Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 28, 2013 1:37 pm hi folks,
Here is the blog http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... lcome.html Basic summary - I searched long and hard to find a designer and builder for our "dream home". We were interested in a custrom designed house as we couldn't find anything we liked from the project builders. We also wanted something that wasn't excessive, but rather had environmental considerations on board during design phase to ensure a low impact house that took into account our lifestyle (i.e. Beach life!) and also looked nice. We found Paul Zaia and Enviroarch Australia and the rest is history - well sort of history - we are about to start construction once a few things are finalised in the next week or so! Starting this thread and the blog to share and hopefully return some favours we've gained from this valuable site. Happy for any feedback and questions. It's my first ever blog, so if anyone has any advice or feedback on the blog itself let me know. Cheers, Animal. These are the folks we are using: Enviroarch Australia http://www.enviroarch.com.au/ Zaia Architects http://www.zaiaarch.com/ LJ Hall Builders http://www.ljhallbuilders.com.au/ Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" Design & Build Lake Macquarie 2Jan 30, 2013 1:28 pm Nice to hear you've found what you are looking for. I too have a narrow block similar in dimensions to yours in a coastal suburb in Newcastle I'm looking to build on sometime relatively soon. I'd be keen to see the plans. Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" Design & Build Lake Macquarie 3Jan 31, 2013 1:03 am yeah no worries, I am trying to work out how best to get the plans up here and on my blog, I'm a bit new to this online sharing world, any suggestions let me know. you can send me a personal message as I'm happy to share. Heck if you're really local I can show you through all 15 A1 (or bigger) plan and spec sheets we got given! Enviroarch have been great to deal with, very passionate (not as passionate as me! :) and great advice - making sure we don't make stupid decisions but letting us have a lot of input in to the design. I'll get around to address a lot of issues we have overcome together along the way on my blog soon. Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" Design & Build Lake Macquarie 4Feb 01, 2013 8:08 pm Have updated blog with floorplan and elevations. http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... rplan.html http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... tions.html In coming posts will go through room by room some of the clever design features we wanted to make the house really livable. Budget Achieved! Ready to start 5Feb 17, 2013 1:15 pm We had to do some cutting to get to budget, but we got there. In the end, we haven't actually "lost" anything. We just made some changes that saved a lot of money - even if we had the money we probably would have made the changes anyway and spent the money elsewhere. We probably have saved enough that we can also get a rear lane garage built at the same time. We'll see how we go. Here is how we did it: http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... de-it.html So all we are waiting on now is the finance to be approved as they were waiting for final design and pricing from builder. That all went in Friday, hopefully start within next fortnight! DEMOLITION 6Mar 31, 2013 7:58 pm Yahooo! Demolition has started. It's been a long time in the planning and we are a bit overwhelmed that our dreams are actually being realised. So excited. Posted a blog update with a picture of existing residence and a location shot showing where we are. http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... ition.html Now, the big question - colour! My better half is choosing all the colours, thanks to my colour blindness! But we're looking for ideas. The external cladding is JH Hardie Scyon cladding, a few different ones mixed in to provide variety. Decking and decking posts are blackbutt, with stainless steel cable balustrade. We need to decide what colour to paint it. Colorbond roof too which we haven't decided what colour. Looking at the elevations, http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... tions.html the architech has sort of hinted that we should go a darker colour on southern side for the horizontal form cladding, so we are thinking a grey/blue type colour. Then a white or off white colour on the northern side. But open to any suggestions! It only has to last 10 to 15 years, being so close to the coast we'll have to get it painted again anyway, so no pressure! :):) So excited to finally be started! Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" DEMOLITION STARTED 7Mar 31, 2013 10:04 pm Wow animal, what an amazing house. I can almost smell the sea, I can really see how you have made the most of the beach lifestyle. Great floor plan and I am glad you could change things to get them within your budget without sacraficing the feel of your new home. I am looking forward to seeing your home progress. Goodluck with it all. Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" DEMOLITION STARTED 8Mar 31, 2013 11:23 pm Awesome location, looking forward to seeing your build progress Demolition is so exciting because you finally get to see the empty block and for us at least the block was bigger than we realised and so different minus a house. Also its the start, there is no going back from here only forward! Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" DEMOLITION STARTED 9Apr 01, 2013 10:03 am Charnley Wow animal, what an amazing house. I can almost smell the sea, I can really see how you have made the most of the beach lifestyle. Great floor plan and I am glad you could change things to get them within your budget without sacraficing the feel of your new home. I am looking forward to seeing your home progress. Goodluck with it all. Cheers Charnley, Hey what are those tiles on your kitchen splashback? We've been looking for that dimension but haven't had much luck finding much of decent appearance. Thanks Scotty Dog - yep no going back. But we don't want to!!! We stood on the cliff for half an hour last evening looking back at our place and it's pretty special. 