Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 22, 2009 1:05 pm Hi,
I've never seen or heard of a house that's been built as standard or non-upgraded. Like the displays, why do they always make everything so extravagant and expensive and un-replicable? It's ridiculous how builders torture their buyers by doing this.. Is there at least ONE house that's been built with all standard features? Has anyone here built a home without upgrading anything to it, other than the usual necessary items like site costs and insulation and 5 star rating etc. I am willing to know if anyone has built one, and I'll be surprised if there is anyone. Like keeping EVERYTHING as no charge from the builder, like standard bricks, tiles, facade, paint, etc..Do you agree with me? Voice your opinion here about the "standard home". Your opinion is greatly appreciated! Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 2Feb 22, 2009 1:22 pm hallmark homes in qld were advertising complete packages with curtain, landscaping, fencing etc. from memory one of their bigger homes was offered completed on land ready to go for <$260k. Nothing else to do. ’’Quondo Omni Flunkus Mortati ’’ If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy. Stila BK1 Build Thread The best place to talk about sport reply 3Feb 22, 2009 1:25 pm Ahh yes.. I've seen MANY of those house and land packages! What I mean is more so if anyone has built a home without UPGRADING it, not necessarily by the landscaping and curtains. LIke if you build a house without upgrading colours, bricks, render, etc to jazz it up. I mean the 'extras' that you COULD live without. Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 reply 6Feb 22, 2009 2:03 pm Thanks for your input da68za and mrs_smith.
Very good points, this is going to be interesting! But I wonder why you wouldn't want to live in a non-upgrade house? Hmmm.. Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 7Feb 22, 2009 2:31 pm I think it depends on your situation. For us this build will be our first owned home in Australia and having been in rentals and our lives in a kind of limbo for 2 years this house has upgrade after upgrade to make it as near perfect as we can get for us as it will be our home for a number of years. Having said that compared to the first house we owned in the UK, the flat we rented before that and the houses we've rented over here a standard home with no upgrades would be a palace! We are building with PD and especially with their current promotion I think you could have a beautiful house without upgrading anything. We haven't felt the need to upgrade a lot of items even though we had the budget if necessary - our bricks and tiles are standard, most of our upgrades are decorative and our personal choice, certainly not 'necessities' If I was in the market for a first home I would definately consider building just with the basics. The only exception possibly being the floor coverings - we upgraded both of these although not at great cost. I think still with the current promotion we got everything cheaper than we could have arranged ourselves and much less hassle that way. Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 8Feb 22, 2009 3:47 pm Salt&Pepper I am willing to know if anyone has built one, and I'll be surprised if there is anyone. Like keeping EVERYTHING as no charge from the builder, like standard bricks, tiles, facade, paint, etc..Do you agree with me? Voice your opinion here about the "standard home". Your opinion is greatly appreciated! I voted yes - I am basically getting everything standard. Adding some internal doors and lots more electrical points but that's about it - standard paints, roof, bricks, flooring etc '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: reply 9Feb 22, 2009 3:57 pm Salt&Pepper Thanks for your input da68za and mrs_smith. Very good points, this is going to be interesting! But I wonder why you wouldn't want to live in a non-upgrade house? Hmmm.. Just because usually the standard doesn't have everything we want from the houses we looked at. Eg. the oven is small (600mm) and with the big family I have it'd be impossible to cook enough food in it, if you know what I mean, so a 900mm oven is essential as I struggle with a 750mm at home. Or the tiles are limited to 200mmx200mm but I don't like tiles that small as it means lots of grout to clean, and the colours are limited too, so we'd be going out of standard. I coud list quite a few things. I wouldn't care about oven size/tile sizes/etc if it was an investment property, but I'm going to living there for quite a while so I do care in this case. Does that make sense? Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 10Feb 22, 2009 5:00 pm I voted maybe, depending on builder and inclusions - I guess if everything I wanted was included I wouldn't upgrade anything
Very hard to answer this poll as some things which I considered standard and as far as I know are the norm in SA such as flyscreens are extras with some builders in other states (going by posts on this forum). We didn't upgrade a lot, about $15,000 at selections ie tiles, carpet upgrades, electrical, tapware etc and also some structural things like higher ceilings, bullnose verandah, added window to garage, BIR's at planning stage. I think this low figure is partly because we didn't go for 'fancy' things like c/stone benchtops and partly because the builders inclusions were quite reasonable - flyscreens, IXL's in bathrooms, eaves, were standard - things others have paid $$$ to have included. reply 11Feb 22, 2009 5:39 pm Thanks for all your replies everyone
This topic is a tricky and wide-ranged, there's no right or wrong answer, and there are plenty of reasons for and against. I think the standard house is 'do-able', and its great to see some members here going for it! Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 12Feb 22, 2009 6:54 pm I've been through a lot of display homes and have never seen one where there's nothing I'd change. There's always a minor floor plan alteration or doors to add or remove or something. And not one builder offered everything we wanted as standard.
