Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 29, 2009 8:47 pm It's thread time! That must mean that something has finally happened.
Well, it's almost exactly a year since we signed the contract for the land, and we have action. Yay! Loretta and John. . . the race is on! 31-08-08 - Signed contract on the land 27-02-09 - Settled on the land 20-07-09 - Finalised our plans (after much faffing on our part, and plenty of patience on the builder's. . . thanks Jeff!) 21-07-09 - Plans submitted to council 21-08-09 - Council application approved 25-08-09 - Building contract signed 25-08-09 - Land pegged out 27-08-09 - Tree lopped 02-09-09 - Excavation started 09-09-09 - Piering holes dug 12-09-09 - Trenches dug 14-09-09 - Slab bracing started 15-09-09 - Sewerage pipes laid, reo delivered, formwork started 21-09-09 - Garage slab down 25-09-09 - Main slab down 01-10-09 - Water tank in 06-10-09 - Frame delivered 14-10-09 - Garage bricking started 19-10-09 - Garage bricking finished 20-10-09 - Framing started 21-10-09 - Framing finished 22-10-09 - Windows in 31-10-09 - Roof trusses delivered 02-11-09 - Ran out of bricks! Supposed to finish brickwork today. 06-11-09 - Brickwork finished 09-11-09 - Roof struts started 11-11-09 - Gutters and facias up 12-11-09 - Metal beams for tin roof go up 18-11-09 - Roof on 19-11-09 - Electrical rough-in complete December - gyprock, cornices, fixout Over Christmas - Downpipes in, staircase installed, we install WIR and paint a coupla rooms. 12-01-10 - Front portico and back alfresco floors screeded 14-01-10 - Tiling started 19-01-10 - Spa goes in 29-01-10 - Land levelled 02-02-10 - Painting started Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 5Aug 31, 2009 5:08 pm What a great plan. If I was to build again that is exactly what I would have. It is so good to see a house where the garage is not the main feature. Your alfresco also looks to be a great size. Pity about the tree but it looks like there are more than enough still left. Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 6Aug 31, 2009 5:24 pm Thanks neverfinished, you've dashed my plans to be in the Guinness Book of Records, but at least I feel loved! Thanks for the comments, I'm at home with an abcess on my tooth today, so you've improved my day no-end! We had a few goes at designing the floorplan ourselves, then took it to the drafter and he suggested putting the garage underneath. . . We like the look but it's going to be a bugger getting up those stairs from the garage to the house every day. (I'm just lazy, will be good for me!) We actually had to forego the door on the laundry (too expensive for the steps out the back), which was a bit disappointing, and the WIR isn't half as big as I'd have liked but otherwise we're pretty happy with it all (that may change when we move in though!). Our drafter wanted to merge the dining and family room together and put the kitchen where the dining room is, but we didn't want to have to walk round the dining table every time we needed a beer, so we told him to get stuffed! Unfortunately we've only got one poor tree left on the land, the trees in the photo are across the other side of the road. But we'll be planting lots more bushes and trees to make up for the one we so cruelly killed (sniff). We did manage to scavenge a thin bit of stump (or thick bit of branch) which we're going to plonk a plant on! (in remembrance). Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 7Aug 31, 2009 6:34 pm I'm glad I helped you feel loved. I will be starting a thread soon about my new kitchen (if it ever gets finished) and I worry that there will be nothing but massive indifference. Perhaps I will get that spot in the record books. Regarding your garage, I would look on the bright side and assume that the steps will help keep you in good shape. Also the laundry without a door is not a massive problem. In my house you have to go through the main bathroom and then the family room to get outside from our laundry and it is basically a case of getting used to what you have. I have had no issues with the extra walking - again think of it as part of your keep fit routine. I'm looking forward to seeing your home as it is built ,especially as you are in New South Wales and we are so badly outnumbered by the Victorians. PS. I hope I am right in assuming this is Camden in New South Wales. Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 8Aug 31, 2009 8:29 pm Oh neverfinished. . . now I feel doubly loved as Phil just made me soup! (Well, nuked it). I promise you I will gush about your kitchen for half a page, how about that? (I'll look out for your thread, but pm me if I miss it! ) Yep. . . definitely need the steps, motivation for excercise is at an all-time low at the moment, always seem to have something house-related to do instead of working up a sweat. And yes, Camden is in NSW. . . it's on the outskirts of Sydney (South West, just past Campbelltown). 10 points to you! (Just cos you're building in NSW too though ) So . . . are you building a house or renovating a kitchen? Whereabouts in NSW? Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 9Aug 31, 2009 9:28 pm Wow. 1 month to get through council. I'm so jealous. Plans look great. Love the open plan kitchen ovelooking the alfresco. When do you expect to start building? Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 10Aug 31, 2009 9:39 pm Quote: So . . . are you building a house or renovating a kitchen? Whereabouts in NSW? We live in the Sutherland Shire at Menai and are in the midst of renovating our entire house. It is 28 years old (think colonial handstock bricks, cedar everywhere and internal beams) and badly in need of major loving. We have remodelled much of the back yard, completely gutted and rebuilt our main bathroom and laundry, repainted, remodelled the children's rooms (with new furniture) and just about finished our kitchen which has been an ongoing saga since March. The granite benchtops should arrive tomorrow at 7.30am but I am not holding my breath as they cancelled last Friday an hour before they were due and they never turned up today. Still to go are: a new ensuite bathroom, new carpets, new curtains or blinds, new furniture for the dining and lounge rooms, possible replacement of our cedar doors (6 sets of triples), replacing our leaning front pergola (which involves removing our beautiful 25 year old wisterias - so I can sympathise about your tree ), replacing our front verandah slate , removing our monster gum from hell which is touching the side of our pool, building a cat enclosure and replacing the guttering. Hence my name 'Neverfinished'. I think I need soup just to keep up my strength after that list. Frankly, I look at plans for beautiful new homes like yours and I think we were mad to start. It would have been better, both financially and sanity wise to have knocked down and rebuilt. Anyway, sorry for the long winded reply and I will look forward to every step of your journey. Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 11Aug 31, 2009 9:51 pm Greetings Mick & Kim! Well, luckily our council submission was pretty straight forward (thank ye gods). . . and Phil called the councillor about 5 times during the submission period, so I think he was hurried along a little bit. I think we would have killed each other if we'd had problems like you've been having (have you even got yours through yet?). (Though we have had problem after problem with the mortgage, lucky it's all sorted now). Yeah, we were looking into having a bi-fold window out from the kitchen to the alfresco, but nearly died when we heard the price. . . even the stacker window was out of our pricerange, so we're going with plain and boring old sliding. We're having it double sliding-door style though, with fixed, sliding, sliding, fixed panels, and a sliding flyscreen so we can pass food and stuff out for the barbie without having to walk round (pure laziness). Phil's 7-year old dilapidated $200 BBQ is going to look SCHMICK on the new alfresco!!! Our builder has about 40 houses on the go at the moment (what with the extra first home owner's grant), so I don't expect that he'll be as speedy as he normally is. He said that landscraping will start on Wednesday, we'll just have to wait and see!!! On your kitchen design. . . will you be having the bins on a slidey-pull drawer type door, or the ones that pop open on a normal type door? We need to make an appointment with our kitchen people actually. . . need to pull our fingers out! Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 12Aug 31, 2009 9:59 pm Hi Jo, Please don't feel unloved but I have only just found your thread... have not been on H1 much over the weekend! I love your house plans especially the large alfresco... nice place to sit & have that glass or should I say bottle of sav blanc. Don't feel bad about responses to your thread we did one about bargain pavers from Austral Bricks with no responses. Well looks like you are winning the race (so far).... good luck with the excavation this week.& hope your feeling better soon, Loretta Built The Jenmark with Cavalier Homes Macarthur. http://camdenacres.blogspot.com/ Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17870 We are in - front landscaping begins Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 14Aug 31, 2009 10:13 pm Neverfinished Quote: So . . . are you building a house or renovating a kitchen? Whereabouts in NSW? We live in the Sutherland Shire at Menai and are in the midst of renovating our entire house. It is 28 years old (think colonial handstock bricks, cedar everywhere and internal beams) and badly in need of major loving. We have remodelled much of the back yard, completely gutted and rebuilt our main bathroom and laundry, repainted, remodelled the children's rooms (with new furniture) and just about finished our kitchen which has been an ongoing saga since March. The granite benchtops should arrive tomorrow at 7.30am but I am not holding my breath as they cancelled last Friday an hour before they were due and they never turned up today. Still to go are: a new ensuite bathroom, new carpets, new curtains or blinds, new furniture for the dining and lounge rooms, possible replacement of our cedar doors (6 sets of triples), replacing our leaning front pergola (which involves removing our beautiful 25 year old wisterias - so I can sympathise about your tree ), replacing our front verandah slate , removing our monster gum from hell which is touching the side of our pool, building a cat enclosure and replacing the guttering. Hence my name 'Neverfinished'. I think I need soup just to keep up my strength after that list. Frankly, I look at plans for beautiful new homes like yours and I think we were mad to start. It would have been better, both financially and sanity wise to have knocked down and rebuilt. Anyway, sorry for the long winded reply and I will look forward to every step of your journey. Neverfinished! I was once a Shire girl! Lived in Sutherland twice, first in a rental apartment then I bought an apartment there. Menai's lovely, I have friends that live there. Wow, I think you're much braver renovating, are you doing the work yourselves or getting the tradies in? Sounds like you've been REALLY busy. I think I'd kill the stone masons though. . . how long have you been without your kitchen now? Ah. . . my dear defacto-mother-in-law has a thing against gum trees. I told her a couple of weeks ago that we're going to plant them a metre away from the house, all along the back and side walls! haha! I think we're actually going to plant some down in the back corner of the land, to create a bit of privacy, but that's