Browse Forums Building A New House Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 241Aug 31, 2012 8:53 pm Congratulations! That's 3 of our H1 family who got keys today! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 242Aug 31, 2012 11:29 pm Thank you for the drink and the flowers. They will look very nice in our new house! Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 243Sep 01, 2012 10:55 am FANTASTIC Congratulations to you and your family on receiving keys to your lovely home. Your moving in and ours is set to start on Monday - finally https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 244Sep 01, 2012 10:13 pm Thank you DCT. It is sooo nice to finally be able to get into the house and get on with all the things that need to be done to finish it off. And with spring finally here and some nice, sunny days ahead they don't have any excuse anymore not to start work on your house. Keeping my fingers crossed you will have a slab to admire soon. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 245Sep 02, 2012 5:06 pm Thanks T72, apparently trenching is starting tomorrow so hopefully slab by the end of the week. I did a clean up at my block today, raked up a heap of weeds and did a bit of weedkiller around the fenceline, might mean less work in the long run. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 247Sep 02, 2012 8:59 pm dreamcometrue Thanks T72, apparently trenching is starting tomorrow so hopefully slab by the end of the week. I did a clean up at my block today, raked up a heap of weeds and did a bit of weedkiller around the fenceline, might mean less work in the long run. About time they get going on yours. According to "the big boss" who handed us the keys on Friday there were 3 handovers that day. So they should have freed up some capacity to start the next lot of houses. gogo65 Congratulations on keys, thailan, can't wait to see photos with furniture, so exciting isn't it Thank you gogo. Very exciting but also exhausting as now all the real work begins. Photos with furniture might have to wait as everything will probably be a bit chaotic for the first little while. While we were at the house today, our neighbor from down the road came up to our block and started slashing the weeds and mowing the long grass for us. He owns a landscaping business so has all the right tools. What would have taken us a day and a half with our standard lawnmower and whipper snipper was done in about 3 hours by him with his pro-tools. And we didn't even ask for his help, he just did it. I got him a carton of his favourite for his troubles! We have already established some nice relationships with the neighbors on the road and this was just another sign of how nice things can be in a friendly neighborhood. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 248Sep 03, 2012 3:31 pm Yay for keys, and yay for great neighbours! Building the Denver by Metricon on acreage Land settlement: 24/8/15 Contracts: 8/7/16 Finance approved: 5/8/16 Council approval.....? viewtopic.php?f=31&t=79213 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 249Sep 03, 2012 4:15 pm Congrats ... bet you had a busy but exciting weekend!! Lucky you getting some good weather too .... and you've certainly struck it lucky with the neighbours! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 250Sep 22, 2012 10:06 pm We are finally in! Moved in on Tuesday and have been FLAT out ever since. Both hubby and I are very happy with our finished product. Just wishing that we had perhaps a garage sale/clean up before we moved out of the old place as we now have a double garage plus storage area jam packed of stuff that either needs to be sold or thrown out. I've been on a spending spree. Figure you can't have a new house with out new things. So far I've got new towels, a quilt cover for my little boy, tea towels, a very expensive clothes dryer (I'm very naughty and do all my clothes in the dryer). Today we went out and bought a new fridge. These are just a start on the 'wish list' of lighting, rugs, window dressing, lounge suite, microwave, tv, fencing, perimeter paving, driveway, decking, retaining wall, landscaping, pool and tennis court (and the list goes on). I've been trying my luck on x-lotto tickets but so far have had no luck! We were internet less for a while but have bought a usb modem just to catch up on bills etc. Telstra phone connection was a disaster but we finally got connected today. Only problem is that it seems our electrician has stuffed up the internal wiring so while there is a dial tone coming into the house at the Telstra box we still don't have a phone Our other major disaster was our dishwasher. The one we ordered was a fully integrated Bosch one. Turns out it was taller than our bench tops! Plumber suggested smashing our brand newly laid tiles and putting the dishwasher in and then re-tiling...like Hell! Long story short, we have agreed to a semi-integrated Bosch which is a bit shorter. Sad thing is it will take 2 weeks to arrive from Melbourne In the meantime its manual labour! Hubby will hopefully update soon with photos etc. It has been a very very busy 4 days since moving in but we are finally starting to see the light! Most rooms are getting more and more organised and now we just have to work on clearing the double garage and starting to get more quotes for things like driveways and the like! Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 251Sep 23, 2012 9:01 am Hi Ingrid, I am very pleased to hear that you're both happy with the house (especially as I have the same builder ). I didn't want to have a garage sale before we moved as I wasn't sure what I wanted to keep. Once we have settled in I will do it. I am looking forward to a bit of a spending spree too, a new house is such a good excuse The main thing we would like to buy when we move is a new dining suite. I can't even remember how long we have had our current one and it was second hand when we bought it (good solid table though, it's seen us through all the years of having young children). Our new dining area will need a bigger table to fill it. Like you, new towels will be bought, and I will probably change the colour of our bedroom so will need to update the manchester. My hubby wants to buy new lounge suites but I think they can wait for a little while, there is nothing wrong with our current ones. (I will probably lose that one though). Actually, our to-do/buy list after handover is very similar to yours. It's good that you are able to change the dishwasher even though