first sign of action - photographic frenzy!

Wow, those blue things, are they termite threated timber frame or steel?
If it's steel, you could have build a 4 storey house on that...

Heard that building a full brick house would cost around $10K extra when compared to a brick veneer one. Wonder how much extra to build in full steel frame??

Yes, it is steel framed.

Why it is blue, I have no idea,
perhaps could be any colour but they make it blue to fit their trade name "Bluescope steel" ,

I have no idea of the relative cost of timber vs steel as our builder only does steel frames and so have no cost to compare to.

Its a single story house, 166m2 living area plus double garage.
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, formal lounge, open space kit/meals/family.

Have been a bit slack in updating photos, bricking is now finished and waitng for roof to go on next.

Helyn...the following is just a comment about steel framed houses...not sure how you will interpret the comments but I ain't dissin' your house, it looks like it will be a beautiful house of which you will be proud. And in fact, I have a steel framed house and am very happy with it. And your choice was probably on functionality rather than materials.



Basically zip....steel frames in the past (15+ yrs) were more expensive because they were limited in the cold formed sections they could get to manufacture houses with. What they ended up with were frames which were way over designed for their requirement.

Nowadays the steel frame house builders, because they have become "volume" builders have enough buying power that they can get the likes of Bluescope to manufacture sections which are engineered sufficient to what is required for a house, or in the case of one builder they actually own their own mill, they buy plate and cold form it into sections.

Most steel frames are thinner than timber (75 mm thick compared with 90 mm (?) thick for timber) because they have been able to engineer down the sections....there not inferior just engineered down to more closely match timber.

They are also more modular and go up quicker.

Thinking about it logically would any volume builder give you a house stronger than what it needs to be....without you paying extra for it...out of the goodness of there heart ....irrespective of what that nonce (not in this post) who occasionally posts on this forum and is obviously an agent for a steel frame builder says, they compete in the same market.



The "blue" is TrueCore steel sections a trademark of Bluescope. Tipping it's a marketing gimmick to stand out on estates.


Just as a general caution to those in the market for a steel framed house don't necessarily believe the other classic steel framed marketing pitch..."if you buy a steel framed house your insurance will be cheaper"...I have a steel framed house...insured with AAMI, CGU, and RACV they couldn't care less about the makeup of the frame....

One thing I will say it's bloody easy to find a stud...just use a magnet...

You are a wealth of information, TDL!

Not sure why you think I would be offended by your post, it is all constructive information.

I didn't claim my frame was stronger, those comments were made by others on this thread, I'm sure both steel and timber meet industry standards and not meaning to start a debate on merits of either.

To be honest, I didn't particuarly choose steel, chose a house/land package with a particular builder based on location, floorplan, cost etc ( the usual factors), the builder is quite active in our area and happens to only use steel frames.

Following other threads, I have noticed that steel frames are not the norm in other states but they are very common here, probably outnumber timber frames 2:1, so don't stand out particuarly either.
In fact our development is 34 house/land packages, all same builder so landscape is dotted with blue steel monsters

I had not even considered the insurance angle, and can't imagine there would be any difference there.

You are certainly right that the frames go up quickly, only a few days for frame erection.

As to finding a stud, perhaps I can find one in current house - been married to him for 22 years
(now that's weak )

Thanks again for your interesting comments, TDL.

Always pays to make sure....I re-read my response and thought I'll just add a disclaimer



I suspect no one was making the claim either just wondering themselves.



Same as us



For a while they were only popular in country Victoria.



But he'll love you even more for it...

Be selective he can only read one page at a time....I'm in a world of pain if DW sees some of the stuff I've written....

Here are more photos.
Bricking is now finished and roof on.


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front of house. complete with me walking dog along footpath

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eastern side of house.

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western side of house

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looking thru sliding doors to future pergola area

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looking thru lounge window to street at front.

Fantastic Helyn!!!! Great to see it all coming together. Is the front porch also going to have the colourbond roof or feature timber/steel work?

Good idea with the photos TDL....Better to be safe than sorry. Do whatever you can now.

BTW, yr puppy looks soooo cute on the lead!!!!

Looks great Helen!! Can't wait to see more pics as it comes together.

Your house looks just great. Love that pic of you with the dog and the red earth all around. like a painting!!!!


Good luck..

More pictures please.


Raz