Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 17, 2010 7:47 pm Well, after selling our home on the NSW Central Coast, we are now renting while waiting for our home to be built in Hornsby, about 25kms North of Sydney. We found a battle-axe block, with slopes, ledges and rocks in all of the wrong places, but it's in a great spot and close to everything we need. Land is pretty hard to find in this established area so we were thrilled to finally settle on a block late in 2009. We will have to get our act together and start posting some photos and info to document our journey. In the mean time, we have chosen a brick, which was kind of hard. We knew exactly what we wanted, which was Austral Bowral Blue. Problem was that it added about $16,000 to our build price. We ended up with our second choice, which is PGH Blue Steel Flash, with ironed joint off-white mortar. Really love the blue look of this brick. Now we need to chose a colorbond roof, which I thought would be easy. Was keen on the Monument or the darker colours but then other forum members seem to think that the dark roof and the dark brick is a little overwhelming. We would welcome any suggestions from people who have used this brick. We are looking to have pearl white aluminium windows, but our other idea was going ironstone roof, gutters, downpipes and windows. Please help, as we are going around in circles on this one! Thanks Greg. Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 2Feb 17, 2010 7:55 pm HI Greg, We are using the Blue Steel flash as a feature brick at the front of our house and we have an ironstone colorbond roof. The main brick that we have chosen if PGH Mild Steel. Please feel free to have a look at our blog to see how the colours have come together. By the way, who are you building with? Cheers, CMET Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 3Feb 17, 2010 8:01 pm Good luck with the build! While not an expert and not a user of colourbond roof products my own preference was to have as lightest roof as possible because it reflects the most sunlight and therefore will generate the least amount of heat. Unfortunately we could not get the colour we wanted due to the Council's regulations so had to go with the darker option. Wanted Had to get This determined our selection of gutters and downpipes - gunmetal, the same as the titles. Eaves as window frames are white... That was out easy and non-comprehensive approach to achieve some contrast. I think it works quite well, you can find some photos in my building topic, the URL in the signature. If we could get the roof we wanted, the colour selection would be reversed - pearl for the roof, gutters and downpipes and black for eaves and window frames. We do not have fascia so it was out of consideration. ... built a Promenade with Clarendon. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25104 20-10-09 - excavation and piering completed ... 12-04-10 - Basins fixed. Connecting to the electrical grid 23-04-10 - PCI 07-05-10 - HANDOVER! Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 4Feb 17, 2010 8:25 pm Thanks so much for your replies. We are going with a smaller builder based in Western Sydney called XXXXXX (removed to avoid legal issues). Was recommended by a neighbour in our old home and they have won numerous local business awards. Having a block that is 'problematic' in every way, this builder has been very thorough in designing a house to suit the block, rather than modifying a design to suit the block. It is a custom design, just over 41 squares and over 5 levels.
After having built with two large project home companies, we have been really happy with what the builder has come up with. Will post some scans of the plans when I get the other computer set up. You know what it's like...one day to move and six months to unpack! I really like the look of ironstone. After chatting with the builder, he seems to think that Hornsby Shire Council will require us to use a darker roof. However, having had two houses with black roofs, I would love to omething a little cooler for the next home. I will follow your blogs with bated breath! Thanks so much again. Greg Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 5Feb 18, 2010 9:49 am I'm really surprised with most Councils (seem to) require darker roofs thus, forcing us to use air-con mode often ... built a Promenade with Clarendon. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25104 20-10-09 - excavation and piering completed ... 12-04-10 - Basins fixed. Connecting to the electrical grid 23-04-10 - PCI 07-05-10 - HANDOVER! Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 6Feb 18, 2010 3:00 pm G'day Greg, We are building a few suburbs away from you I noticed you mentioned the blue steel flash. Originally I liked the look of this, but I went out to have a look at a house which had built with in, out in Kellyville, and it was too much.. It looked gothic, and depressing. A wall of bricks at the PGH site is nothing compared to a whole house.. Not trying to scare you, but it's worth asking the guys out at PGH for an address of a place which has used the bricks. We ended up choosing PGH Haberfield.. an awesome brick IMO, but very different to Blue steel flash. Good luck mate. Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 7Feb 18, 2010 5:11 pm Hi Andrew, Thanks very much for your post. Hope that your build goes well. We looked at the Haberfield and did like it, but it was a little too 'reddy brown' for our tastes. I really like the blue tones in modern bricks, however I can see how the whole effect of Blue Steel can become a little heavy. We have looked at so many bricks. Originally looked at the PGH Black and Tan, which did have a blue shimmer through it. Looked at a few houses and loved it, only to find that the clays that they are mining now are more red and the blue is gone. We then moved onto Blue Rio from Boral, but did not like the fact that the slurry is just a coating over a red brick. Even through the Blue Steel is also a slurry, it is on a darker brick and is less likely to show any damage during construction. Really wanted Bowral blue dry pressed, but figured that our build is going to be so expensive already. The extra 17-18K was just too much. So, where are you building and who did you go with? Thanks for your feedback. By the way, what was the address of the home that you saw the brick on? Would love to take a drive past. Many thanks Greg. Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 8Feb 18, 2010 7:16 pm Hi Greg, Welcome to H1. . .Until about a year & a half ago we also lived on the central coast - Tascott then East Gosford. We are now building in Elderslie,near Camden with a smaller builder. It is very hard doing selections. . .I do like CMET's feature brick & it goes well with Ironstone. We have used Ironstone on our gutters,balcony rail & front door.Our estate had strict covenants on the brick choice so we didn't have much to choose from. I do like bricks with a blue tinge & think they go really well with Ironstone or monument. Your house design & land sound very interesting & look forward to following your build. Cheers, 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 our new home in Hornsby 9Feb 20, 2010 8:23 am Hi Loretta, You certainly do move around...I know what it's like. I moved from a 2 bedroom unit in Parramatta to Wadalba on the Central Coast and then to Hamlyn Terrace (just across the Road). Loved our home. 40 Squares of space with home theatre room, balinese hut with pool and waterfall etc etc, but ultimately the commute was a real issue. Hence the move closer to Sydney and work. Camden is a beautiful place in the world. I think you got in just before it goes haywire out there. Still a bit of a secret how beautiful it is out your way. We drove past a large estate a year or so back called stonecutters ?? and it was one of the nicest estates I had ever seen. You are lucky to live in such beautiful parts. Although I don't envy your winter times! I really like your colour choices. It's looking really nice. You must be thrilled with the results so far. Are you happy with your builder? I will post some pictures of our block once I get the other computer up and running. I would kill for a nice building block like yours. We are going to end up building over two external levels and 5 internal levels just to accommodate the shape of the block. Looks like the stairs are going to keep us very fit! I think the house has about 15500 bricks and most of them would be deep edge beams! Look forward to following your build as well. Greg Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 10Feb 20, 2010 8:34 am Hi John and Loretta, See from your plans that you have the most important room in the house sorted - the media room, home theatre. Not sure what your plans are for it but if you need some advice with fitting it out, happy to help. I have also included a 6.1 metre x 4.8 metre room into our plans and are pretty well stocked with equipment ready to go. Your room lends itself perfectly to a projector, so let me know if you need a few pointers. I have been a home theatre aficionado for years. Just done a research project on importing 10-12 genuine theatre chairs from overseas. Managed to find them for about 45-120 US dollars each and as they are only light in weight and in kit form, shipping is not so expensive. I wanted to build rows of seats on risers, but the boss put her substantial foot down and we have now purchased 2 rows of leather recliners from John Cootes of all places. If you are quick, they should have some red and black sets remaining, down from $2500 to $1500 per set. They are really nice and look great in home cinemas. According to my wife, comfort is everything! Let me know if I can be of any help about equipment choices or if you want details on the genuine theatre seats. Happy to forward you on the details. Kind regards Greg Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 12Feb 20, 2010 9:08 am Hi Bel, Sounds like you hit a lot of the same hurdles as us. I am chasing a 2 year old around the house so I have not fully checked out your blog. If you have not chosen a builder yet, drop me a PM and I will be happy to chat with you or I will give you my number to call. We also spoke to Huxley and after months of going backwards and forwards, we chose another builder. Let me know and I am happy to share our experiences and send you floorplans of what we have come up with using our builder. Thanks Greg Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 13Feb 20, 2010 9:24 am Thanks Greg, Yep we gave H the punt after to much going backwards and forwards, and in the end, they didn't listen, and then blew the budget seriously. Was very annoying. Ours is a long drawn out story, over a couple of years . We are at the stage with 3 young kids (We have a 3 yo Tommy ), that we need a house built quickly. The excess rent we have experienced etc has chewed up budget, so we have gone back to the initial project home builder just to get a house built. Would have loved a custom design, but not this time round. Can't wait to see the floorplans though! Bel Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 14Feb 20, 2010 9:57 am Hi Bel, The reason that I ask about your stage of building is that we went through the identical situation with H Homes. Very unhappy by the end of it. we looked at the Oxford...very nice floorplan and at $240K was within our budget. Probably a great home for a split block front to rear but we also slip from side to side, so making the house fit our block and to get the level of inclusions that we get with our builder (colorbond roof, glass splashbacks, ceasarstone benchtops throughout and a good choice of bricks) meant that HH came back with a tender around $396,000. Their custom homes are very dear. We then went to WH, who were just awesome, but ultimately it was all about trying to make their designs fit our block. this meant big costs of steps off the back of the house. It came in within 20K of what we are paying now, and we ended up with a 41.2 square custom home including all site costs, connection to services etc. Pretty happy with our package. So, happy to provide you with details if you are