Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 21Apr 06, 2014 8:29 am I'd never heard of houzz before so I went and had a look. Oh noooooo!! Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 22Apr 06, 2014 9:54 am Im in love with Houzz but unfortunately hubby doesn't share my enthusiasm The only thing i think he is grateful for is its mainly an American site so Im unlikely to find the stuff here -won't stop me trying though Must say this is the first time we have bought off a plan also .......swore never to do it as we have always felt you need to walk through a design before committing - but like you we loved the floor plan and the company seems to be good - our salesman has been amazing so hopefully this service continues. We have been told the Harcrest is being built in Victoria as a showhome -possibly in four places as they think it will be very popular. We were also told we could reclaim some travel costs if we visit one of these homes ...not sure if true but won't stop us from packing up the car for a weekend and visiting.....I am imagining taking residence in the showhome for the duration of its weekend open!! When final plans are drawn i will post for comparison but this could be a few months yet. Back to Houzz for me Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 23Apr 06, 2014 10:09 am aussiepam1327 We have been told the Harcrest is being built in Victoria as a showhome -possibly in four places as they think it will be very popular. We were also told we could reclaim some travel costs if we visit one of these homes ...not sure if true but won't stop us from packing up the car for a weekend and visiting.....I am imagining taking residence in the showhome for the duration of its weekend open!! We've stalked the Simonds displays for a couple of years and I don't think we've seen the Harcrest yet. Luckily we did have a display of ours (Hudson) over here, but the floorplan was so perfect and easy to manipulate to exactly what we wanted that I still think we'd have gone for it. We do visit the display home a fair bit.... tape measure and camera in hand. I'm sure that the poor Simonds people there are worried that one day they're going to have trouble dislodging us at the end of the day Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 24Apr 13, 2014 10:16 pm Hi all. So our slab was laid exactly on schedule (Tuesday last week). We couldn't get to the block until yesterday and then forgot the camera. Imagine then my surprise when we went back in the afternoon to find that most, if not all, of the ground floor frame had been put up. It was scheduled to start Friday, so they are right on track. The Simonds framing quality looks excellent - definitely some effort put in by the tradies (As opposed to our neighbours who are building with someone else that will remain nameless.. I sticky beaked at their frame. It was peppered with misaligned nails.. I stopped counting the number of floorboard nails that completely missed their mark). Glad ours looks good lol so far. The slab and frame make the house look TINY I have to say. Its freaking me out a bit and looks smaller than our current townhouse. I had to whip out the tape measure to reassure myself that it is in fact much larger - I guess its all an optical illusion until the walls and stuff goes in. Anyway, here's a few rough pictures (not sure if it will work, if not there at the blog too http://brissyguybuild.tumblr.com/post/8 ... ll-another ) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 25Apr 13, 2014 10:26 pm How exciting - and so quick. Your right about how deceiving the house looks with just the frame but rest assured it will look to scale with the gyprock up Good to know about the quality - hope that this is Aust wide. P Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 26Apr 13, 2014 10:29 pm Oh wowza! How quick is that? Congrats on your slab & frame... Hope Simonds are that speedy for us in a few weeks time Oh don't worry, with my first build, I was utterly convinced that they'd laid the slab the wrong size and it was way too small, of course it wasn't - but my gosh, did it look tiny! Haha so I know that exact feeling! Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 27Apr 14, 2014 6:59 am Congrats on your progress Brissyguy! It's looking good! Yes, they all seem small at the frame stage for some reason! I'm very grateful that you continue to post picture updates as it really helps my wife and I with our own plans for the Harcrest Fingers crossed they keep flying along with the build! Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 28Apr 14, 2014 9:56 am One thing that is worrying me is the butlers pantry layout! Silly I know- I have always liked this extra room but now it worries me!! I am tossing around ideas and wondered what others think or are doing. Are you using it as a food storage room, equipment storage area or cleaning zone? I am tempted to move the dishwasher into the pantry area and make the main sink (with drainer) also in this area.(Making the island bench sink smaller with no drainer and useful for rinsing vegetables, one or two cups etc) This way all dirty dishes get taken into the pantry out of sight - HOWEVER if I do this when unpacking the dishwasher you would need to carry the clean dishes back into the kitchen area! I am also trying to decide whether to have open shelving above the butlers window or enclosed cupboards. The thing that I keep thinking is when I ask hubby to go get something from the pantry and he has no idea which cupboard to open - if the shelves above are open he should be able to see the item without having to open all the doors to find the item! Any ideas/thoughts?? Pamela Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 29Apr 14, 2014 5:54 pm aussiepam1327 One thing that is worrying me is the butlers pantry layout! Silly I know- I have always liked this extra room but now it worries me!! I am tossing around ideas and wondered what others think or are doing. Are you using it as a food storage room, equipment storage area or cleaning zone? I am tempted to move the dishwasher into the pantry area and make the main sink (with drainer) also in this area.(Making the island bench sink smaller with no drainer and useful for rinsing vegetables, one or two cups etc) This way all dirty dishes get taken into the pantry out of sight - HOWEVER if I do this when unpacking the dishwasher you would need to carry the clean dishes back into the kitchen area! I am also trying to decide whether to have open shelving above the butlers window or enclosed cupboards. In our case the butlers is filled with shelving only. It is just an oversized pantry. We felt putting the sink in there etc wasn't really an effective use of space. Regarding the main sink, we just moved it onto the same bench as the stove. Solves two problems - stuff falling off the floating island from the drainer, and, much larger uninterrupted entertaining and dining space. Just make sure you leave a suitable amount of space between the walls and sink/stove or you won't have anywhere to hide toaster/blender/etc except on the island. We didn't check this which is annoying. The gap for us will be about 300mm each side which is tiny. We plan to rip off the melamine benchtops post build and redo with stone anyway. It's half the builders price. Hopefully can be fixed on at least one side then. Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 30Apr 14, 2014 8:19 pm Hi aussiepam - we are also planning on just having shelving only in the Butler's pantry area, so it's just a walk in pantry. No cupboards. We'll fill it with all the food, jars and cans that would normally go in the kitchen cupboards, as well as larger, less used appliances like steamer, juicer etc. Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 31Apr 15, 2014 11:30 am I won't have a butlers pantry in my house or anything even close to it, however in my opinion from having a very small kitchen at the moment I would not like to unload a dishwasher in a small room or do dishes in it either. You'd be all shut off and I don't think it will be very nice. However I do understand how good it would be to hide all the mess and whatever. Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 32Apr 16, 2014 9:35 pm Looks like the upper storey frame will be done by tomorrow arvo. I'll add pics on the weekend. I'm having a mini freak out over the backyard (really a side yard)... Ours is a corner block. The house will have 5.5m x 22m (road side) and 6.5m x 13m on "side yard" side (plus few m next to garage). I'm thinking we should have just put it all on one side for a massive area.. It would be the west side in QLD sun though which is why we didn't in the first place. Just seems sooooo small a yard now. Once we build a big entertaining area there will be literally no land on the backyard side Fingers crossed. Also we were quoted 45k to build a covered deck (8.8m x 6m). Definately shopping around time!!! Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 33Apr 16, 2014 10:17 pm Even the smallest garden done well can be beautiful - check out some of the stunning pictures on Houzz and as with your frame as it went up, when all complete it will seem larger. We are downsizing from a 1150sqm block with large pool and surround gardens to a 540sqm block with a much much smaller garden and no pool (yeah from now on we take pleasure out of someone elses pool and wont have the up keep and costs of our own) we cant wait for the smaller garden and Houzz is giving me heaps of ideas I think sometimes we get so excited about the build that as things happen we cant help but wonder if we have done the right thing - but it usually all turns out for the best Just think next Easter you will be out on your deck bbqing and relaxing - how exciting Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 34Apr 16, 2014 10:22 pm Oh and thx guys for the butlers pantry answers - they have helped. Im wondering if I should just make it a pantry instead of spending the extra on a flashy not as useful room with window - but I have heaps of time to run it through my head Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 35Apr 17, 2014 10:14 am Dont fret about the backyard... It'll come together! Definitely get more quotes on the deck! We shopped 4 places to get prices for a 6.5 x 4.5 deck with a verandah/pergola over the top. 1st was: $30,000 2nd was: $11,000 3rd was $12,000 4th was $13,500 We went with number 3, because they had the best customer service, response time and had a display yard where we could see their structures, woods and different things they do. I dont think number 1 really wanted our business! Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 36Apr 17, 2014 10:33 am aussiepam1327 Even the smallest garden done well can be beautiful - check out some of the stunning pictures on Houzz and as with your frame as it went up, when all complete it will seem larger. Great advice aussiepam. I was despairing a bit on what to do with our very small backyard - which has been made even tinier by an unexpected .7 m high x 1.2m deep retaining wall area at the back. Houzz has made us really excited about the possibilities, and most of it we can do ourselves. Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 37Apr 17, 2014 6:01 pm deluxes Dont fret about the backyard... It'll come together! Definitely get more quotes on the deck! We shopped 4 places to get prices for a 6.5 x 4.5 deck with a verandah/pergola over the top. 1st was: $30,000 2nd was: $11,000 3rd was $12,000 4th was $13,500 We went with number 3, because they had the best customer service, response time and had a display yard where we could see their structures, woods and different things they do. I dont think number 1 really wanted our business! So I found out today that to cover 8.8m x 6.5m with merbau planks is 3,700$. About the same for footing and such. The rest is all labour. So apparently should be 10k-ish. Also needs a draftsperson and council permit due to size. Roof is going to cost extra, too. Still not 45k that's for sure... More research! Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 38Apr 17, 2014 7:23 pm Wow those quotes are unbelievable!! Hope you had a chair handy for the 1st one! The best you can do is look around to see what they have done before (if possible) and referrals from friends are always good. Once built though it will be a great entertaining spot - i can see this thread going on for years - I want to see the deck! lol We had to do the same with home builders too - one show home we fell in love with was a respectable price even with the luxury upgrades - but when querying the price of building exactly the same as the home on display we were shocked to see the price double from the luxury cost (thats when i needed a chair!) Ive only seen one of their display homes in a standard form - so how anyone can imagine what there house will look like when built standard is beyond me . This is where Simonds differed in SA they only have 2 display centres but they show standard, slightly upgraded and luxury - much better Happy Easter guys Re: Our Simonds Harcrest build in Brisbane 39Apr 18, 2014 11:20 am We have a 2nd storey! Not sure exactly what the wall type things are - a friend took the photos for us since we can't make it today. He also did a walkthrough video which is cool, Ill upload to youtube over the weekend (heading out now...) and post it here later. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hello Josh, This is Irving from PRIMA, we are a manufacturer of the staircase, railings, kitchen cabinets, windows, doors from China. If you have requirement to purchase… 0 6362 Hi, does anyone have a clue how the Brisbane Development website work in terms of how uptodate the dates on it are (developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au). I transfered… 0 4965 Thanks , we decided to go with them now in the process of designing, yes I agree they are super flexible with design and super flexibility with our needs , anyway one… 2 19183 |