Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 16, 2009 11:52 am Since March now I have been intending to start blogging the building process, and now I still haven't, so I thought I'll start a forum thread as it's much easier
We're building with Ultimate homes in Perth (Alexander Heights), and our base house is the Tuscan 292, but we have made so many changes and incorporated a lot of things we liked in the Seascapes house, so it's more of a Tuscan cross. The plan without the pre-start changes are below. I'll add the the one with pre-start changes eventually. We did our prestart in April. Some of our selections are (ignore the bad photography): Those are the tiles we are using in the bathrooms, powder room and laundry (we've changed our laminex colours). The white tile is the wall tile, the charcoal tile is the floor tiles (it's darker in real life, it's just the photo) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is our kitchen tile. It's actually a charcoal colour too, and the pattern in it is not as vivid, it's just the flash. We're having it laid vertically with black grout between (the black grout will blend it well). Our laminex colours: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The dark laminex (formica's flinders black) is going to be the benchtop, and the white one (formica snowdrift) is going to cupboard door in the bathrooms and powder rooms. The dark laminex is going to be the benchtop and the wood (formica's jarrah) is the cupboard door in the laundry. Our kitchen is going to have the Laminex freestyle Snowdrift benchtop (similar shade of white to snowdrift), with the wood look cupboard doors. We may also upgrade to vinyl wrap (there's a very similar look available to the jarrah) but aren't sure if it's worth the cost. Our bricks are going to be Midland Brick restoration red: http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll163/squishypiranha/restoration_red_a.jpg But we are getting an off-white mortar instead. The roof is going to be colourbond Surfmist: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The gutters/downpipes/etc will be Monument: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And we're painting the columns and the bit behind the finial at the front (I can't remember what it's called) Surfmist as well, as we weren't sure on the colours, didn't want to many, and if we don't like it, as it's a light colour, it'll be easier to paint over. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Are window frames are Dark Anotec Grey, which is also a charcoal. As you can see, we like the charcoal, white and red look. No idea why... But we just picked what we liked. I can't think of much else...... We're waiting on our marvelous council to bother to approve the plans (6 weeks and counting....) and then once that's done, we'll be on our way! Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 2May 16, 2009 12:46 pm That all looks great. It is such an exciting time. We look forward to following the progress. Built the Driftwood with C*ollier Homes Moved in 8 November 2009 Slowly getting organised ..... Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 3May 16, 2009 5:03 pm Your colours look great together exterior and interior and house plan is very spacious........heres hoping your council get a move on, good luck Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 4May 17, 2009 12:14 am Hi Mrs Smith Good to see another Ultimate Homes builder. We are building in Nollamara. Do you know why the council (Swan?) is taking so long. I rang Stirling and they said that they aim to turnaround in 20 working days. We have started using similar plans and you can see how we have modified our below. Interesting to see all the different changes people make to suit their needs. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18044 Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 5May 17, 2009 1:13 pm That looks like a really nice plan too - I can see how they are similar. Did you base yours on the Tuscan? I have no idea, I'm guessing it's standard with the Wanneroo council, the builder didn't seem to fussed about it, just said she'll get in touch if it's 2 weeks to go to get us to nag too. I guess Wanneroo is such a big area, and includes a lot of new developments.... Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 6May 17, 2009 10:41 pm We originally looked at the Balmain 292 but this was from the off the plan series hence limited changes allowed only. When we sat down with the consultant, he said that this was the "Ultimate" plan and all the 292s were based on this design. We were also told that they had just opened a new display based on this in Piara Waters called the Resort. So we started from this but really used the Tuscan/Balmain basic design. Just got a call today and our plans will be ready on Tuesday..another step in the process. So we should be about 8 weeks behind you. Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 8May 18, 2009 2:39 pm I love your floor plan Mrs Smith! That would be exactly what I wanted!!! but we went with a different builder and just used there plan! I also love your colour choice esp flinders black! look forward to hearing your progress. Building the Pegasus New Generation Bletchley Pk, Southern River Land purchased 03/2009 Contract 06/2009 Prestart 09/2009 Land cleared/sand Pad 10-12-09 Fittings done 17-12-09 SLAB!! 18-12-09 Brickies started 27-1-10 Roof Started 2-3-10 Lock Up 13-5-10 Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 9May 18, 2009 3:20 pm That's a nice floorplan, how many squares did you end up with? it looks pretty big and very functional. The colours look good too, I look forward to following your build Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 11May 21, 2009 4:17 pm Mrs Smith - we got the plans on Tuesday and went through them with the consultant until 10:30pm!!! There is a lot of drawings to go through!! It is very exciting after the 6 week wait from PPA. I called the office today to book the prestart - tomorrow morning. So happy about that after reading some comments on here about other people having to wait up to 4 weeks to do prestart. I haven't had time but I will post the drawn up plans if people are interested. Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 12May 21, 2009 5:55 pm That's excellent We got our prestart straight away (4 days later) because I'm not in Perth often so it was either 4 days, or 4 weeks. They have been very quick about everything, our only delay so far is the council... Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures 13May 27, 2009 11:27 am We have a very slight update - the council has actually asked our builder questions, which means they are doing something! WOO HOO! On the downside though, they were asking about the ventilation and lighting in our home theatre - I hope we don't have to stick a window on it, I want it as dark as possible in there... Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures -update pg 1 14May 27, 2009 11:33 am Mrs Smith, If they come back with something like putting in a window......maybe ask the builder to change it into a "Storage Room" then when the council sees the plan it appears not to be a habitable room and therefore does not require the same ventilation. BUt surely,... I have seen rooms like this in many houses how do they get passed by council if this is an issue? Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures -update pg 1 15May 27, 2009 11:18 pm I hope we don't have the same problem with Stirling. Our consultant did tell us about this and put an opening in. Basically a long slot along the top (which we closed off with glass at pre-start). It means we need to put a curtain up but it will only be small and along the top. Looking on the bright side, like you say they are looking at it! Good luck. Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures -update pg 1 17May 28, 2009 11:31 am I know At least their looking at it The tiles are Lanka Tiles, and the size is 300 x 300mm (with the grout they'll look like 300x100mm). They also come in white. We got the variation back today, we asked them to clarify a few costs. We wanted 100% white sand mortar, which they were charging $1432 for the upgrade. They offered 50% white and 50% yellow in this variation, and are charging $290. We are FUMING!!!! If it's going to cost $290 to change 1/2 the sand from yellow to white, won't it be $580 for 100% white???? I've asked our consultant to contact estimating to explain why it's more than 2 and 1/2 times the cost we think it should be ($580). I think it's because the variation has "off-white mortar" and talks about that it's a non-standard mortar colour, and that we need to go and check it prior to the brickies starting. So I think they are trying to colour match to an actual off-white, whereas we meant off-white as in, we know with 100% white sand, it's not going to be a pure white mortar. I'm soooooooooo hoping that's the case and they can shave a few hundred dollars off the cost. If it's not that, and they are just overcharging us, then I'm not going to be happy. I've mixed mortar (various time, usually cream, but also charcoal and white!) in a WHEELBARROW helping out my family with many DIY jobs, and I know it's not any harder, just a different coloured sand. So I can't see why white sand costs that much..... Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures -update pg 1 18May 28, 2009 12:17 pm Our consultant just got back to us She's so quick. The price is because they are using white mortar, not off-white, as apparently the brickies use a yellow cement, so they need to change the cement to white, which means they need to use lime too. I got a full breakdown of the cost which I'm happy with, it makes much more sense now. Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures -update pg 1 19Jun 03, 2009 8:38 am Mrs Smith Any further word from council on whether you need to make changes or not? Re: mr smith and mrs_smith's building adventures -update pg 1 20Jun 24, 2009 5:40 pm Hi Dragon, Luckily, we didn't need to make changes. However, we haven't been lucky in much else from the council. 1 week before the contract was to expire (10th June), the council realises that the retaining wall on the left hand side is over 1m, meaning we have to pay for some Codes Variation, and then get neighbour approval. The houses on the left hand side are all rentals, and one of the owners own a cattle station in the Kimberley, and are 300km from the nearest post office. They didn't pick up the letters until late last week, but were nice enough to send it back straight away (driving 600km in total just to drop it off). The council got it back yesterday. Then today, the council decides that they want the neighbour approval for the right hand side retaining. TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY HAVE HAD THE PLANS SINCE 5th MARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why on Earth NOW do they realise this? I'm getting so annoyed. Luckily, the builder hasn't had any price rises yet, so when they re-evaluate our contract we're safe NOW, but when the next letter from the council goes out to the 2 owners on the right hand side and comes back, that could take us into the next financial year and I'm guessing there will be an increase then..... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Stupid council. Assuming the structure of your cabinetry is good then I would DIY everything as follows: - replace your counter tops entirely, - replace all drawer runners with soft close… 1 3421 Re my second point – yes exactly. And often it may take additional time if the manufacturer recommends no more than X meters… 3 3752 |