Update 2 yrs on: Build with Dreamstart homes

Hi, all,

I have been hesistating to create a thread for the build. After being encouraged by few fellow Dreamstart clients on this forum, I'll start one to keep track the progress. I assume it will be beneficial who those thinking of building. I know most of you are very knowledgable and can give me a lot of ideas along the way. I am not very good in maintaining online content but will try my best.

The paperwork stage was lengthy and full with drama so I will skip that part. Feel free to PM me if you have any question. I am building in the same stage with JJhome. If you are interested in the paperwork stage, you can see his thread on this forum. He has done an excellent job in putting up the detailed timeline for that.

Timeline
-- Week of Mar 9: scheduled for earthworks (delayed)
-- Mar 18: earthworks
-- Week of Mar 23: scheduled for slab (delayed)
-- W1: Week of Mar 30: slab down
-- W2: Apr 7 window frame delivered
-- W3: Week of Apr 13 brick delivered
-- W4: April 22--24 first layer of brick, up to slab height only
-- W5: April 27--May 1 no progress for the week (bricklayers on holiday)
-- W6: May 4--8 have a storage and one side internal wall! Minor progress.
-- W7: May 11--15 not much progress on brickwork
-- W8: May 18--22 major progress. The brickwork is almost finished!
-- W9: May 25--29 ???
-- W10: Jun 1--5 brickwork is scheduled to finish on Jun 3. Roof frame goes up on Jun 4. PLATE HEIGHT MEETING.
-- W11: Jun 8--12 roof frame, gutter, garage and alfresco ceiling, electrical wiring started. NBN lead-in, tv + data points are done (our contractor)
-- W12: Jun 15--19 electrical wiring and plumbing
-- W13: Jun 22--26: roof delayed!!!!!
-- W14: Jul 1: roof tiles delivered. Jul 2: roof is on except capping
-- W15: Jul 6-10: roof and grey float
-- W16: Jul 13--17: wall cavity insulation
-- W17: Jul 20--24: Ceiling, cornice, glazing, doors
-- W18: Jul 27--31: White set
-- W19: Aug 3--7: lock up + cabinet installation + shelving + screed. LOCK UP MEETING.
-- W20: Aug 10--14: site clean + waterproofing wet area + misc installation + spray paint (doors)
-- W21: Aug 17--21: wet area tiling + soakwell/stormwater (our contractor) + ceiling painted
-- W22: Aug 24--28: wet area tiling (cont) + benchtop + sinks + front rendered + doors painted
-- W23: Aug 31--Sep5: wet area tiling (cont) + gutter painted, electrical fit out
-- W23: Sep 7--11: main floor tiling, front elevation painted etc
-- W24: Sep 14--18: electricity connection, carpet, evap, garage grano (our contractor) etc
-- W25: Sep 21--25: shower screen, mirror etc.
-- w26: Sep 29: First PCI
-- w27: Oct 5--9: garage door etc
-- w28: Oct 12--16: second PCI and key

I am still learning how to navigate the thread. I'll post some pics later.

Hey glad you have decided to start your own thread, looking forward to following your progress as I am sure it will be quicker than mine

Preparation for slab. I found it funny that we already have a gate.

Slab

Congratulations on having a beautiful slab sofia I love the gate and the lime green loo - can you keep it?? Looking forward to following your build - and to see your plan and selections!

Sofia,

You got a lovely picture there showing your slab and the houses at the background. Ya it's funny that you only got that many gate while the rest of us have the front entirely fence-ed.

Good job on starting your thread and i like how you put "DS Proposed Time" and "Actual Time".

And good on your slab this rainy week - lots of water means lots of curing to the concrete slab.

Thanks everyone.

MalSannie, LOL, i am not sure i want to keep that loo. It stinks!

I got a call on Tuesday. CLO and SS have been assigned. Yeah! We are looking at 4 weeks for brickwork. That's if i heard it correctly! It was very noisy in the background on the phone. The timeline is longer than I thought but it gives us plenty of time to get the soakwell guys to get things going. They just need to dig two big holes on the ground and put the soakwells in. They will do the rest of the piping at a later stage. I thought they have to do the piping now. Anyway, how do i know? I am not a plumber. I'll just trust them. They could have done the work after handover given that we are using polypropylene soakwells but it would be impossible for them to access the other side of the house after the fence and the neighbouring house are up. They give me a completion date for next week. Faster than i thought! This week doesn't seem like a good week for any build.

