Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 22, 2012 12:34 pm Hi Guys, We are going to be building with Hotondo in the Jackson's View estate in Drouin, Vic. Land doesnt settle until April 2013 and we wont be building until at least October 2013 but we're trying to get the building contracts in now so that we are still eligible for the $26,500 first home buyers grant etc (plus, if we build within 18 months of titles, we get an extra $5000 to go towards it!!) What we're after in a house is mainly these things; 1. 4 bedrooms of reasonable size (master doesnt have to be huge but 1 of the other bedrooms must be longer as both our boys will be sharing it - we are planning on having more bubs in the next few years, hence the reason for so many bedrooms) 2. Big kitchen with lots of cupboard space, room for a double door fridge & a big pantry (preferrably walk in) - I dont like my kitchen to feel cramped. 3. A study - not necessarily a big one, but big enough to fit a computer desk, filing cabinet and room to put a blow up queen mattress with a little bit of extra room for guests bags and room to walk around the mattress.... 4. Rumpus room for kids - again, doesnt need to be huge but just enough for them to have their own space. 5. Extra storage space as we will have 2 tall freezers side by side and just room for general junk lol! 6. A decent size alfresco - doesnt all need to be under the roofline (but if we could expand with a stratco roof or something later on, or maybe even have the whole alfresco under a stratco roof - we're open to ideas there. 7. Dining area must fit a big square table & chairs. 8. 2 living areas. 9. Lots of linen/storage space. 10. A WIR that is different to the standard ones in most houses. We've narrowed it down to 3 designs but cant decide where to go from here. Design A http://imageshack.us/f/823/p4220042.jpg/ This one is our favourite one but the very base price is $254,000. Please excuse the writing & lines in highlighter, these were just ideas that we had (but we really have no idea) What we love about this one is the kitchen (ok, I love the kitchen, hubby doesnt really care) the separate family/dining (the house we're in at the moment has one long room & I much prefer them separated somehow) and the WIR behind the bed. What we would want to do to it is - possibly put the study elsewhere so it can have a window, add a small room as a rumpus & put the alfresco at the back, rather than at the side of the house. Design B http://imageshack.us/f/837/p4220040.jpg/ We like the size of this one but base price is $259,000. What we like about the design is that it has the games room which we would turn into the boys bedroom and open up one of the other bedrooms to make it a kids rumpus room. Make the meals room bigger & change the kitchen a bit, and change the WIR (thats the standard one I meant earlier) What we dont like is the powder room basin and the price mainly lol!! Design C http://imageshack.us/f/853/p4220041x.jpg/ This one is a lot smaller and the base price is $209,000 (much more appealing). I dont mind having a smaller house, so long as it doesnt feel cramped too much. What I like about it is that it has all the rooms we want - but I would want to extend the side walls out just to make it that little bit bigger. I'm not sure how much extra this would cost us. What we would like to do is change the study from being near the dining to the front of the house, on the garage side to make it double fronted (I like windows on both sides of my entrance door) probably make the ensuite smaller as it is HUGE, put a storage cupboard in near the study at the front of the house and make the kitchen bigger. If we can push both side walls out without it costing us an arm & a leg then I think I would more than likely go with this one, that way we have more money to play with to put a reverse cycle ducted aircon in, solar hot water, a bigger tank? and upgrade carpets, paint etc - and generally just make it a little bit fancier than a plain old boring house lol!! Ok, if you're still reading - any ideas on what we could do to the floorplans would be a huge help! We're willing to cut back in the first 2 designs to make them a little smaller if need be - just to push the price down a bit. Otherwise, design C might be the way to go. Also, if you could give us rough ideas on how much extra we would be spending on top of the base price that would be awesome. We dont want a lavish, show off house but something nice would be good (I am willing to put more money into things to help keep it clean - we have 2 boys who will be under 5 when the house is finished so am driven crazy by the marks on the walls, stains on the carpet etc etc!!) Thanks, Kimmy87 Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 2Apr 22, 2012 4:10 pm I like B best. It seems to have everything you want with minimal changes. Each change to the plan is likely to cost you $$. Good luck with the decision! Casey + Gary + 5 kool kiddos + 1 funky Frenchie + 5 happy hens = barrels of fun in Muswellbrook Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 3Apr 22, 2012 5:22 pm When you are thinking about changing plans you should remember just that you could be up for 10-15% to get a house as you want it and deal with things like site costs. Thats before increasing the floor plan and spending money on better fittings. Your $209,000 house can very quickly cost over $250,000. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 4Apr 22, 2012 7:26 pm I like c, b seems to have a REALLY long hall, that might be dark , sorry thegilbeys. (and it is really boring!) I like the rumpus near the kids rooms, I like it doesnt have a long hall, and it doesnt seem as far from master bed to a screaming child at 2 am... Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 6Apr 22, 2012 8:00 pm Thanks heaps for your input guys!! When we originally spoke to the builder they said that making the house a little bit bigger might not cost too much and that the main reason why some of their plans cost more is because of the roofline - or something like that! I think its definitely going to depend on the costs, which we wont (roughly) know until we go in and speak to them again =) which should hopefully be within the next couple of weeks! Will let you know what we decide to go with!! Kimmy87 Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 7Apr 22, 2012 8:05 pm the valleys (cutting the tiles to make them) are what costs..so I have heard. a roofer person on here may know why roof lines can become SOOOO much more expensive! Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 8Apr 22, 2012 8:13 pm Plan A has best potential for passive solar orientation... Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 9Apr 22, 2012 9:03 pm Are you sure you can enter a build contract whilst your land is not registered? Building with Jandson Homes - Eclipse 18. http://adgnetworks.blogspot.com/ Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 10Apr 22, 2012 9:57 pm Thanks Kiwi, hubby thought it had something to do with how the roof was engineered, for some reason the houses with the bigger open areas are more expensive. I guess they have to put more bracings in or something but I really have NFI Deemaree, thanks for that - we are really trying to be conscious about how the house is going to be energy wise etc - our block is east/west facing (east at the back, west at the front) which is good as if we end up getting solar panels for electricity and hot water they will go on the north side which is apparently the way they need to be! Our builder is fantastic though, they will look at a house plan and tell you what needs to be done to get more stars energy wise! There is probably a better way to phrase that but I am not good with the whole builders lingo!! adgn, we've been speaking to the builder for a few months now as we were originally looking at another block but that one sold and then this one came up (and turns out it was better haha). They are more than happy for us to sign the contract now, even though there is at least 18 months until we build. They will hold the pricing for 12 months from when we sign and then it will probably change a bit because of the carbon tax etc. We've explained the situation, they're a local builder & have a good working relationship with the developers of the estate we've put the deposit down in and they know the full story. I'm sure there are other builders out there who wont but they have been sooooo helpful. And if for some reason we cant get the loan or something happens with the block when it comes to titles or something and we cant build, then we will just lose the deposit we paid them I guess (and in the case of not being able to get the loan, the deposit we put on the block too) but we've spoken to a mortgage broker & a bank manager and they're both fairly confident that if we save up the extra 15% for the deposit that we'll get it - so we were willing to take that risk based on their advice Keep the ideas & info coming guys!! Every little bit helps x Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 11Apr 23, 2012 6:19 am Just some of my thoughts. Design A-Put the kids play area where the computer is, put the study where the alfresco is and put the alfresco behind the kitchen / family. Design B- The meals area is definitely too small for a large table and a large family, the family room is too big and the kitchen needs help so this area needs a redesign. Put the bath along the wall with the shower, move the toilet door back and put the basin in a little alcove jutting into the bathroom. Put linen/broom cupboards opening into hall opposite bathroom and new hall entry off family room. Design C-Bedrooms 2/3 and theatre look very small & agree with extension, study size and position questionable. Will put copy of my plan up for ideas as it allows for every item on your list but you would have to squash the kids into bed 3 and the gym and have bed 2 as kids rumpus with a sofa bed in there for guests. This house is marketed to use the study as a nursery with an opening through to Bed 1. Our base price was $205k and we ended up paying $322k to the building company (heaps of upgrade$ plus drop edge beams and fill) then add all the extras on top after handover. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Regards, Grumbles Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 12Apr 23, 2012 8:02 am Thanks heaps for the ideas grumblebum! When you say the total was $322k was that including absolutely everything - front & back landscaping, curtains etc? The people whose house we looked in just before handover stage for design A spent $330k on the house alone with the base price of $254,000 but they had a few upgrades we wouldn't want - plus they'd changed the original design around a bit but I preferred theirs to the base one!! But then the upgrades that we want are the expensive ones , like the rc ducted aircon (which I think is an extra $9k), solar hot water and maybe electricity, carpet, paint etc!! I was thinking it may have been cheaper to get the carpet laid by a 3rd party but don't know of anyone that's done this!! Will have to look into it =) we were also going to get the standard tiling done in the bathrooms - which I think they do up to around the skirting - and get them to order extra so hubby can do the floor to ceiling tiles later on but that's not a necessity, just something I'd do if we had a bit of extra $$$ lol Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 13Apr 23, 2012 10:22 am gb you have a gym and a bar..whoaoaoao! workout party at yours. Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 14May 15, 2012 10:27 am Hi guys, Just an update - we ended up going with design A, the one we liked most =) I've started my own thread in case you want to keep up with progress!! Which will be veeeeeery slow as titles arent expected until at least April next year (and it won't bother me at all if they're pushed back 6-12 months as it gives us longer to save for a car & for landscaping!!) Thanks for all your advice & thoughts! Hope to chat with you all soon! Kimmy x Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 15May 15, 2012 10:32 am you mean I didnt win!!??? boo hoo, but congrats on a plan though Re: Narrowed it down to 3 designs....any ideas?? 16May 15, 2012 1:50 pm kiwi you mean I didnt win!!??? boo hoo, but congrats on a plan though Haha nah.....our hearts won out over our heads!! The floorplan is COMPLETELY different though (well, not completely, but we have changed quite a bit), works much better for us we think =) Would anyone on this forum know of a builder/company in Brisbane with house designs for a shallow block. I have a block 20 x 20 so with front and rear set backs I need a… 0 4716 Your best bet might be to go visit the display homes and walk around in them, and take photos. Get a feel for it in person instead of deciding from the floor plan. There… 1 21348 How long is a "long period"? For a few weeks, it should be ok. It also depends on the area you live in...I would let your neighbours know that you will be away too and… 1 28544 |