Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 07, 2008 2:10 pm Here's a thread, as suggested elsewhere, for us South Aussies to keep in touch and share our building experience!
I'll go first: I'm Tamsin, married with five kids. We're building in Seaford Rise (Coast estate) with Statesman (Hickinbotham). We are building the Trinity Split, my building blog is in my signature. We are currently at slab stage, we signed in July 2007. We are expecting the frame to be delivered in the next week or two (slab has been finished for a week and a half). We are still waiting for some sort of completion date, but going by our neighbours' experiences we hope to be in by around May next year. We are assuming the frame will be done by Christmas at least, and hopefully they would be starting the roof but we'll see I think. Obviously you can be much more anonymous, the idea is just keep up to date with the progress of your house so we can compare notes Next.... Re: Building in SA! 2Nov 07, 2008 6:01 pm Well, I'll join this thread: if West Australians have their own thread so can we!!
I am Helen, married with 3 kids, but 2 have grown up and left home, we live way out in outer woop-woop (actually, Whyalla) and we have just moved into our new home, built by McCrackens, relatively small builder, mainly does country SA. Seaford Rise is outer south of Adelaide? Good luck with your house, Tamsin - us South Aussies need to stick together, there's a lot of nasty Victorians on this site Only joking Re: Building in SA! 3Nov 07, 2008 6:50 pm Well I,ll go next.....
I,m Mel and married with 2 boys,6 and 14 yrs. We are building the Ambassador with Hickinbotham at Mount Compass in the golf course estate. We signed up July 07 and 16 months later we are at the gyprocking stage We,re into our 2nd rental and fingers crossed that the next time we move it will be into our new house We have been told by our SS that the house is scheduled to be finished by Christmas,but unfortuntely we can,t see that happening P.S I love your house Helyn....have you settled in ok? Cheers Mel Building on 9 acres Re: Building in SA! 4Nov 07, 2008 7:02 pm thank- you Mel.
Yes, we're getting there. How come your house is takeing so long? I thought Hickinbotham were a large reliable company We signed a house/land package early last year, had to wait for land to title, but adjustments to structural plan, submisions to council, selections etc done last year, land title came thru in Feb this year, construction started soon after and finished mid October., ie an 8 month building time. Re: Building in SA! 5Nov 07, 2008 7:28 pm Hi Helyn
It,s not the building time that is taking so long, it was the 11 months of 'who knows what' before that Council only took 2 weeks for approval,so it wasn,t them that held it up It,s been frustrating,but at least we can now see light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel Cheers Mel Building on 9 acres Re: Building in SA! 6Nov 07, 2008 9:50 pm Fellow South Aussies,
I'm building a pair of duplexes (own design with Weeks&Macklin; steel frame) in Marion. Prelim council approval at the start of 2008; demolition approved; land division approved but not finalised (need surveying etc); building contract signed in August; going thru colour selections now. Planning to demolish old house in early December, then surveying, then start building in March09. Builder has 6 months to build after slab down, so I'm hoping to move in by end of 2009. Chris Re: Building in SA! 7Nov 07, 2008 10:18 pm Hello, are you welcome the ex-Adelaider? Blog - http://clageonewhouse.blogspot.com/ Building Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=10886&hilit=milan I am in, with my husband and my beautiful bunny Re: Building in SA! 8Nov 08, 2008 6:51 am OK, Claego, you can be an honorary member of this elite thread
What part of Adelaide were you from and why did you move to eastern states? Chris, I presume you are going to live in one of the duplexes and rent the other out? You have probably said but I have forgotten. Re: Building in SA! 9Nov 08, 2008 8:47 am Hi all,
My name is Dena, 2 children 10yrs & a almost 3yo Building in Sheidow Park. We signed up with GJ Gardner Homes Dec 07, our plans are currently with Marion Council and we are still yet to do our selections. As our block is on a slope, we are building our own design, which is a 3 level house. Our current house is on the market and fingers crossed we can get this sold before we need to build, or double mortgage Looking forward to hearing everyones stories Re: Building in SA! 10Nov 08, 2008 9:15 am Hi everyone,
