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Alkira Homes KDR - A Kind Of OliviaI've been a little reticent about posting any postation about our build ... it's been a bit of a PITA journey so far, and claiming anything as "fact" seemed likely to jinx it. However, given that we've thrown ~$60k at it, signed contracts, the bulldozer has now been & at the time I'm typing this the block is nearly ready for a new house to be built on it ... well it almost seems like Murphy might not shove his ugly mug in the way, at least for a while.
What we were afterWe didn't have uber-solid goals, and we weren't particularly looking for "fancy".
I guess the main ones were:
- not be living in a leaky mouldy 50's house any longer
- some semblance of solar passive design
- be able to keep enjoying the summer breezes we'd enjoyed in the old house
- it be properly insulated
- OdourVac system for all toilets
- under-floor hydronic solar heating, at least downstairs if it be 2 storeys
- at least 4 bedrooms
- lots of car garaging (prefereably a minimum of 4 cars), space to work on a project car, and with height for a hoist
- intelligently designed kitchen & bathroom cabinetry (eg. in bathrooms enough room for toothbrushes, hairdryers, power-points inside cupboards for recharging, etc
- enough storage
- low-maintenance yard (and not necessarily a lot of back yard to look after)
Oh, the process ...We started looking around in late 2010, to get an idea of what was around & what was going to cost how much. Looked at a couple of display homes, and had a particular liking for one medium-sized builder who seemed to specialise in relatively "green" designs. They even had some designs you could work with, and the display home both looked & felt great and was within budget ... although meeting the garage requirement would have been a bit of work. This was
Home Team, with that link being to their page on the display home we were taken with.
However ... by late 2011 when we'd umm'd & ahh'd long enough (and the leaks in the roof had gotten annoying enough to start thinking about spending money again), we tried to contact them & they didn't return any voicemails. They were on the ASIC site, can't recall whether they were in voluntary liquidation but it didn't sound good & their display hom was closed. So that was that - we had to go with someone else.
As a side note, I see their site has been updated to be Copyright 2013 and I don't think their offices used to be where they currently are ... so I think they've not gotten themselves out of whatever that trouble was ... dunno, we've moved on!So we looked around, found someone we liked, did a feasibility study with them; which came back at about $1.2m. That's ... a bit much. And there were still lots of things about the design that needed fixing (and there might not be room on the block to fix it). At that point we decided we were using a volume/project builder as we were convinced we couldn't afford a custom design. I'm not sure I'm still convinced that was true, with the benefit of everything we've investigated/decided I think we should probably have engaged an architect with a relatively strict list of requirements, and then pimped the resulting design around a few builders.
So anyway, further looking around led us to a volume builder who "could do everything we wanted"; they said to think of them as custom builders who also have a range of standard designs. We were told the best way to come up with our design was to use the standard ones as a basis ... one standard design was brilliant but was too long for our block, but we managed to find another which we swapped-around to be what we thought was pretty close to what we wanted. So having paid our deposit, we awaited the tender ... and when it came back it had the floorplan we'd asked for but nothing else. No extended garage ceiling-height, no under-floor heating, none of the bathroom cabinetry we'd wanted, the OdourVac hadn't been included, basic windows & insulation, and so on.
Further enquiry told us they now "couldn't" do the under-floor heating, and given that suddenly there were things they wouldn't do there was a fair bit of back-and-forth in working out exactly what they
would do. So we worked with them a lot to get an idea of what they would & wouldn't do, and finally we had a list they said they'd do ... so we left it with them.
For a few months, after which we'd heard nothing.
So we started getting antsy & looked around at other alternatives again. In the middle of that process, we had a pretty major "a-ha!" moment with the design of the house and the fact that we should've been building a 2nd separate garage rather than trying to squeeze it into the same single building. So we asked the builder if they'd started any of the estimating or drafting yet; answer came back no; we asked whether we could rearrange the design and get them to quote on the rearranged design; they said yes; we asked if their private certifier would approve the separate garage idea; they said yes. So we hastily drew-up something (a few rooms moved around & standard ceiling-heights for the house) which wouldn't need any walls moved nor the stairs, and left it with them again.
