1st Time Builders - Your best hint, tips etc..

Beltanis · Dec 10, 2007 10:26 pm

Hello All,
I am so happy to have found this wonderful site, which has already helped me considerably.

I have a block at Augustine Heights - Brisbane, and I have decided to build the Clarendon Hamilton 35. We are at the stage of Contract Presentation to be held in Early Jan.

I would love some feedback to everyone's best hints, greatest tips, must have additions and inclusions or any other thoughts that made a difference to any stage of your building from start to finish.

I will surely keep you all updated as to how I am progressing, as others stories have helped me

All thoughts are greatly appreciated

PhoenixStar · Dec 10, 2007 10:33 pm

Welcome to the forum Beltanis. There is plenty to learn here. I would suggest you use the search option in the discussion tools box (top RH corner of the screen) and search through some topics or alternatively go through some of the threads that interest you.

We have a wealth of knowledge within this little community, your head will probably be spinning..... but in a good way of course..... :lol:

Have fun!!!!

DeeElle · Dec 11, 2007 12:33 am

Welcome Beltanis
Best tip I could give you would be to try and remain patient. Its a looong road. We have kept the final product in mind, expected the unexpected, and developed a reasonable relationship with our builder. We chose a boutique builder and so far it has been a good experience.

We pulled together an A3 sketchpad, separated the pages into rooms i.e. kitchen, bedroom etc and pasted our favourite pictures from magazines. We took the sketchpad to our selections appointments and used it to illustrate what we wanted.

After 9 months of planning we are just about to lay our foundation. I picked up the sketchbook the other day and was surprised to see that we have kept to most of the original colours and themes.

The budget is completely blown of course but we expected that!! :lol:

Good luck with your build.

Amber · Dec 11, 2007 8:14 am

My tips for what they are worth:

1. You can never have too many powerpoints
2. Think about an extraction fan in the laundry
3. Do you want fly screen doors on laundry and potentially sliding doors
4. External taps? Is two enough (this may need you to think about landscaping a little bit earlier than you intended but well worth it)

There's loads of little things that now I say 'I wish we had of....' but as first time builders we did OK.

You can't check the plans of your house enough so before site start, check, double check, triple check etc. etc. your building plans, electrical plans, etc. etc.

good luck!! it's an exciting time of your life ... enjoy the good times and the frustrations and before you know it you'll be living in your dream home.

Rodda · Dec 11, 2007 8:32 am

Hi Beltanis.

Think about (then narrow that down to what you actually can afford

), then plan where you might like to put any audio/video/computer equipment that will need any of the following cabling run to it - speaker cable, video cable, TV antenna, Foxtel, computer network.

It is much, much easier to install all of these types of cabling to pretty much any point in the house at frame stage (before the interior wall plaster gets put up), whereas after the house is finished it can get very difficult and some things may no longer be possible at all...

muzzman · Dec 11, 2007 8:33 am

My two bob worth...

Get everything in writing, and make sure you're contract is subject to finance.

Get EVERYTHING looked at by a conveyancer/solicitor before you sign it.

Don't get rushed in to anything.

Take photos of the colour samples you choose, and record names.

Keep records of all correspondence (whether by phone, email or fax).

Jet79 · Dec 11, 2007 8:43 am

Welcome, we are building at Greenbank and my son is going to St Augustines in 2009. I love the area.

I agree with writing down the names of everything you chose at the colour selection and taking photos, that way when it's in if you don't think it look like what you chose you can show them the photos you took.

Powerpoints and light fittings are always more expensive to put in later so make sure you have heaps of each.

Getting the outside right is really important as you won't want to change the colour of your roof or bricks later on, you can always change floor coverings and cupboard doors.

Make sure there is heaps of storage, you can never go astray with too many cupboards.

And remember to have fun with it and be patient. This may be a once in a lifetime experience.

Good Luck and I look forward to seeing your progress.
Jet

wantingahouse · Dec 14, 2007 3:03 pm

Any more tips...I would love some.

Our frame is going up now, but would love to know if there are things I should be doing.

I have power points everywhere :lol:

(and I mean everywhere).

For us, its not too late to change those little details, so fire away...

Beltanis · Dec 14, 2007 3:23 pm

We are going to go for 9ft ceilings. @ an extra $9600 - are they worth it?

DeeElle · Dec 14, 2007 4:06 pm

Beltanis

We are going to go for 9ft ceilings. @ an extra $9600 - are they worth it?

Depends on your building specification ... however 9,600 sounds expensive for a ceiling height upgrade.

vanderlay · Dec 14, 2007 4:11 pm

DeeElle

Beltanis

We are going to go for 9ft ceilings. @ an extra $9600 - are they worth it?