Helyn, I hate to say it but Mel hasn't had the only bad service from Hickinbotham! Statesman (who we're building with) is actually Hickinbotham, both are Construction Service Australia, and exactly the same after you sign. We put a hold on our land (Hickinbotham owned) in April 2007. We finally signed in July 2007 (goodness knows why it took so long!), and here we are now, 16 months after signing and 19 months after putting the block on hold, and we have a slab! I started a vent thread a couple of days ago in here about it. Veeeery long story but on it's way to being sorted I think. Wow, Whyalla! It's grown out there hasn't it, since the mining boom? DH was out there about a year ago for the opening of one of his offices, employment has grown out there a lot (he's an Organiser for a Union). And yes, Seaford Rise is south of Adelaide. We're across the road from Moana, about 40 to 50 mins from the CBD (depending on traffic and whether we get the expressway). Chris, yours sounds like an interesting story to follow! I don't know much about demolition, but it's been an interesting read with others' stories. Has Marion Council been good to deal with? Onkaparinga has been very fast and efficient I have to say, nothing like all the delays the builder said to look out for...they've been the delay, not the council LOL! Mel, hi! Claego, yes, you can be an honourary member. i am curious too as to why you'd move away from lovely SA! I have hurt my back , so wondering whether I can be bothered driving the kids up to the block this weekend or not. DH is working all weekend so he's no help Plus, nothing would have happened anyway...I went up on Tues and they had dug a trench on the side of the slab and there is some funny electrical cord sticking up where the power box is going to be. Looks a bit dangerous actually , but I guess it's meant to be there! They've also drilled holes in the lower level of the slab, not sure why that is either. Edited to add: Hello Dena! I have had this page open to reply for about 45 mins while I got the kids dressed and ate breakfast LOL, so missed your reply. Hope that the kids are well, Ryan is now 2 and half so Miss K must be growing in leaps and bounds too. Hope you have some luck selling the hosue soon....is your agent any good? We're looking around for one now, our house will be on the market just after Christmas. Have a nice day Re: Building in SA! 12Nov 08, 2008 9:54 am Thought I'd better join the SA thread.
Like Helyn we've already moved into our house in country SA (Mundulla which near Bordertown). We were owner builders & took around 18mths to complete. My DH did a lot of the build himself (weekends & after work) & we didn't have too many drama's along the way. Still love to check into homeone - thought the obsession might wear off once we were in the house Look forward to following everyone's progress! Re: Building in SA! 14Nov 08, 2008 11:46 am Hey, thanks for letting me in
My DH want to change so we move, we choose between Sydney and Melbourne, and Melbourne won... because it is closer to Adelaide (we can survive for 7 hrs drive) and the lifestyle, it should be more closer by comparing to Sydney.. I used to live in Adelaide Goodwood (bus stop3), still remember that i suddenly became everyone's friends in Sep 97 (yes, 'suddenly'), because they all want my carpart, so that they can walk to the playground to see the cup and the Crows players.. Anyway, don't want to off the topic, yes i am building too, with Sim@nds in Melbourne. Deposit paied back in March, Contract signed on 29Aug, and the frame just completed 2 days ago and waiting for Kevin to do the inspection I am married for 14 years (the Wednesday just past is my anniversary day), no kid yet, still thinking... Blog - http://clageonewhouse.blogspot.com/ Building Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=10886&hilit=milan I am in, with my husband and my beautiful bunny Re: Building in SA! 15Nov 08, 2008 1:08 pm Welcome Hui,
I don't want to put you off Hickinbotham completely, I am willing to bet we've had one of the worst cases (although I am sure there are worse still), but there are other people who are happy. They aren't in any hurry to get to the construction phase, but after that there *appears* to be no major problems for a lot of other people. We're getting our building checked at each stage before progress payments, but I think this is a good approach no matter who is building your house. Jo, I have watched some of those owner builder shows on the How To channel so my hat goes off to you. I just think that if you can organise building a house, then you can do anything! If you don't mind me asking, was it a lot cheaper? Or was it just rewarding? Clageo, I can just imagine how popular you were in September...hope all those people still keep in touch now you've moved! How do you find Melbourne? We went there a few years ago, it was our children's first experience of another city, they thought it was huuuuge (we did a lot of walking around LOL). They loved all the trams, and the aquarium, but we didn't see any of suburbia. Wow, you signed after our house had been released to construction, and we only have a slab ! I actually have a question for everyone who has got past the frame stage...how long did you have to wait for the frame after the slab had been poured? It seems to vary so much between builders, some don't wait at all! Hickinbotham seem to wait at least 28 days. Hope they don't wait much longer, I want at least a frame for Christmas this year! Re: Building in SA! 16Nov 08, 2008 1:31 pm Hi all,
