Things you forget - summary page 32

We're having a custom design and build, and thanks in part to this thread, we've remembered most things.

But I am Terribly Sad that I didn't think to ask for our doors to be rebated (in this case, rebating is when you cut out a bit of the slab so that the door sill is flush with the floor). We have high sills on all external doors, which is particularly galling when we went to the trouble of putting a ramp in for ease of wheelchair access. I even (way before design even started) bookmarked a photo of a flush floor, door sill and deck, but then it completely fell out of my head. It simply didn't occur to me that this wouldn't be standard. I foresee many trips for first time visitors, just hope nobody really injures themselves.

Can't remember if anyone mentioned skirting boards and architraves?

And solid core doors? (so little extra cost wise and such a huge boost in the sense of a home's solidity)

And really good house numbering? (this can make a difference in how soon an ambulance can find you)

We have a void over our bathroom that's going to have an indoor clothesline.

And we have a solid wall (E0 mdf) under plasterboard where we thought we might want to have wall hung cabinetry and shelves in our lounge.

And powerpoints in medicine cabinets and/or vanities for plugging in electric toothbrush etc (make sure these can't fall in the sink though!!!!).

In one or two other cases, what I had in mind and what the builder had in mind have turned out to be different things, and in many others, if I hadn't been such an opinionated control freak, we would certainly have ended up with the builder's default setting, which would not have been good. I have an evolving checklist in a spreadsheet. I will tidy it up and see if I can post it.

I have gotten a bit slack about documenting things, and whilst nothing has gone terribly wrong, it has made me feel vulnerable. So my final suggestion: get yourself an exercise book and use it to diarise every verbal communication and agreement. If you communicate via email, print them all out and shove them in a folder and/or make sure all emails are backed up!!

e.

<deleted by user - off topic>

Of Course I do.

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_1685



No Offense yo to your mate but does he have his data ticket?



It isn't Isolated tho...

..And when you sell and the next person connects it up to be part of a network/uses it as part of their phone system? No longer isolated. And if they are smart and demand the legally required data certified installers details before purchase?

If it has the ability to become connected it must be installed by someone with a data ticket.

So.. data, think about where and how before your build starts and your contract is signed. .

THIS IS ALL BECOMING OFF TOPIC

If you wish to still talk about it ... please start a new thread.

This has been a very useful thread to a lot of people, and would be a shame to ruin it now.

Guys,

A very common thing to do is install Junction boxes to run outside lights, I have a few sparky mates and one of the suggested running downlights under the eves, you can apparently run 5 downlights for the same power usage as 2 exterior lights. Looks wicked too!

Hi everyone

My suggestion is to take photos at frame stage after the electricians and plumbers have run their pipes (if possible, I know a lot of owners may be locked out).

Today we installed a number of floating shelves in our kids' rooms and had to work out whether there were any electrical, phone or other wires behind the plaster. Although we were pretty confident there weren't, my hubby had to get into the roof and check just to make sure.

So if you can, go into EVERY room and take a photo of every wall, as well as above the roof plaster if you can. Even though you may think you've planned everything, you may want to add something in the future that requires you drilling into the wall. I know there's a lot of walls, but once it's covered with plaster it's hidden, and memories don't count for much when it comes to needing exact placement.

My apologies if this has been added before - I didn't have the time to read through all the past pages.
J-A

We have three things:

1. Drainage for your backyard - our builders didn't suggest anything and we forgot to mention it so poor DH spent a few hours digging up the backyard hooking drains up to the downpipes! Would have been far easier to include it in the plumbing quote!!

2. Soft close drawers - I think this has been mentioned. We completely forgot and I have 17 drawers in total on my kitchen. They definitely would have been better than the constant sound of slamming of my drawers.

3. Refer to pic - I would suggest placing the powerpoint on the side wall tile, this way you can put something pretty in the corner, like a vase or something!!

Hey n&n02

We were quoted something ridiculous for soft-closing drawers sp dropped it. However, try Tim & Tina on this link as he has found one you can fit yourself easily.... http://www.tim-and-tina.com/

Wow thanks for that!! I’ll definetly show my husband, they look really good!

