Can you mirror the internal layout?

Tony & Emma · Dec 04, 2007 9:38 pm

Hello.

We have just come across this forum as we have purchased a block in Berwick and are about to start the massive process of choosing a builder & house etc.

After visiting pretty much every display village in Melbourne, we have decided that the Porter Davis Windsor 47 is by far our favourite.

I understand that the floor plan can be mirrored to suit which side you require the driveway and garage, but can rooms within the layout also be re-mirrored? ( If you know what I mean ).

The reason I ask is that we must have our drive on the right side of the block, however, we have also have a private aspect on that side so would like our alfresco areas on the right side also. The standard plans we have seen for the Windsor to date have the alfresco and terrace on the opposite side to the garage.

So, does anyone know if you can normally mirror only the garage?

Looking at the floorplan on the PD website, it looks like the 1st floor would be no problem, but not sure how downstairs would fair.

Cheers.

PhoenixStar · Dec 04, 2007 9:51 pm

Hi Tony & Emma, firstly welcome to the forum, you will find this website a wealth of information. Have you discussed this mirroring with PD yet? They might say yes or they might say no, depends on a lot of factors like loadbearing walls etc. I would say ask them directly to get an official answer. Some builders do not like to make major changes to their floorplans, instead only minor ones.

By the way, do you want to disclose what estate in Berwick you have purchased land. You can PM me if you don't want to disclose it, we understand. It's just that there are a couple of members already living or building out there, me being one of them (building), in The Chase.

Welcome again to the forum, it's going to be great fun.

mattwalker · Dec 04, 2007 9:57 pm

Hey guys and welcome!

PD are generally fairly inflexible with changing their designs.

Your taste in houses is good.

I really like the Windsor 47 but the Grande 43 from Carlisle was our end decision. The floor suited us better and they were a lot more fleible in changing aspects of their designs.

Good luck with your building.

Tony & Emma · Dec 04, 2007 10:02 pm

Hi, we havent talked to PD about it yet as I only realised tonight that the plan of the block dictates which side our garage entry is! ( I suppose we were a bit nieve and bought the land VERY quickly without too much thought. Oh dear....schoolboy error, buy in haste - repent at lesuire etc etc .

Anyway, I have e-mailed PD tonight to ask the same question. The trouble is, we are so far away from even contemplating our build start that we don't want to go too far down the road with a builder if you know what I mean.

I have no problem in disclosing where we have bought. It is also on the Chase, in the Orchards release. Although, who knows how long the orchard will stay an orchard. We have heard several stories of what is supposed to be happening with the orchard.

Anyway, check out our blog for more details if you are interested:-

www.mytb.org/Tony---Emma

It's the entry called 'We've bought some 'Australia''

Where abouts are you building on the Chase?

Have you started building yet? What house are you going for?

We are so excited about it all, but it's so far off. Our block is not titled until next September! Which actually suits us really, as we have only been in the country 5 weeks. We bought the block as it seemed a great way of getting on the Australian property ladder with very little initial outlay. We knew we would build our own place here, just didnt think we would have land within 5 weeks of arriving.

Looking forward to reading & posting - the site looks fantastic, a wealth of information. Looking forward to getting some plans together and posted for comments.

Tony & Emma · Dec 04, 2007 10:05 pm

mattwalker

Hey guys and welcome!

PD are generally fairly inflexible with changing their designs.

Your taste in houses is good.

I really like the Windsor 47 but the Grande 43 from Carlisle was our end decision. The floor suited us better and they were a lot more fleible in changing aspects of their designs.

Good luck with your building.

Thanks Matt.

There were a lot of house that we liked, but the Windsor 47 fit the block perfect and we loved the master bedroom terrace. We saw the Mernda display one with the alternative master layout ( has an angled rear wall and the WIR are behind the en-suite. It was superb.

Havent seen any Carlisle displays yet, but read a bit about them. We'll have to go and take a look.

PhoenixStar · Dec 04, 2007 10:19 pm

Wow you are near us. I kept all the brochures so know exactly which block that is. We were looking at buying the one behind you at one stage. But it's orientation made it difficult to position a single storey on there that we liked.

Next to the Orchard will be lovely. September 2008 release seems so long away but you will find it will pass quickly.

We haven't heard of what is happening beyond the orchard, please tell us if you get the chance. We are building with Henley, the Cottesloe, upgraded heavily to be just over 36 sq when complete. Our site start is this Friday so very excited about the whole process.