Depends on your building specification ... however 9,600 sounds expensive for a ceiling height upgrade.

Does seem expensive! Look great - higher heating/cooling bills

Only you can answer if it's worth it!!

kasiakm · Dec 17, 2007 7:48 pm

high ceiling will keep your downstair area cooler in summer. In comparison to Clarendon I have visited, my place is much more comfortable re temperature downstairs.

10k$ is a big cost but it is worth that. We do not need to use air con even in the hot day. We use rather ceiling fans.

Be careful with an aircondition. I know from the owners that they had to use preferred Clarendon supplier for air-conditioning. Apparently any other contractor would have go through an induction program ?! They have installed 2 zones 3-phase ducted.

Try to check the different options and for sure have more zones. I have seperate zones for each room and 14.5KW ducted Daikin. Switching off most of the rooms gets the KW used dwon and electricity bill.

And the second but most important! Order a water tap in a fridge area!
that will cost you only $160 but you will have fridge with water in the future.

:-)

)
cheers
kate

perryr · Dec 17, 2007 8:10 pm

My tip - write a blog, and start as early as possible.

Why?

Because it give you something to focus on and makes you feel as though you are doing something useful, and some sad folks out there find it interesting.

Once you start your house, it will provide a record of construction.

Cheers

oznow · Dec 17, 2007 8:37 pm

Kasiakm wrote "And the second but most important! Order a water tap in a fridge area! that will cost you only $160 but you will have fridge with water in the future."

Could you please explain why we need fridge with water? I dont understand the relation between water tap and fridge.

Thanks.
onz

perryr · Dec 17, 2007 8:51 pm

For the left side of this picture...

Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

oznow · Dec 17, 2007 9:07 pm

Sorry to hijact the tread. But I want to thanks for the information. As for the fridge in the picture, but does the tap connect to the fridge DIRECTLY?
In the past we filled the watertank inside the fridge.

My wife is thinking to buy something like the picture, so this information is REALLY important. My wife like the one with ICE OUTLET. Does this also need water tap?

Thanks.

perryr · Dec 17, 2007 10:06 pm

A lot of fridges these days have a hose to allow direct connection to a tap, for both chilled water and ice.

For an extra few dollars, it's a worthwhile thing to do. I think it cost us $150 to add.

Cheers

kasiakm · Dec 18, 2007 7:58 pm

oznow

Sorry to hijact the tread. But I want to thanks for the information. As for the fridge in the picture, but does the tap connect to the fridge DIRECTLY?
In the past we filled the watertank inside the fridge.

My wife is thinking to buy something like the picture, so this information is REALLY important. My wife like the one with ICE OUTLET. Does this also need water tap?

Thanks.

You are building a house for years and now this kind of fridge is more and more popular as they getting down in the price.

they are directly connected through a filter to the water supplier so you need a tap.

We paid for this tap 160 or 180 because we thought we will buy this fridge some day.... and we bought it 2 weeks after the moving in :-)

cheers
kate

Shady · Dec 19, 2007 10:30 am

First post here but as we have just finished building our new house (an Eden Brae) I feel I could add my 2 bob's worth here.

- Be prepared to feel as if your being ripped off at some stage. It will happen for one reason or another. We got stung with a $90 upgrade (per door) to go from a flat panel internal door to a 'colonial paneled' internal door. The difference at Bunnings was $8 per door, in fact I could buy the whole door for $38. When you have 29 internal doors it starts adding up.
It just comes down to 'if you really want it your gunna have to pay'

- When you want an upgrade expect to pay an extra 15-20% builder margin. And when you want a credit on something taken out expect the builders margin to be left in the contract price.

- Make allowances for extra powerpoints outside, $38 before construction $390 after construction has been completed.

- Extend the fridge space depth to 700mm from the normal 600mm. Otherwise your fridge will stick out 100-150mm.

- Allow twice as much as you think for Landscaping.

- Invest in the services of an interior designer. The $300-$400 to help with choosing colours is well worth it. The Colour concultant the builders provide is not an interior designer and just someone to help you fill out the form.
Even if you think you have an idea about colour, Get an interior designer to help.

mek · Dec 19, 2007 11:01 am

I would say think about your furniture before you even start building, I haven't really, and now I'm really sorry. Draw beds, wardrobes, entertainment units, sofas, tables, desks, rugs to scale onto a copy of your plan. A lot of times there's a lot of windows in a room, then there's the door, and nowhere to put a bed... This will also help you position your power points, such as for bedside lamps, etc.