Designing, Building & Developing a Luxury home in Lindfield

Ashington Homes · Mar 12, 2024 5:24 am

Hi Everyone

I have some super exciting news.

After taking a break following the successful journey of developing a duplex In North Ryde last year, on Friday we exchanged contracts on our next venture.

This time we will be designing, building and developing a luxury home in Lindfield NSW. An opportunity to showcase our work and hopefully make some money,

I want this blog to be a place where I can share the journey for anyone else who is thinking of doing something similar.

As always I am more than happy to share advice, feasibilities and anything else that can assist others. Just PM me if you need any documents etc

I have never developed a home before so this is a new experience for me as well and I am sure there will be mistakes to learn from.

As with North Ryde ( and we had so many forum members who would drop by to say hi), the same here. I love it when people drop in for a chat and share ideas.

The General Plan:

The site is approx 830 sqm, relatively flat with potential views over the Lane Cove national park from the first floor.

We paid $3.4m for the site, will spend around $2m on the build and other bits and pieces and aim to sell for $6.5m, give or take.

We have a 12 week settlement period, so the goal is to get the approval finalised in this time, and then build in 9-10 months so we can have the property back on the market in March/April 2025.

Here is a link to the site:

https://www.domain.com.au/8-lyle-avenue ... 2018997509

We want to use this as an opportunity to showcase our work and build something special. When we do client builds we are often limited due to client selections, but for this one we are looking forward to getting creative and we have some pretty cool ideas.

In my next post I will go into more detail about why we selected Lindfield rather some of the other North Shore suburbs and then i will share the design as it progresses.

Cheers

Simeon

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dotty · Mar 12, 2024 10:44 am

I look forward to following you on this journey. Reading your North Ryde journey has been a blast!

Ashington Homes · Mar 12, 2024 11:36 am

dotty

I look forward to following you on this journey. Reading your North Ryde journey has been a blast!

Thanks Dotty!

SaveH2O · Mar 13, 2024 6:13 am

Do you envisage any issues with the neighbour's tree in consideration of it being a multi storey development?

Ashington Homes · Mar 13, 2024 12:56 pm

SaveH2O

Do you envisage any issues with the neighbour's tree in consideration of it being a multi storey development?

Are you talking about the one on the RHS? if so that's on our land and I am 99% certain it is dead. Sending my guy out to take a look. So hopefully no issues:-D

Ashington Homes · Mar 13, 2024 2:56 pm

Hi Everyone

In my first post, I mentioned that I would give an explanation as to why we chose to purchase in Lindfield rather than one of the other suburbs on the North Shore.

The key criteria to make a project successful in this part of the world is to be able to sell the completed product for roughly $3 million dollars more than land value. So if the land cost is $3m then we need to be able to sell for at least $6m to make it worth our while. Combining all other costs including stamp duty, interest, construction and design fees we can afford to spend $2m which is how we get to these figures.

There were several suburbs which fit these criteria. Our favourite suburbs that we looked at closely and had initially wanted to purchase were Turramura and St Ives.

Unfortunately there are so many other builders and small developers already in this market so buying a site is extremely competitive and the new build market also has a lot of stock at the moment. We had viewed a number of sites and the open homes were packed with developers so we didn’t even bother bidding.

The other issue with St Ives & Turramurra is that most of the successful builds are in the French Provisional style, and both Homestead and Meadowbank plus a few chinese builders seem to have this sector covered. We tend to specialize in a more modern style.

I am close to a number of agents in the Lindfield market and they had been telling me since last year that developers were overlooking Lindfield and that there was a complete lack of new build stock.

After completing the duplex last year, it was such an exhausting process that I really needed some time off. Add to that our building business is going extremely well so I wanted some time to focus solely on client builds.

Then a few weeks ago, an agent I am close to called me and said they had this site and it would be perfect for a project.

We had a look the next day and we immediately fell in love with it. Quiet street, in a great school zone, flat as a pancake, views over the valley of the Lane Cove national park, street number is the lucky number 8, and it had a good overall feel. It ticked all of the boxes….well so I thought.

The previous owners had bought it 2 years ago and had a design which wasn't quite working and were struggling to pay the interest, so we were able to pick it up a bit cheaper than them. With stamp duty and interest they have probably lost over $200,000. This seems to be happening a bit up these parts. I should add that we negotiated a 5% deposit and 12 week settlement which should be enough time to get the approvals before we start paying $19,000 per month in interest. So every day counts.

In my next post I will go into more detail about the design. I spent several hours with the designers today and let me tell you, fitting everything in we want is a challenge! We have so many ideas, and unfortunately the dimensions of the block aren’t quite helping us.

We have a 21m frontage and depth of 32m which causes issues when you need to comply with rear setbacks.

