Browse Forums Building A New House Re: My buckingham palace - I have a date!!!!!!!!!! 121Apr 15, 2009 8:57 pm Also Brit, what are the measurements of your eaves. By the way we went with the Caulfield facade. The artist impression of it looks like there are no eaves?! According to our final drawings, the eaves are 450. Is this short considered short? Re: My buckingham palace - I have a date!!!!!!!!!! 122Apr 15, 2009 9:04 pm 450 is right for eaves. That's what we have as well. Re: My buckingham palace - I have a date!!!!!!!!!! 123Apr 23, 2009 3:42 pm Today they cleaned up the site - pity they didn't take down the temporary fencing! Inside still needs a major clean. I met on site the guy who is doing my backyard fill and now are very confident of where we are going and how it is going to happen. I love this guy. He also mapped out for me solutions (or better solutions) to the rear fencing, the drop off in the backyard and how to deal with it, the excavating for the driveway and front yard, and the scrape for the front retaining walls. He bought along a concretor to work out some pricing for me on driveways and paths. The concretor with works with my builder who I was meant to meet at 2.30pm did not show and did not answer his phone. I will message you the concretor who I was impressed with today's number blessed. The one thing I've learnt from all of this is do as much earthworks as you can before you start and really visualise how you are going to use the block. The driveway will be stippled black coloured concrete and he estimates $2400 plus gst for the drive and $3000 plus gst to concrete the rest of the front yard (we need for parking as is difficult to park on the street). He will firm up some prices after they've excavated it better. We need the paths done too up the sides of the house. Fi has moved in!! Re: My buckingham palace - I have a date!!!!!!!!!! 124Apr 24, 2009 9:20 pm Some more pics master shower now shower screen is in - it is 1200 x 90 - wish we'd gone the 1500 but wonder where the space would have come from as we already had to shrink the house 50cm in width to fit on the block. We put in two of the tiled metro soap holders - one large and one small. I don't mind the base - DH really wishes we'd gone tiles. Has he ever cleaned the shower in his life? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Vanity in master bedroom. Notice the hole in the middle and the taps on the side.... I am hoping that arrives next week. The kids bathroom is massive and has heaps of storage. Our bathroom is big but the vanity space is small. We went the bevilled mirror in here. Currently where we live there is an ensuite off our bedroom but it is so small and pokey that we don't use it at all. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The fan in our bedroom - we also put one in the alfresco, guest bedroom, and dining. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our alfresco roof with fan. I hate this ceiling and it has been full of problems already. We have a balcony above it which before it was sealed copped a few weather beatings. The panels have dried well without buckling. Then after sealing there was a small leak on the right. Then they were playing with the drain and had to smash the ceiling again. Now they're going to move the drain again so that will be more holes and my fan probably won't end up very central. Then I have two speakers to go into that roof after they paint it. I hate the lines but can live with them. I imagined a plastered ceiling.... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Fan in dining area - there are two electrical plates on the wall - one is a 15 amp powerpoint for our split system for downstairs. The other was there stuff up whilst finding the cable. The electrician just put a plate on it and thought we'd be happy. This I can't live with and am getting it fixed. The dining area is the only area in this house that I think looks small. Will be interesting once we put a table in there to see how big it is. We were going to buy a new table before we move but will put our existing one in for now to see what fits. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ My stairway light - I love it but can't take a photo of it to do it justice Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ taps in guest bathroom - These are the taps on all our vanities - our shower taps are different. This doesn't seem right but I like them both. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ shower taps Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ guest bathroom - not small by any standard Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ guest shower Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ powder room Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Fi has moved in!! Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 125Apr 24, 2009 9:44 pm Fi, This is looking wonderful !!! I can't believe your carpets are in....woo-hooooo....makes you think of what were you doing same time last year Re: My buckingham palace - tiling finished 3/4/09 126Apr 24, 2009 9:52 pm blessedpeople Hi Brit, You're on the final leg...Congratulations! We have just requested to have the rangehood ducted externally and received the variation today for $420 which is fine but then, there was an additional charge of $150 for "administration cost" . All our previous variations never had this charge. Then again all previous variations were signed off before construction started. Did you get charged this when you put in a variation after building started? Seems very odd to me. I was going to send an email to the builder querying this but thought I'd ask you & Mel & Em first. Have a great weekend! Our builder charges $500 per post-contract (non-structural) variation as admin fee. Building the 22sq Ashton Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 127Apr 24, 2009 9:56 pm Ouch Jolie - that would hurt the hip pocket. Most of our variations happen as we drive past the house at least four times a day for school (more on kinda days) so catch the builder there regularly - we have a chat - and usually change several things. Fi has moved in!! Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 131Apr 29, 2009 11:01 am Beautiful Fi Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13002 Site start: 8th July 2009 Handover: 11/12/2009! 5 months total build time. 40 sqs of luxuary...Bliss! Re: My buckingham palace - tiling finished 3/4/09 132May 01, 2009 8:30 pm jolie Our builder charges $500 per post-contract (non-structural) variation as admin fee. $500 ????? That is insane! What if you put 3 alterations on 1 variation at a go? Would it be a flat fee oif $500 or $500x3. We added a few more variations i.e. 1 more light point in the kitchen, Video intercom points and with a rangehood ducted externally, the total admin charge was $150 in total...now if only our builder would get a move on things Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 133May 02, 2009 10:36 am Its looking beautiful!! I can tell what kind of light that is on the stairway and i love those. Building with PD - Regent 23 Cascades on Clyde Estate HomeOne Building Thread - PCI Completed - 28th August. Handover - 11th September. Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 135May 02, 2009 5:55 pm Our house still isn't our house!! Supposedly it will happen this week but I'm not stressing on it. Everything has to be finished and if it takes another week or so at this point so be it. There have been so many tradespeople in our house over the last few weeks and weekends it is amazing. Meanwhile we've started on the outside works which need to be complete before we move in. Yesterday I spent most of the day there. I had to meet lots of trades people there so decided to stay there the day. Made a possie for myself on the carpet and did some work. I was most comfortable -after all it is my house... almost. Aircon and heating vents are in - the aircon got off the truck on friday and got back on as it started to spit and they decided too slippery to go roof climbing. We're not getting our appliances until we move in so they don't dissappear. They've moved a drain in the upstairs balcony so that has to be fixed and retiled. There is a broken window upstairs that still has to be fixed. Our bar is finished but that will happen after handover. There are holes in my pantry roof and the guest bedroom roof as the bath leaked and the builder insisted they cut through and check the other one too. Door handles, door stops have to happen. There is a bit more painting and a little bit of plaster work still to happen. We did a walk through with the builder yesterday with his packet of stickers. I had a list - he got all those and a truck load of others that I never ever noticed or didn't think were worthy of fixing. So that was impressive. It got dark though whilst we were doing it so we're going to do again next week when it's very sunny. Penance for having dark painted walls. Last night was the first time I'd been in the house when it got very dark and uh oh - I need even more down lights!! I added so many extra powerpoints everywhere and still I see the need for so many more. Our back yard fill is half done - they've filled the side paths up to house level and wow it's starting to look good - not just builders rubble. The backyard fill will still take this week - I am still waiting on two quotes for paving (both given me ball parks) and two quotes for retaining walls as I want to book them in asap. I need the front retaining walls done before the paving. One paver won't touch it for four weeks so the other is looking good if his price is right. One quoted $48 for black coloured concrete. Window coverings - um how can this be such a dilemna. I have changed my mind fifty times - and are going in circles. The builder is getting his blind company to come out and do a quote and hopefully some professional advice is what I need. The front windows are on a busy road so I want venetians as I like to leave my windows open most of the time and don't want the traffic looking in on me. I want curtains with a pelmet in the home theatre and I have no idea what to put over the other two sliding doors and big window in the main area. I love roller blinds but they are illogical over a sliding door. I don't love venetians even though I want them for my front rooms. And my big big rant about National Builders Group - when we went for