Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 02, 2010 12:56 pm So we have found our block (just over 4000sqm) in the beautiful hills of Bedfordale in the city of Armadale south of Perth. Cost: $309,000. My wife and I are first time builders and essentially have no idea what we are doing. I thought that I would document our triumphs and failures here in the hope that perhaps one day the information could help somebody else. First we needed to find a builder. I have my heart set on rammed earth, so a specialist rammed earth builder seemed the logical choice. Initial meetings with the builder have been great and being a small operator he will allow us to manage and contract out as much or as little of the project as we like. This works well for us as we are on a very tight budget and simply cannot afford to hand over a large sum of money to have it all taken care of by a big name builder. In my second meeting with the builder the designer was also present. The designer is fresh out of university with a full degree with honours in architecture and just so happens to be the builders son! I have a really good feeling about the combination of a young, creative and enthusiastic (though inexperienced) architect and a builder who is essentially the most experienced rammed earth builder in Western Australia. The design brief was simple — We want a building that exhibits a balance between contemporary and traditional design techniques and materials. We have no problem with a modern design as long as it is in harmony with it's bush surroundings. The use of rammed earth will obviously play a major factor in achieving this harmony. So without further ado ... let the games begin! Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 3Sep 02, 2010 1:22 pm Hi Dan, What a lovely block. I love the rammed earth construction. Couldnt talk DH into it though. there is one other poster on H1 that I know of thats building in Bedfordale. There is probably more! Im sure they will find you soon enough. Cant wait to see the plans Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 4Sep 02, 2010 1:33 pm One of the first things I had to do was have the block assessed and given a BAL (Bushfire Attack Level). The land developers had already done this, though unfortunately a new set of standards have since been put in place. Our original rating (Level 2) cannot be simply reinterpreted by the new standards. I called the Armadale shire who gave me the contact details of a couple of men who could perform the assessment. I met Bill at the site last Sunday. He was very helpful as I extracted as much information as possible out of him and we now have a BAL of 19. Cost: $280.00. I have also engaged the services of a surveyor to perform a contour and feature survey. I have been told we are booked in and I will have the documentation and CAD files by Tuesday next week. I was quoted $700–$800. In the meantime the designer is working on the initial sketches of the house. Cost of Drawings (floor plan, 2 elevations, 1 section and quote): $1650.00. Pretty excited at the moment, it feels good to make a start. Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 5Sep 02, 2010 4:25 pm Subscribing to your thread Dan so I can follow your build Our veggie bed thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=38476 Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 7Sep 02, 2010 5:17 pm Hi Dan, Hiya Thirsty girl,was that me you were talking about Oh i love rammed earth ,is it the company in Roleystone,looking forward to this house,please keep us up to date with every little bit "I know that block" cheers Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 8Sep 02, 2010 5:23 pm kerry-ann Hiya Thirsty girl,was that me you were talking about It sure was See, I told you Dan it wouldn't take long for you to be found. I will be along for the ride on this one aswell. Cant wait to hear more Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 9Sep 02, 2010 5:29 pm kerry-ann Oh i love rammed earth ,is it the company in Roleystone,looking forward to this house,please keep us up to date with every little bit Hi Kerry-Ann, thanks for reading. I'll be sure to document everything we do! No the builder is not based in Roleystone. I would love to name names but I cannot due to the forum rules Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 10Sep 02, 2010 5:31 pm thirsty See, I told you Dan it wouldn't take long for you to be found. I will be along for the ride on this one aswell. Cant wait to hear more Cheers Thirsty! it's great to hear people are interested in our little project. Nice plans by the way, it's huge! Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 11Sep 02, 2010 5:40 pm Dan-yool thirsty See, I told you Dan it wouldn't take long for you to be found. I will be along for the ride on this one aswell. Cant wait to hear more Cheers Thirsty! it's great to hear people are interested in our little project. Nice plans by the way, it's huge! Any project is interesting Dan And thanks, we are only just starting too so we can go through the ups and downs together Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 12Sep 02, 2010 5:45 pm OOOOOOOOOOO,can you pm me the details,pretty please Coz we havn't decided 100% what we are doing yet Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 13Sep 03, 2010 10:52 am thanks Dan,lovely Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 14Sep 03, 2010 9:50 pm love the look of rammed earth homes. we couldn't afford it when we were building so I have to subscribed to watch your home appear. Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 15Sep 06, 2010 1:35 pm I have received our Bushfire Attack Level Assessment today. I found an interesting paragraph that stated we could achieve a BAL of 12.5 if we build at least 42m from the southern boundary (where the state forest adjoins our block). A rating of 12.5 appears to impose very little to no special construction requirements as apposed to a rating of 19 — which is good news for our budget. I will wait to speak to our builder who will consult the building standards to decide whether or not it is worth taking down a couple of small trees to achieve the 12.5 rating. Hopefully a few thousand dollars can be saved here. Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 16Sep 06, 2010 1:47 pm Thats great news Dan. Do you have a rough idea on what your siteworks will be. I hope they dont find too much rock as I know Bedfordale is such a pain for siteworks Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 17Sep 06, 2010 2:13 pm thirsty Thats great news Dan. Do you have a rough idea on what your siteworks will be. I hope they dont find too much rock as I know Bedfordale is such a pain for siteworks Not sure at this stage. I managed to sneak a peak at the plan and site-works for the virtually identical block next to us. I had a meeting early on with one of the bigger building companies and they just happened to building next door — it came to an astronomical $86,000! I almost gave up there and then! The thing is though that next door's building is much bigger than ours and the quote included everything — from the septic tank to even putting the bund together (the cobble rocks at the front of the raised sand pad — which you can easily do yourself for next to nothing). There was also a $15,000 provisional sum for compliance with the bushfire building codes, which may not even apply to us with some careful planning. So I guess I am expecting (hoping) it will be a bit more around the $50,000 mark? We shall see. Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 18Sep 06, 2010 2:23 pm Wow, thats crazy. We got our power run in and septics (atu), rainwater tank, etc done ages ago independantly and I think it would work out way cheaper than through builder. At the moment we're sitting on $30,000 but we don't have a BAL (well, I hope not). They took our costs from other properties nearby aswell. I love all the coffee rock up there (even though its not good for siteworks) . Looks great for retaining walls Re: Dan's Rammed Earth Home in the Bedfordale Hills, Perth W 19Sep 06, 2010 3:46 pm thirsty We got our power run in and septics (atu), rainwater tank, etc done ages ago independantly and I think it would work out way cheaper than through builder. Luckily our builder is very flexible and happy for us to do anything we want independently. May I ask who you used for your power run in, ATU and rainwater tank? Please PM me if you are not comfortable naming names in the forum ... Cheers! Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11035 Thanks again Simeon for being so elaborate. Appreciate it. Its gives us a very idea. Kind Regards 4 3666 We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. That’s why we… 5 16268 |