Building first home in SA

Hey fellow members of home one, ive been reading this forum for some time but haven't really posted to much. I though i would start a thread about my first time building. I am hoping it is a fun exciting process but you never no. So lets get into it.

I purchased a block of land in Taperoo SA, it was the back yard of a existing house so it is a bit of a weird shape (ill give a run down in a sec) its also not in the greatest part of adelaide however it is 500m from the beach in in the area i grew up in so that is why i brought it.

So first of al the block is around 365sqm, it has a frontage of 19.07m left hand side is 21.27m and right hand side is 16.77m and it is facing the train line however i have lived down the road on the line and over time you don't even here them.
I originally signed the contract for the block in november 2010 with a 6 week settlement subject to sub division however due to the surveying company issuing the plans to LTO wrong settlement only took place on the 13th May. Anyway thats the block now onto the house.

I went to a number of builders with my land lay out knowing it would be hard to find a house to fit on it with everything i wanted. My list wasn't huge but still i wanted:
- 3 Bedroom
- 2 living areas so i could use one as a home theatre.
- Study
- Enough room for a entertaining area out the back.
- Double Garage w/ 2 separate doors

After speaking with about 5 different builders such as hickinbotham, rossdale, weeks, and statesman i decided to go with Weeks and Macklin as they were the only ones who seemed really interested in my plan (sure my money as well) also a friend of mine recently built with them and found them quite good to deal with (heard many other stories since then). So i signed my contract with them on in december 10.

So far its been pretty easy going with them i was very close in some areas with council however the council process was approved with little to no hassle at all. There were a couple of little issues with the selections, i asked for over head carbords in the kitchen however they only included them on half a wall and i only noticed this at selections (my bad for not looking into the pricing schedule) and also when choosing 300 x 300 tiles in my bathrooms it is weeks requirement you have strip grate drains (i love the look of these just not the price). However i am starting to worry a little as i was quite short of time to make my selections as i was going over seas so i am hoping i didn't rush everything. (One reason i am posting this to get everyones feed back)

So for my colour selections i choose the following:

Outside
Bricks: Macadamia
Mortar: Yellow Sand
Roof: Monument
Gutters: Monument
Fascia: Sandbank
Downpipes: Sandbank
Windows: Satin Black
Front Door: Monument
Eves: Parchment
Panel Lift Door: Seville - Monument

Inside
Walls: First Snow
Ceiling: Celling White
Kitchen carbords: Asphalt
Kitchen Bench Tops: Ice Quarstone
Kickers: Brushed Stainless Steel
Vanities: Asphalt
Vanity Benchtops: Ice Quarstone
Basin: Cosmo
Taps: Elegance
Bathroom Floor: Mid Grey 300 x 300 (will post pics)
Bathroom Wall: Gloss White Antique
Bathroom Feature: Listello Chess Charcoal (Positioned centered in shower floor to 2m high)
Carpets: Lockwood Square Storm (Bedrooms, Study and Home Theatre)
Floors: Royal Gloss Jarrah 12mm


So thats about it for my colours and certain things i choose. I also when 900mm cook top how ever only went 750mm oven as i like the triangle look underneath. One of the things i am getting the builder to do is my downlights and extra power points etc and i think it is just easier to get them to do it as i really couldn't be stuff with all that after.

After handover i will be doing a number of things through friends etc such as aircon, concrete, landscaping, floating floors, and splashbacks.

As i look more and more into houses to get ideas for landscaping etc i am going over and over in my head if i chose everything right, but i am thinking everyone might think that building there first house. Am i correct?

As for where the house is now. Slab was laid Monday 30th and the SS advised the frame should be started in 3 weeks. So pretty excited everything is coming along quite quickly.

I will be posting pics of everything over the next few days.

Thats about it for the first post feel free to tell me what you think of my selection please be harsh or nice

I look forward to updating homeone through out the process of my home.

Happy building

Congrats on buying your block and building your first home. I'll be interested to watch your build. I hope things go smoothly for you.

Try not to worry about your selections. I think everyone goes through the same thing wondering whether they've made the right decisions.

Thanks I'm hoping everything goes well with it all.

Well the slab went down the other day and is looking pretty good.





Received a phone call from the SS the other day saying they would be having the bricks for the rear of the house delivered this week and the frame would be installed Monday 20/6 so full steam ahead now.

Conslabulations!!!

Sounds like your builder is treating you well if you got a call from the SS letting you know what's going on. I haven't had any contact from my SS. And that's great too that you get to have temporary fencing. I asked my builder if I could but they said 'no' I was going to pay for it.

Well the frame is up now all the windows should be in tomorrow.



I'm hoping in the next few weeks it will be at lock up then I can start running my speaker cables and that.

Congrats!!

My husband and I are building near you at Ottoway with World Concept (same group) and are about to finish selections and get final sign off.. Expect slab to be down late august or so..

Look forward to hearing and seeing more!