And again ... nothing came back, so we continued being antsy & started working more seriously with a few others.
Eventually they got back to us, after 6 months of "no response" (despite my attempts to get in contact), and told us they'd decided they wouldn't be able to do it & would therefore refund half our money. Hmmmm. OK we;d used some of the surveys they did etc, so they agreed to refund a bit more & we only paid for the stuff we eventually used. Reality was the Sydney market had gotten busy, they had a bunch of standard knock-it-up-fast work to keep them busy, and were no longer interested in major modifications to the design like ours was.
That lengthy & painful process brought us eventually to the people who are (touch wood!) building our place, Alkira Homes. We'd settled on having a separate garage (allowing more normal ceiling heights in the house itself), and the main area we spend our time being upstairs to avoid being shaded by the big gum-tree across the road in winter as well as hopefully catching more breeze. There weren't many builders, who'd do the OdourVac (we'd given up on many other requirements by now), and with private certifiers who'd approve the separate garage we wanted (ie. as well as the inbuilt one). Well OK, it's quite possible that there weren't many builders who had salesfolk who were willing to ask their private certifiers rather than just saying "no" based on their understanding of the CDC rules (but anyone who's built a project home knows that's just how it works).
'Tis based on the
Olivia 38.2 sq (which was called Olivia 36 sq when we first started looking but the marketing department bolted an extra 2.2 sq in the meanwhile
).
What we've ended-up withAgain, a summary (just the highlights I guess):
- we won't be living in a leaky mouldy 50's house any longer
- a floorplan which is moderately re-arranged compared to standard (stairwell remains untouched!)
- main lounge area faces north, with covered verandah out front (hopefully catch sun in winter & block it in summer)
- the "study" (really a 2nd bedroom) downstairs has a covered patio out front, again for winter sun & summer shade
- wide sliding doors upstairs & downstairs to catch breezes, big sliding doors at the back downstairs to hopefully encourage flow-through
- thermally-broken frames on the double-galzed windows, the ground-floor rooms we might want the window open have security louvre-windows (which also have decent abaility to seal when shut); plus R2.5 wall insulation & R4 ceiling
- OdourVac system for all toilets
- 2 bedrooms upstairs, plus another large bedroom we'll use as a hobby-room; downstairs 2 more bedrooms almost like a "guest suite" with the downstairs bathroom separating them.
- a pretty large kitchen/dining/rumpus area downstairs opening onto a ~5m x ~7m alfresco
- the bathroom cabinetry we wanted
- enough storage (most of the cupboards aren't in the floorplans below but we intend a few)
- included 2-car garage plus separate external high-ceiling 2-car garage (reinforced floor for a hoist)
I'll update this with colours/selections when I recall what they are/were &/or find examples.
TimelineAs long as I retain any interest in this thread (
) I'll update this timeline as we go ...
- October-December 2010: look around & identify a design we like
- October-ish 2011: uanble to contact the builder we liked any more, approach a couple of other custom builders, like one, engage them for a feasibility study.
- January-ish 2012: get cost-estimate from custom builder (and even then the rough design needed fiddling - it wasn't well resolved in many ways), say "ick" and start investigating project-home builders.
- March 2012: find one who'd "do exactly what we wanted", finalise a design, pay tender fee.
- July 2012: tender presentation ... oh my, most stuff we asked-for is missing!
- November 2012: after getting nervous about how we'd heard nothing from the builder, after we'd gone to the n-th degree clarifying what they now didn't want to build ... start looking around at other builders.
- December 2012: pay tender-fee to Alkira Homes.
- July 2013: final to-ing and fro-ing over the tender we'll theoretically go to contract with; a few items they've missed need to be clarified but I'm hoping we'll be there in the next week or two ...
- July 2013: CDC approval for demo of old house.
- August 2013: CDC approval for new build.
- August 2013: Bank gives 'conditional approval' for mortgage embiggenment (based on end-result valuation)
- August 2013: bank's valuer returns amount that's high enough to borrow what we want to borrow - now awaiting formal letter-of-offer ...
- September 2013: bank finally gets arse in gear, contract signed, bulldozer booked for early October.
