Browse Forums Building A New House Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6281May 09, 2014 10:40 pm Things are moving fast this week!! Our slab was done Tues, frames delivered Thursday and were put up today(Fri), except roof. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6283May 09, 2014 10:43 pm Balified--love your pool and landscaping! Looks like a resort. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6284May 10, 2014 2:29 am raskar Hi Brad, Thanks so much for your reply! I will check out your blog and will be in touch if I have any other questions. Have budgeted an extra $10,000 for colour and $10,000 for electrical. We will be doing most of what you did at your colour consult after handover though. There is so much to think about. We have thought of most things like fencing, landscaping etc. but of course there is always something you miss (i will add letterbox and clothesline to the list!) Hi raskar, If you haven't already, check out the thread "Things you forget" in the building a new house section. Plenty of valuable information in there. As for piering, bradk was right. We budgeted 50 lineal metres and it came in at 89. I am still waiting for an explanation from the slab supervisor as to why it was so high. For our build, the framing has been completed and the bricklayers are scheduled for later next week. I also received our first house warming gift today. A 3kw Solar panel system, well not yet but my parents are going to pay for it. That's another 4K I can spend on the house. Built the Avoca @ Aquilo, Bonnells Bay http://avocaonaquilo.blogspot.com.au/ 12/10/13 $3K Deposit 31/10/13 Consolidated Tender 11/11/13 Colour Selection 18/02/14 DA approved 19/02/14 Electricals Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6285May 10, 2014 7:57 am bradk Balified Yes they did Brad, I'm gobsmacked that they thought our resort look/feel was worth mentioning Very well worth mentioning! You have done a fantastic job! Love it. Nawww, thanks brad and jadee I appreciate your kind words Congrats to you jadee, you won't know what hit you now....from now on it's go go go Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6286May 10, 2014 7:24 pm Was able to get a quick look through the windows today as MJH was on site. The kitchen island bench top is now installed, tapware, rangehood and splashback! Added some pics on the blog, but they were taken through the windows, so they are not that great. Happy with the progress there, except I have noticed the wrong rangehood was installed. Ill raise this next week before they get too far in to it! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6287May 10, 2014 9:12 pm Looks great Brad!! Bet you were so excited to see your kitchen! Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6288May 11, 2014 7:34 am Nat84 Looks great Brad!! Bet you were so excited to see your kitchen! Thanks! Yes, was good to see! Shame we couldn't get inside though, I really want to see the bathroom and ensuite now that they have been tiled! Hopefully I can catch them on site next week Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6289May 11, 2014 8:17 am Hi Our soil and contour surveys were completed last week. Now waiting for the results We are currently $100k over base price but in those costs is a 3rd garage. Extended alfresco and a 10,000 ltr rain tank. We also have additional site costs due to being on an acre. For example it's 57m of trenching for water etc. We are yet to price tiles carpet driveway etc. our driveway will be 20m long and if course we will have to deck or slab under the alfresco which is now 8m x 6.5 m. Plus we have about 250m of fencing So we will hit the 200k mark Our last build was about the $400k finished cost on 509sqm block. This one will be about the same but on an acre but no pool this time. There will be no $$$$ left. But our estate has a pool we can use so all good. Building is an expensive process but it's your biggest asset. We are in the process of looking at a ride on mower. We had our block slashed but now we need to maintain it. Once site fences go up we will then start working on the land to get those parts looking good. It will be less to do when we handover. First thing we will be doing is putting in some of our fencing and starting to plant tress and hedges where we can. I am writing from my phone and I cannot see everyone's posts but I noticed a post saying stabbed. Congrats. Now it's like putting a puzzle together. It's very exciting. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6290May 11, 2014 9:07 am bradk Was able to get a quick look through the windows today as MJH was on site. The kitchen island bench top is now installed, tapware, rangehood and splashback! Added some pics on the blog, but they were taken through the windows, so they are not that great. Happy with the progress there, except I have noticed the wrong rangehood was installed. Ill raise this next week before they get too far in to it! Wow it looks fantastic Brad! I love your kitchen colours I think that rangehood looks really good but I'm guessing you ordered the curved one? Raskar, I feel your pain with trying to work out money needed for upgrades. We ended up spending $40k at colours and $15k at electrical. We have had MDJ do the majority of our light fittings/switches. We did upgrade things like benchtops, feature doors, cabinetry etc. There were some big ticket items in that though such as a fireplace and stacked stone. If you aren't set on polyurethane cupboards I think the standard range is just fine and the same with tiles. I would say that once we add the driveway, carpet and blinds we will be around $140k over base price. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6291May 12, 2014 4:37 am MelnTom Wow it looks fantastic Brad! I love your kitchen colours I think that rangehood looks really good but I'm guessing you ordered the curved one? Thanks! Yep, was the curved one we ordered.. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6292May 12, 2014 3:59 pm raskar Hi everyone, We are currently going through the quoting process with McDonald Jones to build the infinity one in south-west Sydney (Willowdale estate). I wanted to find out generally what people budgeted/spent at the colour consult and electrical consult. Once we get our quote tomorrow that will help, but i'm really not sure how much more we should expect to spend. Did a lot of people find they upgraded from a lot of the standard colours, benches, bricks etc? For electrical i think we will only need extra powerpoints and two way switches and will be doing downlights after handover. Also, any other unexpected expenses that many people experienced? Thanks in advance! Hey there, we're building a modified Havana. We are currently $130k over base. We spent $50k at colours and have since made $20k worth of variations (we missed a lot of things at our colours appt), we spent $13k at electrical. Other expenses on top of these items include a study, large front porch, separating toilet from bathroom and extending main bedroom and WIR. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6293May 12, 2014 9:08 pm Thanks for all the replies, they are really helpful. We got our finalised quote over the weekend and we have decided to go ahead! We feel really confident with this builder and have had a great experience so far. Got a quote with another builder just for comparison and the consultation process was very different! We both got out of the appointment and knew McDonald Jones was definitely for us. Look forward to chatting with you all through our journey and yours. I have also started a blog (below) for anyone interested, though we won't be building for a year or so as our land is delayed settlement. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6294May 13, 2014 7:24 pm Hi guys! New to the board have been reading everyone's posts and enjoying all the feedback you all give each other, a little about my home build- my partner and I are building the McDonald jones seaside retreat that we have really modified to suit our needs I'm so in love with our house plan!! We're building at Bingara gorge at wilton on a 950sqm block I have a question for those who have already build has anyone got photos of there built in wardrobes?? We have upgraded our wardrobe in our colour appointments and I'm just curious to see them. I'm still deciding wether to start a blog or not. Thoughts?? Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6295May 13, 2014 8:44 pm Sounds like you have everything organised We are also building on an acre - the Bronte Executive Grande with 3rd garage and added the butlers pantry in. Its our first build so I have been surprised at how high the site costs were for a big block and our soil type was H2 so the slab and piering are expensive. We would be $200k over the base price too including the driveway. Hopefully they have estimated correctly We should be on the construction list any day now, with plans out of council last week. We are also looking at ride on mowers - my husband just mowed the block last weekend with his push mower and swears that he will never do that again! We have also ordered some bare rooted trees to go in over winter along the fence lines and shed slab will go down in the next couple of months. Good luck and look forward to seeing your progress! Lot927 Hi Our soil and contour surveys were completed last week. Now waiting for the results We are currently $100k over base price but in those costs is a 3rd garage. Extended alfresco and a 10,000 ltr rain tank. We also have additional site costs due to being on an acre. For example it's 57m of trenching for water etc. We are yet to price tiles carpet driveway etc. our driveway will be 20m long and if course we will have to deck or slab under the alfresco which is now 8m x 6.5 m. Plus we have about 250m of fencing So we will hit the 200k mark Our last build was about the $400k finished cost on 509sqm block. This one will be about the same but on an acre but no pool this time. There will be no $$$$ left. But our estate has a pool we can use so all good. Building is an expensive process but it's your biggest asset. We are in the process of looking at a ride on mower. We had our block slashed but now we need to maintain it. Once site fences go up we will then start working on the land to get those parts looking good. It will be less to do when we handover. First thing we will be doing is putting in some of our fencing and starting to plant tress and hedges where we can. I am writing from my phone and I cannot see everyone's posts but I noticed a post saying stabbed. Congrats. Now it's like putting a puzzle together. It's very exciting. Building the Bronte Executive Grande Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6296May 14, 2014 7:45 am I think you are wishful thinking !! We built bronte 5years ago on1 half acres we did all up 3oo over base price. We are now building again silly us!!! 1ooosq block monaco everything will go over base price again by 300 no pool smaller everything good luck Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6297May 14, 2014 10:27 am Long time no post. Getting to the end now brad you must be stoked. My frame went up today. Been going along slowly but hopefully now things will pick up. Was surprised to see the door frame unsecured or uncovered on my slab for a few days.. Has anyone received quotes for colorbond fencing yet? Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6298May 14, 2014 7:12 pm Welcome to the forum Jess41. I think blogging your build is a great idea, Its good to look back on all the good and bad experiences you will encounter during the process and great fun to watch the home grow through the photo's etc. We have finished our build now but the blogs that I was following contained valuable information, and it was settling to see how other builds were being managed. Good luck Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6299May 14, 2014 8:31 pm Hi Lillyrose. Where are you building? Nutty you said you were 300k over base price. What did that include? I won't be making any changes to the kitchen. Just won't have the $$$$ but my last kitchen was laminate/stone and I loved it and will do it again. This time we are sticking to ceramic bathroom tiles. We are trying to do the Bronte on a budget. Our land was very expensive but it's the price you pay for the estate. Plus at paying $550 per week rent. Not a lot of room for saving. Saving by not upgrading bricks. We put a deposit on our ride on last week and pick it up this week. Kids can't wait. Re: McDonald Jones Homes - The new thread 6300May 14, 2014 8:50 pm Lot927 Hi Lillyrose. Where are you building? Nutty you said you were 300k over base price. What did that include? I won't be making any changes to the kitchen. Just won't have the $$$$ but my last kitchen was laminate/stone and I loved it and will do it again. This time we are sticking to ceramic bathroom tiles. We are trying to do the Bronte on a budget. Our land was very expensive but it's the price you pay for the estate. Plus at paying $550 per week rent. Not a lot of room for saving. Saving by not upgrading bricks. We put a deposit on our ride on last week and pick it up this week. Kids can't wait. Hi we are building in the hunter valley. Where abouts are you? I spent about $50k at colours including floors (husband was overseas on a work trip so hopefully he likes everything!). What sort of ride on mower did you go with? We have been looking at second hand ones but they are pricey, most want nearly as much as you can get them new if they have low hours. Building the Bronte Executive Grande Hi AKG, We had a base tender of $592 for 31 squares from MC Donald Jones. It looks relatively cheaper than other builders. 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