Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 13, 2011 2:11 pm Since I have signed up on this forum "Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:46 am", I have been reading a lot of userful tips and priceless experience of other people. I did not realise how such a big step it was to buy a house until say the last year where I have learnt to become even more responsible due to the mortgage repayments that you cannot escape. Also, since I have started reading about other member's thread, I am very grateful to a handful of people around me (mainly my family and my gf) who have helped me along the way to make this possible.
As far as I am concerned, I embarked on that journey so abruptly (like in unconsciously) and not really knowing about the real implications involved that I did not quite take it seriously at the start. Hence, why I do not have many photos of the build in progress because I only went to site once or twice. It all happened around December 2008 after I have finished with university. Two weeks after my last day of uni, I got this job I have applied for in Sunshine West. Since I was sharing a townhouse with a mate in Coburg, I decided that I needed to move closer and started looking for a shared accomodation. It really was not that hard and got someone who was willing to share a 2 bedroom house with me. Before moving in, my sister and I went to have a look at the place and also to see whether the other housemate was not a weirdo. hahaha So we went for a drive in the wild wild west and also was driving through the different suburbs on the way just to have a look how it was like. Then, I do not know quite remember how we ended up in Derrimut. :-s We drove past the sales office and saw that big billboard for house and land packages and there was a "new" release that was going to happen a couple of weeks away. We went in just out of curiosity and yeah the lovely Geraldine (for those who knows her) manage to catch our attention and got us interested. Btw, my sister's name is Geraldine too...what a coincidence. So we went to check out the place I was gonna share and once we got back home I went on the net to read a bit about Derrimut and all that. Once I did a bit of research and saw how "close" it was to the city I really wanted to come to the forthcoming release of land which was 32B. Once again, my sister came with me and we had a chat with Geraldine AGAIN. So, she goes are you guys here to buy? We were like no we are just having a look. She handed us a flyer of what was available and we were watching people coming in and out of the office. Then we went to have a look at the display home right next to the office and the guy's name was John Holmes if my memory serves me right. He handed us a flyer again. So we continued by visiting the display homes that were there. Geeee, when visiting those display homes, I had this feeling like I wanted to own a house. Since I did not come here to buy I was not quite thinking about it too much. While walking back pass the PD office, there was an office of Choice Homeloans with a little advertise saying "Free consultation how much you can borrow no obligation". I looked at my sister and said to her let's go in. :-l We went in and the lady name was Belinda. Nice lady and started talking to us and started asking me how much I earn and all that jazz. Then she joked and said why don't you buy one saying the Government was doubling first home buyers, Peet give $5000 back promotion and all that. Geee I looked at my sister and was starting to get to adrenalin pumping. If you don't know me I am very very impulsive guy. So I said can I talk to my sister for a minute. We had a quick chat and she goes...look if you really want to I will support you. But then we remembered that Geraldine said we needed $10000 deposit TODAY in order to secure a block. Belinda goes well let me tell you that you can pay $1000 subject to loan approval but I will talk to Geraldine. So, pretty much she worked out how much I can borrow. I went to PD office straight away and said what plan you got for the budget that I had and I picked the Heywood 25 off the plan and that was it. Hopefully, I made a bit of sense and was not too boring with what I said. :-l I ain't too good at story telling. lol Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 - thegourou20 2Jan 20, 2011 9:17 am Hey everyone, Sorry for not posting any pics just yet but I would like to have the house relatively clean so that you can have a glimpse of the colour selections we went for throughout the house. Most probably I will post some this weekend. =-) After a little bit over a year being in the house, we have decided we would like to get the landscaping done around the house. So, I have taken bits and pieces of some inspiring ideas here and there and came up with the following plan. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Retaining Wall at the front: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Pebbles and Feature Tree at the front: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Pergola: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Random Stone Pattern Around The House And Stairs: (Chose Blueston Colour with black oxide) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Raised Garden Bed: (in spotted gum) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ As for the turf we are going for Palmetto Buffalo. The decking and pergola will be done in merbau. In regards to the outdoor kitchen, it will be quite basic. i.e it will have a wok burner (those big chinese one), an outdoor wood fire oven, a little bench space and a sink). Let me know what do you guys think or if you have any suggestions or advise for us. It would be great to hear. Thanks. Re: Heywood 25 - thegourou20 3Jan 20, 2011 9:24 am WOW impulsive much? LOL Love it! We looked at the Heywood, loved the big alfresco area, and from what i've seen PD do a great home. My building thread : viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36059 Paid initial deposit 24/7/10 Tender appointment 20/8/2010 Flooring and tile appointment 25/9/10 Colour and Electrical appointment 13/9/10 December site start delayed Site start (YAY!) 17/1/11 Slab pour 1/2/2011 Re: Heywood 25 - thegourou20 4Jan 28, 2011 7:50 am building1 WOW impulsive much? LOL Love it! We looked at the Heywood, loved the big alfresco area, and from what i've seen PD do a great home. Thanks building1. I loved it too back then but could not afford it so that's why now it is back on the cards. At the moment I am preparing the drawings in order to get both the planning and building permit sorted out. The picture below gives you a proposed plan view by the landscaper for the ridge. He said the pitch of the roof would look much nicer that way. This is because the sides ain't equal if you know what I mean. I am confused because I was thinking that if the ridge it joined to the corner post, it would look or be better. Plz let me know what are you views and have you encountered any similar problems? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 - thegourou20 in Derrimut-PERGOLA ROOF HELP P 6Mar 22, 2011 6:17 pm Finally, I manage to get the building permit sorted for the verandah. I rang the landscaper so that he get started straight away. First thing he did was to scrape the whole backyard and front yard to get it to the required level. Then he went and dug the hole for the post of the verandah so that it is ready for the first inspection. Also, he ran the drain for the sink and also ran the conduit for the outside power point close to the kitchen bench. The conduit will also be there in case I want to run some garden lights in the future. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is my DIY letterbox...lol Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 1 Progress Pics 8Mar 23, 2011 8:22 pm We're doing the Heywood too, but with the rumpus room added (though I'm thinking there's advantages in having that room as outdoors). How did the internal work go? And curiously - did you leave the garage at the standard size? If so, how does it go fitting 2 cars in it along with junk -sorry, precious belongings? Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 1 Progress Pics 9Mar 28, 2011 8:01 am luke11 Hi thegourou20, The house is looking great! Is your brinks Sienna?? If not what is it? I am thinking of building with a similar looking brick Luke I am not sure if it is sienna or not. But I have checked among the documents that I have and it stipulates it is a boral brick. The colour is pearl grey velour and it was part of category 3 back then. Hopefully that answers your question. lastone We're doing the Heywood too, but with the rumpus room added (though I'm thinking there's advantages in having that room as outdoors). How did the internal work go? And curiously - did you leave the garage at the standard size? If so, how does it go fitting 2 cars in it along with junk -sorry, precious belongings? I love the Heywood really. I could not be more happy with the design. However, if I was to do it again I would probably suggest a couple of things especially in the kitchen. Make sure that you are happy with the standard fridge space because I could not get a bigger fridge coz of that. Also, you do not really have a proper space to put your bin. So I would have added some cabinets (oven kitchen bench) on both sides of the extractor and sacrifice a cupboard under the kitchen so that the kitchen is 100%. The double garage is fine. No trouble at all to fit 2 cars. But it also depends how you design your driveway. Mine is straight and rectangular in shape (i.e no curves) so it is double car width all the way. This prevents the stuffing around with the cars when getting in and out of the garage. Another thing I would like to point out that the garage door giving access to your backyard is not a standard door. It is a tad smaller (just saying in case you want standard door access). I have also included an extra standard door that gives direct access to the corridor inside the house (a must really). If you want I can take a picture of the working bench, filing cabinet and metal wardrobe set up I have inside the garage to keep the junk neat and clean. However, not so clean at the moment...LOL. Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 1 Progress Pics 10Mar 28, 2011 5:45 pm It is slowly getting there. On Saturday, the concreter came to set it up in order to hopefully pour on Wednesday. Also, there is a change of plan in terms of the concreting. For the front we are going to used the same exposed aggregate mix we have used for the driveway and the back we are going to stick to the original plan of the random stone slate impression with bluestone base and black oxide colour. I have also altered a little bit the same around the outdoor kitchen space so that it has a concrete base in the shape of the one quarter of a circle. I told the concreter to add a drain as well so that when it get dirty I can use a garden hose to clean it without having to worry about any puddles. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 2 Progress Pics 11Apr 05, 2011 6:58 pm Ok, I am a little disappointed as they did not pour the concrete as expected. Anyway, apparently they are going to do half of the backyard tomorrow, the other half on thursday and they are hoping to finish the front on Friday. Personally, I doubt they will frame up and pour the front yard by this Friday. And yeah....patience is indeed a virtue. Lol I would have love to have the whole landscaping ready by Easter. But oh provided they do a brilliant job that's what matters at the end of the day. In the meantime, the actual landscaper has been trying to get a head start for the verandah so he has fixed the stumps and also worked onto digging the holes for the posts for the decking. He has also started to strength the structure in order to fix the ledger onto the truss of the house. Please do not take whatever I say forgranted as I might be using the wrong jargon/terminology to express myself. lol :-l Anyways, here are some more progress pics... 1. Holes for the posts of the decking initiated Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2.Stumps set up for posts of verandah Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 3. Dowelling into original slab on the side of the house Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 4. Ledger fixed to the house and overall status of work done so far Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 3 Progress Pics 13Apr 06, 2011 6:51 pm sleven I can't wait to see it poured! I'm liking your plans! Thank you Sleven. Geeee I can tell you being an impatient person like me does not help either as I want it done asap. lol Today they did half of the backyard as promised. I had a close look and from what I can see I am really happy about the result of the pattern I selected. However, I am a bit anxious of the colour because I think the oxide they throw on top covers the whole job at the moment so you cannot really tell the final outcome colourwise. It has definitely changed something about the side of the house. My first reaction was like the walkway looks infinitely long compared to before. :-l We will see how it ties up with the rest hopefully tomorrow. I think the weather is saying around 20-25 degrees so that should help I suppose in the curing process as it is not too hot. I came back home a bit late so did not have the best photo but I will post it anyways. 