Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 22, 2012 11:12 am Hi
I have been stalking this forum for almost 2 years now, learning so much from everyone's experiences and photos. our story begins in august 2010 when we found a block of land at voyager point in sydney. we wanted to build a single storey home but ran into issues with a 15m positive covenant for the rural fire service (and a 2.8m fall). after looking at thousands of display homes and project home floor plans and a couple of tenders we eventually contacted a smaller local builder towards the end of last year about a custom design and after 9 long weeks council approved our DA last month. still waiting for council to issue the construction certificate (and stamped plans for the bank) but hopefully we'll start seeing some action on our block soon. so now for the juicy stuff! the block Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ ground and lower floor (some of you may have seen earlier versions on the custom floor plan thread): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ upper floor Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ facade Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ external colour selections (god i hope they look ok together!) bricks - blue steel flash roof - monier traditional barramundi gutter - monument fascia - monument windows - woodland grey render - surfmist cladding - monument or similar (open to suggestions) garage - caoba In my searches I have come across a few people who said they were building a whole house in blue steel flash but disappeared before they posted any photos. I would love to see what people have done with blue steel flash bricks if they feel like sharing with me!!! but wait there's more - we also have kitchen plans back wall. thinking about centering the window and the oven and rangehood and having even number of cupboards and pot drawers (and no cutlery drawers). would others agree? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ it will be white polyurethane with no handles, 40mm quantum quartz luna white benchtop, and glass splashback around the window in charcoal (exact colour still undecided) or maybe dulux metalic silver spoon. floors downstairs will be solid timber spotted gum. at this stage walls will probably be wattyl magnesium. island Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ and we're getting the kitchen people to knock this together for the study nook Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ hope that's enough to whet your appetites! Re: our first home, custom split level 2Jun 22, 2012 2:42 pm Wow EmRuss, Cant wait to watch this one take shape, must be a real party house, pool room and theatre room What a beautiful outlook, and you will have that lovely balcony from your bedroom to overlook it In regards to your kitchen, I would tend to centre the window, can you put cutlery drawers on the island?? Looks fantastic, bring on CC Re: our first home, custom split level 3Jun 22, 2012 2:45 pm Looking good ... bring it on!!! 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 first home, custom split level 4Jun 22, 2012 3:04 pm Yep centre the window/rangehood/cooktop IMO. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: our first home, custom split level 5Jun 22, 2012 3:51 pm Looks good, yes to all of the above and can you move bed 3 doors down a bit so you could use that space ( where door is now) for a chest of drawers or a desk. Frees up space in the bedroom for those things, just by moving the door. Re: our first home, custom split level 6Jun 22, 2012 7:46 pm Hi EmRuss Great to see a thread from you! Love your plans, the pool room looks great, hope you invite the neighbours for the party (hehe! Some good advice on your plans already so I can't really add anymore. Love the study nook idea, wish we had a "nook" to fill, as our study will be used for DH's office. Timber floors sound lovely, I would have loved timber flooring but we are sticking with tiles as we have a very spoilt dog who lives inside and I can just imagine him scratching the floors if we went with timber. The timber floor will look stunning with your kitchen. Anyway, I will certainly enjoy following your build. And I really like your bricks too Due to our own issues with our build, I think we are at least 4 weeks away from starting now, so you might just beat us to it!. We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 our first home, custom split level 7Jun 23, 2012 1:08 am If you can change it with the builder and it hasn't received engineering approvals yet, I strongly suggest a larger powder room or even a small 2.5mx2m bathroom for the guest to use. ! It will also be handy if you're dirty from outside and don't want to walk upstairs to clean yourself up. I wish my plans were 1/2 your house size!! You have large entertainment areas and house, and I think it would be odd to have such a small toilet with a small hand basin. Anyway my 2 cents. Good luck. Re: our first home, custom split level 8Jul 15, 2012 10:48 am hi guys, thanks for your comments. soooo in the last couple of weeks we have received our construction certificate (on 6/7 after 17 weeks in council), letter of commencement (9/7) and have been pegged (and repegged because next door's plumber ripped up 2 of them). ive also centered the window splashback and oven and will have 2 sets of (1 thin 2 deep) pot drawers each side. the kitchen company will make a cutlery drawer organiser which will fit in any of the thin drawers. have also changed to an under cupboard rangehood instead of a canopy rangehood. we've been told the excavator has been booked and the concreter afterwards, but havent been given a date. hopefully it's some time this week! we're off to harvey norman tomorrow morning to choose all our bathroom fittings and tiles. wish me luck! Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 our first home, custom split level 9Jul 15, 2012 6:07 pm How exciting!!! Weather looking good too, so hopefully they will start this week. The street is a hive of activity now, another slab was laid on Saturday just up from you but on our side. Good luck picking tiles, so much choice these days, makes it difficult to decide. We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: our first home, custom split level 10Jul 25, 2012 8:56 pm we have action! site was scraped on monday and piering done today - feel like we had a win only requiring 38 lineal metres. then prompty spent the credit when the builder said the toilets we chose last week are an extra $262 each. formwork will be done tomorrow, drains are booked for friday and if all goes well slab will be poured on tuesday! Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 Re: our first home, custom split level 11Jul 25, 2012 9:04 pm Onewheel Good luck picking tiles, so much choice these days, makes it difficult to decide. thanks onewheel, actually choosing tiles wasnt too difficult, (i found choosing the taps and mixers etc a lot harder!) but, found out that we dont get tiles from harvey norman so will have to do it all over again at some point. hopefully the tile shop we do get them from have ones as nice as harvey norman had. Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 Re: our first home, custom split level - piering done! 12Jul 27, 2012 8:05 pm Em.Russ we have action! site was scraped on monday and piering done today - feel like we had a win only requiring 38 lineal metres. then prompty spent the credit when the builder said the toilets we chose last week are an extra $262 each. formwork will be done tomorrow, drains are booked for friday and if all goes well slab will be poured on tuesday! Wow, site start is finally happening, congratulations!! Look forward to checking it out tomorrow We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: our first home, custom split level - piering done! 13Aug 27, 2012 4:26 pm oops i thought i would be better at this. but things feel like they are moving at a snails pace. 5 weeks since our site was cut and we only have half a frame, granted our slab was poured in 2 sections. i managed to leave work early on friday and was excited i might be able to see stuff being done but tradies had already packed up for the day. DF drove past this arvo and doesnt look like anything has been done today. windows are booked to be delivered next monday-wednesday. stressing that i should have chosen black instead of woodland grey but too late now. builder finally let us know how much extra we spent on our bathroom stuff so now considering supplying our own. has anyone else in sydney found supplied their own bathroom stuff (basin and bath/shower mixers, shower rails etc etc) at a good price? will add a photo of half of our frame in a bit... Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 Re: our first home, custom split level - piering done! 14Aug 27, 2012 4:31 pm Em.russ, try Reno boys at camperdown, they are pretty reasonable, we supplied our basins and bath, through cocomo at Alexandria but they were a little expensive Sunshine got some of her basins from a place in Queensland, really good price and the basins seem lovely, although she has had some delays in the delivery, I'm sure she can help you out, with the website though. Good luck. our first home, custom split level - half framed! 15Aug 27, 2012 8:19 pm Oh EmRuss, must be frustrating if things are moving slowly. At least if windows are being delivered next week, then perhaps they will finish of the frame this week. I am sure the window colour will be fine, they will go really well with your bricks. We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: our first home, custom split level - half framed! 16Aug 28, 2012 2:23 pm thanks gogo, ive looked at renovation boys website a few times but havent been overly impressed, cant remember if it was the pricing or the products but will have another look. ive just trawled through sunshine's thread and found the place in qld so will check them out too. if we supply all our bath, shower, kitchen and basin taps/mixers we only get a credit of $500 from the builder so we're on a mission to find them as cheap as possible. DF has been recommended renovation d at bankstown, have checked out their website and i like some of their stuff and pricing seems reasonable (except shower rails - havent found anywhere as cheap as masters for them yet). and google has helped me find sydney bathroom supplies which i think is an online store. onewheel it is frustrating, i just really want to be in for christmas! Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 Re: our first home, custom split level - half framed! 17Aug 28, 2012 9:53 pm Em.Russ onewheel it is frustrating, i just really want to be in for christmas! We were hoping that too, before all the delays and issues. Waiting is so frustrating because there is not much you can do to speed up the process. Now I have low expectations and we are hoping it will be built by Easter next year! Any earlier will be a bonus. Hopefully for you they will finish off the frame this week and get things back on track. We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: our first home, custom split level - half framed! 18Aug 28, 2012 10:46 pm Hi Em.Russ! We bought 4 vanity taps from the Renovation Boys. . . if you look at them closely you can tell that they're seconds (the spout is slightly off-centre), but if you weren't sat on the toilet looking at them every day, like I tend to, you'd never notice. They've been in for 2.5 years and are still working just fine. We also went out to RenovationD And were considering buying caesarstone-topped vanities from them, but when we told our builder's supplier of the price we were quoted, they hastily found us something for a much more reasonable price. . . funny that! We were a little apprehensive about getting vanities from anyone else but the builder's supplier anyway, just in case they were made with inferior mdf or chipboard. . . My old apartment had chipboard vanities which had been affected by the steam, I wanted the builder's backup if that were to happen again. Re: our first home, custom split level - half framed! 19Aug 29, 2012 11:20 am hey thanks heaps for that jodge, I think we'll go check out renovation d and renovation boys next weekend. I didn’t realise they had seconds stuff, was it much cheaper? I found the custom vanities section on renovation d website - $850 for 1500 and $750 for 1200 poly vanities seems very cheap, compared to harvey's $2250 and $1590 respectively with fake stone tops. ive asked the people doing our kitchen for a quote as well. also realised the other day that the vanities were included in our kitchen allowance so DF is doing some shuffling in our spreadsheet so we can fit them in the budget! pleased to report that DF's drive by this morning found a couple of guys on site! Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 Re: our first home, custom split level - half framed! 20Aug 29, 2012 11:38 am Onewheel Em.Russ onewheel it is frustrating, i just really want to be in for christmas! We were hoping that too, before all the delays and issues. Waiting is so frustrating because there is not much you can do to speed up the process. Now I have low expectations and we are hoping it will be built by Easter next year! Any earlier will be a bonus. Hopefully for you they will finish off the frame this week and get things back on track. yeah onewheel I think everyone wants to be in for christmas!! if everything goes according to plan i think we can do it, just, which is why i get so frustrated when nothing happens for days. when we first found this builder he said it would take 16-20 weeks to build a place like ours. i worked out from our site scrape to christmas is 21 weeks. our contract didnt start until 6 august though so they've got plenty of time to do it, and you're right, i need to lower my expectations, if we're not in by christmas it's not the end of the world. Timeline Land deposit 14.9.10 Land settled 16.6.11 DA submitted 13.3.12 DA appoved 17.5.12 Construction cert 6.7.12 Site scrape 23.7.12 Lock up 29.11.12 Move your linen into laundry and access laundry from your present linen space 1 8164 So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 29633 |