Hi Guys,
Newbie here, been a long time lurker on these fantastic Forums for a bit though. Garnishing all the useful info to help make this daunting process a bit easier! Never built a house before and never really intended to, but after trying to find an established home in the area we wanted that ticked all the boxes wasent really happening for us! Then an accidental search on realestate.com for land provided us with this perfectly located 600sqm piece of dirt, in a little development of 7 lots perched amongst the trees on top of a hill. So after falling in love with the idea and checking out some of volume builders houses to get an idea of the cost of building, we bought the block! Needless to say there was a bit of competition and it was a bit more than we anticipated (ins't everything) and the journey begun!
The Entrance
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk182/phoonfan/Picture004.jpg
The Block
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk182/phoonfan/Picture007.jpg
The View (from 2nd story)
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk182/phoonfan/P1010354.jpg
A steep learing curve followed shortly there after when we couldnt get it right with the Volume guys due to inflexability and a building envelope, which although generous, dosent quite match the designs of volume building. We also came to the conclusion that most spec home's just have too many rooms! We are not ones for formal living, sitting room's and formal dining, waste of space and costs a fortune to furnish.
So its another re-assesment of the budget and off to the custom boys! Just looking for some one reputable to design and construct
So far we have spoken with Fasham, Comdain, both of which were very good just to pricey. Currently investigating with Urbayne and Mason **, of which we seem to be getting close both design and budget wise.
Anyone who has built with any of the above, any feedback would be greatly appreciated (PM is fine).
Design wise its will be a contempary double story, a mix of Render, Shadow box and natual stone, around 30sq plus garage, with all the living area's to the north (block faces south) Main on ground floor along with kitchen, meals, living and study. 3 bedrooms upstairs and a multi purpose/theatre room with a balcony off! Will post up some plans (if allowed) and get some feedback/ideas.
There are some on here who have fantastic vision and insight and its great to get some constructive criticism!
looking forward to spending some more time on here and sharing the up's and downs!
Cheers
Stolli!