Santorini 29 [Big M] - Got the Keys! (New Pics Page 7)

G'day and thanks for the reply

we were initially looking at the Grandview, but it ended up being a bit out of the budget... Santorini was the next best thing! I love the bed-1 in the grandview... access to outdoor room/backyard... Mmmmmm

All the best with your build... Where abouts by the way? I'm building in Berwick/VIC.

The santorini seems to be a popular choice. Good luck with your build, I'm looking forward to following your progress.

We most likely are going to build the santorini 29 with the Kingston facade.
At the end of the month we are going to look at the lumeah which has what we were going to add to our Santorini such as in the large outdoor room already,ensuite layout,walk through pantry.
Our sitting room will be changed to a 5th bedroom as we have four kids.
The Santorini at point cook was what we were going for as far as overall look.
Shall be watching your with interest...remember to update..

Hi XT4V and emilygirl !!!

We are also building the santorini 29 kingston facade AND we are almost at the construction stage TOO !! All we need to do is send our financial approval which we are getting on Monday to Metricon. The differences between our houses is that we went for the grand outdoor area, all our bedrooms wardrobes are open hinged doors ( dun like sliding as the doors dun close all the way sometimes and our rumpus / home theatre is exactly like yours with the doors and the wall filled in. We also requested for acoustic insulation in that room. To fulfill our developers requirements we are also rendering the two poles and the garage. With Austral tan bricks and offwhite mortar. What bricks are you having ???

gacho - awesome, another santorini build...

have you got a build thread? i'll have to keep an eye on yours.. I think we're are at the same stages pretty much, so will be interesting to see if they both progress at the same speed.

good luck with your home, it sounds very nice.

emilygirl - we're also having the plantation shutters looking into the passage/bedroom/laundry area.. we've adjusted the wall to fit one in there..

your place sounds like it will be very nice! cant wait to see this one build too

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I have a bit of time now, so I may as well tell you guys about the changes i've done... colour wise, Mel (wife) will have to post up as I cant remember what she choose

anyway, here is a summary of the extras we put in the house (plucked out of the contract):

- ceiling height to 2550
- brickwork above all windows and doors
- kiln dried hardwood lining boards with stain finish to outdoor room ceiling (plan to do the porch later on myself)
- modify porch to have brick beams instead of timber (front and sides)
- roof tiles were cat 1A bristile classic colour-on/colour-through. these have a flat profile, so roof should look flush
- remote control to garage
- fly screens & window locks to all windows
- obscure glazing to WC, bathroom & ensuite
- entry door is a 2040 x 820 Corinthian Madison pmad 131 with clear glazing (glass strip through middle of door)
- entry door has a Gainsborough 750mm back to back pull handle with associated locks.
- double vanity option in ensuite which also moved shower from standard location to inside the WIR (as seen on plans)
- shower extended to 1335mm to accommodate 1200mm wide stainless steel trough and grate
- shower has also got a 340mm high * 1335mm wide recess in the back wall for shampoos and stuff
- shower has extra tap set added also
- tiled shower bases to both ensuite & bathroom
- basins were upgraded to caroma liano vitreous china insets
- bulkhead added to sitting room to make it look like its own area (Mel will be working from here running her beauty business.. she really wants to get in asap there as we're renting and doesnt look the best for her existing clients)
- deleted standard aluminium sliding door to outdoor room, and changed it to a stacked sliding door (3 into 1).
- kitchen modified to accommodate 900mm oven (800mm wide laminate base cupboards to both sides of upright cooker)
- overhead cupboards added
- stone bench tops added to kitchen
- cat 2 glass splash back & returns
- 900mm wide oven & canopy rangehood
- cat 2 handles to kitchen
- 800mm wide laminate cabinet in laundry with stainless steel trough
- 520mm high x 3010mm wide recess in family room wall
- 820mm cavity sliding door was added to close off living area from hallway/Mel work area ... we have 2 pug dogs, so they cant be running in to the salon
- tiled kickrails in all wet areas
- closed off rumpus room and added hinged doors as it will be a home theatre later on
- tiles to all living areas, hallways & garage access (by metricon)
- added hot & cold capped points & capped waste to garage. want to have a trough in the garage workbench I build
- added cold water point to fridge space
- provision for future connection of rainwater tank to all toilets and washing machine (they are running the pipes and capping them off to a point I specified.. later on I add a rain tank & pump and we're good to go)