- October 8 2013: First day of demolition.
- October 22 2013: Sewer-line encasement in back yard, in prep for building.
- November 19, 2013: Security fencing arrives - no portaloo!
- December 10 2013: Slab done.
- January 27 2014: Frames start going up.
- February 22 2014: Frames nearly complete, first pallets of bricks arrive onsite.
- March 6 2014: Scaffolding goes up.
- March 10 2014: Bricks start.
- April 4 2014: Bricks appear finished.
- April 21 2014: Roof tiles complete on main house.
- May 9 2014: Alfresco complete & it's roof tiled.
- May 12 2014: House roofing & gutters completed (Colourbond fitted to ground-floor).
- May 17 2014: Pre-gyprock electricals completed.
- June 07 2014: Front door, garage doors, staircase.
- June 30 2014: Most gyprock done, tiles start going down.
- July 9 2014: Majority of kitchen cabinetry.
- July 11 2014: The four big wooden poles on the balcony installed; so it's near final appearance.
- July 31, 2014: Interior plastering continues ...
- August 6, 2014: Shower screens.
- August 11, 2014: Painting started (for realz this time).
- August 31, 2014: We realise we REALLY dislike the oompaloompa colour of the wood stain! "Teak" turns out "bright orange" ("blight orange"?).
- September 1, 2014: Wood stain colour on stairs will instead be black, and a darker colour than oompaloompa will be used for doors.
- September 2, 2014: Splashbacks installed! Except it seems the splashback people haven't cut one of the power-point holes.
- September 2-ish, 2014: Site supervisor has been replaced for 5 weeks, and talking to new supervisor there's not a helluva lot to do; however, things not having been completed or needing fixing mean the new supervisor doesn't think it'll be finished by the end of the contract. It's just lots of small things that still need doing or fixing; a wonky shower screen, the painting isn't finished & there're heaps of pencil-marks where imperfections have been found (so I presume filling/sanding required), the front door needs replacing & the new one stained, the splashback needs replacing with one that's got the power-point hole before the electrician can return, and there are a few holes in a few places that need filling (eg. the half-a-course-of-bricks gap over one of the rear sliding doors, and the big hole in the floor under the stairs where the garage wall behind it isn't hard-up against the slab).
- September 15, 2014: Electricity meter-box & downpipes painted.
- September 22, 2014: Install of bathroom hardware (eg. clothes hooks, soap dishes, towel-rails etc) & door-stops begins.
- September 26, 2014: Most electricals are now complete; about all that's left are appliances.
- October 1, 2014: Final walk-through scheduled for October 9th, with handover (conditional on everything being fixable in that time) being October 23rd!
- October 9, 2014: Final walk-through reveals lots of small things that need finishing (eg. stair stain), new handover date October 31st.
- October 31, 2014: Keys! There are still a few things which needed doing; some paint needed touching up, there were still some power points that hadn't been done, but those were done over the next few days.
- November 2, 2014: After a couple of days spent cleaning (the cleaners were woeful), started moving in ...
- November 9, 2014: Pretty much everything's in (not yet packed away).
- November 15, 2014: All was in now, most of the house packed away but the garage is all still boxes & landscaping-related deliveries.
- Christmas 2014 / New Year's 2015: Landscaping starts in earnest, digging & painting of wooden retaining bits etc.
- May 2015: Still awaiting replacement of the anodised aluminium parts that the brickies ruined with their mortar ... which is just about everything (although we don't care about stuff which we'll never see eg. upstairs windows outside) ... kinda getting sick of waiting, it's been 6 months now ...
Current Contractual End-Date (rain days taken into account): October 7th, 2014.
Some SelectionsBricks: Austral Bricks Urban One, Latte
Tiles: Monier Traditional, Wild Rice
Colourbond roofing sections, gutters, downpipes, garage doors: Evening Haze
Fascias: Surfmist
Windows & Sliding Doors: "Uncoloured aluminium" (don't have the colour code)
Front door: Hume XS26 1200mm, teak stain, with one of these big Gainsborough lock/handles.
