Building on the Central Coast NSW with WINCREST

jj1 · Sep 24, 2011 10:31 am

Well, hopefully we will start "the business" of building a house (first time) in the near future !!

Had a 2 bed cottage rented out for a year. The tenants moved out so we decided to build a place we can call our own.
Gave the old house (building) away and are currently waiting for the people to bring their truck and move it off the land.
Is a corner, flat block 14.m x 36.5m.

Will start looking at the Mastertons/Wincrests/Allworths etc. of this world once the old house is gone and the block is ready. Don't know if looking forward to this or not, reading other peoples experiences can be a bit daunting and elating all in the one breath.

However will look forward tremendously to any input anyone cares to give along the way. By the way can I add any photos to this topic and if so how !! (am a computer illiterate !)

kiwi · Sep 28, 2011 6:23 pm

www.tinypic.com

change the default setting to '15/17in'

and then copy the 'forum/ message board' link straight to here and voila..photo will appear

yes it can be an exciting scary time all at once and as we are all doing it..so should you!!!
good luck with getting rid of the house quickly.
and have you any ideas what sort of home you want? 3 bed? 4?
5 bathrooms?

turret.....?

etc

good luck

trishcoastie · Sep 28, 2011 6:49 pm

What can i say,
Lets start with im from the Central Coast also...
GOODLUCK...

jj1 · Sep 29, 2011 9:37 am

Hi Kiwi, trish, yes, is going to be interesting. Looking at a 4 bed ( 3 up 1 down) type of business at this stage. Will be governed by $ of course. But haven't gotten serious yet, will do so once the block is cleared and ready.
Will try the photo thingy...

jj1 · Sep 29, 2011 11:01 am

No luck with the picture but seems this bigpond blog might work !

kiwi · Sep 29, 2011 1:42 pm

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cute!

jj1 · Oct 01, 2011 11:12 am

Large steel beams have been slid under the old house, so am hoping it might be on the "back of a truck" within the next week or two. Once the building is gone we will get a man to clear the block (brick piers, cement paths and the like). Then we will start visiting the display villages I guess !!

A question, due to my total lack of experience, once we have decided upon a builder/design/price of our liking etc. do we engage the services of a building Inspector to monitor the progress and construction ?, or is this covered by Council DA ?

I wouldn't have a clue if the materials being used were in fact the materials described in the contract (eg. contract says 2x4 but use 4x2 !!!).
If we have to engage an Inspector any ideas of the probable cost ?

edit: been doing a bit of research around this excellent site...seems as though Independent inspections are worth it at possibly slab/frame/wet areas/lockup stages ?

kiwi · Oct 01, 2011 4:13 pm

dont know.
maybe start a thread with that title in it to get peoples responses

Amadio · Oct 01, 2011 5:42 pm

Welcome to the CC. Lovely part of the world.

You are living in tradie heaven here. There are just so many of them that they have to remain efficient and relatively affordable to stay competitive.

Why don't you consider a local builder and his team of tradies to build you a house?

jj1 · Oct 02, 2011 7:54 am

Yes, a local would be our first preference Amadio, but already had prices from 2 on our design, price was so far over our budget we decided would have to go with project builder with their standard design (There was even a $40k difference between the 2 quotes).

We are looking at a 3 up 1 down house and, quite probably, the gap between "local quotes" and the project builders "advertised" prices will close considerably when we get serious BUT we are starting off with a $100k gap.

A bit of a challenge for the decision process, but the money started talking.....

jj1 · Nov 10, 2011 12:13 pm

19/10- First contact with Builder

Looks as though most of the prelims etc are about finished. Plan agreed, 4 up 1 down (there are 2 of us after all !!!) Project home, minimal changes to existing plan. Probably signing contract within 2 weeks. Truck arrived on site today to start removal of old house thank goodness. Maybe just maybe things starting to fall into line.. So many things to remember and think of, sure we will forget a few, but am making notes which we refer to daily. Not under any pressure to move from here, so not concerned with the finish date, except will be nice when done.

Now what was I thinking....oh yes....Include driveway/Alfresco in slab pour ? Natural gas is available, have hot water Solar as well as gas ?.........it goes on and on....

jj1 · Nov 17, 2011 7:22 pm

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On the move

jj1 · Nov 26, 2011 12:32 pm

23/11 - Plan sign off

Looking at colour charts etcetc... This is going to be... what if its wrong.....
Decided we each go through individually, Bricks,Tiles,fascia, Internal and so on, and write down,
say, first 3 preferences.
Try to see if there is any common ground !!! I'm personally inclined towards lighter external colours
to reflect heat.

jj1 · Dec 03, 2011 10:29 am

To the brick place yesterday. We both liked the Boral natural-jarosite brick and contour-gunmetal roof tile.
Now to window colours,guttering/fascia and garage door. Have colour, etc. meeting with builder next week.

jj1 · Dec 07, 2011 2:05 pm

Colours, tap types, cupboards etc.etc. today. Quite involved, for a novice but a good experience nonetheless. Felt sorry for the staff member, such a difficult task which was handled extremely well from our point of view. So many things to cover !! e.g. want the standard taps in the bathrooms but an upgrade for the kitchen sink and what colour would you like that in ? All very common sense questions we just didn't think of some of them !

Upstairs-4 beds, 1 en suite,1 bath,living area.
Downstairs-1 bed + powder room(en suite to us),Kitchen,dining,family,laundry,garage.
Total floor space (incl. garage) about 260 sqm.

Major decision part done now I think.
Roof tiles - Barley Stone
Bricks - Jarosite
We are tending towards the lighter and or creamy colours

Waiting now for cost of a few upgrades before we decide on final inclusions then contract to be signed.
Tile selection still to come, as well as electricals meeting.
Waiting on quote for clearing of land, then maybe commence building in mid January.

jj1 · Dec 10, 2011 10:51 am

Didn't realise there are so many people not interested in working !

Trying to get quote to clear land for building :
-email 2 demo/clearing companys (phone book) - No reply ( 3 weeks)
-Stop in the street, talk to workers doing similar, drive boss to show him our job (interested) - No reply (2 weeks)
-phone another phone book (will do quote) - No reply (2 weeks)

WHAT is wrong !!!

jj1 · Dec 11, 2011 11:40 am

Half house gone overnight...brilliant

kiwi · Dec 11, 2011 12:27 pm

happy days!!!

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Raleighfarm · Dec 11, 2011 1:22 pm

Hi jj1 just saw your thread and popped in to say hi. Hi!

You seem to be traveling smoothly so far. Hope it continues well for you. Good luck with the demo. Hope you get responses soon.

jj1 · Dec 12, 2011 11:51 am

Thanks folks, nothing ever just seems to fall into place, always something....
I'm the sort of person that when organising/arranging whatever I expect those involved to do their bit. This thinking seems to be becoming a waste of time. oh well...enough ranting for the present.