Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 31, 2009 9:27 pm Hello all you PD homeowners/homeowners-to-be! I need to build my home 'cheaply' but cleverly! I want the appearance of style and sophistication, but don't want to pay for it !!! I was hoping you could shed light on the Hopetoun experience! On a visit to Hopetoun without a consultant can you clearly work out what your included choices are as opposed to upgrades? A couple of random questions: Do you recall which brick type are category 1? Are all laminate colours (not finish) included or do Laminex have a 'premium' range? Are there choices for basins and taps in the standard range? If anyone has any pics/code numbers etc of included bits and pieces, please feel free to pass on as I'm trying to work out budgets. Unfortunately as I have no idea if the included stuff is stylish or daggy! As for tiles and carpets - is there any chance of choosing from the standard range or is it ridiculously limited and bad quality? If not, how much extra do you think you need to spend? So many questions!!! Thanks in advance! Goodluck with your build - wherever you are! Liz Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 2May 31, 2009 9:36 pm Hi Liz, If you go to Hopetoun on a saturday you don't need an appt. There are staff there who show you what is standard (it takes about 10 mins to go around with them) and then you are on your own to make choices. We went standard with most things, so it is possible. Our biggest upgrade was for porcelain tiles. Carpet was in standard range but we upgraded the underlay... didn't cost much. Bricks and roof tiles were all standard and so was our kitchen, handles and doors. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 3May 31, 2009 9:43 pm Hi Liz, I have a Lifestyle brick list you can have somewhere. Not much that will work for you though..... trust me. Tanami is Cat 1 and Sandy Beach is Cat 2 (around $600 upgrade). The limitations with Boral for our estate is the main reason we changed to Prestige so we could use Austral. The house two doors down from my block is Sandy Beach. That's pretty much all that's light. The rest are red/dark brown, Jarrah is one that's Cat 1. Cat 1 roof tiles are fine for Hidden Valley. The laminex are all pretty much standard except for the sort of metallic patterned ones. There's a few choices for taps and basins but flickmixers will be an upgrade. Tiles you will probably spend on... cat 1 isn't so great. Sit down ... my tile upgrade was 13k. Got it down to 10k. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 4May 31, 2009 10:02 pm Oh Jo, isn't this soooo much fun ?!!!! I think I will have the ugliest house on the street! Having said that, I will go with a positive point of view and try and get 'creative' with the standard choices! Thanks for replies so far - every little bit helps!!!! Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 6May 31, 2009 11:48 pm Elzbeth - I'm one who doesn't believe you have to upgrade everything to have a smart looking house. What you do need to do is choose your colour palette carefully. An example is bathrooms - white tiles never go out of fashion and it's hard to tell which tile was cheap and which tile was expensive. Tiles and carpet - do you mean just the wet areas for tiles or the rest of the house? I've found it's cheaper to get my floor coverings done after hand-over, as the builder's range was not very good. I am paying around the same price for much better quality. Another thing worth considering. Find some examples you like and take them with you to the colour centre. You may find you need to go several times before your official appointment, but it's worth it to get it right. See if you can take photos as the colour centre and post them here. You may get some ideas that you hadn't thought about. Judie Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 7Jun 01, 2009 8:43 am Just about everything I selected was standard, but I didn't go in there with many pre-conceived ideas as I didn't want to be let down. My colour scheme is neutral earthy tones so I was OK with the selections I could choose from. Everything is clearly labeled at Hopetoun and the people explain it all to you but they don't know the prices of anything so you can't even get an idea of how much things would cost Try to go to Hopetoun a few times, I went a couple of times and my colours appointment only went for an hour instead of two as I had decided on everything already. '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: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 8Jun 01, 2009 10:01 am We finished our house in mostly standards and accordiing to all our freinds it looks amazing.. We went in with the idea that we would look at standards first, if there was nothing there we liked then looked at the upgrade. I feel this was a good way to do it as we didn't just go in and say, i want that and find it was an upgrade. A beautiful house can be built with standard fittings... At the end of the day until you tell someone that you paid more they will never know... Here is a picture of our standard 'tanami' brick.. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f16/shazburger/finalfront.jpg Sharon & Paul ********************* Creating Youngs Castle Heywood 29 in Craigieburn http://youngscastle.blogspot.com/ Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 9Jun 01, 2009 10:37 am Liz, Here is a list and prices of my Hoptoun variations, it's Prestige but will give you an idea if you do want to upgrade and most things are the same (vanities and tapware are different but this will give you a ballpark): Upgrade underlay for carpet: $510 All basins upgrades and all tapware to flickmixers (4 basins, 2 showers and bath): $558 Bigger bath: $42 Gainsborough Tri locks: $195 each Privacy locks: $39 each Door handles: $112 throughout (note that the standard was actually our second choice and are really lovely ) Bank of 3 drawers to bathroom vanity: $271 Upgrade kitchen handles: $168 Upgrade handles to ensuite, bathroom, powder room and laundry: $140 Cat 3 bricks: $2,112 Off white mortar: $770 Stain in lieu of paint to front doors and frame: $297 Our big one was the bricks and mortar and we altered kitchen cabinetry that I haven't included here. The standard range is actually really good in most things. We were after a specific feel hence the upgrades, but I wouldn't say that you walk in there and say "This is all crap, I'll have to upgrade everything!" Definitely not like that. The bricks is where you may have problems because of the HV guidelines, but it is doable. As Shazburger said, a lovely house definitely can be done with the standards. Oh and let me know who your consultant is... when we were dealing with Lifestyle my sales consultant was a *^&#@$%^@ so make sure you don't go with that person! I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 10Jun 01, 2009 1:48 pm We had a really great colour consultant, her name starts with a K. The electrical guy wasn't so good, his name starts with a D. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 11Jun 03, 2009 5:46 pm Thanks to all your feedback and prices too (thanks, Jo!), I'm not so scared - and kinda looking forward to a sneak peak this Sat morn! Shazburger, big effort putting a pic up - I just might get away with those bricks in our estate (strict colour guidelines) - really appreciate your help. Phew - this is going to be a doddle ! Liz Re: Callling Porter Davis Lifestyle clients re: colour selection 12Jun 03, 2009 9:00 pm Elzbeth Thanks to all your feedback and prices too (thanks, Jo!), I'm not so scared - and kinda looking forward to a sneak peak this Sat morn! Shazburger, big effort putting a pic up - I just might get away with those bricks in our estate (strict colour guidelines) - really appreciate your help. Phew - this is going to be a doddle ! Liz hey liz, i'd love to know what a doddle is!! or maybe i don't want to... 2014 - Prepping to build the Soho 4 with Plantation homes, industrial style 2009 - Built the Brampton with Coral Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15399&start=280 Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 12336 Hi there, we have classic cream gutters, fasciaโs, roller door and undercover carport. We are are going to paint the roof a terracotta orange colour. After some… 0 4502 I am building Enfield 201 by Mimosa Homes - York Facade Link: https://www.mimosahomes.com.au/new-homes/enfield-201/ I did my colour appointment last week. I am looking… 0 571 |