Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 24, 2012 1:53 pm Hello everybody.
Here is our timeline. The story is below ========================= TIMELINE: Land Deposit Paid: 15 Oct 2011 House Deposit Paid: 10 Nov 2011 Land Titles Issued: 8 May 2012 HIS Signed: 17 May 2012 Loan Approved: 12 June 2012 Pre-Start: 13 & 25 June 2012 Land Settlement: 30 July 2012 Building Licence Issued: 3 August 2012 Final Plans Signed: 9 August 2012 Siteworks Began: 30 August 2012 Slab Down: 8 September 2012 Slab Inspection: 11 September 2012 Frames Delivered: 13 September 2012 Bricks Delivered: 19 September 2012 Brickwork Commences: 24 September 2012 Brickwork Concluded: 12 October 2012 Rendering: 17 October 2012 Site Clean-Up: 18 October 2012 Roof Components Delivered: 19-23 October 2012 Roof Installation Began: 26 October - 2 November 2012 Intelligent Home & Electrical: 6-12 November 2012 Colorbond Roof Installation: 12 November 2012 Plumbing: 15 November 2012 Corner Beading: 16 November 2012 Site Clean: 20 November 2012 Grey Float: 21-22 November 2012 Ceiling & Cornices Delivered: 26 November 2012 Ceiling & Cornices Installation: 27-28 November 2012 Plaster: 3-7 December 2012 Stacker Doors: 8 December 2012 Windows Glazing: 10 December 2012 Lock-Up: 14 December 2012 Kitchen, Laundry & Bathroom Cabinets: 14 December 2012 Internal and External Doors Installed: 14 December 2012 Ceiling Painted: 18 December 2012 Wet Areas Screeding & Waterproofing: 19-21 December 2012 Christmas Break: 22 December 2012 - 14 January 2013 During Christmas Break: Kitchen Benchtop Installed, Wet Area Tiling, Other Benchtops Delivered, Theatre Platform Installed Back To Work: 14 January 2013 Garage Grano: 14 January 2013 Intelligent Homes Wiring: 18-21 January 2013 Solar HWS Installed: 21 January 2013 Oven Installed: 22 January 2013 GPOs, Light Switches Installation: 21-25 January 2013 Robes Sliding Doors Installed: 29 January 2013 External Cladding Delivered: 29 January 2013 Cupboards Refitted: 30 January 2013 External Cladding Installed: 5 February 2013 Garage Door Installed: 5 February 2013 Stone Benches Installed: 5 February 2013 Ensuite, Bathroom & Laundry Sinks Installed: 5 February 2013 Wet Area Tiling Finished: 5 February 2013 Tapware Installed: 6 February 2013 Cornices Installed: 7 February 2013 Hotplate Installed: 7 February 2013 Kitchen Splashback: 12 February 2013 Rangehood Installed: 13 February 2013 Final Plumbing: 13 February 2013 Fly Screens Delivered: 18 February 2013 Shower Screens: 19 February 2013 Final Electrical: 22 February 2013 Bathroom/Ensuite Mirrors: 26 February 2013 Clean-Up: 26 February 2013 Outside Render Painted: 1 March 2013 Sealant To All Benchtops: 5 March 2013 Door Furniture Installed: 7 March 2013 Flyscreens Installed: 11 March 2013 PCI: 7 March 2013 Handover: 27 March 2013 ========================= After watching and following everyone elses constructions, I think it's time to start my own building thread. We're located in Perth in southern suburbs. So it's time to tell you a little story to begin with... It all started last year (in October to be precise). We looked at few estates in surrounding areas (with 30km) and found a block of land we liked so we put an initial deposit on it. We wanted to get a block which didn't have titles issued, so it will give us extra time to get organised, find a builder and save some more money. So we chose the block that had titles due in June 2012. Then the hardest bit began. We started to look at display homes and trying to choose the builder we'd like to go with. After looking at multiple displays they all started to look pretty much the same that's when it got harder. It's difficult to choose the house you like and the house you can afford. There were couple of houses we found very nice, however starting price was 1 million dollars... maybe for our next build when we win lotto and we'll be 105 years old Decisions were very difficult to make: we narrowed it down to a few builders and excluded few others. Builders like Homebuyers Center and Celebrations had something cheap in their build that you could feel as you walked into display home. Just didn't feel right. Plus their sales reps were really pushy and annoying. Been asked to leave my contact details at one of the homes and then I was getting calls from their sales people and mortgage brokers trying to get us in the door. The others were neither here or there. Even some more expensive builders such as APG didn't really make a big impression on us. Of course there were Webb-Brown and Shelford that looked great but slightly out of our price range. Even though we were looking for the house that we're going to live in for a very long time and didn't want to move in 5 years, so we needed something that will make us somewhat happy. Building cheaper house and then selling it and building again was out of the question. We didn't see us going through that process that many times in our lifetime (but of course who knows). In the end we narrowed it down to Redink, Scott Park, Dale Alcock and Summit Homes. That's where the research began. I must admit that if it wasn't for HomeOne forum our job would be a million times more difficult and more of hitting a piñata in the dark room. Thanks to a lot of members on this forum that helped us select the builder and answered many of our annoying questions. We looked into building with RedInk, but didn't find their designs to be suitable for us. Didn't really liked the long corridors behind the kitchen/living areas. Scott Park didn't really grabbed our attention with their home