6 years in the making, 2 years in the actual formal design & approval process - hopefully 6 months build. The builder is pretty confident, he amended the building contract down from 26 weeks to 20 weeks! Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" DEMOLITION STARTED 10Apr 01, 2013 1:26 pm Thanks Animal, searched high and low for those subway tiles and could'nt find what I was looking for so I am glad they worked out because I took a bit of a chance on them. They are called Vogue Bianco Gloss 75x300 Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" DEMO Complete - Old Home GONES 11Apr 23, 2013 9:32 pm Completed demolition today. http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... neski.html So excited! Builder is ready to start so we should see some real action soon!!! YAY! Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" GAME ON!!!! 12May 15, 2013 8:43 pm So cool! We're pouring the slab Friday, just a little over a week since construction began. They certainly don't mess about. AND - So far it is under budget. Thanks to the sandy soil and hard work of the contruction crew they completed excavation, fill and foundations a bit quicker than expected. Since we are on a cost plus contract, that saving is ours!!!! All going well so far. Updated blog with a few pics. Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" GAME ON!!!! 13May 16, 2013 9:24 am Good to hear it's progressing well, lovely design and should look amazing when finished Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" GAME ON!!!! 14May 16, 2013 10:04 am Wow. All that planning and now such a quick build. It is going to be special. I'd better start paying attention. (Couldn't figure out how to follow your blog directly, so I'll follow here.) http://www.housebythewater.wordpress.com From blank block to new home in Mandurah, Western Australia. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65564 Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" SLAB DOWN 15May 17, 2013 8:41 pm Thanks guys. Slab went down today. I worked on it too with the crew which was a real privelage. Photos on blog. http://enviroarchbeachhouse.blogspot.co ... -down.html We've gone for a Thunder tint to the concrete as we're getting polished interior lobby, hallway and exterior rear deck, entrance deck and side deck.... Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" SLAB DOWN 16May 17, 2013 8:56 pm If you don't mind, did the tint to concrete cost much extra? We may take a while to get our wooden floors in after handover and I'm wondering if polished concrete might be a viable interim measure. Lucky you, being able to claim some credit for the slab! http://www.housebythewater.wordpress.com From blank block to new home in Mandurah, Western Australia. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65564 Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" SLAB DOWN 17May 17, 2013 9:38 pm The tint was $60 per cubic metre extra. And polishing the slab is again around $60 per square metre. We could have only had the tint added to the exposed areas, but that would have meant greater form work and labor which would cost anyway. It also leaves less joins and makes for a better slab to have it done in one pour. Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" SLAB DOWN 18May 27, 2013 8:02 pm Decisions decisions....any advice appreciated. 1) Colorbond or Timber Fence 1b) if Timber, Treated Pine or Hardwood. We're within 500m of surf zone, so hardly anything has a warranty we're discovering. We also decided to go floor to ceiling for all walls of bathrooms. Originally we weren't due to budget, but tile quote came in pretty decent so we decided to splash out! :) Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" SLAB DOWN 19May 28, 2013 2:15 pm We are also near the ocean, so I'm trying to resist the temptation to put too much timber on the exterior. It looks fabulous but only for a short period of time unless you are a slave to its upkeep. I think we will go for a rendered front fence, with some timber trimmings, e.g. gates. The theory is that maintenance won't be too laborious. For side and rear fencing colourbond can look great, particularly in a dark colour with plantings in front. http://www.housebythewater.wordpress.com From blank block to new home in Mandurah, Western Australia. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65564 Re: Enviroarch "Beach House" SLAB DOWN 20May 29, 2013 8:03 pm housebythewater We are also near the ocean, so I'm trying to resist the temptation to put too much timber on the exterior. It looks fabulous but only for a short period of time unless you are a slave to its upkeep. I think we will go for a rendered front fence, with some timber trimmings, e.g. gates. The theory is that maintenance won't be too laborious. For side and rear fencing colourbond can look great, particularly in a dark colour with plantings in front. We did deliberately change all external ground floor decking to polished concrete from timber to avoid any ongoing maintenance. We think that was a good move. What concerns me about colorbond fence is 2 out of the 3 neighbours (rear lane neighbour) have colorbond. One for 20 years and it's rusted extensively. one for 10 years is starting to get rust spots. BUT beware the render.... From what I've seen render doesn't go well in coastal environments. Of course there are different methods and types which will give different results. Solid stone goes well!!! 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