Facade: A little like the Alkira Kennedy, the posts match the front door & the railing is APO Grey to match windows/sliders ... there's an awning that sticks-out a little further than this picture, though, and it's all face-brick rather than render.
Interior paint colours are basically off-white walls, with standard white cielings & semi-gloss (or was it gloss?) white skirtings. No cornices. No feature wall or niches either, we'll decorate mostly with furniture & maybe the occasional something-in-a-frame (I've got.a bunch of Queen picture-discs I'd like to frame & hang, but don't think that'd pass the Taste Test
).
Tiles throughout ... a "wood look" (but distressed or lime-washed version), 900mm x ~15mm ... I don't have the exact tile we're getting (and I suspect there's a chance it might change before the house is built), but the following pikkies off eBay kinda/sorta look very similar (note the kitchen isn't styled like that at all, it's just a pikky to show the tiles):
Kitchen Design 3D view (click to open):
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_Kitchen_3d_zps92f4c704.pngGlass Splashback: colour Clover 2210 (below is close but not exact, couldn't find an example online)
Satin-finish polyurethane kitchen cupboards/drawers, colour Natural White (not picured - it's satin white!)
Kitchen 40mm Caesarstone, colour Osprey 3141
Kick-panel (under island bench) Laminex Natural Finish Stipple Grass 868
Cabinet/drawer handles (kitchen, bathrooms, laundry) - Hettisch 9995501 (wide enough to hang a hand-towel over in bathrooms):
Caesarstone for bathrooms 40mm (Laundry 20mm), colour is Wild Rice 4360 (the picky is just to show the benchtop)
Vanities in Formica Warm White (also not pictured - also white!)
For the small bathroom downstairs we've got fairly simple cupboards under the benchtop & also mirror-faced cupboards at face-level.
However for the ensuite & main bathroom upstairs we've got vanities with a ~600mm wide (full depth) tall-boy next to (well "part of" really) the vanity; extra storage, power-points for recharging toothbrushes/shavers etc.
Track drains for showers, "invisible drain" for middle of rooms & laundry
Sinks are all under-mount, laundry & kitchen have those removable veggie-sprayer nozzles.
We got these for all showers:
Villeroy & Boch O Novo toilet suites:
As for electricals, we've just upgraded a bunch of power-points including a few outdoor ones, we've had more power installed in the alfresco so we can install those overhead space-heaters later. We've got downlights downstairs, and battens upstairs which we'll get downlighted after handover. Not much fancy ethernet, just a couple ofmcables from near TV points running back to a "utility cupboard" which can be used for the NBN gear if it comes through.
Looks fabulous!!! Can't believe it's finally all happening for you!
Floor plan looks great, flows really well.
My husband would love a hoist for his minis I am sure!!
Looking forward to seeing your place progress.
Go Forg Go! Will be a masterpiece, you've really put a lot of effort to get here, I hope the tradies and the builder treats you well and it goes smoothly from here on out.
Go Forg
Go Forg
Can't believe that it is finally happening for you.
The hoist in the shed - DH will be jealous of both the shed and the hoist. He has always wanted a hoist. The closest he ever got to a hoist was when his parents built their garage in their house in England they had a pit built for him so he could work on cars in the garage and be able to work under them without having to jack them off the ground.
Thanks all!
And Jen, good to hear things're still OK up your way, what with the fires etc.
This thread now strikes me as being somewhat self-indulgent (on Friday I was more excited about how I was creating it than if anyone'd care
) ... wondering if people really have an interest in stuff like splashback colours & kitchen design & tile choices etc?
Quote:
And Jen, good to hear things're still OK up your way, what with the fires etc.
We are all good Forg - a little bit scary there for awhile on Sunday night. Really have to give thanks to the RFS for all the hard work they have done protecting our houses. They have put up some photos on FB of the smoke and damage caused by the fire. Hoping mother nature plays nice for those that are still under threat from the other fires wreaking havoc on NSW
Quote:
This thread now strikes me as being somewhat self-indulgent (on Friday I was more excited about how I was creating it than if anyone'd care
) ... wondering if people really have an interest in stuff like splashback colours & kitchen design & tile choices etc?