My name is Tina and we are building a home with Hickinbotham at Craigburn Farm (Blackwood Park). My husband and I are in our mid twenties so no children yet. We recieved council approval this week so hopefully something will happen before Christmas. We still need to organise a few final things re our colour selections and finance before the build can start due to last minute change that we have made to our frontage as a result of the ridiculously stringent encumbrances at the estate. We signed with Hickinbotham in the middle of the year so we are in our fifth month of pre build. If we hadn't made the changes to the house I would be fairly confident of a slab before Christmas but now I'm now sure. So far, what I would say about Hickinbotham is just to check everything that they do and ring them up to find out what stage everything is at. I think that we have probably been quite picky and fairly difficult compared to some people that build with them (eg. a lot of our colour selections are not standard or even in their upgraded range, we have picked different selections from their suppliers which they have had to quote etc) but we have found that when we keep calling them things tend to keep moving. I can't comment on the construction stage though. We will be getting independent inspections before each progress payment as a precaution and both my husband and myself are not familiar with trades at all. I did a fair bit of research about Hickinbotham before we signed because I had heard some not so favourable stories and the issue that I found is that no matter which builder you are looking at, you will speak to someone who has had a bad experience. In Mitcham council area they have a building inspector working for the council who checks that all of the houses comply with building codes etc and I spoke to him before we made the final decision. He said that ultimately the tradespeople are the same in SA regardless of which builder you use. What differs is the level of supervision that they have, hence why we are using an independent building inspector. I look forward to seeing how everyones build goes. Tina Re: Building in SA! 17Nov 08, 2008 1:31 pm Tamsin, the past 18 months have been very full on, especially for my DH. It was very rewarding being an owner builder, but I don't think we would have done it if he wasn't in the industry.
He works for a builder, so regulary sees other tradesmen (electrician, plumber , painter etc) which helped to let them know where he was up to & when he would need them back. We decided to go owner builder to save money as DH could complete a lot himself & get a lot of things cost price. DH reckons I kept spending the savings on upgrading things though I have been slack & haven't updated my build thread for ages, but have posted in a few areas once things where completed instead. Here was our build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.p ... highlight= Re: Building in SA! 19Nov 08, 2008 7:30 pm Hi Tamsin
They started our frame 6 weeks after the slab went down No idea why they waited so long but at least it had time to cure a bit before the frame went up Hi The Gang We are still undecided whether on not to get some of the facade rendered,if we do then it will just be around the windows and quoins. This is a great thread and I look forward to following everyone,s progress Cheers Mel Building on 9 acres Re: Building in SA! 20Nov 08, 2008 7:55 pm Helyn,
Yes, I'm living in one and renting the other out. InfiniteLoop, Demolition (so far at least) is going as expected ... not very simple, but not that difficult. Take some measurements, draw it all up, pay the council, disconnect elec & gas, then next comes the actual demolition itself. Not expecting any problems but a little worried that the block may become a dumping ground. (A handful of new houses going up in the neighbourhood as well). TheGang, I've heard that some people have had big problems with the Marion council, but in my case, it has been OK. Biggest issue is pushing the roof-to-land ratio. One thing I should add though is that land division (drawing this imaginary line straight down the middle of the block) is more difficult (effort & cost) than I'd imagined (doing it myself rather than through a development professional). Chris go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110572 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11037 |