interested. I feel your pain...sounds like the paths we followed were pretty similar! Kind regards Greg Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 15Feb 20, 2010 10:13 am Hi Again, Yes! Sounds like we have a very similar story. Our block is upsloping from the street, so we were working with the Princeton with modifications. We also have tree issues, we can't build 6m near a tree, and also sewer encasing! I've learnt alot about what to look for in a block for next time!!! When we walked away from H, we were at about $450k with no flooring/aircon etc. Let's just say I was as we had said up front the budget/inclusions/room sizes etc. Could you pm me your current builder etc. We have just had a section 96 approved with council (well a verbal approval anyway) but have not signed a contract as yet. So yes I'm still interested in looking around, especially if we can do a split level and make the most of the block. The current plan, is basically modifying a project home to fit. We have tried to reduce the need for retaining walls, but have nearly a flight of steps from garage into internal entry of the house, and the ground floor is split by a couple of steps. Out the back, we won't need to retain for council/build requirements, so over time we can terrace/work out what we want to do! Bel Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 16Feb 20, 2010 6:23 pm Tom's Playroom Hi Loretta, You certainly do move around...I know what it's like. I moved from a 2 bedroom unit in Parramatta to Wadalba on the Central Coast and then to Hamlyn Terrace (just across the Road). Loved our home. 40 Squares of space with home theatre room, balinese hut with pool and waterfall etc etc, but ultimately the commute was a real issue. Hence the move closer to Sydney and work. Camden is a beautiful place in the world. I think you got in just before it goes haywire out there. Still a bit of a secret how beautiful it is out your way. We drove past a large estate a year or so back called stonecutters ?? and it was one of the nicest estates I had ever seen. You are lucky to live in such beautiful parts. Although I don't envy your winter times! I really like your colour choices. It's looking really nice. You must be thrilled with the results so far. Are you happy with your builder? I will post some pictures of our block once I get the other computer up and running. I would kill for a nice building block like yours. We are going to end up building over two external levels and 5 internal levels just to accommodate the shape of the block. Looks like the stairs are going to keep us very fit! I think the house has about 15500 bricks and most of them would be deep edge beams! Look forward to following your build as well. Greg Oh yes we certainly do move around. . .I would have loved to have stayed on the coast but like you the commute became to much for hubby ( I worked locally) so we moved. Yes Camden is a beautiful place & has still retained a country feel. I think Stonecutters estate is near Blacktown. It will be hard to get used to the colder winters & hotter summers but at least we have ducted air! We have been very happy with our colour choices & how they have all come together now. Our builder has been terrific & I love dealing direct with the two guys who own it instead of sales staff,supervisors etc. Funny how we all like what we don't have. . .a flat block is great for site costs but a block with a slope is far more interesting & you can build a more custom design but you have the horrendous site costs!! Thanks for your offer of help with the home theatre. . .will keep you in mind but at this stage we are going to use our existing T.V (Sony Bravia) & surround system. We might upgrade later down the track.The seating sounds great & I think I have seen those ones at John Cootes,good price too, pity we already have a black leather lounge on order from Plush. Look forward to seeing pics of your land, 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 our new home in Hornsby 17Feb 21, 2010 6:59 am Hi Tom, Looking forward to seeing this progress, I have just sent of a message to your builder, as I am finding it hard to find builders willing to build custom homes at a reasonable price per sqm. Picnic Point - Subdivision and DA Approved -On Hold - March 2012 Georges Fair - Moved in Dec 2013 PP - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25747 Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 18Feb 21, 2010 12:57 pm Hi there J and K, Tom is actually the name of our two year old. I am Greg, so if you are talking to Peter, just let him know that you were chatting to me. I think that you will find that he is quite competitive, but his inclusions are excellent and well over industry standard. PM me if you would like more info. Please let me know how you get on. Kind regards Greg Tom's (tired) Dad! Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 19Feb 21, 2010 1:01 pm Hey Greg, Did you have a good time at AC/DC? (I was going to ask how was last night....then thought that doesn't sound the best!!! ) I'm pretty tired atm, DH out sailing again, so left with 3 kids, and then I'm going out again tonight for the Presentation night at sailing! Need sleep! Bel Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: Building our new home in Hornsby 20Feb 21, 2010 7:50 pm Hi Greg, Look forward to seeing your plans. 5 levels sounds pretty unique. Sounds like your on a winner with your builder. We are building with Huxley so don't hold against me. We found it pretty hard to find a project home builder that would build a house to suit our sloping block. Probably paying a bit more than other builders but hopefully will be worth it in the end. Mick Is it just a report written to give to the bank initially and it is based on what and how your payments are made up for, or is it a full service where they go out and… 2 5592 Hi Suku18 In NSW the statutory required insurances are: 1. HBCF ( Home Building Compensation Fund) - This is if the builder dies or goes broke. But this only covers 20%… 1 2666 "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 36 23830 |