Hello,
I just found this introductions section so thought I'd pop in and formally introduce myself. I've been lurking around these parts for a while now, I've written a couple of posts and already had some fantastic feedback from the collective home-building brain that is homeone.
I and my hubby bought a block of land in Guildford, WA which settled in February 2011. It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing. We're currently in a gorgeous old weatherboard cottage which we desperately love but just doesn't meet our needs any more. After many failed attempts to see if we could somehow extend to build a garage, spare room, laundry and something resembling storage, we resigned ourselves to the fact we were going to have to move (I say "resigned" but in reality I was still fighting the concept every step of the way).
The idea of building didn't even occur to us until my MiL mentioned it over the Christmas holidays. That night we got home and got online where I spotted this land for sale in Guildford. We drove around and had a look. That was it - love at first sight - all of a sudden I was even excited about moving. After a day or two pondering and trying to find mortgage brokers not on leave to give us a general nod, we put in an offer on New Year's Eve.
Fast forward till now and we've had a crash course in building. There's something to be said for naivety, I wonder if we'd have even bought the land had we known then as much as we know now. We're in a high clay area, anticipating $50k siteworks (so I'm told). We've decided on a lose plan and have yet to choose a builder. We'd shortlisted... then shortlisted again.... then hit road blocks and shortlisted again. Seems being high clay and wanting a custom plan with a 2nd storey (albeit just a studio room) tends to leave some of the project builders a little scared.
In the meantime, I'm LOVING going to display villages. I'm an addict I tell ya! And there's ne'er a thought without a daydream of interior design. This is definitely the fun side to this building malarkey.
Anyways, I'm sorry I tend to talk* too much (*write), so I'd best leave my epic introduction there. Looking forward to getting to know you all and seeing all these amazing plans come to fruition. I can't wait to have our own thread.
Anise