Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Fern Bay Anyone 2Apr 09, 2011 10:14 pm Just bumping this up, know that you've come quite a way since '09, I've followed your thread We're waiting for Stage 4 to register, second half of the year. Having been up there in the last few weeks it's really good to see some progress! I've seen a few members here and there who have built or are planning to in Fern Bay and I'd love to hear from people. -Lisa Re: Fern Bay Anyone 4Apr 10, 2011 5:26 pm Hey everyone, Yes I am building in Fern Bay waiting for Stage 4 also. My brother also has bought land in stage 4 as well. Looking at the Monte Carlo with rear activities room from McDonald Jones. Pretty sure our mind is made up. So basically just waiting for the land now. Once I start the process etc I'll do a blog for everyone to follow. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 6Apr 10, 2011 7:05 pm Well we were tossing up between Monte Carlo or the Hayman from EB. MJH got in front for a bit but if something happens EB is on the cards! Re: Fern Bay Anyone 7Apr 11, 2011 2:47 pm We really like the MJH too, at the moment we are planning on the Havana with side home theatre and study. SOO many of the designs we look at are narrow frontages (I'm guessing for smaller blocks like the ones we originally looked at in Sydney) and very long houses whereas we want somehting wider that will give us more usable backyard space. Ferny, long time til you'll be following my thread (unless I do one with a monthly update of 'waiting'.... 'waiting'... as we don't plan on starting our build for at least 2 years, perhaps 3. My other half is in the army and we'll be resettling to Fern Bay once he discharges. I read every 'people leave crap on my vacant block' thread with a shudder. LWC, whereabouts in Stage 4 are you? We're in the street behind Seaside Blvd. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 8Apr 11, 2011 10:26 pm Yea most are pretty narrow but suits our block. In fact I think we are going to be putting our deposit down in next few days for it. Miss W we are down near whats called Road Number 5 on the plan at the moment. Be interested to see what the road ends up being called. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 9Apr 30, 2011 9:01 pm Does anyone know much about schools in the area? Was having a look the other night and I guess we'd be zoned for Fern Bay Public for primary school but it is such a small school! Maybe as more people build enrolments would increase? Re: Fern Bay Anyone 10Jun 09, 2011 9:00 am Hi All, We are building in Fern Bay and finally Stage 3B was registered as of June 3, 2011 with settlement to come later this month. We have selected a custom home builder (Crighton Homes) and our plans are now at council, been a loooooooong wait but finally forward progress. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 11Jun 17, 2011 9:27 pm Hi WW We've been noting the progress on the 3B lots as we've been visiting this year, great that they're finally ready to go! How are you finding Crighton and the whole custom process? After yet another trip out to Oran Park it's something we're looking at but I find it a bit daunting. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 12Jun 18, 2011 8:52 am Hi Garry from Crighton has been fantastic so far, it is such a different concept to buying a project home. We gave him a bullet list of ideas and concepts about how we would like to live in the home (including utilising some passive solar thinking) and he came back with a first pass design that was 90% of what we wanted, far closer than anything I had been able to design on my own. There are no premium extras, the cost is the cost, no up sell. My electrical appointment was an intriguing insight into the difference, in the time I was there 3 EB home buyers came and went, and they were all sticking with the one power point per room as the uplift charge was significant, my power points did not cost more than the cost, there was no extra margin (other than their standard margin), so I don't knowingly have to stretch a cord across a doorway or hall anywhere in the house. Not sure I understand the Oran park thought, these guys are based on the Central Coast, and all our visit have been either on site, at our house in Sydney or once at middle meeting point. It's interesting that our council submission was the first one in in 3B, and really nothing so far has been any trouble at all, yet he keeps us well informed if we are suggesting something that has significant cost implications (i.e moving a door / window is easy, specifying a louvre has cost implications) Cheers, Re: Fern Bay Anyone 13Jun 19, 2011 3:06 pm Oh, we just go out to Oran Park to look at houses every so often and got chatting with someone from Procorop about a custom build, something we hadn't really considered to that point. They've got an office out at Hidden Waters I think, or somewhere out that way anyway. But thanks for that info We'll no doubt look into it further down the track. For now I content myself making little plans on my computer... Re: Fern Bay Anyone 14Jun 20, 2011 12:44 pm Ok, was worried that you had found someone representing them out that way and was puzzled. My advice if you are doing a custom build is start the process early, the flexibility is great, but as a result there are more decision to be made, and usually a wider variety of options at each decision point. In some ways the delay on the land registration helped a little (but we did not need that much time!) as it gave us time to research some options and modify some starting assumptions. Cheers Re: Fern Bay Anyone 15Jul 14, 2011 9:20 pm We got our development approval today finally, about 6.5 weeks. Did seem to get some different driveway and drainage requirements to the other approvals I have viewed, so will need to find out what that entails. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 16Jul 17, 2011 4:41 pm Great news, WW. Where have you been viewing the other applications? Do you get sent copies if they are adjoining houses or are they on the council website? Does anyone know/remember how much the community levy is? Just saw another post and realised I've forgotten what it is and goodness knows where the paperwork is atm... We got official notice from their solicitors today that registration date has been pushed back to 31 Dec 2011, we have been told verbally that 4 Nov is the new planned date so hopefully that means it will be registered by Christmas this year. Glad we're not in a rush! We were up there last weekend and it looks like they've done some extensive clearing over that way. Wish NearMap would get an updated photo to give me a better view! Re: Fern Bay Anyone 17Jul 18, 2011 3:19 pm Hi, I don't have the community levy handy (the settlement numbers were skewed for our Stage due to it originally being a single block of land). Port Stephens has a DA tracker http://eservices.portstephens.nsw.gov.au/eservice/daEnquiryInit.do?doc_type=16&nodeNum=983 There are various ways to find things, best I have found is to view by either a date range and quickly scan down or if you want to know a specific street then start there. One other comment for planning purposes, the developer missed every single date they ever gave us, we had implied to us on at least 3 ocassions that things would be sooner and all three times it was way later (in one case 9 months). Cheers Re: Fern Bay Anyone 18Sep 16, 2011 8:00 am Well work has finally started, set out was this week and concreting folks are supposed to start next week. It looks like 3 other house in this stage are either being built or going through the DA process. Re: Fern Bay Anyone 20Sep 16, 2011 9:56 pm It "should" be the only one in the same street as you with fencing up, number 14next door has the request in but is not yet approved. Wish you all the best. 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