Our slab went down today so I figured it was time to start my very own post!
Building a modified version of Fairmont's Geneva. We love it but I struggle to make decisions and wonder constantly if it was the right one or if we should change something- a bit late now! It will be great to see it all come together.
At the moment our major issue is retaining. Our next door neighbours need to put in walls before they can cut and fill. Eek. An added expense we expected in a few more months, not now. So that has been doing my head in. 2m high wall. Planning on either doing a stone feature section or using the Kensington sleeper (the grey slate style). Any one use anybody good or got any tips?
Next job is to get some pics up. Got to work out how to do it all first.
A few people on here are building there and I can't wait to follow your builds too.
Modified Fairmont Geneva (SA)- Keys!!!
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hi and welcome
Hello fellow seaford meadower
we need to do some retaining walls as well and we kindly asked our builder to take care of it
the build hasn't started yet but we anticipate the fun to begin this month
we are on xxx rd.
what street are you on?
looking forward to follow your build
we need to do some retaining walls as well and we kindly asked our builder to take care of it
the build hasn't started yet but we anticipate the fun to begin this month
we are on xxx rd.
what street are you on?
looking forward to follow your build
Welcome, we are at Seaford Meadows also
I am interested in your retaining wall issue because my block will also require some retaining, although not as high as yours
My question is whose responsibility each wall is, as some people say it is whoever cuts into the block, others say it is 50/50 in new estates (as opposed to where there are established houses, someone knocks down and changes the lie of the land).
My northern side will be cut into by me (the high side), my southern side will be cut into by my neighbour (not sold yet, still belongs to Realty SA), and my western end will be cut into by me (not sold yet, still belongs to Realty SA).
I am also interested in what happens with fencing if Realty SA still owns two of the neighbouring blocks when fences go up - do they pay 50% or do I have to wait for the blocks to be sold before putting up fencing? The southern block is for sale, and the western block has not even been released yet.
Sorry to hijack your thread so soon, I've just been waiting for someone at Seaford Meadows to post about retaining and fencing, it is doing my head in trying to plan....
I am interested in your retaining wall issue because my block will also require some retaining, although not as high as yours
My question is whose responsibility each wall is, as some people say it is whoever cuts into the block, others say it is 50/50 in new estates (as opposed to where there are established houses, someone knocks down and changes the lie of the land).
My northern side will be cut into by me (the high side), my southern side will be cut into by my neighbour (not sold yet, still belongs to Realty SA), and my western end will be cut into by me (not sold yet, still belongs to Realty SA).
I am also interested in what happens with fencing if Realty SA still owns two of the neighbouring blocks when fences go up - do they pay 50% or do I have to wait for the blocks to be sold before putting up fencing? The southern block is for sale, and the western block has not even been released yet.
Sorry to hijack your thread so soon, I've just been waiting for someone at Seaford Meadows to post about retaining and fencing, it is doing my head in trying to plan....
We are on ####### road. The one with the massive cut!
Retaining walls, as far as sharing costs go, is whatever you do the natural level of the land, you are responsible to retain at your own cost as you cut or filled it. For example if you have cut 1m on your boundary then you must retain it. If your neighbour comes along and wants to retain with you as they are filling 0.5m effectively making it 1.5m high, then they would be responsible for 1/3 of the cost and you would be responsible for 2/3 of the cost.
If they wanted to cut 0.5m instead then it would be a bonus for you as you would only need to retain 0.5m (1m reduced by their .5 cut) as they have helped reduce the height between properties . I think in this case you would still be liable for the whole cost of the retaining but you are lucky they cut as it reduces your cost. Does that make sense?
On our property our cut/wall is 1.6m through to 400mm cut on one side. If we did the retaining on our own we would actually be better off as the wall wouldn't need the engineering for the whole length. Our neighbours are sharing retaining as they are filling 400mm through to 1.6 so it works out a diagonal 50/50 on our wall. We actually get the short straw as we have to look at 2m of retaining wall and take the cost of the bigger engineering. For example, one quote was 8,500 to do on our own but 20,000 to so together. The actual wall is a 50/50 but we are paying the extra for the engineering required to put his wall on top of ours. If it wasn't one wall though they would easily see in our yard and it would be a step down fence. They are 1m from the boundary so if we just did our own they are not allowed to undermine ours so they need to put it 1m away which would mean right against their house.
Fencing.... I know this. I'll just check something I read and post again.
Retaining walls, as far as sharing costs go, is whatever you do the natural level of the land, you are responsible to retain at your own cost as you cut or filled it. For example if you have cut 1m on your boundary then you must retain it. If your neighbour comes along and wants to retain with you as they are filling 0.5m effectively making it 1.5m high, then they would be responsible for 1/3 of the cost and you would be responsible for 2/3 of the cost.
If they wanted to cut 0.5m instead then it would be a bonus for you as you would only need to retain 0.5m (1m reduced by their .5 cut) as they have helped reduce the height between properties . I think in this case you would still be liable for the whole cost of the retaining but you are lucky they cut as it reduces your cost. Does that make sense?
