Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 65Jan 12, 2012 10:14 pm I know the feeling I have returned to work this week and all I can think about all day is wanting to go home. At the time I didn't really enjoy painting, but now I can't wait to get back to it on the weekend! Is it a long drive for you to visit the house? Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 66Jan 12, 2012 10:49 pm jasmin3 At the time I didn't really enjoy painting, but now I can't wait to get back to it on the weekend! I wouldn't be able to, either, because you know what you're painting is yours, and the sooner you're done, the sooner you can move in. We're not going to need to know for a while yet, but when the time comes, I'll probably ask you for some painting tips. I've never painted before in my life, but I've put so much effort into having a decent theatre room, the last thing I want to do is bollocks up the paint job jasmin3 Is it a long drive for you to visit the house? When we go up (which is usually on Sunday), it typically takes 40m-45m to get there, and that's with the freeway running pretty smoothly. We live in Bentley at the moment. It will take over an hour in peak time for me to get to Belmont where I work, so it's pretty fair to say I might have to be considering a new place of employment when the time comes. One thing at a time though Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 67Jan 13, 2012 1:36 am Yeeeahhhh, I'm actually concerned about the possibility that I might need to find a new job when I move. A 45 minute drive to where I currently work, might not be so bad, but we'll see how I feel after 6 months of doing that. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 68Jan 13, 2012 9:12 am caz_770 Yeeeahhhh, I'm actually concerned about the possibility that I might need to find a new job when I move. A 45 minute drive to where I currently work, might not be so bad, but we'll see how I feel after 6 months of doing that. Yeah unfortunately the price of land is such that, for a reasonably-sized 15metre-wide lot on our budget, we pretty much had to build this far away. I've always felt this way though, that I'd rather have a bigger house and have to drive a little further, than have a smaller house but be closer to everything. You can always get a new job that's closer, after all, and they'll always build shops. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 69Jan 13, 2012 9:38 am I work about a 60 minute drive from our house...but I train it and then bus, then a really short walk...takes the same time as driving...if i was to drive at the time i go, it could take up to 1hour 30mins! I have no stress driving when on the train, i read,and ihave my time to me, and sort through in my head what i did that day, so by the time i get home...i am relaxed. Hubby is the same, 45 min drive to work, or train in the same time and no stresses! So I don't mind being so far away from where i work! public transport just isn't that bad!!! And you never know, others might be in same boat and want to car pool!!! I get really annoyed when on train and look out the window at ALL the cars that have 1 occupant. I would go as far to say that 95% of traffic is a single occupant...no wonder the freeway is a nightmare! Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 70Jan 13, 2012 12:15 pm The Vans public transport just isn't that bad!!! I find public transport to be very much hit and miss with regards to how long it takes. Where you're living, and where you work, can make all the difference. Being in Banksia, if I ended up working in the city, I'd just park at the Joondalup station and catch the train, but if I worked in a remote suburb and ended up using a combination of train/bus or two busses, I'd probably save a good half an hour just driving myself. Bear in mind, I didn't end up getting my drivers license until I was pushing late 20s (which is rare for a man these days), so I'm very much over public transport. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 71Jan 14, 2012 12:16 am Actually, I do like public transport..... But not where I currently live. Where I live now, it is definitely quicker (and cheaper!) to drive and park, than catch the bus. And if I miss my bus, the next one usually makes me late for work. I've already had a look at bus timetables for Baldivis.... And Rockingham. I might drive a little way and catch a bus, if it saves me a bit of time. If not, I'll just do either/or. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 72Jan 14, 2012 11:45 am caz_770 Where I live now, it is definitely quicker (and cheaper!) to drive and park, than catch the bus. Just out of curiosity, I loaded up the Transperth Journey Planner and fired up arriving at my place of work by 8am from where we will be living. And they had me walking down to the nearest bus stop... at 5:55am. Yeah.... nah. It gets better if I set the start of the journey from the Joondalup train station, but the quickest option there has me take two trains, and then a bus. Option 2, which is just one train and a bus, adds another 14 minutes back onto the trip, and still nets the journey at just over an hour and a half. I think I'll be driving. A lot Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 73Jan 14, 2012 1:49 pm Venturai Just out of curiosity, I loaded up the Transperth Journey Planner and fired up arriving at my place of work by 8am from where we will be living. And they had me walking down to the nearest bus stop... at 5:55am. Yeah.... nah. Ok. My advice do NOT use Transperth's journey planner. They come up with some of the most ridiculous options!!! I stopped using the "Journey Planner" a long time ago. Google maps on my iPhone is better at suggesting public transport routes and journey times than Transperth's journey planner. But even then, I often modify the start and end points as I would normally have a basic knowledge of the public transport routes in the area. If you do decide to use Google maps for your journey planning, just be aware that the public transport route times are for the part of your journey when you are actually on the public transport. For example, if it says "Leave at 8am" it means you have to give yourself enough time to get to the stop where you will be catching the bus/train. So, yeah.... I'll trial the PT when I move and if it does take twice as long by PT than it does by car..... I'll be taking my car! So, ah, Venturai!! How's that build going???? Sorry about turning this into a public transport thread!! Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 74Jan 14, 2012 2:06 pm caz_770 So, ah, Venturai!! How's that build going???? Sorry about turning this into a public transport thread!! Hehe, yeah we're going up tomorrow to have another look. I figure it's better than waiting another week or two, there might be blinds up by then, and we wouldn't be able to see anything anyway! But then, that's exciting too, because nothing says that a house is just about ready to be lived in quite like the blinds having been installed! We'd like to think that the painting's done, and with any luck, the power points will have been installed. Door handles and shower screens, maybe. I don't think they'll have done the floor coverings, I'd imagine that'd be one of the very last steps. It will have been a sliver under three weeks since our last visit, but as I've learnt the hard way, you have to have your expectations in check (especially when dealing with the Homebuyers Centre ). They do like their Christmas break I'll post pictures though, either way. Cross your fingers... Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 75Jan 14, 2012 2:15 pm Hehe, fingers crossed for ya!! Maybe they'll have installed the blinds (yay!) and left them open for you!!! Then you could get pics of all those things that have been done! Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 76Jan 14, 2012 10:52 pm The worst bit is the frosted bathroom windows! You can't see when the shower screen go in - by then its locked up. I still find it so amusing that while they are building your house - you can't get in and officially are not even allowed onsite. It's your house - not theirs! You know better than anyone what each room should look like, and as you said earlier, you tell them when there's a mistake and they don't do anything about it for weeks. I work in the city - currently the travel from joondalup to the city is pretty frustrating, and I'll be adding to that when I move to banksia grove. BUT that's the compromise for getting our foot into the property market and being in an awesome house At least working in Belmont I'd imagine you get free parking. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 77Jan 14, 2012 11:32 pm jasmin3 The worst bit is the frosted bathroom windows! You can't see when the shower screen go in - by then its locked up. Yeah we've remarked on that a few times while being there. Obviously the frosted windows are great for privacy, but it's just unfortunate that they also prevent being able to see all the cool things that are done to our bathrooms. I'll never be happy about not being allowed access, and it is for this reason we're going to be very picky when we finally have our PCI. The missing power point in the kitchen has frustrated my wife quite a bit over the past few months, and despite having mentioned it to our CLO at Homebuyers more than once, I wouldn't be surprised if our site supervisor had never been informed of it. Of course he could pull out our electrical plan and see it for himself, but nah, we couldn't have that jasmin3 I work in the city - currently the travel from joondalup to the city is pretty frustrating, and I'll be adding to that when I move to banksia grove. BUT that's the compromise for getting our foot into the property market and being in an awesome house At least working in Belmont I'd imagine you get free parking. Yeah I get free parking, but I'd rather work in the city, to be honest. In all likelihood I'd park at the Joondalup station and catch the train in. It's all good anyway, the much-too-long commute to work and back is the kick up the bum that I need to get a real job anyway. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 78Jan 15, 2012 1:29 pm Wahey! Here's some pictures from our visit this morning: 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 ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Yeah, that'd be me taking the shot in the third picture. Nice to see that the power points have been done, and that the appliances are in. It looks (and smells, thanks to one or two of the windows being slightly ajar) like the internal doors have been painted. We're somewhat relieved to note that, at last, they're in the process of fixing the missing power point in the kitchen. Also nice that our fence is up (thanks Jasmin!), even though there's not enough sand on the right hand side - our dog could easily squeeze himself underneath the fence and into our neighbour's property, if he wanted. All in all though, we're reasonably happy. Barring another update from our CLO, the plan is to go down again in another two weeks, although we're hoping by then that they'll have set a date for the PCI. Also, someone had left a card in the garage offering "cheap crossovers", so there's someone else we may call for a quote for that job when the time comes. Re: Venturai's build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Banksia Grove 80Jan 17, 2012 10:36 pm Isn't it great when you get there and actually see progress! What colours have you chosen for the front of the house? From that pic it looks like you've got a fairly large backyard. Have you got any plans for that yet? If your anything like us its on the list... but there are so many things on that list it could be a while away yet! Hi, Would you please share some photos of your Orlando 20 HBC build? I would like to get some insight on the living and dining area. Thank you 0 1638 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17518 thank you! do we need to get this or our builder before we commence new build on the block? 2 10404 |