Crystal 16 by Dennis Family Homes

Hi guys,

We're a family of four and have been well into our first home / build with DFH. Being out first home our build is modest and small however very grateful that we can have a permanent roof over our heads with what we have (and with the very generous input of our extended family!). Here's a brief timeline of events thus far:

May 16 - Signed estimate
May 16 - Land purchased
Sept 16 - Colour appointment
March 17 - Building contract signed
April 17 - Land titled
Aug 17 - Build commenced / Slab down
Sept 17 - Frame / Windows / Roofs complete
Oct 17 - Bricks / insulation / plaster / electricals / ducted heating cooling complete

Will post relevant pics when I can. If you'd like to follow this feed, welcome:)

JKang

G'day JKang.
I've only just noticed your thread here.

We're going to be building with Dennis Family Homes in Victoria and I usually chat in a Dennis Family Homes discussion with others who are at various stages.
Feel free to drop by the discussion and chat with some of the others building with DFH. You can find that discussion here... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=82405&start=580

Anyway, I'm keen to follow your progress and would definitely like to see some photos here when you have time, so I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this thread.
How have you found the build so far? It must be great seeing all the progress that you are currently up to.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the build.

Thanks for the welcome rattleAU! I think I've been popping by to that thread here and there (secretely haha) but probably time to get more active as I have some time now to process the build!

Meanwhile here are some progress pics from start to now:













Slab and frame stages. Featuring rascal son

Frame with roof up


Small alfresco at the back with sliding doors installed

Living area meals and kitchen

Btw our colours. Just went with colourboards, no messing around. Neutral and destaurared as possible was our motive. As with others who have chosen the stanford scheme for the interiors, not too keen with the tile colours but I'll live




Fridge space.. might be too small for our new fridge..haha..









Ducts installed. Its hectic up there. All wrapped up too, here showing where builders allocated the taps.

Arrival of bricks and insulation. Luckilly no reverse build.. however the electrician missed out an external light point coming out of the wall near the laundry.. notified ss who said for single storey homes its easilly rectified so hopefully it is

Plaster up, beginnings of cabinetry.

Purchased light grey dining chairs over the public holiday. Will be purchasing husk pendant, just a single over island.

In regards to the build, we had a pretty long wait from land purchase till title hence the builders weren't in any hurry to get the contract ready etc. I think everyone finds the DFH admin stage to be pretty slow and average, we did too. However once the build started, apart from a slowish slab and frame stage due to the weather, now its flying along and projecting a potential early december pci. I've been happy with the build quality too thus far, site has also been relatively clean probably due to them using a skip which I hardly see with the other builds around the area. Its these little things that I think they use the extra money we're spnding on compared to if I'd have gone to cheaper builders.

Thanks for sharing the pics. Really enjoyed looking at the progress.
It's all looking good, isn't it!
Must be good seeing the how close you are to completion.

We're in northern Vic and far from everything, but there is a house near we're going to build that has just finished and another under construction and both sites have been very clean.


As far as the time it takes to get stuff done. The admin side has been slow compared to the previous 2 times I have built, but we would rather a quality job with everything right, so if it takes more time, so be it.

Thanks again for sharing the pics.

Looking good JKang! Flying along now! Exciting times for you all x

Benchtops are in. Ceaserstone osprey, really happy with them, they look better than I thought!

However a bit annoyed with the electrician placing the batten over island for pendant light towards the end of the island, when on plan it should be centred to island / sink. Seems easy enough to fix so hooefully ss can get it sorted.

Paintwork done.
Was also worried about how dark the walls would turn out but really happy with this colour.. just enough of an interest compared to white walls without being too dominant.

Went for a cheeky visit and tile work had been done too. The gloss is a real help for the wall tiles.

Been discussing potential completion times with ss and definitely looks like too extreme of a push to force it by this year. Looking like a mid-late Jan handover, hopefully.

Hah! The little one makes a special guest appearance.

Getting very close now. You must be very keen to get those keys now. Not long now though...

Luckilly ss has been very accomodating to off contract requests and organised for the electrician to install our security light, side/back of house lights and pendant light.

Looking like its going to be a massive week to come. Ss has been very confident that build will be practically done before closing for end of year with tradies working right up to the last day. Latest progress had been all electricals being completed. Everything moving at a frantic pace at the moment as I've been visiting once every three days and every time something major has been done. Super happy with the downlights though, definitely worth the extra bucks and the downlights chosen are more dispersing than I thought, as I was initially a bit worried it might not be enough light especially down the entry.

Still to be done:

Flooring timber and carpet
Outdoor paint job for render/eaves/infill
Heating and cooling
Colour on concrete

Looking good!

Much awaited coffee oak floors are in. Not long to go now..

Love the floors!! So exciting to see it all coming along beautifully.