Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2141Sep 28, 2015 7:59 pm Fencing or lack thereof should not effect the issue of a certificate of occupancy. Fencing is more an issue for estate compliance. Does Googong have any estate bonds and the like? I am building in Casey and have had to pay a $2500 bond, to get the bond I need to provide boundary fencing meeting specific requirements within 3 months along with a raft of other things. I believe Coombs it is $5000 but factored into the price of the block. So maybe Googong is doing the same. As for quotes, it is simple you ring up some companies and ask them for a quote. Yellow pages, Chronicle have companies. Other option is to ask neighbours for recommendations. Bear in mind your neighbours should be paying half the cost too, but they are only obliged to pay for what ever the minimum requirement is for the estate/council area. (mine for exmaple is 1.5m hardwood, lapped and capped).[/quote] Thanks AJW! Yes we will need to that, so many things to do with building a house, GAHHH! (and it's our first home!) Rawson Homes told us that we might be the first occupant there (before our neighbours) so wasn't sure if we were obligated to wait for them to move in or if we can go ahead and choose whatever we want (within reason) and then bill them later. But I guess I am going to have to find out if we can contact the neighbours through Googong and check if they are happy to go with our fencing preference. [/quote] Just had a look at the Googoong design guidlines which covers fencing and other things. Looks to be less strict than Casey (Springbank Rise) in some ways and more strict in others especially colour choices for buildings and fences. When it comes to boundary fencing the requirement is: Side and rear boundary (inter-allotment) fencing • Side and rear inter-allotment fencing to a maximum height of 1.8m. • Timber palings, Colorbond® Fences or similar can be used, but are limited in colour to ‘Grey Ridge’. So not much choice, wood or colorbond. It would also seem you do have a compliance bond, $5000 if your builder is doing landscaping, or $2500 if they aren't and to get it back you need to do your front garden and fencing within 3 months to get it back, which is the same as Springbank rise. http://googong.net/upload/4-Your-Guide- ... 015_LR.pdf[/quote] Yeah, not really happy about the compliance bond bit. No one told us about it until I read it somewhere here. I know we do get it back eventually but $5000 is a lot of money to part with when you're building a house. Every cent matters. I also read earlier on that some people have had some trouble getting it back (delays, no responds, etc) Thanks AJW, you have been a great help. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2142Sep 28, 2015 9:09 pm mcwj86 Yeah, not really happy about the compliance bond bit. No one told us about it until I read it somewhere here. I know we do get it back eventually but $5000 is a lot of money to part with when you're building a house. Every cent matters. I also read earlier on that some people have had some trouble getting it back (delays, no responds, etc) Thanks AJW, you have been a great help. The worst thing about the bonds is you have to do certain things within a short period of time to have any chance of getting the bond back. As you said when building you need every cent and the first few months are not the time you want to be worrying about front landscaping and the like. I wonder how many people forgo their bond? In my case won't be much of an issue. This is not my first home, and I am living interstate. So will be able to sell the current home, get the cash without having to worry about where to live. Provided the build is done on time. But without that would struggle to find the cash to do what I need to do. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2143Sep 29, 2015 11:03 pm AJW mcwj86 Yeah, not really happy about the compliance bond bit. No one told us about it until I read it somewhere here. I know we do get it back eventually but $5000 is a lot of money to part with when you're building a house. Every cent matters. I also read earlier on that some people have had some trouble getting it back (delays, no responds, etc) Thanks AJW, you have been a great help. The worst thing about the bonds is you have to do certain things within a short period of time to have any chance of getting the bond back. As you said when building you need every cent and the first few months are not the time you want to be worrying about front landscaping and the like. I wonder how many people forgo their bond? In my case won't be much of an issue. This is not my first home, and I am living interstate. So will be able to sell the current home, get the cash without having to worry about where to live. Provided the build is done on time. But without that would struggle to find the cash to do what I need to do. Yes I wonder about that too. Something like 3 months or something to get the landscaping done and have it approved before being able to get the money back. Ugh. Which block will you be in if you don't mind me asking? Going through our contracts with our solicitors tomorrow. Yay! Can't wait to get all these done and finally get started on the actual building process. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2145Oct 01, 2015 1:56 pm AJW I am building in Casey (last development in "Springbank Rise") but it has similar bond requirements but cheaper only $2500. Wow, didn't realized these bond requirements are quite common, honestly never heard of it before. We actually looked at building in Springbank Rise too. It's really nice out there! A little out of topic, but do you or anyone else know about this? I did my research about this so kinda know the answer to it but wanted to ask if anyone has had experience in this before. I am thinking of looking at other jobs (similar industry) is it a bad idea to do that before settlement? Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2146Oct 01, 2015 7:39 pm Hi all, new here but our contracts exchanged yesterday and hoping to start building in the new year Re: the bond, our solicitor told us that once you get your bond back, you can change whatever you like. Although, not sure who would after all the effort to comply. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2147Oct 01, 2015 9:05 pm Bonds are more common in "higher end" estates that want to create a character and some uniformiality. By having the bond they force as much as they can for you to comply with their design ethos within a given timeframe. But as you mentioned you can do what ever you like really (within council rules of course) even if it doesn't confirm with the estate. You just won't get your estate bond back though change it after nothing they or anyone can do about it. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2148Oct 02, 2015 8:36 pm Hi guys, Old googonian here... for those of you living here already, have you experienced theft or vandalism? We've just noticed that someone has written a lovely message on our garage door... pretty annoyed. we are only 1/3 fenced at the moment and if these kinds of people walking round, im worried they might go the next step and break in... I'm half tempted to get the most extreme alarm/security set up.... but im hoping it's a once off and Googong is actually a really safe place!! Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2149Oct 02, 2015 8:41 pm Goog99 Hi everyone, We are very excited to have just had our site cut in 4a done and looking forward to the construction process (fingers crossed it all goes up smoothly). Can anyone advise what the cost difference is between the wood fences and colourbond? Also any recommendations for retaining walls and landscapers? Thanks! Hey, we're doing our own fences to save $$ - colorbond is pretty reasonable and if you're handy, it's doable! StoneMad did our bluestone walls. They are awesome - I've even had people knocking on my front door to ask me who did them, haha. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2151Oct 10, 2015 4:50 pm Apparently all the '900' series have registered and we were instructed to contact our conveyancer for further news. The Googong solicitors are working through the blocks getting the appropriate paperwork out to each purchasers solicitor. Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2155Oct 13, 2015 8:50 pm Goog99 Thanks Di+Matt, what kind of price was it for the bluestone walls? We paid $260/m2. It ended up being about $22k for the whole right hand side (30ish metres long) the whole front and letterbox and along the low side where it is capped only as theres a fence in front of it and we will only see the top. Ill take a pic tomorrow Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2157Oct 16, 2015 10:38 am ange1ik Hi all, just wondering if you have any idea as to how long it is taking plans to be approved by the design coordinator? Ours took a few days, but I heard from others that theirs took weeks. Get your builder to checkin with them to find out how long maybe? Re: Anybody building at Googong ? 2159Oct 19, 2015 8:14 pm Hi Googonians We are looking to build our new home in Googong and are considering a house & land package through APA homes. It looks like they have built already quite some houses there. Does any one have any recommendations for or against building with them? They seem to be a bit more expensive than the other builders; is there any reason for this? Thanks heaps go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110602 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11045 |