Wish I had bought a deeper site.

As the market is mainly Chinese and Korean we are doing our best to comply with all of the main Feng Shui criteria which take up a fair amount of space.

Anyway, I will explain this more in the next post.

Cheers

Simeon

Ashington Homes · Mar 13, 2024 4:31 pm

Hi All

For context, this is the design the previous owners had done, not approved though.

We think we can do something better and use the space more productively, so let's see.

Cheers

Simeon Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅
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Ashington Homes · Mar 13, 2024 4:36 pm

And this is the design brief we prepared to guide the designers:

DESIGN BRIEF
Address: 8 Lyle Ave Lindfield

OVERVIEW

Modern stylish home with a super amazing facade ( to be confirmed)
Maximise the 21m frontage with 2 driveways and a triple garage
Basic Feng Shui principles will be important such as; . Front door can not be directly aligned with the back door; 2 The staircase can not face the front door; 3 No bathroom door facing the front door; 4 Cooktop ( stove) in the centre island; 5. Lots of light
Capitalise on the views from the front over the valley with Master Suite and balcony
Try to use the design to hide the rear neighbours looking into the rear yard
House wrapping around the pool and cabana on the north boundary

ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS ( Wish List)

5 bedrooms all with ensuites ( parents retreat on the ground floor)
2 living areas
Big Alfresco with outdoor kitchen & BBQ Like St Ives ( Island in alfresco)
Pool and cabana
Outdoor fire pit
Prominent fireplace as a feature
Proper movie theatre
Butlers pantry
Wine storage area
Feature wide stairs in a clockwise direction
Voids ( double height ceiling in dining room would be amazing)
A foyer at the entrance would be great
Mud room off the garage
Study

Ashington Homes · Mar 15, 2024 2:56 pm

Work in progress.

We got round 2 designs back today. Will review over the weekend and make changes as necessary.

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Some internal 3ds off CADIn clockwise direction, stairs, Feature TV wall with fireplace in the living room ( this will be tiled), Pool and cabana, dining room and 2nd fireplace which will be a double sided one
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Ashington Homes · Mar 15, 2024 3:25 pm

Still early days with the facades. These ones with curves and arches seem to be really on trend here in Sydney at the moment, so tossing this idea up rather than an ultra modern square design.

Not sure where we will land.

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SaveH2O · Mar 15, 2024 6:16 pm

Any thoughts about utilising the roof area? Do the height limits allow it?

pizzashapes · Mar 18, 2024 2:09 pm

Curious to hear what your Plan B is if you’re unable to achieve $6.5m sale price as this would be a new price record for west of the Pacific Highway. There's not a whole lot of buffer available from a $3.425m land price + $2m build cost after you factor in stamp duty, CDC, sale & marketing costs and GST.

This is a high risk segment of the market, very different to the $2m duplex market, as all the Chinese buyers in this price segment would be utilising parents money, with a significant number of them living together. You’ve essentially got to cater to the needs of 3 generations as a single group of buyers, ie. proximity to schools, shops and transport to CBD.

Modern contemporary designs don’t really appeal to this market, as you’ve already noticed, with the overwhelming number of new builds (95%) being French Provincials across the upper north shore.

74 Eton Road Lindfield is a classic example of what happens with it all goes belly up with a modern design that the market rejects.

It’s interesting to see someone attempting to transplant a Dezcon product to the upper north shore, this hasn’t been attempted before and the question it poses is, has no one done it before because there is no market for this product, or is the market waiting for someone to offer it then follow?

Ashington Homes · Mar 18, 2024 2:36 pm

pizzashapes

Curious to hear what your Plan B is if you’re unable to achieve $6.5m sale price as this would be a new price record for west of the Pacific Highway. There's not a whole lot of buffer available from a $3.425m land price + $2m build cost after you factor in stamp duty, CDC, sale & marketing costs and GST.

This is a high risk segment of the market, very different to the $2m duplex market, as all the Chinese buyers in this price segment would be utilising parents money, with a significant number of them living together. You’ve essentially got to cater to the needs of 3 generations as a single group of buyers, ie. proximity to schools, shops and transport to CBD.

Modern contemporary designs don’t really appeal to this market, as you’ve already noticed, with the overwhelming number of new builds (95%) being French Provincials across the upper north shore.

74 Eton Road Lindfield is a classic example of what happens with it all goes belly up with a modern design that the market rejects.

It’s interesting to see someone attempting to transplant a Dezcon product to the upper north shore, this hasn’t been attempted before and the question it poses is, has no one done it before because there is no market for this product, or is the market waiting for someone to offer it then follow?

Thanks for your comments.

I disagree with most of what you are saying, not all but most.

