Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 03, 2012 10:50 am Hi all, I am considering building the Bronte. Apart from minor aesthetic changes I was hoping to gather some feedback from people on any specific mods they did to layout or for improvements to the standard design which aren't the listed options? I'm pretty happy with the standard floorplan but am considering some minor changes such as slightly increasing the size of the garage (front to rear), and maybe adding sliding doors to master ensuite, but not much else. I'd be keen to hear what others have done and if there is anything else I should consider changing? Thanks! Building McDonald Jones Bronte Manor One Contracts Signed Dec 12 DA Lodged Jan 13 DA Consent w/BAL40 Apr 13. S96 Consent w/BAL19 May 13. Slab Complete Jun 13. Frame Brick & Roof Complete Aug 13. Re: McDonald Jones Bronte - Changes to standard design? 2Jun 03, 2012 3:48 pm We were going to build the Bronte, but the council has said no to that idea, so we now have to go with something else. We were not going to make that many changes to it, the only thing was removing the cut out in the hallway that leads to the study and again removing the cut out in the wall that is in the home theatre/main area. The reason for this was in the study there was not going to be that many options as to where to put our office desk and it was quite large, plus I did not want it on display as my office is not always the neatest. With the home theatre, we thought it would be better for noise and to keep it dark in there. There was no additional charges for these. I dont see that it would be an issue increasing the size of the garage at all. Builders usually work on $1,000/m2 so you will just have to be prepared to add the additional cost there. Adding sliding doors would not be a problem either - they would change out the french doors that are there and make them sliding - I think this would be a structural change, so make sure that you get this put in your initial quote. One of the things we wanted to add, but told we couldnt was to add a coffered ceiling to the kids activity area. They said it was due to the roof structure. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: McDonald Jones Bronte - Changes to standard design? 3Jun 03, 2012 5:06 pm Hi jen1777 thanks for responding. Always good to get other peoples ideas. Interesting you mention french doors on the ensuite as the standard plan I am seeing only has square set openings. Maybe mjh havevtaken these out in its designs to save some cost? Building McDonald Jones Bronte Manor One Contracts Signed Dec 12 DA Lodged Jan 13 DA Consent w/BAL40 Apr 13. S96 Consent w/BAL19 May 13. Slab Complete Jun 13. Frame Brick & Roof Complete Aug 13. Re: McDonald Jones Bronte - Changes to standard design? 4Jun 03, 2012 5:13 pm Garage space shouldn't be $1000/sqm, garages tend to be simpler in general ... hopefully it'll cost a fair bit less than that, we were told numbers between around $250/sqm and $450/sqm for garage. The other thing is ... garage increase front-to-back, be careful if the garage extends forward, I know that neither our council (in Sydney) nor the state law in NSW will allow the garage to be any further forward than 1m behind the front of the house. Not knowing the Bronte I dunno if you're only planning on extending the garage rearwards; if so that's unlikely to be a problem from a "rules" POV. Re: McDonald Jones Bronte - Changes to standard design? 5Jun 03, 2012 7:47 pm Sorry Scotty, I misread your post. I read it that you wanted to change the doors to sliding in the main bedroom. Should read things more carefully before posting. I would probably keep the ensuite open. I am sure you will have no problem having doors, but we were living in a Monte Carlo with an open ensuite and it is fine. You dont see the toilet, so we never had a problem with it. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: McDonald Jones Bronte - Changes to standard design? 6Jun 18, 2012 3:50 am Scotty78... we are building the Bronte and we made several changes. We moved the ensuite to the back of the garage and the WIR space as a dressing room between ensuite and master bedroom, with the wall open to both sides (bedhead will be up against other side of wall of WIR). So imagine front to rear - garage, ensuite, no door, WIR, master bedroom. In doing this we had to push the garage forward about 600mm. We added a butler's pantry where the ensuite was. We deleted the extended great room, added an alfresco. Closed in the activity room to be our media room. Deleted the wall and door to what MJH call the media (our living room) to make it open plan L-shape living-dining-kitchen... added an island bench to the kitchen. Deleted the full length verandah to front of house, we will have a patio at front door across the office window to the garage wall. Changed the WIL cupboard door to a cavity sliding door. Finally, opened the office at the entrance and added hall/coat cupboard to office (open to hallway). MJH were very accommodating in helping us include our changes. I hope this helps! Re: McDonald Jones Bronte - Changes to standard design? 7Jun 18, 2012 2:23 pm Hi there. Thanks for all the good ideas. We ended up making the following alterations: larger garage space, wider Master BR with WIR, and converting 2 of the bedrooms into 1 large guest bedroom that we added an ensuite too. Just paid our deposit so looking forward to the excitement of getting the build underway but will have to wait a bit for our land to register though. Building McDonald Jones Bronte Manor One Contracts Signed Dec 12 DA Lodged Jan 13 DA Consent w/BAL40 Apr 13. S96 Consent w/BAL19 May 13. Slab Complete Jun 13. Frame Brick & Roof Complete Aug 13. Hi AKG, We had a base tender of $592 for 31 squares from MC Donald Jones. It looks relatively cheaper than other builders. But I assume there are many hidden things that… 1 13544 What we have done in a few theatres ( including my own) is run 2 layers of 13mm gyprock, but sounds insulation especially for the bass is really tricky as a lot of that… 4 1677 Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 10738 |