it is not what you had in mind. Ours is underbench and we are getting it through ADH so that it is installed before we move in. Looking forward to the 'moved-in' photos https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 252Sep 26, 2012 8:33 pm I was wondering how you are finding your house now that you have been in for a while. Do you notice a difference with the hebel/double glaze/good insulation? And also. how are you finding the smartstart HWS? https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 253Sep 26, 2012 11:27 pm We have only been in for a week. With the warm Adelaide weather we have had, the house is actually getting quite hot and we have had to open some windows. Our louvre system goes in within the next week so hoping that might keep out some of the sun on the warmer days. As for the smart start....me personally...don't ask. It still takes about 2 minutes for hot water to get to our bathroom. I am a hot shower person and normally a hot shower should be about 42 degrees. I am putting our temp on its max of 50 and its the right temp! I am currently running some timing tests to see if it is actually saving any time. I thikn the answer is no! Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 254Sep 27, 2012 2:09 pm It's time for a bit of an update me thinks. This will be a bit of a long post, so I apologise. I might even break it up a bit to make for easier reading. So the story went like this. We had handover inspection on 28th August. That went pretty well. A few minor things here and there, like paint touch-ups, some cleaning up around the house, a stuck privacy lock, a fly screen that didn't fit properly and the like, but nothing major. So we decided to part with the last of our money and get the keys on Friday 31st August. However, because we couldn't move in straight away, we had actually arranged that the appliances and HWS were not installed yet at this stage to minimize the risk of them "walking away" from the unoccupied house. We had to do this because we still needed to finish off the extra things that we did outside of the building contract. The air-conditioner needed to be installed, the 2nd fix for our 'smart cabling' needed to be done, the ducted vacuum 2nd fix needed to be finished and most importantly, the flooring needed to be laid before we could get into the house. So for the next 2 1/2 weeks after we got the keys we tried to organize all of the tradies and get everything done. There were a few dramas, as there always are, but in the end it all worked out OK. Most notable was the "air conditioning incident". The outdoor unit for the air conditioner has to sit on the ground. However, we do not have any path installed around the house yet, only the dirt the builders left. So the installers suggested that they could build up a pad and put some concrete pavers down to sit the air conditioning unit on. I said OK, so that the thing gets installed. However, when I saw that they had just put down a few bags of sand (without even compacting it) and then put the pavers and the unit on top of that, I didn't think that was such a good idea. I asked one of the guys: "Is that all you are going to do? Is that going to be stable?" And he looked at me and said: "Yes, that's it. But I don't think this will hold very long. The sand is going to wash away with rain and the unit will dig itself into the soft sand because it is vibrating." So I told them that i wasn't happy with that and that they can't continue. After talking to their boss, everyone agreed that this wasn't going to work and that a proper concrete pad needed to be put there. Therefore we had to go and find someone to pour a little 1.5m x 0.7m concrete pad for us. Since we were aware of the problem now, we wanted a 2m x 2m area poured for the rainwater tank as well, so we wouldn't run into similar problems when we're installing that later on. Still, that job was too small for a lot of concreters and it took a few calls to finally find someone who was willing to do it. With that done, the air conditioning installers were finally able to come back and finish the installation. Finally the floorboards in the living area and tiles in the kitchen/dining area were laid. We were a bit nervous about how the floorboards would look, because of the angles and everything, but it turned out really good. Below a few photos of the rooms with the flooring laid: Living Area: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Main Bedroom: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bedroom: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Dining: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 255Sep 27, 2012 2:18 pm The next drama came when we asked for the kitchen appliances and HWS to be installed. I got a call from the plumber telling me: "Mate you will have to smash up the tiles in the kitchen where the dishwasher is going. It doesn't fit under the benchtop." At first I was a bit confused, but then I thought: SMASH my tiles? Are you crazy? I just had those laid yesterday and I'm not going to destroy them just because the kitchen company f....d up with the measurements. As it turns out, the dishwasher we had chosen (fully integrated Bosch) is an XL model, that is taller than the standard models. However, the dishwasher cavity was only build to standard height. Someone at the kitchen company didn't pay attention! After a bit of toing and froing, the only sensible solution was for us to chose a different dishwasher. So we downgraded to the semi-integrated Bosch model, which has pretty much the same features as the one we originally chose, except for being semi-integrated instead of fully integrated. Problem with that though is that the Bosch appliances come from Melbourne and there is a 2 week wait for delivery. So at the moment we are without a dishwasher and have to do the dishes by hand! Moving day was on 18th September. We had already started to move boxes and a few other things into the garage of the new house, but there was still so much stuff. We had 3 guys from Harrow Removals with a big truck come to help us with all the furniture and they were awesome! Very friendly, very careful, very professional. They did a great job moving all of our stuff. One thing I completely underestimated was the large amount of crap we had stored in our old shed. I thought there were only a few boxes and things there but it didn't seem to end. We will need to sort through all of that and give away / throw out a lot of that. It is just insane what accumulates in storage areas like that. We only moved the basic things straight into the house and piled all the rest of it into the garage. At the end of that we had a double garage plus extended storage area at the back of it piled full of boxes, furniture and stuff! It took a massive effort to dig through all of that over the next few days and sort at least some of it out. After a bit over a week, it is starting to look a bit better, but I think we will require a big skip to get rid of a lot of the rubbish that has accumulated and of the extra stuff we don't want/need anymore and can't give away otherwise. Apart from all of the unpacking and sorting through boxes, we have also found some time to extend our spending spree further. A new dryer, a new dishwasher and new rugs are among the purchases to go with the new house. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 256Sep 27, 2012 2:37 pm So now that we have been living in the house for a bit over a week and things finally start to settle down, I have to say that I love our house. It really works well and the things we wanted to achieve when we planned it all seem to have come off. Of course there are a few minor things that could have been done a little bit better, but on the whole I am very happy with the house. Especially considering that it was a custom design. dreamcometrue I was wondering how you are finding your house now that you have been in for a while. Do you notice a difference with the hebel/double glaze/good insulation? And also. how are you finding the smartstart HWS? I have definitely noticed that the house doesn't cool down as quickly in the evenings as the old house did. So I think there is definitely some benefit to the extra insulation. As far as our HWS and the Smartstart goes I think we are still in a bit of a learning curve. We noticed that there is a bit of an issue with the distance between the HWS and our Ensuite. For the first couple of days we were in the house, we didn't have the controllers installed yet, so didn't have the Smartstart system working either. The Ensuite is probably a bit too far away and so without the Smartstart, it took a very, very long time to get hot water there. Now that everything is installed and working, it is actually quite good with the Smartstart. You have to activate the Smartstart and then wait 4 to 5 min. After that, I have hot water within 15 sec or so, where before it took 4 min! It is just a bit in the timing to turn on the Smartstart, let it do its thing and then start the shower straight away before the water in the pipes cools down again! ingrid74 As for the smart start....me personally...don't ask. It still takes about 2 minutes for hot water to get to our bathroom. I am a hot shower person and normally a hot shower should be about 42 degrees. I am putting our temp on its max of 50 and its the right temp! I am currently running some timing tests to see if it is actually saving any time. I think the answer is no! Ingrid is not only a hot shower person, she is also a little impatient. She probably needs to wait a little bit longer before starting the shower to let the Smartstart be more effective. As for the temperature, I think this might have to do with the long run from the HWS to the Ensuite. I'm afraid that the water is cooling down quite a bit in the pipes on the way to the Ensuite and therefore comes out of the shower several degrees cooler than it came from the HWS. We will have to look into that a bit to make sure the HWS heats the water to the desired temperature and that the heat loss along the way is minimised. I might look into putting some extra insulation around the pipes. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 257Sep 27, 2012 4:49 pm Phew ... that was a long post ... but a good one! Glad you got through the cr@p and got everything sorted out ... now just to go through all that stuff you don't need! You are where we were exactly a year ago ... and we are just about ready to plant the back garden - good luck with settling in and enjoy your lovely home - the floors look great! For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 258Sep 27, 2012 8:04 pm ^^^ +1! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 259Sep 27, 2012 8:11 pm Wow - one of the best updates I've read! So glad you are happy with the house, I still love that corner in the living area by the two windows, and the floors look lovely I also like hot showers and I don't really understand about the water cooling down before it reaches the shower. Once the shower is running the water will stay hot, won't it, as it is continually moving through the pipe? Quote: I might look into putting some extra insulation around the pipes. Does that mean the pipes are on the outside of the wall then? I would have thought they would be inside the frame. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: IMJAS' House in SA - We have KEYS!!! 260Sep 27, 2012 11:17 pm Mclaren Phew ... that was a long post ... but a good one! Glad you got through the cr@p and got everything sorted out ... now just to go through all that stuff you don't need! You are where we were exactly a year ago ... and we are just about ready to plant the back garden - good luck with settling in and enjoy your lovely home - the floors look great! Thanks Mclaren. There still is a lot of stuff in the garage. But 95% of what belongs in the house is unpacked and in place now. I am going to take a load of ewaste to the recycling depot tomorrow and then we will try to sell/give away some of the superfluous things that have accumulated. Next step is to get some of the outside organised. Our Vergola will be installed next week and then we can do the storm water and think about the decking for the outdoor entertainment area. We also have to get the driveway and perimeter paving done. Then we will need a retaining wall along the "side frontage" of the house. And that isn't thinking about any landscaping yet! So much to do still. I will be glad if I get to look into landscaping the backyard in a years time. At this stage it looks more like it will take us a lot longer. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52680 SiteStart 19/11/11 Slab 10/12/11 Frame 17/02/12 Roof 3/05/12 LockUp 22/06/12 Handover 31/08/12 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39756 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23405 You have mandatory building inspections and privately engaged building inspections. The difference between the two comes down to inspecting the building so it's safe and… 3 18083 |