People do have an interest in this stuff Forg. My MIL is building at the moment and so are friends of ours. What do they talk about and get everyones opinions on - colours!!!
People do have an interest in this stuff Forg. My MIL is building at the moment and so are friends of ours. What do they talk about and get everyones opinions on - colours!!!
If that's the case ... updated the Selections post above with some more info.
D'OH!!Haven't started yet & already we're delayed!
The concrete encasement people have had to cancel ... it seems petty complaining, given that they've cancelled because their people live up the Blue Mountains & obviously have much bigger problems than a job not going ahead ... but it still has the horrible odour of an indicator of how this thing's gonna go ...
Well we do have some progress ... the block is now empty!
Looks a lot larger without a house on it.
[Again with the clicky-clicky to view 'em]
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_House_Gone_2_zps5b449d2b.jpg(Oh, I also added electrical plans above)
Not good on delays Forg, but with bush fires I guess it cant be helped.
We had a funny one up here on the weekend. With all the bush fires around and with the evacuations etc - we then get a updated post on FB from NSW incident alerts to say that the Fire Brigade are responding to a cat in a tree not far from us - I think they have more things to worry about than a cat in a tree.
Love the selections. My boss has the same shower heads as you have chosen - the shower heads are HUGE.
I guess a cat in a tree is a lot more pleasant to deal with than what else has been going on!
Yeah for the shower heads we're sorta umming-and-ahhing over whether we want to just switch the heads themselves (obviously way after building has finished!) to these guys. we've got a predominantly light-coloured house but what colour we have is a glassy mid green so we thought these'd match:
... except in the green:
But that's for a few years away, if we ever bother.
The green would look very cool in an all white bathroom
Hi just wanted to pop by and say Gorgeous WIR and Master area.
We too had to facilitate a hoist for DH - which resulted in our roof space being huge (so much so that our roof carpenters were offended that we weren't using it as a loft and have set it out for an easy conversion later on down the track).
I think your selections are gorgeous and can't wait to follow this build
PS
Keep safe everyone in the bushfire areas our thoughts are with you all
Hi just wanted to pop by and say Gorgeous WIR and Master area.
Thanks AKB!
That arrangement is mostly the result of "leftover space" ... we'd rearranged about a billion project-builder designs, and the Alkira Olivia was one which allowed the guest-rooms downstairs, a spot for an upstairs north-facing informal lounge ("spending all our time in") room, and the right length to allow the separate garage at the back with enough room downstairs for the kitchen & dining/entertaining areas. Wanting to fiddle rooms to make the 2nd bedroom & master bedrooms diagonally opposite left us with the design we're building.
We're happy with what we've got & are not changing it; however if something were to happen & we had to start again, I'd go with a wider house that was a little shorter, have a drive-through garage attached to the house (ie. door behind the 2nd bay would allow access to the side driveway & the separate rear garage). But I've seen nothing like that in any catalogue, it'd have to be architected & we'd pimp it around builders until we found one that wasn't as exhorbitantly-priced as the first people we went to ...
Hi Forg,
Just wanted to say your house looks gorgeous!!!
and the info you have posted is really helpful so thank you, I will try to do the same for my house.
Ta Chumlee!
And we've had a wee bit of progress ... I found that some stakes had been driven into it yesterday.
Obviously a rising-from-the-dead/Halloween thing.
Hi Forg.
We're in a similar position to where you were in 2010, except that we do have some plans by our builder but we have some challenges you don't:)
Fortunately for us, one of them is not block size, but rather trees.
We're in the Ryde area as well, and first plan was to built space for 7 cars, 4 car in front and 3 car in the back all with high ceilings for the same reason as you;) (How hight are your's? We're planning 3.5m internal height).
Oru problem is the neighbours trees, one on either side right in the middle of the lot. Either we can't build as wide as we'd like, or as long. I think at this stage we've settled with not building as long, but it leaves me with 6 car attached and problems building an OK roof-line without making the whole house a huge mansion. We also have some trees we want to get rid of as part of the development so we cannot do complying development anyway.
Waiting on latest plans from builder.
Greg