designs. Dale Alcock had a few that looked ok but their price tag didn't really suited us. Even though they're including 32k worth of extra but actually it's all included in the initial price. You might think that you are getting 32k worth of goods for free but actually you are paying 32k more for the basic house design. That was the major thing that we had to look at: if it's too good to be true it probably is. Same with RedInk who had designs for 190k with everything under the sun included (aircon, floorings, paintings and other stuff). However, apparently it's all the cheap inclusions that you're getting with your promotional home and then they hit you with super priced upgrades. The other thing we wanted to consider was the actual home. We have pretty poor imagination and couldn't really afford to build a home off the plan. It all happened one day when we saw one of the plans and got really excited (it was RedInk's home actually). When we got to the display home we found it to be completely different to what we have imagined. Our hopes and dreams were crushed. We didn't like anything in display home, even though we loved the plan, but in reality it didn't really looked like that, even pictures that were made by professionals looked better than the real thing. That was the turning point for us: the only way to go is to choose the display home. So we started to compare the display homes and trying to choose the one we liked from the moment we walked in. Finally we found a display house that got us very excited and it was in our price range. Sales rep was very confident in whatever he was doing and got us in the door. At that stage our titles weren't issued so there was no pressure on the builder. We signed in November to secure the price and since then there was not much of contact from our sales rep. Finally we had an email in April with our initial plans. Since them of course we visited many more display homes to get some ideas and inspirations. We wanted to change just a few things on our plans to reflect some of the little things we found in newer display homes. So, now we're at the stage of "Anticipation"... We signed our building contacts, our land titles were issued and now we're awaiting on mortgage approval from the bank (thanks to our mortgage broker). The next step is pre-start meeting that were scheduled for middle of June. Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 2May 24, 2012 2:33 pm Sounds awesome, all the best. We're in a simialr boat, we even drew up custom designs, finally have settled on a project builder as we found a good display to suit, we're just adjusting the display designs at the moment, Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 3May 24, 2012 2:38 pm Sounds like you've done your research ... we also built a display home - my DH couldn't imagine what our house might look like so he had to be able to see it and touch it and as we went there countless times it proved a great idea ... and it does feel strange to live in a "display home" but of course it's much nicer when it's got your touches. Good luck with your build - look forward to following your journey ... let us see your plans and anything else you have when you're ready ... 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: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 4May 24, 2012 4:05 pm Which display home did you choose? I know what you mean about the 'cheaper' builders and the feel of their houses. We spent a lot of time looking at the workman ship of the display home. Prior to prestart I found it was good to go back to display homes and look at particular things, e.g. what rooms looked like that had mirror sliding doors, what tiles and patterns were used in their bathrooms. This is the fun and stressful part of the build. It is worth asking them to price absolutely anything that comes into your head, its amazing how little some changes cost, and how stupidly expensive other things are. For example, a cavity sliding door cost less than $300 to install, and upgades to mirrored sliding doors arent very expensive either, but the roller door on my appliance cupboard was over $1000! It is also amazing how much money can be saved for removing things. We got around $3000 back for doing away with one of those fancy (and noisy) garage doors. Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 5Jun 03, 2012 7:56 pm Waiting on finance approval as apparently bank messed up and didn't include variation cost (valuation error). We were supposed to have all things sorted last week. Very concern as out deadline is 7 June. Not sure what will happen if we miss it: do you forfeit the land or do we pay penalty fees? Does anyone know? Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 6Jun 03, 2012 7:59 pm alt0160 It is also amazing how much money can be saved for removing things. We got around $3000 back for doing away with one of those fancy (and noisy) garage doors. Are you talking about this door ? We wanted to go with this door but now don't think we'll go as it's over 4k for plastic insert that can be cut with a knife (apparently)... Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 7Jun 03, 2012 9:04 pm Prestart will be so exciting! It's a good chance as well to really 'imagine' your future house with all accessories Don't worry, anticipation will soon lead to bigger and better! Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 8Jun 03, 2012 10:30 pm Thought I would upload our current house plan. I cleaned it up a bit by removing unnecessary info, just to give an idea of the house.
Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 9Jun 04, 2012 8:07 am AubinGroveFan Waiting on finance approval as apparently bank messed up and didn't include variation cost (valuation error). We were supposed to have all things sorted last week. Very concern as out deadline is 7 June. Not sure what will happen if we miss it: do you forfeit the land or do we pay penalty fees? Does anyone know? Hi AubinGroveFan, we didnt have our finance approved in time for land settlement, our conveyencer organised settlement 10 days after the original settlement date. it cost us in penalties about $600 all up. they work it out as intrest paid to the developer until settlement. hope that eases your mind a little, you wont loose your block. Goodluck. Re: Our New Build (Stage 1: Waiting for Finance Approval) 10Jun 11, 2012 11:11 pm Little update: Our settlement was supposed to be on 7 June, however bank didn't do valuation correctly and forgot to include variations cost. So our mortgage broker had to call them for them to start again. Today he received email saying that they were missing couple of signatures so the process is being delayed. Getting very stressed as our pre-start (first part) is scheduled for this Wednesday. On top of everything there is a public holiday over east so our broker couldn't speak to anyone. Hoping we'll get a call/confirmation tomorrow. Re: Our New Build (Stage 1: Waiting for Finance Approval) 11Jun 12, 2012 9:26 am Hi Aubin Grove Fan, Your floor plan looks great..... very interested to see your ensuite looks massive.... Which Builder did you end up signing with..... btw Aubin Grove is a great new suburb.... fingers crossed about your block to settle soon but we had delays in ours due to the banks and we were not charged anything Good Luck Re: Our New Build (Stage 1: Waiting for Finance Approval) 12Jun 12, 2012 12:12 pm marybond2012 Hi Aubin Grove Fan, Your floor plan looks great..... very interested to see your ensuite looks massive.... Which Builder did you end up signing with..... btw Aubin Grove is a great new suburb.... fingers crossed about your block to settle soon but we had delays in ours due to the banks and we were not charged anything Good Luck Hi MaryBlond. We went with Summit Homes. Waiting for a call from our mortgage broker today... fingers crossed... plus on top of that last minute doubts about colour selections pre-start is tomorrow morning... Re: Our New Build (Stage 1: Waiting for Finance Approval) 13Jun 12, 2012 12:20 pm Just received SMS from our mortgage broker - our loan has been approved !!! Re: Our New Build (Stage 2: Loan Approved) 15Jun 12, 2012 12:42 pm CONGRATULATIONS wooo hooo Now the fun begins Re: Our New Build (Stage 2: Loan Approved) 16Jun 12, 2012 12:42 pm CONGRATULATIONS wooo hooo Now the fun begins Re: Our New Build (Stage 2: Loan Approved) 18Jun 14, 2012 2:28 pm Been to pre-start yesterday. It was the first part (colour selections), we've decided to split electrical and regular pre-start to make sure we don't rush. We started at 8:30am and were out at 11:30am, so the whole thing only took 3 hours. We came kind of prepared with our notes, ideas, options and selections. The only thing we didn't think about was internal doors we thought they were painted in one colour but apparently we had to choose colour (... big fail ...)
Ended up asking a lot of quotes (don't know if our pre-start lady got annoyed but tough love... it would be easier for the builder if they had price list out so we didn't need to ask). For example garage door that we originally wanted (with macrolon insert) is $4700 (never mind...scrap that...), we'll go with standard timber look door (included with the build). The other shock was underneath garbage bin for the kitchen, originally our sales rep told us that it would cost us about hundred bucks for it, however the cost is about $680 for Hafele brand. So, now we're waiting on the cost variations from pre-start lady. Our electrical pre-start is next week. Now we're trying to figure out our electrical needs. We visited Intelligent Homes and got a quote from them so now trying to see what else we might need. Surprisingly we didn't get anything offered for free like some other builders do at pre-start Re: Our New Build (Stage 0: Anticipation) 19Jun 14, 2012 3:28 pm AubinGroveFan We wanted to go with this door but now don't think we'll go as it's over 4k for plastic insert that can be cut with a knife (apparently)... Yes, thats the door. I heard they are really noisy, never heard about the knife part! Great idea splitting prestart, I think ours took 6 or so hours, and that was with a detailed list of all the things we wanted to change! Ahh electrical, we still stuffed that up. Are you having one of those fancy air conditioners installed that senses the temperature in each room? We had conduits run for each room sensor - you can get wireless ones, but we suck at changing bateries. Things sound like they are going well, so pleased! Congratulations on loan approval Re: Our New Build (Stage 3: Pre-Start Fun Time) 20Jun 14, 2012 3:32 pm Just looked at your floor plan, it looks great. I see something there that caught me out - the window is not central in space between the walk in robe and the wall. Have you noticed that? Can you give advice on how to get missing certificates needed for a form 21? Our bank requires us to provide one but we are missing 4 building certificates from our first… 3 71777 yes it does, you've just not understood it. theres a difference. 4 5314 Your house should come in "as new" condition. It should be clean, and without stains 1 4550 |