Congrats Sofia on getting your slab, it's looking good, you right with the soakwells, they install them 1st, then later on when the downpipes are completed, they complete the piping.. Looking forward to following your build...

Glad you've started your thread Sofia!

Window frames delivered! I didn't know we could get excited by window frames. Lol. They let one big piece sticking out at the road corner, I hope no one drives into it. It will cause some damages for the car and the frame for sure.

OK, let me try this. Upload the photos from my phone first and then edit with the computer. How do I make the picture smaller? It is a bit waste of space.

Anyway, selections for the exterior.

Facebrick and feature wall: classic cream


Render paint: Kanga for feature, moccachino


Neutral and very light. Unfortunately, we are only allowed to have one brick color selection so our feature wall is in classic cream. I have never seen a light color feature wall before so......

Yay window frames! Lovely colour choices too

Internal selections:

Benchtop (bathroom and kitchen): new crystal salt
I would love to pick french nougat but it isn't the builder range. The only similar one in the builder range is new crystal salt.

Cupboard (bathroom): smoke melange
Cupboard (kitchen): cinnamon ash


Floor tile (living): natural sand
Putting side by side with kitchen cupboard and benchtop selections


Feature tile (bathroom): light brownish/greyish tile with some patterns. If the circles line up, it looks nice.
Wall tile (bathroom): flute white
Unfortunately, the pictures are in low quality which don't display the proper color of the tile.


Floor tile (bathroom): smoke
Kitchen splashback tile: flute almond

Other selections (sorry no pictures):

Bedroom carpet and underlay: medusa doone (upgrade)
Bathroom/ensuite tap and shower: caroma saracom mixer (upgrade)
Bathroom shower rail and head: gardenia summer (upgrade)
Bath tub: caroma stirling (upgrade)
Shower screen: euro semi-frameless, matt silver (upgrade)
Garage door: gliderol Tuscan (colorbond jasper to match roof)

BTW, we looked for these upgrades ourselves. Builder did give options of upgrade but they are all the same brand as their standard (not impressed). Since it is not their preferred brand, we have to pay out the rebate they don't get from the brand they use.

Things we would like to upgrade but didn't.

Kitchen mixer tap (standard: alder classico mixer)
Toilet suite (standard: centino standard toilet)
Entrance/garage entrance door knob (gainsborough round terrace entrance set, single cylinder deadbolt)
Inside door knob (gainsborough round homecraft)
Soft close cupboard (not included)

We have a very similar color taste in kitchen cupboard & benchtop. We initally want to pay more for the thicker and white-r benchtop but later on ... Nah ... then back to the standard selection.

I like your bathroom tile selection - the spiral pattern tile. How could I miss that? XD

Me too I missed them as well and I really like them!

The only regret we have is picking the square size tile for the bathroom instead of the rectangular tile. More stylish. Kitchen splashback is rectangular tile. No $ to upgrade to glass.

JJ, the original kitchen design isn't practical so it is costing us a fortune to modify. I'll post the layout later.

Hi Sofia
Glad to see the thread and the obvious excitement even with the delays
We are doing a DS 7.5 in Lambeth but trailing you by about 3 weeks.
The issues with council were frustrating but it all appears to be resolved now thank heavens.
I catch the train at Wellard, so I get to see the progress daily and it has been painful waiting for the start button to be pushed.
DS do appear to be getting in to it now and it will be interesting to compare the progress with the houses in the coming months.
It will be good if they can get roofs on before it gets to wet, if that is going to happen this year.
You don't build a lot of houses in a lifetime, stay focused on the home you are going to make out of this house and enjoy the experience.
Looking forward to the progressive thread updates.

What a lovely feature tile something a bit different! I love the first photo with the formica - the blue background and those wood grain samples look fabulous together! .... And I'm still in love with the portaloo hehe

Good to know another fellow neighbour, Oaknew. Yes, i totally agree on the waiting part. It has been a pain. We are also hoping for the roof before the start of winter rainy season. We will see. Time is crunching.