about 25 metres away from the house, so we shouldn't have much of a problem with the roots. You must be gutted about your wisteria. . . I have no idea what they look like so I just googled! They're beautiful. . . are they climbing viney things? I think I want some. They look kind of olde Englishey. So have you got rid of all that wood? I love a bit of wood actually, we've seen a lot of stunning Ed3n Br@e and M3tricon type houses with lots and lots of wood. . . I just think of the upkeep! Aaarrrgh! You know. . . slate's coming back in! Now I am interested in your pussycat enclosure. . . what kind of cat(s) do you have? I've got a Birman (took him in a couple of years ago, his owner was moving to a new apartment where he couldn't keep him. . . idiot! Personally I think it was puddy's projectile peeing that was the problem. . . I sorted that one out with an enclosed litter tray (after a very stinky laundry for a couple of weeks). He was always an apartment cat, but lately I've been letting him out. I'm really scared that he's going to get run over (he's a bit stupid) or stolen (he's a bit completely gorgeous). Though the thieves would probably throw him out after a couple of days, as he likes to bite your toes (and ankles, and hands, and fingers, and arms). Are you building a run which is connected to the house, or a separate one? HAHA. .. you thought your reply was long-winded. . . NOOOOOOOOOOOO Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 15Aug 31, 2009 10:16 pm JohnnyD Hi Jo, Please don't feel unloved but I have only just found your thread... have not been on H1 much over the weekend! I love your house plans especially the large alfresco... nice place to sit & have that glass or should I say bottle of sav blanc. Don't feel bad about responses to your thread we did one about bargain pavers from Austral Bricks with no responses. Well looks like you are winning the race (so far).... good luck with the excavation this week.& hope your feeling better soon, Loretta Aha! Loretta! I knew I could count on you. . . My cheek was the size of a golfball earlier, and now it's the size of a tennis ball! Hurrah! Another day off tomorrow! Yes, it's been a bit of a slow one on H1 this weekend, I think everyone must have been out enjoying the sunshine. Well, Jeff has 40 houses on the go at the moment, so we're not holding our breaths. . . you might beat us yet! Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 16Aug 31, 2009 10:18 pm phil74 Hello, no, not interested thanks! Phil. . . you just sat there for 20 minutes staring at the floorplan, you are ******!!! Now, get back in the kitchen and make me a cuppa tea. Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 17Aug 31, 2009 10:29 pm I know what you mean regarding BBQ. If I had my way the old one would get tossed and we'd be getting a nice new modular stainless one. Have to wait for that one. We're still waiting on council. Notifications end this Thursday and haven't had any complaints yet so hoping it'll stay that way. Also lodged our demo DA last week so won't be long till we knock down. Re. Kitchen. The whole cupboard slides straight out so you access bins from above. If you get what I mean. Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 18Aug 31, 2009 10:40 pm Ah yes. . . Phil thinks he's getting a new one, don't you darling??? Haha! A modular one would be nice, but after this build we're going to be paupers! Time to stock up on the two minute noodles! Actually, we've seen a few really nice looking modular stainless ones on Graysonline. . . but I've no idea if they're reasonably priced or not. Oh goodo, we had our DA about a week after notification finished, so you're nearly there. . . if you weren't knocking down too, I'd invite you to join the race. . . Loretta and John are just waiting for their council approval too. . . what the hell. . . join the race, you might beat us yet! Yeah, I'm thinking those slidy outy bins may be the go, they seem to have a much greater capacity than the ones on a normal door. I CAN'T WAIT to have the bins tucked away, so the dog and cat can't tip them over, rip the bag to shreds and have everything all over the floor! Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 19Aug 31, 2009 10:43 pm jodge phil74 Hello, no, not interested thanks! Phil. . . you just sat there for 20 minutes staring at the floorplan, you are ******!!! Now, get back in the kitchen and make me a cuppa tea. Yes Phil get back to the kitchen where all good men should be Hey I have a really nice plan for a barby from Better Homes & gardens magazine.... it also featured on the show a few weeks ago.It's another project that John wants to do Built The Jenmark with Cavalier Homes Macarthur. http://camdenacres.blogspot.com/ Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17870 We are in - front landscaping begins Re: Building Split-Level near Camden - Tree is lopped! 20Aug 31, 2009 10:47 pm JohnnyD jodge phil74 Hello, no, not interested thanks! Phil. . . you just sat there for 20 minutes staring at the floorplan, you are ******!!! Now, get back in the kitchen and make me a cuppa tea. Yes Phil get back to the kitchen where all good men should be Hey I have a really nice plan for a barby from Better Homes & gardens magazine.... it also featured on the show a few weeks ago.It's another project that John wants to do Loretta, sounds like you've got John better trained than I've got Phil. . . Barby project sounds great! What do you think hun? We're having a gas point put outside, so we can hook the barbie up to mains gas. . . I'm not even sure the old barbie is capable of this! Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17628 Hi We have finally decided to complete a KDR on our corner plot in NE Melbourne suburbs. Given its a corner plot approx. 400 sqm just a standard design may not fit the… 0 8579 |