Our First Home with My Homes WA, Perth

Hello Everyone 🤗

After months of lurking and reading all the useful posts on here we have decided to start our own thread to share our experiences and document about our first build.

Wish us luck!!

ABOUT US
☆ First Home Builders
☆ Building North of Perth
☆ Building with My Homes WA
☆ The land we are building on was established which has been subdivided in the middle. So very narrow and long (9.4m frontage x 47m)

TIMELINE
02.04 - Land settled
31.05 - Planning Approved
20.06 - Pre start completed
09.07 - Final Plans Signed
12.07 - Building Permit Submitted
18.07 - Building Permit Approved

•Construction•
Week 00: ▪︎ 04.08 - Earthworks started
Week 01: ▪︎ 22.08 - Slab
Week 02: ▪︎ 31.08 - Bricks delivered and set out completed
Week 03: ▪︎ 07.09 - Termimesh installed. Brickwork continues.
Week 04: ▪︎ 14.09 - Brickwork continues.
Week 05: ▪︎ 19.09 - Brickwork completed.
Week 06: ▪︎ 23.09 - Roof construction begins
Week 07: ▪︎ 04.10 - Gutters and downpours installed.
Week 08: ▪︎ 11.10 - Roof cover completed
Week 09: ▪︎ 17.10 - Plastering has begun
Week 10: ▪︎ 24.10 - Plastering continued and ceiling completed
Week 11: ▪︎ 31.10 - White plaster completed. Internal and external doors completed. Kitchen cabinets delivered. Plumbing fixtures installed. Lock up!
Week 12: ▪︎ 07.11 - Cabintry installed
Week 13: ▪︎ 16.11 - Overhead cabinets installed, laundry top installed, commencing tile preparation.
Week 14 ▪︎ 22.11 - Tile meeting. Ceiling painted. Shelves and rails fitted.
Week 15 ▪︎ 29.11 - Tiling commenced.
Week 16 ▪︎ 06.12 - Wet tiling completed. Electrical and plumbing finals to be completed.
Week 17 ▪︎ 14.12 - Electrical and paint finals.
Week 18 ▪︎ 20.12 - Site cleared. Main tiles.
Week 19 ▪︎ 24.12 - Main tiles finished.
Week 20 ▪︎ 30.12 - Christmas and New Years Break
Week 21 ▪︎ 10.01 - Shower screens, mirrors, aircon installed.
Week 22 ▪︎ 18.01 - Fixing fixtures.
Week 23 ▪︎ 24.01 - Last finishes
Week 24 ▪︎ 31.01 - PCI
Week 25 ▪︎ 03.02 - Fixing PCI errors
Week 27 ▪︎ 17.02 - Handover

FLOOR PLAN

Hi chekii and welcome. It's always nice to follow a WA build.
We've just finished a build on a very similar block to yours. Ours was a touch wider at 10m but was 43 long.
It's a struggle getting single storey designs that tick all the boxes.
Yours looks to be a nice design. Our front (garage, study and entry) is exactly the same as yours. We needed 4 bedrooms so we took a different tack after that.
I look forward to following your build.

Thanks 😊 Hope you are enjoying your new home.

SELECTIONS

FACE BRICK
Midland Brick Menora




RENDER
Dune



ROOF
Monument



MAIN TILES
Belligen White


WET TILES
Belligen Charcoal



WALL PAINT
Snowy Mountain White Half

Pre Start has now been done and final selections have been chosen.

Biggest costly upgrades were:

Front door to Corinthian Blonde Oak AWO 5vg in 920. It will be stained Black to match our window frames and we love the dark wood look (as oppose to our current house which is all light coloured). Wish we went 1200 size but ah well, would of cost even more. Funny though how the builder's price is more than Rrp ?



We also opt for waterfall edges which I think will look beautiful on our kitchen island bench. It will make the ends look tidy and also give a 'wow' impact when walking into the kitchen. It will be in the standard Q Stone Bianco Antico that we also have in the scullery and bathrooms.



We upgraded our bathroom and ensuite sinks to Caroma Sculptural Inset Round Basin. I initially wanted above the counter but I think it takes too much room.



