Building with MainVue at Woodlea - Amalfi 632

Hey everyone!

We've been lurking for a few months now with a couple of posts to our name, but we think its finally time to start our own thread because our plan has now been more or less finalised after 6 months of going back and forth! Jane Todd from Mainvue in Keysborough put up with us so well, bless her. Oh and our name is a combination of our nicknames Strawberry (Georgia - redhead) and Randola (Andy - go figure).

We are first time builders and Hola to anyone else buidling at Woodlea. We've seen quite a few Mainvue homes going up already which is nice to see. Also a big thank you to this forum though, we've learnt plenty from other builds and in particular that thread on what people forgot or would do differently if they could build again.

Here is our plan at the moment:


Its essentially a Amalfi 632 with a 532-laundry-and-rear-bathroom set up. We've also deleted the robes in the master suite and the front powder room which has given us more space to increase the pantry (of course we deleted the second door for more shelves), the walk in dressing room and the ensuite, which now has a double shower. We really wanted a spacious home, and I think we've done that mainly by deciding not to have a separate study, which we will incorporate into the theatre, with some cabinetry.

Oh should we add another shelf on top of the standard top shelf? There seems to be a lot of space up to the ceiling.

Our quote is pretty much final, at least until we have our colour and electrical appointments. It is fairly spec-ed up but we did take advantage of some great promos Mainvue had at the time, so for example a 40mm island bench was included for free but we just paid the difference to upgrade to 70mm. We're hoping not to spend too much more at colour. Here's a list of the upgrades we can remember:
-raised ceiling for entry to 3.2m and raised ceilings to 2.7m throughout
-window above front door
-double glazed windows
-timber windows for master, ensuite, family and dining rooms with aluminium elsewhere
-large picture window to ensuite and dining room
-2 large windows to family room
-timber cornerless bifold doors (trying to get the rails recessed - the answer is currently no but we've asked Jane to ask about it for a second time)
-larger window to beds 2, 3 & 4
-window to laundry
-larger robes to beds 2, 3 & 4 (600mm)
-sliding door to master
-double shower with double niche to ensuite and fixed glass screen instead of doors
-free standing bath to ensuite, with no step up (thinking about a niche for the bath tub as well, but the wall is tiled)
-deleted most of the wall between the bath and master
-70mm kitchen island benchtop with no waterfalls and undermount sink
-40mm stone throughout the house (except laundry)
-overhead cupboards for pantry
-pot drawers for kitchen
-bin drawer in kitchen island
-concealed rangehood
-deleted the built in microwave (so the kids won't be able to play with it)
-trying to get a mirror splashback
-metro facade
-rendered alfresco area, gas point as well
-refrigerated cooling and heating upgrades
-benchtop across the entire laundry but no broom closet or overhead cupboards
-the top electrical package
-driveway package with letterbox and clothesline
-cat 2a wooden flooring
-cat 3 carpet
-floor to ceiling tiles for feature walls for bathroom, ensuite and powder room

I want to upgrade some of our doors to glass or frosted doors, but my partner doesn't want to pay for it. Is it worth while doing now, or can it easily be upgraded later on in life?

Our site costs are fixed, and I did ask Jane about slab heave and ungraded slabs for building at Woodlea, which a few members have commented on. Her response was that they've never had a slab heave and their engineers are very conservative due to their 50 year structural warranty.

Our colour appointment is in June but I want to push it back to July because I don't want to take a day off work for it yet. We'll give you more updates when we get to that stage.

Cheers

I like your plan. The 3.2 ceiling in the entrance will really open it up and give it a grand feeling. Looking forward to seeing your build progress.

Yay, another MainVue build
Jane is a saint....I'm sure you were no trouble, when compared to us!!
Briefly, we had our plans for the Amalfi rejected. Back to the drawing board, Jane literally redesigned the Ivory to our specifications and she also managed to satisfy all the conditions placed upon us by Melbourne Water (long story).
We've got 2 teenage girls, so she increased the size of their bedrooms and their robes and put the bathroom from the Caspian range into our Ivory so they would have a big bathroom, with large shower and double vanity. 10 out of 10 for customer service and all with great humour.
Yours is going to be a great house. Fantastic changes. I wish we had of thought to put larger windows in the bedrooms but as first time builders we just didn't think of everything.
I'll definitely follow your build


viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue...Modified Ivory 436...our journey

Hi guys,

Great floor plan & good upgrades. Jane is wonderful, I've hassled her too & she is all to accommodating.

Great upgrades, I have many of the same. I have my colour appt next Monday so might have to start a thread of my own, but for now will follow your build with interest.

Love ur floor plan , but do u be able to share us more details regarding soil test , slab type , site cost and roughly cost of all these upgrades???

Reco, site costs were around $20k from memory and no idea about soil tests, and Mainvue have said they'll build the right slab at no extra cost. Total upgrades so far somewhere around $100k, could be more after colour. But we've decided to throw a lot on the quote and then cut back the fat later on if we're unhappy with the total price.

Plans look great! We would have loved to build the 632, but just came up short on our block width, so we're doing the 532. Looking forward to seeing you build progress!

Thanks! We only just fit it and needed to take 5cm off the rear bedroom. Glad we bought this size block but wished we bought just a little bigger as we wanted a bigger garage. You just can't have it all lol

Yeah it's a bit of a pain when you have to make compromises, but it'll all be worth it in the end!

Our land is expected to title in September and settlement is expected to happen a whole three months early!

We have a street and are so excited to be standing on our block of land. A few tears were shed lol. Here's some photos



They don't call it Rockbank for nothing.



Because panos are all the rage on here.



The family in the master suite (I think lol)

Looks like you're in a red desert! Plans sound really good, following.

Love the floor plan! Loving the butlers pantry! Are the eaves only on the front? Following along


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
viewtopic.php?t=83643

Good to see the block progressing!

We have 450mm eaves all around except on one side of the garage which sits on the boundary.

Nice, I could only see eaves at the front from your plan


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
viewtopic.php?t=83643

What a gorgeous home this will be! So spacious

Thanks deejay

Alright everyone, we need some input as we're incredibly indecisive. We started with timber windows to all living areas, the master suite and timber bifolds. We then changed everything to aluminium because we liked the look of black aluminium frames and white walls. We've now been told that the master suite corner window has to be wood and something about the picture window in the ensuite having to be wood also. Should we go back to having the living area and bi folds in timber to match the master suite? Or can we do half and half and have aluminium bi folds and window frames in the living areas? Do you think that would look weird? Would that in someway reduce the value of the home just a little?

Thanks in advance for your help.

They're in different zones of the house - usually the dining and stacker doors are timber and the facade windows are aluminium unless you upgrade. So the opposite would still look fine.

Personally though, timber all the way... it just looks so much more luxurious.

I personally would say timber too, it just looks better.