Glad to have you aboard, i'm sure there will be lots to chat about .

Tony & Emma · Dec 04, 2007 10:29 pm

**Phoenix**

Wow you are near us. I kept all the brochures so know exactly which block that is. We were looking at buying the one behind you at one stage. But it's orientation made it difficult to position a single storey on there that we liked.

Next to the Orchard will be lovely. September 2008 release seems so long away but you will find it will pass quickly.

We haven't heard of what is happening beyond the orchard, please tell us if you get the chance. We are building with ****, the Cottesloe, upgraded heavily to be just over 36 sq when complete.

Glad to have you aboard, i'm sure there will be lots to chat about .

Just noticed your site start date - you must be excited!

As for the orchard etc. We aoriginally looked at a blcok further down the road, opposite the horses - but were told that all that land had been bought for development.

We chose the top of the road then, as we prefer to be on a major road as we have no children and came from a street in the UK where there used to be about a dozen screaming kids playing in the road in front of our house. No offence to anyone with kids, we do like them - honest! It just got ridiculous back home, we never got any peace. Give me a noisy road over that anyday, and we were quite prepared for the orchard to become housing eventually.

Anyway, the Orchard - we were first told that the orchard had been sold, but they didnt know whether it would continue to be used as an orchard - or developed. The next time we asked, ( this is coming from the land sales office on the Chase BTW ), we were told that it hadnt been sold because the old boy that owns it couldnt decide whether to sell or not. The latest info we have came from a friend at work who's mum has bought a block just behind us. She reckons that the orchard has been sold for development, but it will be split into large acerage 'lifestyle' blocks. Sounds ood to me. Other than being kept as an orchard, that's probably about the best thing it could be developed for as far as our lock goes. I just hope they keep the trees that run down the side of our block.

kasiakm · Dec 04, 2007 11:19 pm

Hello Tony & Emma,

I heard already from my friends building in Melbourne with Carlise that they cannot mirror the rooms too.

We mirrored two bedrooms and even moved the bathroom at the consultation stage. We wanted to move the master bedroom to the back of the house so we generally speaking moved it accross the house.

We have done it in scale with sales person and then we have been provided with costing. It costed us only redrawal charge - $950.

As other people suggest, ask question and check how flexible is your builder.

cheers
kate

Tony & Emma · Dec 04, 2007 11:27 pm

kasiakm

Hello Tony & Emma,

I heard already from my friends building in Melbourne with Carlise that they cannot mirror the rooms too.

We mirrored two bedrooms and even moved the bathroom at the consultation stage. We wanted to move the master bedroom to the back of the house so we generally speaking moved it accross the house.

We have done it in scale with sales person and then we have been provided with costing. It costed us only redrawal charge - $950.

As other people suggest, ask question and check how flexible is your builder.

cheers
kate

Thanks for that. We are down at the Chase again on Saturday so will pop over to the Windsor display and see what they say.

arkraider · Dec 05, 2007 9:40 am

Hi Tony & Emma, we had all sorts of issues with our block of late, thanks to the developers, and our choice of home I guess. As it is a tad too long. (Tad = 300mm) see in this post and on Blog...

https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=4188

We ended up sorting it all out by mirroring the front multiple rooms internally and leaving the garage where it was. The best part is the builder isn't even charging us for it...

Yippeee....

Tony & Emma · Dec 05, 2007 7:51 pm

Yeah, saw your post before. Well done on working out how to get your 300mm.

Seems our block is a little more akward that it first looked. Typical that if the crossover had been on the left and not the right it would have been PERFECTO.

Still, just means we'll have to go bespoke and get exactly what we want.

I'd better get on with the overtime then.

No reply from PD yet on internal mirroring though.

PhoenixStar · Dec 05, 2007 8:04 pm

Hi Tony, i just had another thought, why don't you ask if you can pay (of course at your own cost - approx $2000) for another crossover on the other side of the block???? All they can say is no, but if they say yes, you are set!!!!!

It can't hurt. If speaking with AVJ Head Office (in Burwood) you need to speak with Wendy Wood, instead of Wendy Byrne at the Sales office in the Chase. Wendy Wood is THE ONLY person who approves all of the houses that are built in The Chase. Give it a go before you pay for your block, it may work.....

Good Luck. :wink:

Tony & Emma · Dec 05, 2007 8:50 pm

**Phoenix**

Hi Tony, i just had another thought, why don't you ask if you can pay (of course at your own cost - approx $2000) for another crossover on the other side of the block???? All they can say is no, but if they say yes, you are set!!!!!