I also thought of more stuff - sorry if some of these have already been mentioned:

1. Extend your garage if possible. We only extended ours to 6m x 6m and it makes all the difference. Possibly consider adding a storage/workshop space as well. We are so glad we did – clears all the clutter away from the cars.

2. Got a front loader washing machine? Consider running your laundry bench the whole way across your laundry. Makes the laundry look more neat and streamlined and I love the extra bench space for folding clothes etc.

3. I added a clear space of 450mm in my laundry to hold a clothes basket. Don’t forget to tell the tiler not to tile this space! We forgot to mention it to the tiler and this space was tiled with skirting tiles so DH had to trim my clothes basket to fit to accommodate the extra width of the tiles layed in that space.

4. Check your building specifications Contract and see what it states about skirting for your tiles. Most builders use your floor tile as the skirting tile and only tile skirting to 200mm. If you want full height skirting, you may have to buy these extra as (imo) full height skirting looks better.

5. Perhaps include a letterbox in your building contract. We only paid $250.00 for ours (brick, rendered and painted) and it was well worth it for us. If you’re thinking of using the leftover bricks and constructing one yourself after handover, possibly consult with your ss or builder to leave leftover bricks on site. All our bricks were taken away from site when bricking had finished and I think a few others have mentioned the same thing happening with their bricks.

6. Having your builder install a wall mounted clothesline for you? Check the measurement they have given you as our builder upgraded ours to a further 1m long and it was the same price as the smaller one.

7. Keep a diary or spreadsheet of all your dates (e.g. slab pour, frame delivered, frame started etc, etc) once construction starts. You don’t know when you will need to refer to it if something needs to be brought to the attention of your builders. Also keep a diary of dates and notes of phone conversations with builders/ site supervisors etc.

8. I also kept a spreadsheet of all costs paid and money spent associated with the build. You can then easily track exactly how much you have spent on your build overall , where your money has gone and if you need to refer to it, the date it was paid.

always have heaps of power points in kitchen for all the appliances

wow,fantastic thread. just bought a block this will be so helpful. BUMP!

Got Tender tomorrow, so figured this would be a good time to go back over the list. I'm pretty sure I forgot to include a solid door to the Xbox room. Shall write that down now

A bit of a bugger, we just realised....we are installing a auto opener for our garge after handover and forgot to get the builder to put in a power point on the ceiling. we have a flat roof and is going to be a headache to get to it now!

Ok,have just realized on plans that pantry door opens in.
Not good,because you would have to close the door to get in behind it/to get to the rest of the pantry,DOH!

HI all
If you are a photographer or just love lots of wall hanging get them to put in an extra row of nogging so you have a solid row of wood to hang to, not just plaster.

Put in as many power points as you can and TV points its cheap now than latter.

I would also recomend you do a lot more planing before you even think about building a house.

KW........

With the electrical, i'd suggest also adding a conduit for whereever your foxtel is going. If it's on a cavity wall then they normally have no problem but if its not then it can be a pain. Add the conduit so they can run a TV and Phone cable down.

The other thing, while wireless is OK nothing beats hard wired internet. Get CAT5 cables to all rooms that may need data points. Also, run 2 x data points from your main living area to all other areas that have a TV (so you can later introduce a LEAF video distribution system - or something like it).

RE; the fridge tap - don't put the tap directly behind the fridge, put it inside the kitchen cupboards instead and just cut a hole for the water line later. Putting the tap and filter behind the fridge often won't let the fridge fit.

Also, check measurements of your furniture etc.. (fridge is a good one) and make sure you allow 12mm for render on the walls AND make sure you allow for your floor coverings!! I've seen people have an 1800mm high fridge and look at the plans thinking it's OK, only to find they put plank on ply timber floors and the distance ended up being 1755 from the floor to the overhead cupboards.

We picked a Colourbond roof/gutter/facia, but we forgot to option up the downpipes which are Zincalume (and installed) <slaps forehead>

YBBroker - good point re tap behind fridge! Does anyone know how much space a tap will take up? We have a reasonable fridge space but I'd rather get it right before no more changes can be made to our plans!

and can that tap be fit not exactly behind the fridge but on a bit side - in same space as fridge goes in but in the sort of corner as there is normally some space between the side wall and fridge - i hope it makes sense what i am writing