1. Picture taken from the courtyard Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2. Outside Kitchen Area Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 4 Progress Pics 14Apr 10, 2011 4:52 pm "If you want I can take a picture of the working bench, filing cabinet and metal wardrobe set up I have inside the garage to keep the junk neat and clean. However, not so clean at the moment...LOL." That would be great! Thanks for that - I find it hard to picture things on the plans Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 4 Progress Pics 15Apr 10, 2011 5:45 pm Hey mate! Just found your thread. Quite enjoyed reading through your first post about your impulsive buy. It turns out mine was almost as impulsive as yours! Went looking through some display homes in the estate near my folks home one tuesday arvo to kill time and in the 2nd house met a guy and booked an appointment on the friday where I signed up to build with them in the estate. Had only considered buying existing places uptill then, and even then, not in depth looking either. Was quite off the cuff. Lucky fella's to be able to do what we've done! Nice plan for the yard too. Will be following the rest of it. Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 4 Progress Pics 16Apr 19, 2011 7:18 pm lastone "If you want I can take a picture of the working bench, filing cabinet and metal wardrobe set up I have inside the garage to keep the junk neat and clean. However, not so clean at the moment...LOL." That would be great! Thanks for that - I find it hard to picture things on the plans Hey Lastone, I will take that picture for you during the weekend mate as I am quite busy atm. :-l @ Snagger...I am glad to hear I ain't the only one. Love being impulsive as it spice things in life. Well, at the end of the day we just hope that we are in a position to recover if things are to go wrong. haha Anyways, back to some more progress. Last week the weather has not been in our favour so things on the landscaping side are ticking along slower than what I was expecting. It does not bother me even though I would have liked to celebrate Easter at my place but now I am not that worried as long as things are not properly. So, the concrete at the back was polished and sealed while the front was poured and sealed as well during the weekend. The original plan has changed slightly as I was advised to keep the front the same (i.e same exposed aggregate and same mix that was used for the driveway) Meanwhile, the landscaper has started lining up and connecting all the poles but once again because of the poor weather last week he could not do much unfortunately. 1. View from the front door of the exposed aggregate Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2. View of stairs from the RHS of the house Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 3. RHS walkway around the house Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 4.Verandah posts lined up and partially connected Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 5. Outdoor Kitchen Area Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 5/6 Progress Pics 17Apr 20, 2011 1:31 pm That concrete work down the side and out the back is pretty cool. The kitchen area looks like it's gonna be a good little feature! Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 5/6 Progress Pics 18May 09, 2011 5:45 pm Sir Snagger That concrete work down the side and out the back is pretty cool. The kitchen area looks like it's gonna be a good little feature! I hope so and the main reason for it is to actually keep any frying or messy cooking outside together with any associated smell. lol So, last week they have managed to finish the frame of the verandah together with the decking. God I cannot express how happy I am with the end result. It has also passed the frame inspection from the council point of view so hopefully the roof and guttering will be going on this week. I have ended up selecting the laserlite 3000 with metal bronze tint to go with it what do you guys think? 1. Verandah + Decking Overview Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2. Verandah + Decking From Another View Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Probably not the best pictures since it has been raining and it was quite dark by the time I was back home but you should get the picture. In the meantime, the works for the outdoor kitchen has started and I have also manage to organise the pizza oven so that it is ready to be delivered when the bench has been built to accomodate for it. The landscaper has asked me how I would like it to be finished like in terms of rendering or tiling and I was not sure at this stage. If you have any suggestions, please share it with me. 3. Outdoor Kitchen Work In Progress Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Finally, I have been going here and there to also gear up for the lawn preparation as per Fu's recommendations. So far, I have manage to get the zeolite, spongolite and bactivate. I know already where to get the pierlite as it was suggested on another thread and also it is not that far away from where I live at the moment so everything is coming together nicely. 4. Fu's Recommended Drugs for lawn! hahahaha Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I am hoping that the outstanding work will be finished within the next couple of weeks. This exercise has been really wonderful so far in various aspects. =-) Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 7-10 Progress Pics 19May 09, 2011 6:29 pm Looks awesome!! Just wondering (of all the random questions) how you found the price of exposed aggregate and the stone impression compared.. We were thinking of having the exposed aggregate all around the back of our hosue too, but that looks great! Re: Heywood 25 by PD - Landscaping DAY 7-10 Progress Pics 20May 09, 2011 6:38 pm wow love what you've been up to! love the pattern on the concreting, and the outdoor kitchen idea is fantastic! Hmmm, I have checked your past posts and it seems that you are in NSW, not WA as I had thought. It pays to show your State in your avatar. Retaining wall regulations… 5 7850 Hi, you've probably already resolved this, however, Commbank will probably pay the funds to you after you send evidence the work is done regardless the change in the quotes. 1 35312 Ideally you would engage a landscaper to give you some insight what they may need in the space to make your vision come to life… 1 13634 |