74 Eton Road is a renovated 1950-1960 split level home with no garage and that sold for $5.78m. Ours will be far superior new build and worst case if sold for the same then we still walk away with $300,000 plus. But when we look at 74 Eton and see what they did versus what we are planning, it only encourages us more.

The main comparable to ours is 2 Dorman which is an average build with a creek through the backyard. It sold for $6.15m. Link below:

https://www.stonerealestate.com.au/prop ... field-nsw/

We have done our research and spoken to 3 local experienced agents who are all confident that we can get over $6.5m. The project will only owe us $5.4m and there are many sales on the west side over $5.5m so I think unless the market completely crashes we will be fine in covering our costs.

I also think you are wrong about 95% of builds in Lindfield being french provincial. Just drive around the streets and you will see the majority of Lindfield new builds in a more modern style. Yes in St Ives and Turramurra they are in the french provincial style but Lindfield and even Pymble are different.

But taking your point further, the record price that was paid in St Ives last year $7.85m which far exceeded any of the french provisional homes was 36 Waterhouse, a completely modern design. Link below

https://www.domain.com.au/36-waterhouse ... 2018516990

We are acutely aware that we need to cater for multiple generations which is why we have parking for 3 cars, a parents retreat multiple living areas and every single bedroom has it's own ensuite.

As a developer, there is an inherent risk in doing a project, so there is a chance we could be totally wrong, but we have gone into this after doing a lot of research and speaking to a number of local real estate experts

And I had never heard of Dezcon until your post. I was going off a number of designs our Architect had done around Hunters Hill and Chifley and a few other expensive areas. Haven't fully decided on the style yet.

alexp79 · Mar 18, 2024 5:10 pm

Round corners... Great outside, but somewhat not so easy to accommodate inside... Probably worth considering 'buying' high quality interior design too.

Same applies to rounded windows, too.

Just 2 cents.

Congrats on new exciting journey!

Ashington Homes · Mar 18, 2024 5:21 pm

alexp79

Round corners... Great outside, but somewhat not so easy to accommodate inside... Probably worth considering 'buying' high quality interior design too.

Same applies to rounded windows, too.

Just 2 cents.

Congrats on new exciting journey!

Thank Alex

Appreciate your advice.

Design is still early days. We may change it all completely as I have some new ideas I want to try and incorporate. So we will see where we land

Cheers

Simeon

pizzashapes · Mar 19, 2024 12:57 pm

Ashington Homes

pizzashapes

Curious to hear what your Plan B is if you’re unable to achieve $6.5m sale price as this would be a new price record for west of the Pacific Highway. There's not a whole lot of buffer available from a $3.425m land price + $2m build cost after you factor in stamp duty, CDC, sale & marketing costs and GST.

This is a high risk segment of the market, very different to the $2m duplex market, as all the Chinese buyers in this price segment would be utilising parents money, with a significant number of them living together. You’ve essentially got to cater to the needs of 3 generations as a single group of buyers, ie. proximity to schools, shops and transport to CBD.

Modern contemporary designs don’t really appeal to this market, as you’ve already noticed, with the overwhelming number of new builds (95%) being French Provincials across the upper north shore.

74 Eton Road Lindfield is a classic example of what happens with it all goes belly up with a modern design that the market rejects.

It’s interesting to see someone attempting to transplant a Dezcon product to the upper north shore, this hasn’t been attempted before and the question it poses is, has no one done it before because there is no market for this product, or is the market waiting for someone to offer it then follow?

Thanks for your comments.

I disagree with most of what you are saying, not all but most.

74 Eton Road is a renovated 1950-1960 split level home with no garage and that sold for $5.78m. Ours will be far superior new build and worst case if sold for the same then we still walk away with $300,000 plus. But when we look at 74 Eton and see what they did versus what we are planning, it only encourages us more.

The main comparable to ours is 2 Dorman which is an average build with a creek through the backyard. It sold for $6.15m. Link below:

https://www.stonerealestate.com.au/prop ... field-nsw/

We have done our research and spoken to 3 local experienced agents who are all confident that we can get over $6.5m. The project will only owe us $5.4m and there are many sales on the west side over $5.5m so I think unless the market completely crashes we will be fine in covering our costs.

I also think you are wrong about 95% of builds in Lindfield being french provincial. Just drive around the streets and you will see the majority of Lindfield new builds in a more modern style. Yes in St Ives and Turramurra they are in the french provincial style but Lindfield and even Pymble are different.

But taking your point further, the record price that was paid in St Ives last year $7.85m which far exceeded any of the french provisional homes was 36 Waterhouse, a completely modern design. Link below

https://www.domain.com.au/36-waterhouse ... 2018516990

We are acutely aware that we need to cater for multiple generations which is why we have parking for 3 cars, a parents retreat multiple living areas and every single bedroom has it's own ensuite.

