Building with HBC in Piara Waters - Ultimate Entertainer

Hi my names Nikita and my partners name is Nathan.

Nath signed up for a home and land package with the homebuyers centre and stockland back in October 2011 and finalyl everything is sorted and we can start thinking about pre-start and furniture and everything else we will need as we are doing heaps ourselves.

This is the first time that either of us have built and are at a bit of a loss as to how everything works.

Nath works fifo so I have been left to fill out our file and try and picture how everything is going. thank god i am very organised and have divided everything up and then into rooms and so far its going good.

im off to look at tiles and carpets and flooring this weekend

just a few questions for those who are building. How much over did you spend at pre-start. We only have a few upgrades we want to do, more powerpoints through out, more lighting outside (we are having very minimal downlights throughout the house as we are going to get my brother to install them once we move in) also looking at upgrading the kitchen tapware, basins, and maybe the front door too. we are doing the flooring and painting ourselves, just getting the carpet in the bedrooms.

i am very lucky that my dad does home renovations and will be helping us out where possible.

we are making sure that the whole process is a happy one and not one that is stressful.

Have been reading heaps of the posts on here and have some fantastic ideas that i have been noting down and when pre-start comes i know to do that, and the whole process of building will be photographed especially as nath wont be half the time.

any tips you can give us would be very much appreciated.


Nikita

Welcome to the club

We are also building with the HBC, the Ultimate St Marks, up in Banksia Grove, and we're a couple of weeks away from our pre-handover inspection.

At first we spent just over $3000 during pre-start, which was fine because our sales rep had allocated $5000 for it, so we went back and bumped it up to about $3500 just adding whatever sounded good. We spent $750 on more power points - if I remember correctly they were $70 for a single, $80 for a double. Really, really enjoyed doing that bit

Most of the upgrades really weren't all that expensive, and many of the them, like choosing the types of taps that we wanted, were actually free. One of the main things we wanted was to upgrade to the fan-forced oven, and that only costed us $90.

You'll want to set aside a lot of time for choosing the tiles. We went to Crosby Tiles, and despite allocating a fair bit of time to get that done because we had other things lined up, we still felt rushed. Bear in mind, that it's far from being just tiles - you'll be choosing your bench tops, the colour of your cupboards... everything.

Choosing carpets didn't take too long, but to be honest, that's really just because Carpet Call's free "standard range" was rubbish. Thinking back, I really wish we'd set aside extra to upgrade them. Either way, bear in mind that you'll have to pay Carpet Call directly if you want underlay included, because you won't get it otherwise.

Good luck though. It's a great ride, really. In the coming months, try and save as much as you can. You'll be grateful you did

Wow didn't realise underlay wasnt included. something else to add to the budget. i pretty much have everything choosen like bench tops and cupboards and tiles. we have to be very organised with Nathan working away. we have minimal time together and the house takes priority so getting everything done quickly is the best option.

I have a huge folder of samples and photos and pictures i have found so we have a rough idea of what we want.

Did you leave the cupboards as cupboards? i am thinking i want draws instead of cupboards and my pantry to have draws in them aswell. just got to wait for the costs.

We might be building with homebuyers but its not going to look like a homebuyers house. we really arent going to settle for second best.

We didn't really touch the island bench in the kitchen (nor have we been able to see ours close-up what with being at lock-up) but my assumption is that it includes drawers for things like the cutlery.



Too right mate, and when you're spending many hundreds of thousands, why should you? To be honest, fight for the best deal possible for you and yours when you're doing this, and don't take any crap from them.

we just want to create the best quality home.

we have a budget, but we still want to be able to go our home isnt stock standard.

my task for the next fortnight is to design the bathroom's and the kitchen.

We made quiet a few variations to the plan of the house. adding a wall in theatre room with double doors also making all the robes in the bedrooms doubles, making a cupboard in the activity room which comes out into the family so there is one on either side of the walls with the middle being where the tv will go. we made the pantry a double, we also widened the fridge recess as it was only 900mm and the fridges we are looking at are 900mm so wouldnt really fit proper. also i want to upgrade the stove to a free standing. somethign a bit more decent and i like a gas oven not electric.
the alfresco was also extended to the back wall of the house and i want to make the windows in the family room to doors so we can open the whole house up to the back area.
the ensuite shower was made bigger and we added in double vanities.

we are lucky we have made all these variations and they have just been added to the finance and we are also hoping that all our pre-start amendments will be added to finance too.

who is your rep? have you had any problems with anything so far?

You've made a terrific list of changes already to your home. Bravo to that one. Ask for everything that you want, and remember, there really is no such word as can't.



Our initial sales rep left about a month in, while we were still waiting for our land to title. His replacement was useless, he didn't give a crap, but I won't mention his name here. PM me if you want to talk specifics about people. The girl who did our pre-start was lovely, by far the best, but most of the others we've had have been fine. Not great, but... satisfactory.

We've had our fair share of hiccups, but this thread is about your place. If you want to see where we're at, click the link in my sig for our thread. I promise it'll make for entertaining reading

Hi Nikita!

Welcome to the world of HBC - here's hoping you don't get any hiccups along the way!

Have you done your prestart yet?

We LOVE pics here so make sure you upload your plan and colour selections when you're done

Good Luck!

And if you have any questions, we should be able to help you out

Hi All

Well FANTASTIC news. Finance is approved and we can finally say its our block,

Now the exciting stuff happens. Lots of final decisions to make. Lots of upgrades to be made.

