Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 20, 2011 6:09 pm Hi All,
Well, we've signed our contracts and handed over our 5% deposit, so it's probably past time I started a thread here. Here's our timeline so far (I'll update this as we progress): May 2011 - Purchased an old house in Melbourne's eastern suburbs with the intention of knocking down and building a new house. The block is 655 sqm in a nice quiet street, walking distance from shops and train station and lots of parks in the area. Perfect! June 2011 - Signed up with Simonds Homes to build the Elwood design, and paid an initial $2k deposit to move forward to tender/contract. July 2011 - Settlement on the new property completed. Began organising demolition, as well as lots of decisions on house inclusions and extras. August 2011 - Colour, Electrical and Tiling selection appointments at Simonds. September 2011 - Gas connection abolished. Demolition permit received. Contract Signed! October 2011 - Electricity abolished. Construction loan from bank. Asset protection. November 2011 - Demolition! Resurvey. Building permit. December 2011 - Final construction drawings. Site start. Site cut and fill. Slab!!! January 2012 - Ground floor frame. First floor frame. Roof trusses, and frame invoice. Windows and sliding doors. Insulation wrap. Bricking started. Plumbing rough ins. February 2012 - Bricking complete. Gutters and fascia installed. Roof tiles started. Plumbing. Eaves. Heating installed. Cooling installed. Solar panel installed. Bath and shower bases delivered. Front cladding. March 2012 - Electrical/Data/Phone/TV wiring. Insulation. Plaster. Stairs. Architraves. Lower roof finished. Kitchen cabinets. Bathroom cabinets. Laundry cabinets. Hinges and doors. Lockup. Skirting started. April 2012 - Wet area waterproofing. Skirting finished. Painting. May 2012 - Garage door. Balcony balustrade. Internal tiling. Plumbing fit off. Electrical fit off. Ducts. Door knobs. Robe doors. Robe shelving. Shower screens. Mirrors June 2012 - Driveway paved. July 2012 - PCI August 2012 - Handover I'll post the plans and colour pics tonight if I can. It's a big relief to know that all those little decisions have been made, and signed off. Now we can look forward to getting it built! Bron Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 2Sep 21, 2011 9:59 am Here are my plans. Ignore the wavy bit, I had a bit of trouble scanning flat... Ground floor: Upper: Front elevation: My first attempt at sharing pics, hope it works. Bron Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 3Sep 25, 2011 9:58 pm the house will look amazing, we went through this house in Point cook and I thought is was great. Noticed a bit of a slope on your block, we have the same type of slope as you, Simonds have charged us for a retaining wall. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 4Sep 26, 2011 9:44 am @edscl I'm pretty sure the slope's not as big as they've allowed. There's some really thick sloping concrete leading up to where the garage is at the moment, and their initial survey is done based on the top of that concrete, which just happens to be where the back right corner of the new house will sit. Once we get rid of the shed, and they resurvey, they should be able to knock off a good 40cm from the overall drop. But I guess we just have to wait and see... Patience currently not my strong point. Hurry up Origin/Jemena! Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 5Sep 29, 2011 10:22 am Called Origin today - 'Yes, we have your abolishment form that you sent 4 weeks ago. Would you like me to do something with it?'. Ummm, yes please. Grrrr. I knew this would happen - it seems to happen to everyone. Do they do this on purpose to charge you for an extra few weeks service? Surely they realise that people knocking down houses are usually going to build another one, and will then need to sign up with a new electricity retailer. <end rant> Anyway, now we wait another 10-20 business days for abolishment to happen Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 6Sep 29, 2011 4:02 pm It is frustrating, the same thing happened to us, thank goodness, my husband, the demolisher and I all rang up and complained and it was done sooner. Ours didn't forward it on to the wholesaler they only did step one. I know exactly how you feel. And it is good to rant. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 7Oct 06, 2011 9:30 am Well, sending through the paperwork seems to help - electricity is GONE! Just a phone cable attached to the house now And in more good news, our ladder has been found, and they are sorting out getting it back to us. This house building thing seems to turn me into such an emotional yo-yo - irritation and frustration to excitement and anticipation in seconds flat! With lots of impatient waiting in between. Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 8Oct 06, 2011 4:25 pm It is frustrating, and if you are like me you start to only think about the house. But keep thinking positive that at the end of the demolition, the house will start soon, then after 9 - 12 months you will have a new home. Getting the electrical abolishment was our hardest part of demolition. