Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 06, 2010 5:34 pm My Fiancé and I are building our first home together in Devonia Park (Lakeside) Pakenham. We bought land in a nice court location at the beginning of January 2010. It took 6 months for the land to be ready. We settled in June (1st mortgage payment to come out this week…boo ) We started looking at display homes in September 09' and found it very hard to find something we liked. Didn’t want a big house and it had to be affordable (we’re not rich and famous…just yet! ) The 1st homes we looked at were Porter Davis. By the time we’d looked at (what felt like) every display home in Melbourne, we were nearly about to choose the PD Lisbon 22. But before locking anything in we stumbled across Aaron J homes in Pakenham and it seemed like the builder choice was made. Every home we looked through of theirs was BEE-UTI-FULL! We decided on the Sahara 25. It seemed AJ included a lot of things as standard in the price, which other builders tried to sell off as extras. No pressure from the sales team. Designs that meet our needs…we were SOLD! They said from signing up in May we should have our home started in Sep-Oct. I’m a wee bit annoyed today as I was wondering when our soil tests were being done and after emailing my liason, was told they have been done already and the drafts people are drawing up the plans..!! (Thanks for the heads up..) But at least the ball is rolling So I thought this will be a good way to keep you all up-to date. The neighbours I’ve seen on this website so far from Devonia seem LOVELY!! Can’t wait for it all to be done and MOVE IN!! Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 2Jul 06, 2010 5:53 pm Congrats! I am in QLD - so we wont be neighbours - but I look forward to hearing about your build. I am a newbie to the H1 forum - but its been helpful so far! Jazz and Brett 18m Q2 Retr3@t {Cremorne Facade} Pl@nt@t10n H0m3s {Underwood, QLD} The House that Jazz and Brett Built Blog http://jazzandbrett.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35491 Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 3Jul 06, 2010 6:02 pm Hey Sizz I'm building the Mandalay with Aaron J Homes in Heritage Springs Pakenham. We are at very similar stages. I've recently had my soil test's done and my contracts and drawings are being done. My block should be titled in about another week. I'll have to watch your thread to see how you go. Good luck with it all. Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36205 Land Settled - 19 Jul Site Scrape - 23 Aug Slab - 2 Oct Frame - 27 Oct Locked Out - 1 Dec Handover - 11 Mar Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 4Jul 07, 2010 2:29 pm Congrats on your upcoming build too guys! Janelle I'm building the Mandalay with Aaron J Homes in Heritage Springs Pakenham. We are at very similar stages. I've recently had my soil test's done and my contracts and drawings are being done. The Mandalay is beautiful too! In fact the Rio and the Mandalay we're our favourites but we settled for the Sahara because it's design has all our favourite feautres from both. I was told our contracts and drawings will take approx 2 weeks. So the excitment meter has risen back to super HIGH I promise to post lots of pics once I have them! I already have photo's of the land (all bare) but I need to get them off the camera 1st. Don't know what i did with the cord. ...with all the general info on this site maybe someone can tell me where I left it???.. hehe Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 5Jul 08, 2010 11:42 am Ah, I may not have found the cord but I worked a lil magic and PRESTO! A few pics of...well...just dirt at the moment. Put your imagination caps on! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Yep, lovely dirt Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thats how close we are to the train line. I'm sure it wont be as loud once there are houses in the way (?) Stay tuned Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 6Jul 12, 2010 11:20 pm Happy to know no nasty suprises came back in the soil test results. The liason said we'll require an "M" class slab but that's all she could tell me at this stage.. Hope I get some sort of report eventually! Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 7Jul 13, 2010 5:44 pm Hi Sizz, That's good news on your soil test congrats! Great floor plan. I know what you mean about the train, we've double glazed the windows, so hopefully wont be much of an issue. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 8Jul 13, 2010 9:45 pm Hey Sizz - that's great that your soil test's came back as an "M" class slab - congrat's Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36205 Land Settled - 19 Jul Site Scrape - 23 Aug Slab - 2 Oct Frame - 27 Oct Locked Out - 1 Dec Handover - 11 Mar Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 9Jul 14, 2010 10:37 am Standing out the front of the block one day, we waited for the train to come past and when it did, (on its way to Pakey), the further it advanced down the line the more it sounded like thunder!! Hmm, double glazed windows is food for thought Never living near a train line before; this will be a rude awakening Doesnt mean we're not TOTALLY looking forward to it though Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 10Jul 14, 2010 10:52 am sizz2519 Standing out the front of the block one day, we waited for the train to come past and when it did, (on its way to Pakey), the further it advanced down the line the more it sounded like thunder!! Hmm, double glazed windows is food for thought Never living near a train line before; this will be a rude awakening Doesnt mean we're not TOTALLY looking forward to it though We've noticed that the country trains are quieter than the Metro trains. Double glazing can have some effect but not a huge amount from what we've learned. What makes a difference is if you have double glazed windows with two different thicknesses of glass. From my very basic understanding, if you have two panes of glass with the same thickness the sounds go straight through. If you have two different thicknesses of glass the sound is 'disrupted'. I don't know what the technical term of this is. We were told by A&L Windows that this is only marginally more expensive than normal double glazing but our builder doesn't like dealing 'out of the square'. We are far enough away from the railway line that it doesn't really matter and we are going double glazing more for the heat loss factor. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 11Jul 14, 2010 1:35 pm catjim We've noticed that the country trains are quieter than the Metro trains. Double glazing can have some effect but not a huge amount from what we've learned. What makes a difference is if you have double glazed windows with two different thicknesses of glass. From my very basic understanding, if you have two panes of glass with the same thickness the sounds go straight through. If you have two different thicknesses of glass the sound is 'disrupted'. I don't know what the technical term of this is. We were told by A&L Windows that this is only marginally more expensive than normal double glazing but our builder doesn't like dealing 'out of the square'. We are far enough away from the railway line that it doesn't really matter and we are going double glazing more for the heat loss factor. Hi sizz and catjim, I didn't know that, never told when we asked for ours to be double glazed. Like yourself catjim, we did it for heat loss but I thought it was also going to help with noise still, sizz, I think for that little extra expense it's worth considering. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 12Jul 14, 2010 1:40 pm brb_654 catjim We've noticed that the country trains are quieter than the Metro trains. Double glazing can have some effect but not a huge amount from what we've learned. What makes a difference is if you have double glazed windows with two different thicknesses of glass. From my very basic understanding, if you have two panes of glass with the same thickness the sounds go straight through. If you have two different thicknesses of glass the sound is 'disrupted'. I don't know what the technical term of this is. We were told by A&L Windows that this is only marginally more expensive than normal double glazing but our builder doesn't like dealing 'out of the square'. We are far enough away from the railway line that it doesn't really matter and we are going double glazing more for the heat loss factor. Hi sizz and catjim, I didn't know that, never told when we asked for ours to be double glazed. Like yourself catjim, we did it for heat loss but I thought it was also going to help with noise still, sizz, I think for that little extra expense it's worth considering. Not being technical minded it makes sense to me that it should make some difference because there's more layers to go through. It was only because we went to see the window people that we were told. Our builder isn't good with things that are a little out of the ordinary so weren't keen on following up for us. We just let it go in the end. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 13Jul 14, 2010 5:35 pm Roughly how much extra cost goes into double glazed? I haven't heard the words "double glazed windows" come out of our sales persons mouth! Obviously it depends on the amount and size of windows but are we talking $100's? $1000's? I wonder if its worth considering for the bedrooms perhaps for the sound reduction, but for heat loss and making the house a little greener, I'd suspect every window needs it. We're not too close to the train line so like i said, I doubt it would make a HUGE difference. Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 14Jul 14, 2010 5:47 pm sizz2519 Roughly how much extra cost goes into double glazed? I haven't heard the words "double glazed windows" come out of our sales persons mouth! Obviously it depends on the amount and size of windows but are we talking $100's? $1000's? I wonder if its worth considering for the bedrooms perhaps for the sound reduction, but for heat loss and making the house a little greener, I'd suspect every window needs it. We're not too close to the train line so like i said, I doubt it would make a HUGE difference. I'm not sure how much extra it was for double glazing as we stipulated it in the first place. I would have thought a couple of thousand. You need it on every window and glass door for heat loss. We looked at Aaron J and they seemed pretty good with coming up with pricing straight away so it's probably worth asking so you know one way or the other. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 15Jul 14, 2010 5:57 pm For sure I will Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 16Jul 14, 2010 9:18 pm Hey Sizz, you'll have to post your colour selections. As for the trains, I've lived very close to the train line here in pakenham for the past 2 years and I don't even notice them anymore. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 17Jul 19, 2010 11:10 pm Colour selections are yet to come so this weekend was completely dedicated to RESEARCH! In the car and off to look at bricks, cabinetry colours, prices on timber laminate floors, even went to the window company to talk about the double glaze (but unsuccessful as they were closed...how rude!! ) It was so great to get some great advice before hand! (Thanks J) We went to Bunnings the day before and selected possible colours for the the front facade. We bought some sample pots, then bought cheap canvas boards from the reject shop. Painted about 6 of them. It was GREAT to see the colours together with the bricks. Nice and BIG!! (very different to the small sample cards) It helped with a few decisions for now. Still plenty of time to change our mind, which is likely. I was told last week our tender should be ready early this week (hopefully..) so I have my fingers and toes crossed Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 18Jul 20, 2010 9:02 pm Hey Sizz I'm glad to hear you are getting your colours organised. I found it a very painful process, it kept me awake at night. I must say I'm happy that part is over and done with and I've finally stopped questioning my decisions. What colour bricks and render do you like? Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36205 Land Settled - 19 Jul Site Scrape - 23 Aug Slab - 2 Oct Frame - 27 Oct Locked Out - 1 Dec Handover - 11 Mar Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 19Jul 20, 2010 9:44 pm Great idea putting the colours on canvas. Enjoy doing your colour selection, try to enjoy it and don't do what I did, second guess everything Good luck with your tender this week. Re: Sizz's Sahara - Devonia Park, Pakenham 20Jul 21, 2010 12:07 am Oh NO! I'm trying to avoid those sleepless nights We are loving the Boral- Graphite bricks and I'm hoping to have a BLUE render (for something different!) Colourbond "Dune" is a fave. Possible gutters and facia. We loved the Colourbond "Jasper" on the sample card but when we painted it on the board, it looked darker (not the same as the card!) The blue is Wattyl "Imperium" *like* Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Boral gave us the addresses of some houses that have been built with the Graphite brick. Lucky these were close to my current home!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I'm not usually a fussy person so I'm happy with these ideas for now, but I'm sure its different when the final decisions have to be made Sizz View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=35699 Building with Aaron J Homes - Sahara 25 Land Settled: 11/6/10, Site Start: 26/11/10 - HANDOVER NOT TOO FAR AWAY!!! Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 5002 You paid him in full is a lesson you won't forget dear me 2 8759 Building Standards; Getting It Right! But they didn't even leave it at one level it goes up and down along the whole front of the house 4 7172 |