As a developer, there is an inherent risk in doing a project, so there is a chance we could be totally wrong, but we have gone into this after doing a lot of research and speaking to a number of local real estate experts

And I had never heard of Dezcon until your post. I was going off a number of designs our Architect had done around Hunters Hill and Chifley and a few other expensive areas. Haven't fully decided on the style yet.

Just noticing the slight defensive response, so just wanted to clarify my post wasn’t intended to have a crack at you. Happy to have a factual discussion, it’s what keeps this forum alive.

So I’ve had a closer look at some of the points you’ve raised. Of the 57 houses to have ever transacted in Lindfield over $5.5m (excl. the two apartment sites on 14 & 16 Bent St), the example you gave for 2 Dorman Cres ($6.15m) is the only house that was sold in this price range as a new build (ever). Also note of the 28 houses that have sold >$6.5m, the average block size is 1,620m2, many of them with tennis courts.

So it would appear the facts show that while there is a market in this area in that price range, $6.5m for a new build is untested waters (not to say that this can’t be broken). I’m not sure what actual data the 3 local agents would be providing you if not the above, especially if they’re providing this advice in the absence of any design. Different story if these agents have actually sold a couple of precedent houses in that price range in that area, then there would be some weight to their anecdotal advice.

My 95% guestimate was for new build-to-sell houses across the upper north shore, not Lindfield. Agree there are a lot of homes of different designs being built, however I am only referring to actual new build to sell transactions, not owner occupier houses, this is a different market.

Can't believe the previous owner copped such a large cash loss to flick the site though, wow! Their loss is your gain.

Ashington Homes · Mar 27, 2024 3:34 pm

Hi All

Just been working on refining the design.

It has been a struggle getting everything to work, but I think we are 90% there. Again, don't buy a 32m deep block. Setbacks are a pain!

I think we have a floor plan that is flowing well now and I really like the back yard.

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NativeZen · Mar 31, 2024 8:49 am

What an interesting build! Your design definitely improves the layout compared to the previous owners plans, although their elevation was quite striking.

I loved the master, wir and ensuite in your first design, the new layout will appear cramped and lacks comfortable flow. The wall separating the retreat will make the space feel smaller and less usable, and the 2.5m retreat depth is too small to watch tv. Make sure your designer shows you 3d views and walk throughs for this space to make sure you are comfortable with it.

Other things to consider -

1)Your powder room door is too close to the dining room, and there is a direct line of sight. Try to make this more hidden, you can take space from the butlers pantry which is oversized, and create a small hallway to the pdr.

2) I agree with the other user about making the design more suitable for multi-generational families. For resale value there should be a generous master suite on the ground floor. At this budget the purchaser should have the option of which floor they prefer to have their bedroom on. Especially since there is no lift.

3) Small thing, just consider that the flue from the GF fireplace needs to extend up through the second floor. This will affect the view from the upstairs stair landing.

Good luck with your build and design process, I will enjoy following it!

Ashington Homes · Apr 01, 2024 1:39 pm

NativeZen

What an interesting build! Your design definitely improves the layout compared to the previous owners plans, although their elevation was quite striking.

I loved the master, wir and ensuite in your first design, the new layout will appear cramped and lacks comfortable flow. The wall separating the retreat will make the space feel smaller and less usable, and the 2.5m retreat depth is too small to watch tv. Make sure your designer shows you 3d views and walk throughs for this space to make sure you are comfortable with it.

Other things to consider -

1)Your powder room door is too close to the dining room, and there is a direct line of sight. Try to make this more hidden, you can take space from the butlers pantry which is oversized, and create a small hallway to the pdr.

2) I agree with the other user about making the design more suitable for multi-generational families. For resale value there should be a generous master suite on the ground floor. At this budget the purchaser should have the option of which floor they prefer to have their bedroom on. Especially since there is no lift.

3) Small thing, just consider that the flue from the GF fireplace needs to extend up through the second floor. This will affect the view from the upstairs stair landing.

Good luck with your build and design process, I will enjoy following it!

Thanks for your comments.

Point 1 - noted

Point 2 - I totally understand what you are saying but we are maxed out with GFA on the ground floor, so not sure how to make that downstairs bedroom any bigger. It has been hard fitting everything in, The room is 3.3 x 3.3 clear which isnt too bad for a mother or father in law with their own bathroom. Otherwise we have to sacrifice the office and everyone wants an office these days.

Pont 3 - Noted. We should be able to flue this sideways through the joists. We will figure out a way but it wont be up.

Thanks again for your input

Cheers

Simeon

Ashington Homes · Apr 01, 2024 1:40 pm

Here up some updated 3ds that came in today:

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