If they offer air con, they don't offer flyscreens. If you like the standard kitchen benchtops, you hate the door handles. There's always something. Given that this is our long-awaited second home, why would we not have all (well, most) of the things we desire? With our first home, we were on a tight budget and got the standard package. I wasn't prepared to settle for less than ideal this time around. Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 13Feb 22, 2009 7:04 pm I really think it depends on your builder. The good thing about our builder is that the what is displayed is what you get for their base price. I know a lot of builders display is all upgrades- their standard range is nothing like the display!
Our house (this is our first, may be a different story if it was our second, I think) is pretty much standard. The only thing we paid extra is flyscreens and thicker front windows (noise reduction). We got the air cond for free. But we are on a budget and I am not a fussy person. Our criteria was a home free from asbestos (our old one was an old fibro). reply 14Feb 22, 2009 7:32 pm Thanks to kek and sammy for your comments.
The poll is quite interesting, and very good points by everyone. Built the Atlantique 37 Mk2 with Carlisle Homes - WE'RE IN!! Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14413 ATLANTIQUE 37 MK2 PHOTOS THREAD - updated 22nd August '09 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22399 Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 15Feb 22, 2009 8:14 pm We took our house plan (a single story plan) and said
a) change the bath in the main bathroom to a spa b) push the bathroom and ensuite out under the eaves (for a bit more space) b) widen the fridge gap in the kitchen c) cut off one of the bedroom and join it up to the dining room on the other wall (to make it a living area) d) drop two rooms by 30cm (we had some big furniture to fit in) e) and the big one... add some stairs from here and put an entire second story underneath (with garage, rumpus, storage, and laundry). f) oh and let me bring my own guys in to do the data cabling :) That reminds me, I wonder where the laundry was in the original plan?? It's interesting reading this forum with everyone saying they are building a "Housename XX", I can't particularly remember anything a name etc. associated with mine. It would be interesting to see the original plan to find out how much it differs! Is anyone here skilled enough to identify a plan by its layout? (this was ~2001 when we were at the plan selection stage) Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 17Feb 22, 2009 8:45 pm Call me cynical but is the "standard" without couple of must haves or with the bear minimum of things just to encourage people to upgrade or add to it ?. Building Upside down house in Wantirna VIC Current Stage: Procrastination... it's just all too hard.... Blog: http://thereluctantbuilder.blogspot.com/ Re: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 18Feb 22, 2009 8:50 pm Most of the upgrades i have is already included as part of the promo, so vote to Maybe - Depends on Builder and Inclusions.. i only add a few sliding doors and a bigger front door 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: At least ONE standard or non-upgraded house? 19Feb 22, 2009 9:34 pm We are currently building iwth PD and other than the alfresco we have not got an upgrade on anything. We have been lucky as we got an upgrade package for the kitchen included free, sorry we upgraded the kitchen door handles..
our bricks are standard our paint is standard our tiles are standard our fascade is standard having said that we had a very stickt budget and haven't compromised in choices. The way we did it we looked at standard and if we could find nothing we liked there then we would have upgraded... Maybe we just have simple tastes.... Sharon & Paul ********************* Creating Youngs Castle Heywood 29 in Craigieburn http://youngscastle.blogspot.com/ From a pure legal perspective, if you've signed the variation, it is a very high bar to have it set aside. No-one can give you legal advice on a forum, but you would need… 3 5465 Thanks. There are plenty of builders around my suburb. I'll make sure to do some door-to-door knocking, or note their building details on the temp fence. 4 4674 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Long story short, a toilet room is going to back onto our main bedroom and I want to make it close to soundproof. Im going to build two frames (pretty much a room within a… 0 10182 |