Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 12, 2009 10:10 am Hi All
I posted a while back looking for builders to build in Kinglake. I'm back to document the progress and Well today settlement day for our land has finally arrived! For those who are interested yes our block was fire affected - the before and after shots are quite something! Luckily for us however we hadn't started building. As archaeologists, my fiancee and I have access to some basic surveying equipment - so we went to mark out the exact building envelope. Upon doing this we found that there is a tree in the way! It is not a native tree and we have been told that in fire-affected areas permits for tree-removal will not be required for 6 months. That said - i'm not sure what the cost of tree and stump removal will be? I imagine not cheap... We also measured the fall of the land over our building envelope - which was quite deceptive because it didn't seem like much - however according to our equipment the fall is 1.9m. Ouch.... I have no idea what this will add to the total cost. Anyone have any ideas? Essentially, the highest point is where the front of the house will be so a complete cut is no good - it will need to be cut and fill. Final bit of news is that we have chosen a builder! Our building envelope is long (35m across by 16m) and only a few bulk builders have designs which fit this envelope. As this is my first home I am trying to keep the budget down so a small builder was really not an option. We decided to build the Murchison 320 (with pavillion facade) with Dennis Family Homes - but with a few small changes. The changes we wanted made hardly cost us anything and I can really recommend the saled rep we have been dealing with she has been so thorough, honest and amazing! The changes are that we are closing off the entrance between the "Living" and "Kitchen" area so that the "Living" becomes our Library (we have tonnes of books and intend on doing some work from home). This also allows me to create a walk-in-pantry in the corner as well! Yay! I have also closed off all those ridiculous gaps in the walls you see in display homes - they make zero sense to me. Also adding a his-hers large oval bath into the ensuite and moving the ensuite wall out slightly into the library to achieve this. These are the main changes. Also taking Dennis' upgrade package which is on their website and includes 8"6 ceilings, 900mm cooker and glass splashback, ceasarstone benchtops, designer taps etc and floor covering to all of house. Although we really would prefer to do at least some of the rooms in floating floors if there is any room in the budget. The sales consultant got us in touch with another family who is building just down the road from us in Kinglake - this person has suggested we install our water tanks before they start building. This way we can get them cheaper than what Dennis charges and we won't be charged for the builder to hall water up to the site everyday. Any comments and questions - let me know! At the moment our main concerns are the fall of the land and the tree! Our neighbours have said that there might be a really long wait on building permits due to the number of people waiting on permits to rebuild their homes in the area.... We're also not sure if the new fire-building regulations will affect our budget substantially.... I will update as the process goes. Cheers Maya and Matt Re: Kinglake Building and Tree, Dennis Family, Fall of Land (?) 2Mar 12, 2009 12:14 pm Thanks for the post Maya and Matt. Look forward to hearing how you go.
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