hot and cold and filtered ambient temp on the one tap. It isn't pull down though so maybe not what you are after. The tap was an upgrade of $205, we had put in an allowance of $280 for a separate everpure water filter in our tender so took that off and it ended up saving $75. We also have a water point put in for our fridge space and will have a fridge with a water filter for chilled filtered water.

We move to Sydney just before xmas so the kids can start school in the new year, not long to go now. We are madly packing and arranging shipping here now.

Getting our bricks on!

Great progress kjane!

By the way, what are you building?
I can see a classic Elyse but I'm wondering why the alfresco is not in line with the theatre/family room?

Cheers!

Hi MickeyDonald, you're right we are building a classic façade Elyse with lots of modifications. Have a look at the Elyse 42 floorplan, the back of the house is the same as that with the alfresco coming off the kitchen/ meals area.

How is your progress?

Hi kjane, we are still waiting for plan presentation. Building Elyse too but traditional facade

Great choice of brick, the colour looks great! Can't believe how fast it's going up for you.

Drove past Chauvel St yesterday and saw another H&H build going up!

Must be stressful packing your life up in Singapore and moving back to Sydney - good luck with it all!

We have our kitchen appointment tomorrow, we are sticking with a neutral colour scheme - mostly white, with some timber to warm things up.

Have fun at the kitchen appointment! Funnily enough I randomly met the lady building in Chauvel street when I went to do my flooring appointment back in April.

Slowly getting everything sorted here for the big move, can't wait to see the house in the flesh.

Hi All,

I have my tender presentation on Friday, what should I expect?

Tia

Amanda

A big thank you to everyone in this discussion. I recently started the process with Hall and Hart and as someone new to building this is an invaluable resource.

We are also in the selection phase and will keep you all updated.

Agree, as a fellow newbie this whole forum has been great. Looking forward to hearing how it all goes for you.

I had a look at the display homes at Kellyville and I really liked the Elyse. While the display Elyse had lovely rendered walls, to keep the cost down I'll probably go with the Traditional facade with the exposed bricks.

To anyone building an Elyse with the Traditional facade, does it include bricks as standard to the entire building exterior or is there cladding on other parts of the building not visible from the front?

We have gone with the classic façade and the whole house is brick apart from the panel at the front of the main bedroom and the small panel in front of the front bedroom 4. The upper and lower levels of the sides and rear is all brick, I'll post a photo of all four sides of ours when the bricking is finished which should hopefully be early next week.

Hi amanda, H&h will go through each section of the tender and explain the costs to you, especially the site costs. You can ask questions and over the 2 weeks before accepting the tender, you can make changes to the floor plan and/or add provisions like electricals/flooring, change doors etc. H&h get back to you with updated costs so you know what you’re signing off on. Hope that helps.

Thank you that is good to hear and I look forward to the photos!