our colour selection and we got to the heating section we specified that we wanted zoning. Where we lived at the time was two storey and not zoned and it was so putrid upstairs if the heating was on. So if I was up late at night downstairs and my husband or kids were in bed the heater had to go off or you would suffocate. We also were building a big house and didn't want to be heating the whole house all the time but wanted to be able to select areas. We were determined to pay for zoning and made this very clear to Laura, the girl taking us through. No worries - pay for the upgrade to the BV5 unit and that would be covered. We were happy to pay it as we believed that covered us - the upgrade cost $2210. I rang the salesperson from the heating company to go over the zoning with him and you can imagine how angry I got when I found out that we don't have any zoning as such. They have put in an option for us to turn off the bedrooms. We cannot operate the bedrooms without all the other common areas. We have a massive area upstairs where we will both work from home and we cannot heat this without heating also the home theatre (used once a week), the guest bedroom (used once a week), the foyer?, and the kitchen, dining, and family. I was livid!! This is the one thing that was important to us above all else. He was very apologetic but got it across very clearly that we were the twelfth customer from NBG with exactly the same problem!!! The colour selection staff were giving out the wrong information. That just infuriates me. I will be ringing them first thing on Monday morning to see what they can do about this stuff up. Our home theatre guy came today and pulled though our cables and back tomorrow to plate them off and put on the speaker and projector brackets. The side wall looks funny as there are several holes as he just can't find the subwoofer cable. Thank goodness the plasterers and painters need to come back. We've not even given notice on our rental yet so we've still got at least four weeks up on our sleeve. Our rental will have a for sale sign up this week - the real estate agent said they'll get $450K - what do you think Mel and Em? It's got a big extension at the back. Fi has moved in!! Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 136May 02, 2009 7:38 pm Our ensuite bench top went in as a black benchtop and they put the sink hole in the middle rather than one on each side. I went back this week and they replaced with a silver/grey one - same as guest ensuite (which should have been black). All confusing but I prefer the way it turned out rather than the way it was planned. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Fi has moved in!! Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 138May 02, 2009 9:45 pm The benchtop looks great...nice blend of colours... But the wole zoning things is We paid for the same item and looks like I will be having to give NBG a call first thing Monday !!! Unbelievable...so tell again what was the benefit of having to pay over $2k ? Correct me if I am wrong... The upgrade only allows you the option to turn off heat at the bedrooms...but lets say at night when everyone goes to bed...to operate the heating in the bedroom, you're practically having to waste heat/energy in the common areas as well? But that's just ridiculous... Re: My buckingham palace - pictures 24/4/09! 139May 03, 2009 3:55 pm Heating ducts Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Cooling ducts Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Window mouldings unpainted Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ my pantry - massive! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ backyard fill viewed from the alfresco Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ the other half yet to be filled Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ one side filled and ready for paths Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Home theatre guy was here today and now there are five big holes in one wall trying to find a subwoofer cable. The builder is really not going to love that. I noticed my sink doesn't sit flush - must mention that today. I took the spray and wipe and cloths today and gave the kitchen a good going over - ridiculous I know but I want to clean everything. Toilets gone from the front - fence isn't coming down until we've built the retaining wall which means it will be there after handover. Fi has moved in!! Re: My buckingham palace - hopefully the final week! 140May 03, 2009 4:21 pm Brittany, is the fill part of the build ? Or did you specifically ask for this to be done as a variatoin ? We are looking at having to bring in heaps of topsoil, to fill the areas around the side & rear of our house. I just assumed that this was our responsibility for AFTER handover & not the builder's. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Joe, it depends on your certifier but we are noticing the ones we deal with are really cracking down. So i would recommend you follow your approved landscaping plans to… 4 11785 Hi Simeon, Thank you for laying it down for us. Makes sense. Appreciate it very much. Have a nice day. Cheers 2 9785 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 6271 |