thanks... any problems during the 2 weeks? did the ponds changed anything in your plans?
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1181Oct 05, 2011 6:17 pm hi kopite, thanks... any problems during the 2 weeks? did the ponds changed anything in your plans? kopite1892 we're building in the ponds and it took them 2 weeks to approve it. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1183Oct 06, 2011 11:05 am [quote="kornjen"]hi kopite, thanks... any problems during the 2 weeks? did the ponds changed anything in your plans? nope, nothing was changed at all... Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1184Oct 08, 2011 1:53 pm milano4 Hi my husband and I have been watching this thread closely and have already learned some invaluable information, thanks to everyone for that. We are building the Milano 4 at Stonecutters, so excited can't wait to get started have already recieved the colour pack which my 9 year old has renamed the divorce book haha. And have a walk through appoinment on 6th October. Anyway cant wait to start sharing our experience with you all. Hi Milano4, we're at SCR as well, building an altered Santorini. Are you on the SCR residents forum as well ? I hope your colour appt went well, we're slightly ahead of you in the process, just finalised colours & signed off plans. Let me know if you have any Qs ! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1185Oct 10, 2011 8:44 pm Hi All, We're up to chosing bricks and weren't too happy with the selection at Austral - plus we need exposure bricks because we are close to the water - which limits us again. Anyway, just wanted to ask for those who upgraded - how much extra it was? We're tossing up between Bowral and Symmetry Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1186Oct 10, 2011 8:54 pm Hi soccermum, We needed exposure grade bricks after originally selecting Symmetry Asphalt, which ended up not being exposure grade. This brick upgrade was $2900. I believe that Symmetry Earth is exposure grade and probably the same price. Can't help you with Bowral upgrade as never got to price, either here or from MJH. Anyway, we turned to PGH as they have a better range of exposure grade bricks, and we chose PGH Mild Steel, which was $1890 upgrade. PGH Cement is similar and is only $300 upgrade. Hope this helps. We found brick selection somewhat frustrating and hard to find upgrade prices at the beginning. Building Havana Elite with side HT with MJD 20/04/11 DA approved by council 06/06/11 cut/fill 08/06/11 piering 20/6/11 slab 11/8/11 frame complete 18/9/11 lock up 28/11/11 handover booked Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1187Oct 10, 2011 9:19 pm Hi all, I hope everyone is well and your builds/planning are running smoothly. On Tuesday the construction of our frames commenced and by Friday everything was locked into placed. It looks absolutely amazing, we can’t believe how quick it is all coming together and we are finding it hard to believe that this is our home/first home that is being built. A Very surreal feeling... Anyways, our gutters and fascia were delivered today and our SS has advised that they will commence the construction of the roof sometime this week. Can’t wait until they put a lid on it... Pics below; Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1188Oct 10, 2011 9:25 pm taki Hi soccermum, We needed exposure grade bricks after originally selecting Symmetry Asphalt, which ended up not being exposure grade. This brick upgrade was $2900. I believe that Symmetry Earth is exposure grade and probably the same price. Can't help you with Bowral upgrade as never got to price, either here or from MJH. Anyway, we turned to PGH as they have a better range of exposure grade bricks, and we chose PGH Mild Steel, which was $1890 upgrade. PGH Cement is similar and is only $300 upgrade. Hope this helps. We found brick selection somewhat frustrating and hard to find upgrade prices at the beginning. Thanks for that. I've just checked our block on google maps and were about 1.2km from water so don't know how strict they are about being exactly 1km and needing exposure bricks. We like symmetry earth too, but at almost $3k its alot of money. They didn't mention PGH in our colour pack so Im hoping it's an option. Thanks for replying Kopite - the frames look great! So exciting for you! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1189Oct 11, 2011 8:46 am kopite, it's a house, it's a house !! Wow, great to see things taking shape for you.... can't wait to get to that stage. Can I ask, how long did it take everyone from contract to slab pour ? We are at Stonecutters so have about 2 weeks with developer and then Blacktown Council. And were you guys able to get a CDC certificate to get through council quicker ?? Thanks... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1190Oct 11, 2011 8:56 pm Thanks budgnbear! We signed contracts around the 25th of July and the slab was poured on the 15th of September. We also sought approval as a complying development which took approximately 7 days to be approved. It has seriously been smooth sailing, right from the get go and cannot praise MJH enough; our sales rep, clo, slab ss and now our current ss have all been A.M.A.Z.I.N.G I hope everything works out well for you and you have a fantastic run, as we are having… good luck with the approvals. Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1191Oct 11, 2011 8:57 pm Oh gutters and fascia are up! Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1192Oct 12, 2011 8:07 pm bad news for us... Design Review Panel came up with some unacceptable concerns for our plans... the main thing is the private open space... they told us that we didn't meet the minimum 100m2 required. I had the impression that MJ knows what they are doing and have done a lot of designs for the ponds that's why I expected them to meet these requirements... another thing is the eaves on the left side... for some reason, MJ didn't put any eaves on the garage side... and I'm expecting MJ to comeback with another cost for adding these eaves... my DIY landscape plan failed... damn... around 10+ items for revision..... now I'm tempted to hire a professional landscaper for less hassle... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1193Oct 12, 2011 8:41 pm question, if we add an alfresco area, will it increase the private open space? thanks Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1194Oct 12, 2011 10:04 pm kornjen bad news for us... Design Review Panel came up with some unacceptable concerns for our plans... the main thing is the private open space... they told us that we didn't meet the minimum 100m2 required. I had the impression that MJ knows what they are doing and have done a lot of designs for the ponds that's why I expected them to meet these requirements... another thing is the eaves on the left side... for some reason, MJ didn't put any eaves on the garage side... and I'm expecting MJ to comeback with another cost for adding these eaves... my DIY landscape plan failed... damn... around 10+ items for revision..... now I'm tempted to hire a professional landscaper for less hassle... Sorry to hear kornjen I'm not sure about the ponds and the open space issue .. but I share your concerns that when a builder lodges plans with a developer they know, there should be some internal flag or checklist that MJ has for each estate. Ultimately it's our responslbility but it's incredibly frustrating they don't seem to have a better QC process. The same thing happened to us with a facade - although we found out prior to lodging with the developer - but only via the other client who was building with MJ in our estate - not MJ. We wanted a particular facade that had previously been rejected but they didn't flag that with us. Good luck getting things back on track Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1195Oct 12, 2011 10:36 pm kornjen bad news for us... Design Review Panel came up with some unacceptable concerns for our plans... the main thing is the private open space... they told us that we didn't meet the minimum 100m2 required. I had the impression that MJ knows what they are doing and have done a lot of designs for the ponds that's why I expected them to meet these requirements... another thing is the eaves on the left side... for some reason, MJ didn't put any eaves on the garage side... and I'm expecting MJ to comeback with another cost for adding these eaves... my DIY landscape plan failed... damn... around 10+ items for revision..... now I'm tempted to hire a professional landscaper for less hassle... really sorry to hear that kornjen and i understand your concerns... I have to say tho; not sure about you guys but the first time we met, our clo clearly advised us that, mjh do not take responsibility of adhering to the developer’s requirements (makes our life harder I know – we were spewing as well). BUT It falls directly on us as the owner of the land, as we are simply hiring a builder to build our house. The builder must adhere to building codes, council codes, aus standards and blah blah blah but in terms of developer rules and guidelines; this is for us to know and ensure we instruct our builder to make the necessary changes… The ponds have quite an extensive list of guidelines that we have to stick by but once you read them over a few times it is quite easy to plan the correct type of house for the type of land you own in the ponds... With respects to the 100m2 of private of open space; I suggest you change a bedroom and turn it into a study/hm theatre, or kids activities area. Basically turning your house into a 3 bedder, so all you need is 80m2 of POS . Also we spotted on our plans (before we went to the developer) that there were no eaves around our garage as well. Can’t remember if they charged us to do it or not I can imagine how frustrating this must be for you but just study the guidelines carefully, and if you can’t put together the landscape plan then hire someone… I think flowerpower can whip them up for 500 or something… if you need any more advice let me know… Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1196Oct 12, 2011 10:48 pm kornjen question, if we add an alfresco area, will it increase the private open space? thanks No. You need to turn your house in to a “3 bedroom” house, as you will only require 80m2 of POS. It is quite difficult to have a 4 bedroom house on a 'smart lot' in the ponds and also have 100m2 of POS... The land is too small... just take a wardrobe out and remove the door to the room.. Even make the entrance into that room bigger so it doesn’t look like a 4th bedroom. When you guys move in and if you still require it to be a bedroom then you can get someone to build in a wardrobe and slap a door on... easy to do, or any one of those handy man companies can do it... Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1197Oct 13, 2011 6:11 am thanks budgnbear and kopite.... As far as I remember on our initial talk when we were about to put a deposit, the guy from MJ told us that they have built similar houses already in the ponds and there won't be any problems... I think they are just telling that so you can put a deposit.... kopite, so your Havana 3 has only 3 bedrooms? Coz our house has 4 bedrooms, 1 home theater... that's what the review panel suggested, turn the bedroom 4 into a study room with an opening of 1.8 meters up to the ceiling.... anyway, still waiting advice from MJ.... thanks for the replies... Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1198Oct 13, 2011 7:30 am Hi Everyone.. kornjen, hope you get your issues with the developer get sorted quickly, it must be frustrating..we are building in the Lake Macquarie area and we were interested in a certain estate before we purchased the block where our house is being built, until we found out all the restrictions and covenents. We could only choose between 4 builders, everyone had to have the same fence, had to be landscaped within 3 months of moving in and a whole heap more! It's like driving into stepford wives country. Update on our house..MJ has been paying us $35 daily since the 6th as the contract is up. Put a call into the SS on Tuesday to find out where we are up to and he had no idea the contract was even up. We are waiting on shower screens, glass splashback in the kitchen, the carpenter to come back and do all the shelving, the water tank, the gas hot water system and a few other odds and ends. We also dont have a manhole yet downstairs as there seems to be nowhere to put it. They dont appear to be in too much of a hurry as the only things they have planned for this week was to tile the balcony and put some silicone up where the showerscreens have to go. However, the SS informs us that they should have a practical completetion date for us by next Monday (17th). I am guessing that we are still at least a month away from moving in which will be close to 6 weeks past the contract end. I am starting to get excited and frustrated all at the same time now. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1199Oct 13, 2011 8:29 am kornjen thanks budgnbear and kopite.... As far as I remember on our initial talk when we were about to put a deposit, the guy from MJ told us that they have built similar houses already in the ponds and there won't be any problems... I think they are just telling that so you can put a deposit.... kopite, so your Havana 3 has only 3 bedrooms? Coz our house has 4 bedrooms, 1 home theater... that's what the review panel suggested, turn the bedroom 4 into a study room with an opening of 1.8 meters up to the ceiling.... anyway, still waiting advice from MJ.... thanks for the replies... Our CLO advised us when we first met. I recall it was at the time of our Pre-colours walk though… anyway we live and learn aye…. Yep our Havana 3 has only 3 bedrooms, HM Theatre and a study. We turned the 4th bedroom into the study; we knocked the door out, put 2 x square set openings on the hallway side and a cavity sliding door from the kitchen… It looks very similar to the childrens activities in the havana 1 (Oran Park) Looking at the Bordeaux 13 plan; I can see that they have named the bed 4 as an option for a study as well?... maybe knock that wardrobe out and put a large square set opening there instead?... or visa versa knock the linen out and turn the wardrobe into a linen and then have the opening there instead where the linen was? Or knock them both out and put a large opening in the centre with a bulkhead? Are you building with timber? Do you guys have a copy of the landscape guidelines, a copy of the ‘smart lot’ design guidelines and a copy of page 36 of the Black Development Control Plan 2006 (Part M Seconds Ponds Creek)? If not PM me your email address and I can send them to you, if you like? Good luck mate. Built the Havana 3 by McDonald Jones Homes Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 1200Oct 13, 2011 9:18 am Hussibug Hi Everyone.. kornjen, hope you get your issues with the developer get sorted quickly, it must be frustrating..we are building in the Lake Macquarie area and we were interested in a certain estate before we purchased the block where our house is being built, until we found out all the restrictions and covenents. We could only choose between 4 builders, everyone had to have the same fence, had to be landscaped within 3 months of moving in and a whole heap more! It's like driving into stepford wives country. Update on our house..MJ has been paying us $35 daily since the 6th as the contract is up. Put a call into the SS on Tuesday to find out where we are up to and he had no idea the contract was even up. We are waiting on shower screens, glass splashback in the kitchen, the carpenter to come back and do all the shelving, the water tank, the gas hot water system and a few other odds and ends. We also dont have a manhole yet downstairs as there seems to be nowhere to put it. They dont appear to be in too much of a hurry as the only things they have planned for this week was to tile the balcony and put some silicone up where the showerscreens have to go. However, the SS informs us that they should have a practical completetion date for us by next Monday (17th). I am guessing that we are still at least a month away from moving in which will be close to 6 weeks past the contract end. I am starting to get excited and frustrated all at the same time now. Hussibug, Looks like you're at the same stage as us. Took the day off yesterday to help my plumber with the installation of the water tank and start on the chook shed and the place was like pit street. Splashbacks were being carried into the house when I arrived, All the plumbing PC items got delivered and the appliances turned up in the afternoon so we are definitely on the home stretch. Painters have finished the bagging on the outside. Asked the SS about timelines and got the impression we are only a few weeks out but as always everything depends on trades turning up on time, materials etc so we'll see how we go. Now the preperations for moving start, I hate packing. Next time I move, someone else will be carrying me, feet first out the front door. kopite, your frame is looking good, hope the rest flows smoothly. Hi AKG, We had a base tender of $592 for 31 squares from MC Donald Jones. 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