Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 381Feb 19, 2018 9:04 am Hi firsthomehopeful, Almost finished my build with FS. Flooring is supplied by CarpetHouse in Wetherill Park. I believe timber laminate is available if you ask. Carpethouse will then forward your choice to FS to price it up. Bathroom tiles provided by Abruzzo in Wetherill Park. Any questions feel free to PM me. Happy to help. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 382Feb 26, 2018 4:08 pm ravsingh21 triquee79 Hi All, My wife and I have are building with FS, and land is due to be registered in June 2018 pending any issues with council. We are building a 2 storey home (Waterhouse Sherrard Facade) which is approximately 29sq. I have allowed for 7% contingency for extra's, landscaping, retaining wall etc First question, what is everyone's contingency figure they used? I have read 5-10% is a good range, which equates to 67k. We are hoping we don't have to tap into this entire balance and keep the money in our pockets. Secondly, when is land stamp duty usually payable and is this done via your solicitor? Apologies for the questions, this is my first venture into building our dream home! Hi triquee79 Congrats on starting your journey! Where are you building? Our contingency will be approximately 7-8% once we get landscaping done and the last of our electrical work so I think you're in a good range. Stamp duty is indeed paid through your solicitor via bank cheque and due when your land is registered. Stamp Duty is paid within x (2 or 3) months of the contract. The land registration/settlement could occur much later. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 383Feb 27, 2018 7:32 pm Hi everyone, We are at the tender variations stage and haven't signed off on them just yet. I know that all electricals, interior choices get added later but when do we need to check things like manhole placement, outdoor taps, fridge water taps, door directions, gas points, fridge recess size etc? We don't have proper drawings on the house yet but I'm guessing it's at that stage? I just don't want to sign off on something and not be able to change it or get charged! Thanks in advance! Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 384Mar 06, 2018 5:06 pm hi everyone we are building with firstyle our slab was poured a couple of weeks ago .our frame and windows have been delivered about a week ago there's been no progress with our house still waiting on builder to put frame up is this a common story with firstyle they seem very slow compared to our neighbors builders .all the houses in our street have builders there every day except for ours Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 385Mar 07, 2018 7:20 am markandsam hi everyone we are building with firstyle our slab was poured a couple of weeks ago .our frame and windows have been delivered about a week ago there's been no progress with our house still waiting on builder to put frame up is this a common story with firstyle they seem very slow compared to our neighbors builders .all the houses in our street have builders there every day except for ours We definitely experienced that, we had stretches of 3-4 weeks where nothing happened which can be really frustrating and also disheartening. The north end of our street has multiple CSB Homes builds and they had builders there everyday including Saturdays while all the FS homes had no one. Keep on top of your SS to keep things moving along. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 386Mar 14, 2018 7:05 pm firstyle still have not put our frame up and today we received invoice for frame stage and they haven't even assembled it yet so frustrating hopefully tomorrow they may start but weather has not been good either . thanks for your feedback Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 387Mar 19, 2018 7:32 am HI everyone, Hope your builds and houses are all going well. I'm just going through my fixture choices with the document we were given of all the inclusions and our available choices and I am looking for some advice on going outside of these choices. In regards to picking the taps and bath tub does anyone know who the supplier is so we could go have a look for possible upgrades? Also does anyone know in relation to paint colours, we got a custom Taubmans colours pamphlet but the colours selection is quite limited. Has anyone gone outside of this for their interior colours and did it cost you extra to have a different colour? And flastly, I'm assuming that with the laminex brochure that we can pick any of those for our kitchen and bathroom cabinets? I'm not sure what is included for those and what isn't. Thanks everyone! Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 388Mar 19, 2018 7:37 am firsthomehopeful HI everyone, Hope your builds and houses are all going well. I'm just going through my fixture choices with the document we were given of all the inclusions and our available choices and I am looking for some advice on going outside of these choices. In regards to picking the taps and bath tub does anyone know who the supplier is so we could go have a look for possible upgrades? Also does anyone know in relation to paint colours, we got a custom Taubmans colours pamphlet but the colours selection is quite limited. Has anyone gone outside of this for their interior colours and did it cost you extra to have a different colour? And flastly, I'm assuming that with the laminex brochure that we can pick any of those for our kitchen and bathroom cabinets? I'm not sure what is included for those and what isn't. Thanks everyone! Regarding Taps etc, we went with standard and will replace them later ourselves. Can't remember the brand's tbh I think our bath mixers are nuovo. We upgraded our ensuite shower head to the best one they had and that was like $980. We did this because we feel or is harder to replace this later. Regarding paint, the selection of very limited. We upgraded to cotton sheets, and this cost $880 for a single story 27 square house. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 389Mar 19, 2018 7:42 am Thanks so much Brendan, I wanted Cotton Sheets too so that's good to know it's going to have a cost. That's a good idea to upgrade the taps etc at a later date. Can I ask what you did for your kitchen and bathroom cabinets? Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 390Mar 19, 2018 7:50 am firsthomehopeful Thanks so much Brendan, I wanted Cotton Sheets too so that's good to know it's going to have a cost. That's a good idea to upgrade the taps etc at a later date. Can I ask what you did for your kitchen and bathroom cabinets? Kitchen we were quoted 13k for shaker style poly doors, so we opted for standard and will do after handover. Bathroom vanities we went with woodgrain laminate, was about $900 for main and ensuite. My wife tried to go with a different print colour, but she loved cotton sheets so much Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 391Mar 19, 2018 9:01 am OK so now I know to not ask for shaker doors wow that's a big cost! Thanks so much this has been so helpful. What was your experience with Carpet House? I'm looking to get a laminate wood flooring but thinking that will sting for upgrade costs as well. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 392Mar 19, 2018 9:23 am firsthomehopeful OK so now I know to not ask for shaker doors wow that's a big cost! Thanks so much this has been so helpful. What was your experience with Carpet House? I'm looking to get a laminate wood flooring but thinking that will sting for upgrade costs as well. I think the cost was more to do with the poly more than then the shaker style. We have not dealt with Carpet House. We did our carpet selection at our internals, and tiles come later in the build. We have been to the tiler - and we will probably go with the 450x450 tiles that come standard. They look good, and we will get some extra in case of any tiles break because they are ceramic. Friends of ours got quoted near 20K for 600x600 porcelain tiles through the builder, however, we have been quoted around 10k if we wanted to do it after handover with a local tiler. I did not see any options for laminate flooring. When we asked our SC, he said they can do laminate, but he wouldnt suggest it. Also when we asked about doing it after handover he advised against it because of skirting etc. At the internal colours selections, there was laminate options - but that was to replace the carpet, not tiles. My wife would love the timber look, but that will be about 10k after handover, not sure we want to pay that tbh, with so much we still have to pay lol. Landscaping, fencing, furniture... it all adds up haha. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 393Mar 19, 2018 10:05 am I am doing laminate after handover for the second time not as bad as your SC makes out, welcome to PM me if you want more information. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 394Apr 05, 2018 10:30 pm Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone has their air con unit situated near their theatre rooms? Just wondering what the noise would be like if we choose to put couches on a wall where the AC unit is on the other side... Has anyone requested to move their AC unit from where it was on their preliminary plans? 😊 Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 395Apr 06, 2018 8:50 am firsthomehopeful Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone has their air con unit situated near their theatre rooms? Just wondering what the noise would be like if we choose to put couches on a wall where the AC unit is on the other side... Has anyone requested to move their AC unit from where it was on their preliminary plans? 😊 Ours has been situated at the back of the house outside one of the bedrooms. We only have a single phase unit though and the noise is not too bad when the windows are closed, you can still hear it if you're in the bedroom however. If the windows are open or you're outside its certainly noticeable. If you're looking at changing its location I guess it would be best to get that done early on because the units sit on the concrete slab adjoined to your main slab Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 396Apr 06, 2018 9:10 am ravsingh21 firsthomehopeful Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone has their air con unit situated near their theatre rooms? Just wondering what the noise would be like if we choose to put couches on a wall where the AC unit is on the other side... Has anyone requested to move their AC unit from where it was on their preliminary plans? Ours has been situated at the back of the house outside one of the bedrooms. We only have a single phase unit though and the noise is not too bad when the windows are closed, you can still hear it if you're in the bedroom however. If the windows are open or you're outside its certainly noticeable. If you're looking at changing its location I guess it would be best to get that done early on because the units sit on the concrete slab adjoined to your main slab From what I can remember from our SC he said it can't go on the side of the house because of basix / noise Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 397Apr 09, 2018 10:29 am firsthomehopeful Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone has their air con unit situated near their theatre rooms? Just wondering what the noise would be like if we choose to put couches on a wall where the AC unit is on the other side... Has anyone requested to move their AC unit from where it was on their preliminary plans? 😊 The aircon unit sits on the slab, so it will have to be adjacent to some wall and usually its in the backyard. Regulations do not permit this unit to be located along the side fence side due to noise considerations for neighbors. You will hear its noise inside the house so consider getting added insulation in the wall/window. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 398Apr 12, 2018 10:41 am Hi Firstylers, me again wanting to pick your brains! Just going through the building contract and was wondering if it's worth the bother to ask them to change some of the terms of the contract? Not sure if anyone has had any luck in changing anything in the contract, say for example the offer of $1 a day for liquidated damages to a price closer to covering rent. I just don't want to go down the rabbit hole if they don't budge on their contracts. Thanks everyone! Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 399Apr 12, 2018 10:45 am firsthomehopeful Hi Firstylers, me again wanting to pick your brains! Just going through the building contract and was wondering if it's worth the bother to ask them to change some of the terms of the contract? Not sure if anyone has had any luck in changing anything in the contract, say for example the offer of $1 a day for liquidated damages to a price closer to covering rent. I just don't want to go down the rabbit hole if they don't budge on their contracts. Thanks everyone! We changed our progress payment schedule in the contract which they accommodated and while we didn't change the liquidated damages (we should have but didn't even realise you could at that stage) I've seen posts from others who have negotiated a damages rate of $50/day. Its certainly worth asking about in the very least. Re: Any experiences with Firstyle homes 400Apr 12, 2018 10:55 am ravsingh21 firsthomehopeful Hi Firstylers, me again wanting to pick your brains! Just going through the building contract and was wondering if it's worth the bother to ask them to change some of the terms of the contract? Not sure if anyone has had any luck in changing anything in the contract, say for example the offer of $1 a day for liquidated damages to a price closer to covering rent. I just don't want to go down the rabbit hole if they don't budge on their contracts. Thanks everyone! We changed our progress payment schedule in the contract which they accommodated and while we didn't change the liquidated damages (we should have but didn't even realise you could at that stage) I've seen posts from others who have negotiated a damages rate of $50/day. Its certainly worth asking about in the very least. thanks for the reply! Did you negotiate that through your solicitor or directly with Firstyle and can I ask why you changed your payment schedule? Sometimes I feel like every time I think I've got a handle on what I'm doing they throw something else at me haha. What stage are you in your build? Hi Kaiser85, We are building with Firstyle Homes. Our build has just started, slab pour is on Saturday (hopefully!). Their standard range is pretty good. We did our… 1 6502 You have mandatory building inspections and privately engaged building inspections. The difference between the two comes down to inspecting the building so it's safe and… 3 18083 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74717 |