We also changed the study to have translucent glass and the laundry to have half size translucent glass. Trying to let as much light through to the long hallway. We also want to install a cat door to the laundry for the cats to use their litter but also so we can close the door. At the moment we leave it open and it's not a good look haha.



.

Now waiting for all the drawings to be finalized and signed off so we can start building!

And it has started! Drove past today and saw this:

We have a slab 🥳🥳

Bricks have been delivered to site. Caught the brickies laying out the set-out this morning.

Hey Chekii,

How did you go about removing the RHS fence and putting up temp fencing? Our builder has told us we need to arrange to have the firbro boundary fence removed where our garage will be going as it is on the boundary. Have tried raising this with the neighbour but not sure he’s on board :/

[quote="TaylorAshlee":3btax4a6][quote="chekii":3btax4a6]We have a slab 🥳🥳


[img:3btax4a6]https://forum.homeone.com.au/u/88159_1566627210.jpg[/img:3btax4a6][/quote:3btax4a6]

Hey Chekii,

How did you go about removing the RHS fence and putting up temp fencing? Our builder has told us we need to arrange to have the firbro boundary fence removed where our garage will be going as it is on the boundary. Have tried raising this with the neighbour but not sure he’s on board :/[/quote:3btax4a6]

Our builder has done this for us. As we are building on the boundary line we had to get our neighbours approval first (letters were sent from our builder for neighbours signatures). Temporary fencing and removal of fences was part of our site costs. Sorry can't be of more help.

Ah bugger. That’s unfortunate for us. We only need like 10m of fence removed at the front of the block. I guess I could ask the builder if they could draft a similar letter for us so I can submit it to the neighbour? I’m not really sure where we stand if he says no. :/ During the site survey we also found that the boundary fence actually encroaches onto our block the further it goes to the back fence so we might need it completely removed in the long run.

Oh no, that's annoying that the boundary fence is going into your block. Our builder mentioned to us that we needed to get the neighbours approval otherwise they may be fines? It's probably best to get everything in writing.

Ah okay. Well I’ve just emailed my builder asking for a letter from them explaining what we need. Hopefully that will be enough to get the neighbour to agree :/ not confident tho

Good luck with the fence. We had so much drama from one neighbour when we had to remove the fence and replace it with temporary fence whilst our garage was built.

It turned into an absolute nightmare. It was honestly the most stressful part of our entire build. We also had to organise to have the old super 6 fence removed and disposed of where our garage was going on the boundary (the builder specifically had it as an exclusion).

We used Temp Fence WA. They removed the old one and disposed of it and then put up temporary fencing before our garage went on the boundary. Was about $400 for the removal and then hire of the fence for up to 3 months.

Thme, thanks so much for that info! That’s so much less than I was expecting to pay.

The neighbour is renovating at the moment and I had been told my our real estate that they were willing to go halves in replacing the fibro fencing with colourbond. That’s why I’m confused why it’s an issue. The part we need to remove is only in their front yard and doesn’t encroach past their side gate that closes of the back yard.

I believe they have a brick wall beside the fence tho so I’m hoping if they agree to remove it, the wall won’t be an issue if it’s completely on their block?

We replaced 2 of our 3 fences with a new colorbond one. We never asked for any money from the neighbours, because we had changed the levels of our land it was easier to change the fence and put a plinth in the bottom, rather than build a retaining wall.

You need to look up and read the dividing fences act. There’s a document online from one of the government departments that covers all sorts of questions.

We notified the neighbours that we were changing the fence and they were mostly fine, except for the one neighbour where our garage went on the boundary. They wanted us to put a new fence on their side of the garage.... we didn’t do it, because the garage wall effectively is their fence.

Yeah ours will be the same situation. Our garage wall will be their fence. We will replace the rest of it with colourbond from the garage back eventually but that’s going to be another whole awkward conversation as the current fence is actually crooked and cuts into our land by about 40cm by the back fence. They have build up right to the fence line so I doubt we will ever get that land back :/

Just got a quote back from the people you suggested. They advised they don’t remove existing fencing but will hire a temp fence for us for $350.

Progress pics. We have some walls!