Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Do you have any regrets? 21Apr 26, 2012 12:31 am Shame you have not had a good sales rep, ours has been really good and moving along pretty fast even though our land titles are not due for a few weeks. The one reason we went basic plan then upgraded certain things was the price of the display home had lots of things we did not need and if we deducted them the credit was not really worth it. Could you not get a base price and add the things you want to compare? Could you not speak with another sales rep for summit or tell the one you have that you are frustrated with the slow process and thinking of changing builder? Surely this will jog them along? As for the garden, we had a large garden and a dog who would lay on the alfresco in the shade, as others have said, it's more about getting them out for walks and long runs, we struggled with keeping it neat and tidy, paid a gardener every fortnight as we had four lawns and OH works away. Our next build is to be a low maintanence small garden with larger alfresco as we all hate sitting in the sun yet love entertaining out doors. Go and have another look at the display home, see if you feel the same, Good luck with what ever you decide to do. Re: Do you have any regrets? 22Apr 26, 2012 12:42 am We wanted to build about 8 years ago, when we purchased our previous house. But it was too difficult at the time. Then when I was pregnant I wanted to build, but again, difficult especially with finance and we didn't want to rent. We regretted and regretted...until we both said, stuff it, an established home is NOT going to get us what we want, lets sell, rent and build and yes, live in transition for awhile, but worth it in the end. And we have not been happier! If building is in the mix of what you want, you will always have doubts later if you don't. As for display vs standard house, we got the basic house and upgraded what we want. Now to look at it, it is really a mix of the two, but at an affordable price for us. We are going higher in our mortgage then we wanted, but we can afford the higher repayments, we just didn't want to! Now we are paying more, but happier with our decisions and having a fantastic house. Think about how long you want to live in the house for. If it is 10 years plus, invest the money to make it yours. If it is only a 5 year thing so you can upgrade later, do it cheaper. We know in 5 years time if we went to sell our house we wouldn't get our money back (based on todays market)...but we haven't built for investment, we have built the family home As for whether to stay with your current builder, that is entirely up to you. only you know what to do on that one as you know who you are dealing with and who else you have dealt with. it is also your $2000. To me $2000 is a lot of money...means a few upgrades in the house! But in the scheme of things, $2000 is what compared to $200000... Can you afford the loss if you have doubts? Goodluck with your decisions. Re: Do you have any regrets? 23Apr 26, 2012 12:43 am Smarty pants Go and have another look at the display home, see if you feel the same, Good luck with what ever you decide to do. The display home we chose have already been sold and closed down, so we can't go back and take another look. Last week our sales rep sent us email saying that we'll have our plans drawn this week (they were supposed to be done mid march), however still no call. The more we wait the more we become uncertain and more things we want to change to give up altogether. At first we were extremely happy with the display home but now we see more houses and getting more doubts about our decisions. It's the case of "the less you know - the better you sleep". I see that prices are going up on the build and we're afraid that if we back out now the similar house will cost us more... I just want to I'm 32, been married for 10 years, lived in many rentals so we know what we don't want but there is so much more options out there. We're too old for our first experiment house so we can move on in 5 years, so we're looking at house we'll stay for a very looooooong time. Maybe that's what scares us... we're afraid to make a mistake and will have to live with it. Re: Do you have any regrets? 24Apr 26, 2012 1:07 pm You keep saying you are old - 32yro is but a youngin' A lot of people here building their own house are much older, so don't feel too down on that If you are feeling undecided then maybe just take your time and not rush a decision. Maybe start to look around at other display homes to see if something double storey will fit better and give you more yard space? Perhaps the most important question - do you like the area where your site is? If yes, then building your house there will be great. If not, then don't compromise. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Do you have any regrets? 25Apr 27, 2012 12:58 pm As newly weds (or almost newly weds when we signed the contract for our build) cash was pretty tight and therefore we couldn't build a house as big as we wanted. We ended up taking out a bedroom and turning it into an open area to watch tv/rumpus. In terms of functionality it was great and from our lifestyle point of view it fit our needs exactly. However when we went to sell 3 years later, interest in our place was down, because having this open area meant that we only had 3 bedrooms instead of 4. Everyone who walked through our open house apparently commented that they loved the house but wanted 4 bedrooms. Fortunately in the 5th week a young couple came through and saw the house in the same way that we had envisaged - they loved the open space and didn't have the need for the 4th bedroom. So what I learned last time was that while it is ok to design for your lifestyle, you also need to consider what buyers may want in 5-10 years time. And if you can go bigger, its better! Re: Do you have any regrets? 26Apr 27, 2012 1:55 pm that is a very useful story atom_ute, thanks. And a good reminder. I don't think our house would resale very well as it is very much customised to our personal needs... Lucky we plan to stay for the next 20 years! I just remembered one regret that we have (NB: we are still part way through our build). And that is that we spent over $20K on our plans and Council approval. The $3,300 at the beginning for the architect to draw up the concept was 100% worth it. But we then went to a planning company who did up all the designs and plans for Council. (This planning company was related to the project home builder we were wanting to build with, so it all made sense at the time). But now that we went with another builder who has a great in-house drafts person and they don't charge even half the other fees, it would have saved us $10K to have gone to them direct. That's our one regret. But you only know what you know (and intend) at the time. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: Do you have any regrets? 27Apr 27, 2012 2:37 pm SunshineT That's our one regret. But you only know what you know (and intend) at the time. I wouldn't regret anything Sunshine. Obviously somehow that original outlay of $$$ has put you on a new course and as a result you are still getting a beautiful home. With my previous post I forgot that I was posting in a 'regrets' thread.... Do I regret taking out that 4th bedroom? No - the three years in that place were amazing and I wouldn't change anything about the original design. Did I learn something? Yes and I have subsequently applied those learnings into our new design. This is going to be a little Zen - I don't have regrets - life is too short to worry about something that has happened in the past and can't be changed. However it is a fool who doesn't learn from their mistakes/experiences. You'll know better for the next build Sunshine..... Re: Do you have any regrets? 28Apr 27, 2012 3:56 pm atom_ute SunshineT This is going to be a little Zen - I don't have regrets - You'll know better for the next build Sunshine..... Next build?! Not sure I could cope ... (but after all this learning... Don't tell DH ). As for being Zen - I TOTALLY agree. I try to apply that philosophy to our build (esp. after our demo pipe disaster), but the irony is that is the name of our builder, so I always laugh whenever I think of being "Zen about our build" SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5807 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 39715 i had the my concreters concrete right up to the fence. I have pits all along my path, so the water tends to drain away from the house and into the pits. There's only one… 7 12773 |