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 9Oct 06, 2011 4:35 pm @edscl Absolutely agree. I know it will all get there in the end, and it will be wonderful. The great thing about this forum is that we knew exactly what we were in for before we started, so nothing is really a surprise. Can you imagine going through it all without the benefit of all this experience and support? Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 10Oct 07, 2011 8:38 pm Agree, this forum is great, I check it out daily, and I find comfort in knowing that I am not the only person going through this building process and when I need some support it is there. I also find it inspiration in some respect, to see what others have done. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) - Ready for demoliti 11Oct 21, 2011 2:25 pm I got a call on Wednesday morning with the exciting news that the bank has finished whatever it was they were doing, and everything is now sorted out, signed, and ready to go!!! They even had an extra special discount interest rate for all my various loans, which will save me lots of $$$. So, that is the last of my hurdles, and just waiting on scheduling from the demo people. Fingers crossed, this time next week will see some real, actual progress! Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 12Nov 04, 2011 11:35 am wondering how your demo is going, hope it is going well hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 13Nov 06, 2011 3:53 pm No progress yet, but it's just about to start. The manual strip is due to be done by the end of this week, and they've booked the equipment for the final demolition and clearing the block on the 15th. They've told us the block will be all clear by the 18th. Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 14Nov 09, 2011 1:44 pm Finally, some progress, so good to see something happening! The old garage has gone, some of the windows have been removed, and floorboards have been pulled up. Looking forward to seeing an empty block about this time next week. Some progress photos: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 15Nov 09, 2011 8:40 pm wow! Things are really happening hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 16Nov 20, 2011 8:18 am Well, after a couple of false starts, our demolition has begun. They have a bit more clearing to do, but should be finished on Monday. The question is, with 5 weeks til christmas, how much can Simonds squeeze in this year. A site cut? A slab? (I can dream, right?) I'm not sure how much paperwork is still required after the resurvey, so I'm hoping to know more next week. Gone! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ But the grapefruit tree is still there - just checking. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bron Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 17Nov 20, 2011 12:24 pm Hi Bron, after demolition and when the contract is all signed it only took 1 week before the site was cut. Depending on where they have you on their schedule, you might find that have a site cut, piers, and slab down before Christmas. In January they aren't taking too much time off so you will have a frame by the end of January.It will happen quicker than you think and then you will wonder where did the time go. hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) 18Nov 21, 2011 6:21 am That would be awesome. I'm trying to keep my expectations low so I can get excited when things happen instead of disappointed when they don't happen fast enough. Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) - Site Start!!! 19Dec 02, 2011 6:49 am Yesterday was an absolute flurry of activity, printing, signing, scanning, emailing, as Simonds pulled out all the stops to get our paperwork finalised so we could have a site start date of ... wait for it ... TODAY!!! I'm so excited, it's just in time for my birthday on Sunday too. The only problem is that I won't be able to go and check it out coz we're off to see the Foo Fighters tonight (kind of a joint birthday present for me and the OH). This week has been full of good news, I feel like I'm right at the top of that rollercoaster, ready for the ride of my life. Our site costs even went down by $1700. Bron Re: Bron's Building Bonanza (melbourne) - Site Start!!! 20Dec 03, 2011 1:17 pm Hi Bron, What a great birthday present! How long did they say in the contact it would take to build your home? Ours said 354 days. Very exciting hubby, kids and me all waiting for the Amberlea Site Cut 27 September 2011 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46637 http://www.dscml.com/ I do enjoy the drama:-D In his latest two videos he has started bringing security guards to site, I am waiting for the punch on to begin lol 6 45549 custom probably not. Volume, most defiantly, but spec would vary. If youre doing a knock down, there additional costs associated with that that will eat into your budget… 1 10276 I have posted this before: We hired Darbecca to do every stage inspection, and I strongly recommend them to anyone that asks me. They were amazing. Thorough reports… 2 4504 |