Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 15, 2009 8:40 pm Hi all,
After asking tens of questions in this great forum, and after reading lots of reviews and feedback from the great people in this forum, we made our mind and decided to build our first home. We bought a land in Craigieburn and started hunting for builders. I wasn't very impressed with Sim0nds and M3tricon reputation as they received an average of not so good feedback. So we narrowed down our search to H3nely and Porter Davis. They both seem to offer the same inclusions and have good reputation. At the start, we never even thought about PD so we were about to go for the 'Cooper' or the 'Barclay 388' by H3nley. Having seen that the majority of people chose PD made us think of the urge to give PD a visit. So we did, and guess what !! We fell in love with their Bardot29 floorplan. I wasn't so impressed with the 'Rumpus' and 'Bed 4' locations so we asked the SC if they could switch them, and the reply was a 'Yes'. After 2 visits to PD, we deided to pay the initial $1000 deposit and the get things rolling. Next week we have a meeting with the SC to put all the variations and facade decision on paper. I'm so concerned about the whole mortgage nightmare and the chances of not being able to pay it off if things go wrong People might think that house building is a good investment. Personally, I don't know, I don't think that after about to pay $400K, any profit can be made when selling it after few years. I don't know if I'm making my point clear, but I'd love people to persuade me that it's a good investment I will keep updating this thread once I have anything to add. I will also attach as many shots/images as I could once the building process starts. I made a little spreadsheet (Excel) documents that show any potential PD buyer all the expected expenses that you might come through during the process of the build. I uploaded it into Google Documents and can be viewed in this link. Anyone who wants the Excel version of it (or even the Mac Application version of it 'Numbers') can PM me and I will email it to them. The document, http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... JktdSUf2GQ Here's the floor plan as shown in PD website, Here's the floorplan which includes the alfreso (we're going for it as long as the total amount of the house doesn't exceeds a value we have in mind Here's the modifications I made to the floorplan using my simple Photoshop skills Luckily that PD agreed to change it with no extra charge. Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 2Feb 15, 2009 9:10 pm Hey iTalk,
Congrats on the land purchase. My partner and I have done the same... bought land in Craigieburn (Highlands) and are building with PD (Heywood 28). If you have seen the papers over the last week, you would have heard that Craigieburn, Deer Park and Eltham were the only outer suburbs to buck the trend and have an increase in house values. Good luck with your journey. Cheers Kir Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 4Feb 15, 2009 9:12 pm Hi there! Cant wait to see how your journey progresses PD does seem to be quite popular! Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 6Feb 15, 2009 9:19 pm kpny Hey iTalk, Congrats on the land purchase. My partner and I have done the same... bought land in Craigieburn (Highlands) and are building with PD (Heywood 28). If you have seen the papers over the last week, you would have heard that Craigieburn, Deer Park and Eltham were the only outer suburbs to buck the trend and have an increase in house values. Kir Thank you Kir, well that's good news then. I'm just concerned about the worst that could happen. I will be building in Central Park, it'd be just across the Express Way from where you are Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 9Feb 15, 2009 9:44 pm Nice one. thank you for sharing. We still undecided. We still need to do more home work. Please do up the spreadsheet. Thanks and hope everything go well. Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 10Feb 15, 2009 9:45 pm ahhh, the Bardot, my DH and my favorite PD home! We absolutely loved the family room, we stood in the display home for nearly 10mins absorbing it! Go figure... Although we ended up doing our own floorplan, I often think back to the Bardot's living room. We also have a deep block and felt that the design was not suited to a deep block (with the side feature of the kit/living, but great choice of home.
Have you seen the Tarneit display of the Bardot? I only ask because of the ceiling in the living room, have you seen it, did you think about getting it as an upgrade, I'm sure the PD lady there told me about $3,000 to do it - money very well spent I reckon! Can't wait to hear how you go with it, Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: We're finally committed to Porter Davis :-) (Bardot29) 11Feb 15, 2009 9:49 pm YaY!!! Congrats!!
iTalk I'm so concerned about the whole mortgage nightmare and the chances of not being able to pay it off if things go wrong You can't go through life worrying about these things. I had a mild pannick going 'OMG What if I lose my job?!?!' but ya know, that would be the same if I had to pay rent anyway and I would get a payout etc etc so ya know what, I think it's worth it With your floor plan are you putting in some extra doors? One thing that's a problem is if you have TV's in all those rooms and no doors, so if there is a TV in Lounge, Rumpus and Family rooms and they are on at the same time and there are no doors, the noise will carry and will get annoying - just something to consider 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 12Feb 15, 2009 9:51 pm Hi
I think you should stop visiting PD, seems like every time you visit them, you spent more $$$... Also, i doubt very much you will get $1000/wk of builder compensation if handover is late. Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 13Feb 15, 2009 9:54 pm yeah I saw the $1,000 request for late work on your worksheet (and what a great worksheet too!) and my builder put $170pw. Which I tried to negotiate up, but he wasn't interested... hmmm, I wonder will I live to regret that lost battle... hmmm A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 14Feb 15, 2009 9:58 pm Annietom yeah I saw the $1,000 request for late work on your worksheet (and what a great worksheet too!) and my builder put $170pw. Which I tried to negotiate up, but he wasn't interested... hmmm, I wonder will I live to regret that lost battle... hmmm Mine is $250 a week with PD Access 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 15Feb 15, 2009 10:02 pm Hey I-Talk, Congrats on your purchase. PD are great to deal with. My Partner and i are a couple of weeks from moving in to a PD home in Hawkstowe. So far so good. After posting my first on this Forum i'll take the opportunity to thank the owner/moderators on great effort with homeone. Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 16Feb 15, 2009 10:15 pm Congratulations on your decision to build....l look forward to following your progress.
Nice floorplan, changes to the Rumpus and Bed 2 was a good decision. Just a few other things you may want to consider: Although you have a nice sized laundry, you've got only one piddly little linen cupboard...and that is for your whole house! Dunno, if you have kiddos or not, but even if not l would strongly suggest you add some more storage to your plan. Edit - I've just started a "Let's talk about storage" thread, you may like to check it out The Retreat is larger that the Master Bedroom, should it be the other way around? Am just curious as to whereabouts your bed will be positioned? Perhaps put a door from the garage to the entry Add doors/bifolds to the study...to reduce noise coming from the open Lounge. Congratulations once again...and btw l think building a home is a great investment Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 17Feb 15, 2009 10:20 pm One other thing is "Building inspection twice (pre-plaster & pre-handover)" who you will be using? Which one is best in Melbourne? Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 18Feb 15, 2009 10:38 pm BuildingCostsEstimating One other thing is "Building inspection twice (pre-plaster & pre-handover)" who you will be using? Which one is best in Melbourne? Any tips as to who we should use. mines about 2 weeks away. thanks BCE Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 19Feb 15, 2009 10:41 pm hi guys
Most people on this site in Melbourne use a guy named Kevin... Kev actually has a website - www.newhomeinspections.com.au All his details (including fees) are on there including mobile number etc. Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Building The Bardot 29 ... On Hold .. 20Feb 16, 2009 7:57 am BuildingCostsEstimating Nice one. thank you for sharing. We still undecided. We still need to do more home work. Please do up the spreadsheet. Thanks and hope everything go well. Good luck with your decision yes it does, you've just not understood it. theres a difference. 4 2776 I’m curious about how you went with this. We are planning a KDRB and considering Plantation Homes as a builder. I’m aware that after the demolition another soil test… 1 6317 i wouldn't be worried, you'll definitely miss something, no matter how many times you review. we've spent close to 5 months ensuring everything got reflected in the… 5 9437 |