Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 04, 2009 3:35 pm Hi all. We are just finalising the plans for our new house, building with an independent builder (relative). I would love some input into the Top 10 (or Top 5, Top 50!) "Things you wish you knew before you started building...". What are the pitfalls? What are the helpful hints? Insider secrets? In general, it's a very basic plan, rectangle, open plan, 4 bed + study, carpets in bedroom (solution dyed nylon? possibly), tiles in bathrooms (600x600mm Urban Coco, a grey-browny colour), floating floors (possibly armstrong cherry bronze or quick step wenge). Paint, possibly Dulux White on White or Lexicon Quarter. Laminex cabinets in maybe a grey-y colour, possibly caeserstone benchtops in a white/pale grey. Considering decking vs. tiles for alfresco area. That's all for now! Thanks for any input. Carolyn Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 2May 04, 2009 3:45 pm I knew long before we started to even think about building a house that I would never have floating wood floors. My husbands cousin has them and I'm guessing that they werent installed correctly because they keep sliding apart leaving gaps in the middle of the floor where dirt can drop down into. A real pain in the you know what, IMHO.... Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 3May 04, 2009 4:15 pm D&SG I knew long before we started to even think about building a house that I would never have floating wood floors. My husbands cousin has them and I'm guessing that they werent installed correctly because they keep sliding apart leaving gaps in the middle of the floor where dirt can drop down into. A real pain in the you know what, IMHO.... Something not right with those boards Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 4May 05, 2009 5:46 am 1 ) loads of patience 2 ) do more earthworks before the house build 3 ) more patience 4 ) don't get upset over the little stuff 5 ) enjoy the building of your home 6 ) whatever you budgeted - forget it - you will upgrade 7 ) walk in robes and pantry's can never be too big 8 ) don't get into a niggle about everything - it will ruin your experience 9 ) if you are having downlights have a walk through with an electrician to see if there are enough - we did this and we still need to add downlights in the kitchen 10 ) there is no such thing as too many powerpoints Fi has moved in!! Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 5May 05, 2009 8:21 am I'd have signed up with two builders at the same time without letting them know what I'd done. Paid the 1k or 1.5k deposit with both.... gone through the whole process to get to contract with both, colours, selections...... gotten a true comparison of site costs and upgrade costs...... then when it was contract time, pulled out with one of them. By that time, you'd have built a relationship and have a fair idea of which company keeps their word and is reliable. Sure, I'd have lost 1k or so, but the amount of people on this forum alone that pull out with their builder and start all over again and lose 3 or 4 months in the process... or even worse don't pull out when they should because they cannot afford the time to start all over again, tells me it is 1k or so very well spent. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 6May 05, 2009 12:42 pm Get a diary and record every phone call, email, letter, meeting etc. This way you can keep track of what's going on. Be prepared to be disappointed along the way.... but also very excited too. Make sure its what you want- don't buy it if you dont' want it. Try and be green with your house (insulation, water tanks, solar panels, double glazing for windows). Its the easiest time to do it. Anthea Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 7May 05, 2009 6:44 pm I wish I knew we would have a bloody recession!! Lol. Having almost finished now I'm not sure if I would have done anything too differently. I think I'd probably agree with most of Brittany's points (except the down lights because we don't have any). I'm happy with our build overall, it has taken a bit longer than it could have, but that's probably all part an parcel of building. I would consider the timing more carefully, but we had heaps more rain by this time last year, and earthworkers don't like rain so one reason our build has taken longer. Lol perhaps we should have started building this year!! Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 8May 05, 2009 6:59 pm joles I'd have signed up with two builders at the same time That's crazy!!! If you are signing a contract you could get sued and have to pay a ton more than just the "deposit". Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 9May 05, 2009 7:06 pm cyberman joles I'd have signed up with two builders at the same time That's crazy!!! If you are signing a contract you could get sued and have to pay a ton more than just the "deposit". It's not a contract. You sign up for a tender or quote and pay money for them to conduct a soil test and site survey. It is not a contract until a lot later on in the piece.... and that is when I said I would pull out with one. It is no different from getting two quotes for blinds or a concrete driveway except that you are paying money for them to conduct some tests. There is nothing illegal about signing up for two companies to give you a quote. There is no contract at that stage. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 10May 05, 2009 7:09 pm I wish I had known about HOME ONE before I started!!!!!!!!!! We stumbled across the site just before our colour selections. Building Vancouver 33 - My Thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=89689 Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 12May 06, 2009 2:45 pm i wish i knew 1. the sales rep disappears once signed contract 2. that painting wasnt included in the contract, silly me 3. to look very very closely at each window/door placement, light switch placements 4. to budget for the things you have to do yourself i.e. flooring, driveway 5. not make all your choices on the display home and stop trying to match it, coz your taste will change later, and turns out other ppl in the estate want to build the same popular display home as you. 6. that my SS is non-contactable, must go through the CLO instead 7. to confirm with the council whether soak wells are required or not, not to take the builder's word for it. 8. wish didnt make as many structural changes at the start, coz when it came to prestart you just want to spend more. Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 13May 06, 2009 2:58 pm Not to use a broker, they are USELESS, well at least myn is, they cost you MORE time, than doing it yourself. 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: Things I wish I knew before I started... 14May 06, 2009 3:01 pm Quote: Buzz off hubby, I have saved my guts out for twenty years and you are not going to tell me what to put in my dream house. I cook, clean, work, take care of the kids and am expected to shag on demand as well! No more. Building together is such a romantic experience Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 15May 06, 2009 3:09 pm Helyn Quote: Buzz off hubby, I have saved my guts out for twenty years and you are not going to tell me what to put in my dream house. I cook, clean, work, take care of the kids and am expected to shag on demand as well! No more. Building together is such a romantic experience PMSL Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 17May 06, 2009 4:44 pm 1/ Dont buy unregistered land 2/ If you do decide to buy unregistered land ensure you have conditions added to contract -Max 12 month wait for land to be registered before able to pull out -ANY conditions added to the contract before registration give you ability to pull out - no matter how minor they seem to you. 3/ Ensure builder quotes for your upgrades before going to contract, main ones will be obviously kitchen, alfresco etc... 4/ Work out budget then add 10% contingency, then add 10% more for contingency on the contingency 5/ Ensure you know where the contingency money will come from. This sounds funny but if you end up having to put things on credit card then better to organise finance now. Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 18May 06, 2009 11:44 pm joles cyberman joles I'd have signed up with two builders at the same time That's crazy!!! If you are signing a contract you could get sued and have to pay a ton more than just the "deposit". It's not a contract. You sign up for a tender or quote and pay money for them to conduct a soil test and site survey. It is not a contract until a lot later on in the piece.... and that is when I said I would pull out with one. It is no different from getting two quotes for blinds or a concrete driveway except that you are paying money for them to conduct some tests. There is nothing illegal about signing up for two companies to give you a quote. There is no contract at that stage. We have 3 tenders - AllCastle, Domain (now part of Clatendon), Clarendon. Also got quote from Eden Brae, Allworth.... The more time & effort you spent on researching, the more you learn. Compare to the full price of the house, we consider the $ to go into tender a "learning fee" which worth the effort, as we were then using quotes/details from one to bargain against the others in many things, and that helps as we have it in writing. And we picked up some ridiculous things, such as Clarendon charging a fee call "council liason" fee, and Clarendon insist of having split level in the middle of the house even though the other 2 don't, ....etc. Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 19May 08, 2009 9:23 am joles I'd have signed up with two builders at the same time without letting them know what I'd done. Paid the 1k or 1.5k deposit with both.... gone through the whole process to get to contract with both, colours, selections...... gotten a true comparison of site costs and upgrade costs...... then when it was contract time, pulled out with one of them. By that time, you'd have built a relationship and have a fair idea of which company keeps their word and is reliable. Sure, I'd have lost 1k or so, but the amount of people on this forum alone that pull out with their builder and start all over again and lose 3 or 4 months in the process... or even worse don't pull out when they should because they cannot afford the time to start all over again, tells me it is 1k or so very well spent. Very, very wise advice! It only costs a small fraction of the overall cost of building a house, but gives you an option once you have progressed enough for the companies you are working with to believe that you have too much time and emotion invested with them to put any pressure on them to get them to do what you want. Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Things I wish I knew before I started... 20May 08, 2009 9:55 am joles I'd have signed up with two builders at the same time without letting them know what I'd done. Paid the 1k or 1.5k deposit with both.... gone through the whole process to get to contract with both, colours, selections...... gotten a true comparison of site costs and upgrade costs...... then when it was contract time, pulled out with one of them. By that time, you'd have built a relationship and have a fair idea of which company keeps their word and is reliable. $1K - $1.5K ? Didn't know price have gone up so much, it was only $600 in 2006/2007... Depends what you're current inclusions are, but we're not including wardrobes and will just use second hand ones until we can save later on to get them built. Also have a… 3 11648 I am in the same situation, would you be able to give some insights in to this? I am in SA 8 17063 Ardo That is so funny! I wonder how many people know who Larry Haun is these days. I have a couple of young guys we call Mo 1 & Mo 2 who run a crew of 6 boys and… 9 15538 |