It can't hurt. If speaking with AVJ Head Office (in Burwood) you need to speak with Wendy Wood, instead of Wendy Byrne at the Sales office in the Chase. Wendy Wood is THE ONLY person who approves all of the houses that are built in The Chase. Give it a go before you pay for your block, it may work.....

Good Luck. :wink:

Thanks for that Phoenix. I have actually just stumbled across an old post about changing a corss over - over. The beauty of our block is that the main road isn tarmaced yet - let alone sidewalk and crossovers laid.

Emma will give Wendy Wood a call tomorrow to find out if we can change the crossover before it's even laid. We may just have to pay costs for the engineering drawings to be revised then.

I wonder if they would also install a wider crossover if we asked nicely?

Just to be sure I am looking at the right thing, attached is a pic of the engineering for our block. Is the crossover the small vertical lines to the right?

Actually, looking at it again, it may suit the block better anyway to have the garage on the right due to the shape of the back garden?

Any thoughts on a good layout to maximise outdoor space would be appreciated. The right side of the block is the private side with tall trees and an orchard. The left side is another block.

EDIT:- I added an attachment but it has not shown up - can anyone tell me how to put it into the post? Thanks.

PhoenixStar · Dec 05, 2007 8:57 pm

Hi Tony, I upload files using a site called http://www.photobucket.com.
1. Get yourself a username and password (it's free)
2. You can then upload photos from your pc, mobile phone, url or video to your photobucket account.
3. Click browse, locate the item on your pc and click open.
4. Then click the upload button. It's very quick.
5. Once uploaded to your account, scroll down and it shows you in your own little "album".
6. Others might do it differently but i tick the box of the item(s) i want to upload then
7. scroll down the page and click [generate html and img code]
8. The copy and paste it into your post for homeone.

If you want to add a web link. Click [url] then add the link, then click [url*] again.

Other people use different programs, but try photobucket. its pretty easy.
If you have any issues, let us know. Hope to see some pics soon...

Tony & Emma · Dec 05, 2007 9:17 pm

**Phoenix**

Hi Tony, I upload files using a site called http://www.photobucket.com.
1. Get yourself a username and password (it's free)
2. You can then upload photos from your pc, mobile phone, url or video to your photobucket account.
3. Click browse, locate the item on your pc and click open.
4. Then click the upload button. It's very quick.
5. Once uploaded to your account, scroll down and it shows you in your own little "album".
6. Others might do it differently but i tick the box of the item(s) i want to upload then
7. scroll down the page and click [generate html and img code]
8. The copy and paste it into your post for homeone.

If you want to add a web link. Click [url] then add the link, then click [url*] again.

Other people use different programs, but try photobucket. its pretty easy.
If you have any issues, let us know. Hope to see some pics soon...

Thanks for that. I do have some webspace I can use but cant find my login at the moment. I just thought the 'attachment' buttin on the add reply would do it?

I'll go and find an ftp program and get back on my webspace. Failing that, I'll photobucket-it.

Ta.

PhoenixStar · Dec 05, 2007 9:18 pm

Good Luck with ringing Wendy tomorrow. She is very nice to speak to and will go through everything with Emma. AVJ have very strict rules in regards to the set up of the estate, so i doubt that you will be able to get a wider crossover, but you never know???
As she is the one who approves each house, Wendy knows most of the builders houses and will look at everything in detail for you.

I hope it all works out for you guys. Let us know....

Tony & Emma · Dec 05, 2007 9:21 pm

OK - try this:-

Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

Bingo - it worked.

It was way quicker just getting a photobucket account than messing on with my ftp.

So, that's our plot.

Thoughts and ideas on layout would be greatly accepted.

Cookiemonster · Dec 05, 2007 9:26 pm

X marks the spot. Dig there!

Tony & Emma · Dec 05, 2007 9:28 pm

Cookiemonster

X marks the spot. Dig there!

We asked if we could keep those trees, they're lovely. But we were told a resounding no.

PhoenixStar · Dec 05, 2007 9:30 pm

Glad you got photobucket organised. It is much easier to upload that way.
So Tony you want your crossover to be adjoining your neighbours???

I don't think that that should be a problem funnily enough. There are some lots that have adjoining crossovers in our estate, it's not comonplace, but there are some around. You are lucky that they haven't started the roads yet. You might be okay???

See how you go. Good Luck.