Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 08, 2013 7:48 am Hi Everyone, have been reading through this forum ALL night and am a bit brain dead now but thought I would start a thread. We have just bought a block to build our first home on! signing contracts etc this weekend so have been hectically getting pricing etc on floor plans we like etc for finance We don't settle on the block until September so are looking to have all plans approved and hopefully at least a slab before Christmas! Main thing we're juggling at the moment is whether it may be better value for money to get a private builder to build the shell and as we have lots of family friends in different fields (air con, plastering, landscaping, rendering etc) we were considering just getting people privately to do the remaining works or to just go through someone like Statesman and only have a couple of bits to sort out afterwards Has anyone been through the same issue? Any advice on ANYTHING related would be much appreciated Elle Pg. 16 Master Plans Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 2Jan 08, 2013 7:55 am Welcome to H1! We were very disappointed with the quality of our build after choosing what we thought was a premium builder. If we did it again we would have the shell built and then get our own tradies in to do the rest of the work ... with a builder you have no say once things have been done to "their" satisfaction, never mind yours ... have a look at a Statesman display home at Aldinga Beach (the Moana) - the workmanship is shocking esp the feature tiles in the ensuite ..... Good luck and keep us posted! 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: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 3Jan 10, 2013 4:35 pm Davelle, do you have a preferred builder? or two? when we decided with whom we are going to build we first listed the things we would like to have in a future home, like home theater, loft, alfresco etc. then sketched the plan considering how it will fit the block, visited a lot of display homes, talked to consultants.. There are lots of things to choose from: steel or timber frame, design, ceilings, features and appliances Mt Barker seems to be a good place to live, not so far from the city and from what I heard the climate should work well for a garden Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 4Jan 10, 2013 6:26 pm WagnarsWife, we love Mt barker, Dave's rents have a huge property 5km's out of barker he grew up on Me however, I've always lived within 7km of the city and work in Norwood so lets see how I go! haha Basically we just want the best for out not so big budget compared to some others on here! We've found a floor plan we love and already altered a couple of bits to how we want it, got quotes etc so trying not to make things too difficult at first, we've found a plan we love so trying not to look around too much and just stick with it rather than have a million choices!! The plan is originally a Statesman plan and they have really good pricing and inclusions on it (free double garage!) but we really like the rep at Sterling too I swear choosing a builder is hard enough!! how am i going to cope with choosing colours etc haha I suppose people always have horror stories about most builders and people love them too, which makes things even more complicated haha Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 5Jan 10, 2013 6:48 pm hi and welcome it can be difficult . we also found it hard and we built our first home. but we have a great builder building our home now Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 6Jan 10, 2013 7:16 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thought I would add a pick of our block behind the block there is a little reserve with a creek that runs around our little cul de sac which makes it nice a private there's only 38 houses in our little area Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 7Jan 10, 2013 7:18 pm Thanks rocky, I am sure it will be tough at times but am sure it will be worth it in the end! Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 8Jan 10, 2013 8:11 pm you think picking a builder is hard, wait till you get to selections Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 9Jan 10, 2013 8:19 pm Hahaha maddutchman that's what I am worried about!! think I will probably drive myself and my partner craaaaayyyzaay! Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 10Jan 27, 2013 9:15 pm okay so a pathetic bit of progress but I almost screamed when we randomly drove by our block and saw our red sold sign across our lot haha http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7176/img0796tp.jpg Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 11Jan 28, 2013 6:34 am congrats on the land it is a fantastic block love it Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 12Jan 29, 2013 9:23 am Hello Davelle! Good to see another Orchard resident in the place! We are 362 (on the end with the cut in the back). We are most probably building with the big M after falling in love with the Grandview display. Look forward to seeing your progress.... when we can actually start building! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63784 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 13Jan 29, 2013 10:23 am Thanks 1rocky we fell in love with it as soon as we saw it! OMG Yoda!!! I am so excited I litterally just squeeled!!!! I've been waiting for some Barker people to find this site and been getting so depressed and am so excited to find someone SOOO close (my partner is a local and I have a cousin building in the heights area with M but don't really know anyone else)!! we are lot 366 so basically across the road from each other haha what are the chances! Btw the grandview is gorgeous! I know so long to wait even until settlement when we bought the block they said august/sept went in again on the weekend just to check how everything was going and they said sept/oct my heart sank even though I know they are aiming for sept! I think we are going to end up building with Hickies atm purely because their rep is amazingly helpful! we were looking at S/man prior though, first house we've bought and I am so impatient so we will see how this building process goes! I just want a road already Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 14Jan 29, 2013 10:32 am im building with M and so far so good for us, has gone fairly smoothly. Initial Deposit 28/09/2012 // Prelim Contract Signed 25/11/2012 Selections 21/1/2013 to 23/1/2013 // Contract Signed 22/2/2013 Site Start 21/5/2013 // Slabbed 30/5/2013 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 15Jan 29, 2013 12:15 pm I was excited too as soon as I saw the picture of your block!! We should do a meet and greet on our dried lots of grass ASAP! We are firsties too! We were after 4 bedrooms & a rumpus so the Grandview 27 is perfect I know what you mean about not having people close. We were stuck on where to buy/build but as soon as my cousin said she was going to build in Nairne (slab goes down on Feb) we decided to take the plunge and found The Orchard! My partner and I work in the city so it's the perfect distance We moved to Littlehampton in November '12 so we could keep an eye on the progress (but really hassle our M salesguy & gossip with Yvette at the land office!). We were first told July so you can imagine how far down our hearts have sunk from each time we have gone in.... What plans are you looking at through Hickies? I havent gone through their new displays but the gent at the old Bluestone display area was lovely (initials MC). I was told a horror story about S/Man from another Bluestone resident but everyone has a story and every build is different. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63784 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 16Jan 29, 2013 12:35 pm Oh firsties as well! even better haha my god I just want road! every time we go there I am in sandles and all the weeds and pickley things are HORRIBLE!!! (went there last weekend in my getz and I got so frustrated I just drove through the flags instead) Oh i love littlehampton! I wanted to move up there when our rental ran out last yr but we are down at my parents saving now until the house is built, we both work down in the city too so hopefully I get used to the freeway :l July?! Oh gosh I hope this isn't going to be own of those horror stories where it just delays, delays, delays.... We are looking at building the Watson with a few changes we had a much bigger house through S/man planned but want a big b/yard and thought if we went for a house that's a good size for us now we can probably afford to upgrade a load more and have the big b/yard! Only want a 3 bedder with a theatre room atm so suits us fine noticed your block has a bit more width than ours, we looked at a few houses we liked but when they have 2 rooms across the front they just dont fit on the 16m width very well! I know I really thing as long as your comfortable with your rep the experience shouldn't be so bad because at least you can hassle someone instead of being ignored (FINGERS CROSSED) MC is who we are dealing with, poor thing is being inundated with emails of changes and questions from me, oops... When have M said that they could have your house ready if you go ahead?? We will have to crack open some champers when we finally get our slabs down! Hoping a few more of the blocks go sooner rather than later hopefully that will prevent Bluestone from delaying sorting all the roads etc. Have you met anyone else from our area? p.s. on a plus at least you live close than me too so you can feed me updates! haha Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 17Jan 29, 2013 1:10 pm What M have told us is that Walker should be releasing the blocks to us sooner than the Sept/Oct date as sales numbers were good at the end of last year. It's all about land tax apparentl -y hence us having to wait until the new finiancial year. That said, we should be able to go to council and be all ready to go when they are released but re-do a contour plan based on the actual curb levels. We were looking for a decent backyard too (we have a 6 year old and two cheeky mutts) and we get 10m from the back wall to the fence on the longer side. The Watson looks good - big kitchen, 3 way bathroom and is that a glass feature in the dining?! I look forward to seeing the changes you want to make the only thing I would do is make bed 2 wider if you are thinking of putting BIRs but bed 3 is huge! Our direct neighbour (havent met them yet) are also building a Grandview which is highly modified due to their block width. When we picked it we had a custom plan and it was the only available block which it fit on. We since scrapped that idea (obviously!) but it's similar to the Grandview and GL's Warhol (also on display at Blustone). M have an 18 week build time but I'm sure its 18 weeks after the slab as with most other builders. As long as we can be in it and the house all ready to hold our wedding reception in the yard in May next year - I will be a happy gal! Haven't met anyone else yet but I'm sure we will soon as it gets closer to the time of settlement I will totally give you updates as I bet we will be there almost every day haha! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63784 Re: SA Newbie with no Clue now has a block of land! Eep 18Jan 29, 2013 1:27 pm That's what we've hoping to do also get all the admin side of things done prior as it seems to be the thing to take months!!! which seems a bit stupid in hindsight We dealt with Eric for the land sales (family friend) and he said they were having a meeting soon (this was a couple of weeks ago) regarding work starting and was expecting a bulk group email but obviously hasn't happened yet Yep that's what I love about the watson all the glass around the dining I want to put some kind of amazing pendant over the table but Dave isn't so keen, typical boy. It's not full height glass but still quite tall should bring some lovely light in hopefully We've changed the layout of the kitchen a bit so it's more modern, raised ceilings, added double shower etc all the little things and have been thinking about sliding the LH side down towards the back to make Bed 2 a bit bigger, if not I think we will just get robes for bed 3 and Ill just use 2 as a study for now as there are no kiddies to fill the rooms up yet! Wow 10m definitely decent we will end up with about the same out the back and 6-7m on the side, hopefully a pool worth space in a few years but we're hoping to build a huge deck area and still have enough lawn left Our puppies will have to have a play date too! Our poor little house is going to be surround by M at this rate haha what's the bet our neighbour on my RH side are building with them too! I wish I could go stalk the block everyday but I think Dave would probably kill me! I am so impatient I don't know how I'l l survive not seeing everything happen haha Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 Re: Mt Barker - First home & build! Hands on Building Contra 19Mar 25, 2013 7:40 am Right... we haven't even settled on our land yet and ALREADY settlement on our land has been delayed by 3 months until December!!! So I thought I'd cheer myself up and post our preliminary plans anyway because I'm sick of waiting for the builder to get back to me with the drafted plans We are building the Hampstead but have modified it mainly in the main bathroom, added an extra sliding door, extended home theatre, added the portico and changed facade windows. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Once we've had handover we're going to be adding a large deck area rather than building an alfresco during the build. (on a better note I am now engaged!!! ) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hopefully will be having selections soon and getting all our final drafts Siteworks 8/11 Slabbed 19/11 Our Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65703 I had 28m2 of engineered pavers laid six months back and it was difficult to find someone not taking the pi$$. Internet suggested it should be $85-100/m2 to lay them.… 3 12386 Hi All, see above image. The required setback from the rear boundary in my case is 5m, as you can see the shape of the site and location of the boundary is slightly… 0 8451 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17590 |