there were quite a few electrical upgrades done.. lots of outdoor circuits added for outdoor lighting, downlights through most of the house.. I have made a lot of provisional wiring jobs through Big-M so I can get my contractor in later on to add all the outdoor lights, fans, etc, to where we need them.

after hand over, we'll add hardwood floors to bed 1 & salon, the other remaining bedrooms will get some sort of floating floor as when we do have kids, they'll most likely destroy them floors in no time ! later on down track we'll upgrade them to hardwood similar to what was used out the front. we also need to add evap cooling and have a few other odd jobs completed.

wow, just realised that was a very long post.. but I think it covers mostly everything..

-Rob.

Wow sounds like santorini 29 is a popular choice. my husband and i are off to sign our contract this afternoon with the kingston facade, just wondering if any of you changed anything with the island bench in the kitchen as i have 3 kids and it is not a very practical breakfast bar for the kids, a bit to small.
I have also changed a few things in the house, i went for the extension of the main room and ensuite too give me more room that cost $1340. and i also added doors to the rumpus and filled in the cut outs on both walls as the 3 kids can get very noisy! Also decided to put the sliding door on the laundry as the linen cupboard in their is right behind the opening of the door and is not accessable (dont know why they designed it like that) any way i have many more things i changed, looking forward to following your post as you are a few months in front of us and will be interesting to watch your house build

yeah, I wasnt a fan of the timber out the porch, so I told them straight out I want brick and to price it up for me... was around $1000 from memory.

when you get a thread started, post the link in here and i'll subscribe to your build

with regards to an inspector, i'll definitely be getting one in, dunno what stages yet.. maybe frame & pci, dunno yet?



good luck with your build... seems as though the kingston facade is the popular choice.. makes the house feel very "grand" hehehe we havent touched the island bench, its standard with ceasar stone.

good idea with the laundry cupboard, didnt think of that and yeah I agree its a PITA to have to close the laundry door to access the linen.. ahh well, somethings always missed..

hey XT4V grats on the progress so far.

we are building the Santorini 26 altered to a 28 1/2 lol which is basically the Santorini 29 but the width is slightly less. This was due to the developers initialing requiring us to have 600mm eaves all the way around the house which was then reduced to 600mm at the front, by that stage we'd already signed contracts with M so we couldnt change it to the Santorini 29, which I wouldve preferred for more bedroom space. *sigh*

anyhoo...long story short
Santorini 26 altered with Coastal facade building in Keysborough

We should have a slab by friday...apparently.

Update "Bobcat Gary" visited the site and had a look at the concrete pile of crap... too big for his cat, although he said if I could break it down into smaller pieces, he can pick it up (or get a 5 tonne excavator in)

this is becoming a real PITA, but its gotta be sorted.. so now off to source a sledgie to see if I can break the bastard up.

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hey faerie - pitty about your situation with the land making you play with the 26, but nonetheless its not too much of a difference i'd imagine?

where abouts in keysborough are you building? my sister owns a place in "hidden grove" or whatever its called... back of the keys estate? nice area...


g'day gacho - should be interesting to see how your build progresses... cant wait to see the thread of your build

with regards to the soil, how big is the pile? Bobcat guys generally charge $80 p/h (minimum 2-3 hours from memory?) + tip fees.. may be cheaper to hire a skip and fill it up by yourself

also, the bank inspectors are nothing but valuators... they go in to ensure the work is what is stated on the contract and the banks $ interest is covered... definitely worth going for a private inspector if you can afford it