Just wondering about pre-start though and how much everyone spent and on what kind of upgrades and how you go about paying for it all?

We want to change all the kitchen cupboards to draws, in the bathroom we want to turn 2 of the cupboards into draws.

What did eeryone do with lighting?
we want lots of down lights, was also thinking maybe a skylight in the dining/family.

Will post some photos of the block and house plan when I get to my home computer.

But wow I cant believe after the trouble we have had with finance that its all sorted.

We haven't had much trouble with HBC at all except some Eaves Covenant they wanted us to pay for, but that wont be happening.

The guy we dealt with at stockland

Congratulations on finance approval. That's one of the first steps of what will prove to be a very long journey



Our sales rep allocated $5k for pre-start, but we only spent about $3.5k of it. Of course, that was mainly for power points, the home theatre package (local internet provider), upgrading various appliances, adding an external garage door, dishwasher provision, etc.

Before that though, we'd spent just over $4k at the preliminary works stage. That was for structural changes (adding doors or moving/removing walls), and extending of various areas like upgrading the ensuite shower to be a double.

They'd told us a couple of times that if our pre-start spending exceeded the allocated amount, we had to bring cash with us on the day to cover the rest.

We didn't do anything with lighting, but looking back, I do wish I'd replaced some of our normal lights with down lights.

Well our pre-start list is getting bigger and bigger.

Laundry trough - upgrade to stainless steel
Ensuite - upgrade basin and tapware, toilet roll holder, also the soap holder.
Also changing the cabinets, so it will go 2 draws, door, door, 2 draws.
Bathroom 1 - upgrade basin and tapware and soap holder.
Toilet - toilet holder
Laundry - we are tiling that and the toilet the same as the bathrooms.
Kitchen - upgrading the sink, dupboards are becoming draws except under the sink add in a fridge point. also we are taking out there stove and oven and we are purchasing a free standing over.
door handles throughout the house are changing, the front door is also going to be upgraded.

we are also adding in an extra double power point in all bedrooms and making the ones in theatre and living quads and 2 other doubles

We are unsure about the lighting at this stage, will see what the budget allows us to do.

we already made the ensuite with double basin and cupboards, gave the theatre room double doors so we can still get a lounge in and all that. extended the alfresco and also made the pantry double doors and the fridge recess bigger. made all the robes double in the bedroom.

we have splashbacks and shower screens and garage door included so we are lucky with that.

Great news ... sounds like you have a very good idea of what you'd like which helps. Can't wait to see your plans ... and colour choices, etc etc. Good luck with your build - it is a very exciting time!



Enjoy!!

Hey Bundaygal29, were building with HBC too we've literally just finished Pre-Construction and waiting to find out when construction will begin

If your going to Carpet Call for your carpets, you can print off a voucher for free underlay which saves you about $230.

Yay for progressing to the next stage

Do NOT do downlights through HBC - it's convenient yeah but so expensive. We are getting 36 downlights installed the day we move in and it is costing us approx $500 for the labour plus approx $600 for the fittings and globes - compared to around three times that through HBC.

Also things like glass splashback - we are installing day we move in. Costing us $800 compared to a couple of thousand etc.

Any thing that is so much cheaper to do yourselves - do it. It's convenient to get it in you finance and have it done when you move in but when you think about it do you really want to pay thousands of dollars of interest over the next 25 / 30 years for something like a basin or some lights?

If you want downlights put in, change your lighting in those rooms to junction boxes - $10 each!

Thanks for the advise.

We had a very productive weekend. we choose all the tiles for the wet areas, and we made our first payment on the laminate flooring and carpets. Was sitting down talking about it all last night and have changed our minds on the carpet so lucky we can go and change it.

What does the junction box do?

is that sitting in the roof so you can put your own down lights in?
do they cut the hole?

we are doing the splash back ourselves its going to be custom made i think at this stage.

its easier to get the basins put in as they sort of sit out at the front of the counter.

We also picked a front door and handle. The guys at M&B at Homebase were very helpful. We also got Midland Brick to do a mock up colour selectio of the house. Made it seem more realistic.

We haven't been given our settlement date yet, so I am hoping that happens today.

Designed the back yard last night and the front yard.
Very low maintenance, and stylish.

Has anyone seen the Display at Piara Waters?
We are doing a very similar alfresco area to that. just with a few more modcons.

A junction box has all the electrics ready to go and sits in the roof so the electrician that does the downlights just connects these to the junction boxes and installs from there.. A junction box in not a bayonet so there is no hole cut through the ceiling.

What kind of splashback are you having? I got a fantastic price for my glass splashback and ordered it last week, ready for installation the day we move in I can give you his details if you're looking for glass.

Hi Guys

We finally have some great news, Settlement is booked in for the 2nd of March and our pre-start is bookedi n for the 26th March.

we wont have Shire Approval for another 10-12 weeks.

So I have been buying lots of stuff for the house, trying to get everything except all the furniture before we move in so all we have to get is the big furniture.

still havent decided what we are going to do about the lighting yet, pretty confused about it all.

We did that - decided to buy new EVERYTHING - complete new furniture, new tvs, new appliances, new cutlery, new cookware, new whitegoods, new manchester etc.

So we started buying a couple of things a week and storing in the spare bedroom and the last four weeks have had all our new furniture and white goods delivered nice feeling to start in a new house with new things!

Hey Nikita

How is the build coming along?