On our property our cut/wall is 1.6m through to 400mm cut on one side. If we did the retaining on our own we would actually be better off as the wall wouldn't need the engineering for the whole length. Our neighbours are sharing retaining as they are filling 400mm through to 1.6 so it works out a diagonal 50/50 on our wall. We actually get the short straw as we have to look at 2m of retaining wall and take the cost of the bigger engineering. For example, one quote was 8,500 to do on our own but 20,000 to so together. The actual wall is a 50/50 but we are paying the extra for the engineering required to put his wall on top of ours. If it wasn't one wall though they would easily see in our yard and it would be a step down fence. They are 1m from the boundary so if we just did our own they are not allowed to undermine ours so they need to put it 1m away which would mean right against their house.
Fencing.... I know this. I'll just check something I read and post again.
Going to try this photo thing
Okay so this is my journey so far....
The block
The block
Now the cut and fill (which might I add they didn't cut enough the first time so had to do it again!)
The Slab....
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y472/amancharmar/2013-02-28181322_zps17ae7c77.jpg
The Slab....
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y472/amancharmar/2013-02-28181322_zps17ae7c77.jpg
Here is our plan. Not the best photo sorry. I took it on my ipad. Sorry about the electrical layout but it is the most accurate plan we have as it was changed a lot!
Also the computer will actually be my husband's man cave and the living at the front will be a toy room.
Also the computer will actually be my husband's man cave and the living at the front will be a toy room.
Here are a few of our selections but again does not do justice due to being taken with the ipad.
We have chosen almond for the main part of our house but a Barley block on the front. We have classic cream rendered quoins and base band, woodland grey colour bond roof and window frames.
Some of our tiles but not good photos
Bathroom wall tile is concept ice gloss which has slight lines going through it (long tiles) and renaissance argent which can throw grey or browns.
Outdoor tile is black textured which has silver flecks of glitter in it.
Main tile through out house is also a concept ice but matte. We wanted as white as possible to tie in with other features and were against cream and also greys, although I love them, as we have brown furniture.
Bench tops are stone and is from santorini collection- Astral which is a smart stone. We are having this in the bathrooms and kitchen along with a silk finish polar white. Will have the grey mirrored splash back to not make it sooooo white. I just love the glittery sparkle in the stone.
Again not the best photo but you get the idea.
We have chosen almond for the main part of our house but a Barley block on the front. We have classic cream rendered quoins and base band, woodland grey colour bond roof and window frames.
Some of our tiles but not good photos
Bathroom wall tile is concept ice gloss which has slight lines going through it (long tiles) and renaissance argent which can throw grey or browns.
Outdoor tile is black textured which has silver flecks of glitter in it.
Main tile through out house is also a concept ice but matte. We wanted as white as possible to tie in with other features and were against cream and also greys, although I love them, as we have brown furniture.
Bench tops are stone and is from santorini collection- Astral which is a smart stone. We are having this in the bathrooms and kitchen along with a silk finish polar white. Will have the grey mirrored splash back to not make it sooooo white. I just love the glittery sparkle in the stone.
Again not the best photo but you get the idea.
The austral brick people called the other day and said that the barley block has a slight black speckle through it. They gave us a house to go see them on but they won't have a new batch ready for our build so it is basically this or nothing. We first had the almond block to match the normal brick around the house but they discontinued that for 2013 builds so had to match it up with the Barley. Didn't want to spend the extra money doing the whole house as we figured the quoins separated the side walls from the front and they were similar in colour but not texture.
So what do you think? It looked okay on the house. I also wonder whether we should just pay the extra $1000 and get the normal Barley brick all the way around??? See difference above.
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y472/amancharmar/photo_zps05fe2c2f.jpg
So what do you think? It looked okay on the house. I also wonder whether we should just pay the extra $1000 and get the normal Barley brick all the way around??? See difference above.
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y472/amancharmar/photo_zps05fe2c2f.jpg
i like the barley block all round
love your land and great house plans
love your land and great house plans
you have a good block of land and I noticed a big computer room wow!
we've chosen Astral smart stone too for our kitchen, love its surface and color
looking forward to follow your build
we've chosen Astral smart stone too for our kitchen, love its surface and color
looking forward to follow your build
Wow!!! Such a big house! Looks awesome
Hi there Amanda! I'm so glad your here! Love your kitchen colours!
Welcome! great looking plan and nice selections too!
Looking forward to more progress piccies and congrats on the slab!
Looking forward to more progress piccies and congrats on the slab!
Thanks everyone. May go a little quiet for a while now that our build is on hold but excited to be following others.
Hey Amy. Been browsing for a while and now that I have action (had) thought I'd start my own post.
Hey Amy. Been browsing for a while and now that I have action (had) thought I'd start my own post.
Hi Amanda, love your house and colour choices.
Hi Amanda,
Sorry to hear that your build is on hold because of council. How long do you think you will have to wait before you can put up your retaining walls?
Sorry to hear that your build is on hold because of council. How long do you think you will have to wait before you can put up your retaining walls?
Hey Andy,
It is more that it needs to be done for the block between us and is better and cheaper to do now due to limited access later on. SS is holding the build so it can get completed but they never told us this would need to happen so we didn't put in application for walls early. Could be another 8 weeks!
It is more that it needs to be done for the block between us and is better and cheaper to do now due to limited access later on. SS is holding the build so it can get completed but they never told us this would need to happen so we didn't put in application for walls early. Could be another 8 weeks!
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