Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 01, 2013 6:33 pm Hi everyone!
When I was first looking at building a home, the first priority was the layout of the house. I quickly found that the 10 to 12 meter frontage plans were never going to suit my needs as none came close to consideration. I found they were all just too tight. Moved up to the range for 15 meter wide plans and soon found myself choosing between similar designs with 3 different builders. Moved on to meetings with each builder to discuss inclusions and exclusions for the build price. That painful task to try and understand what is on offer. Long story short, The Home Buyers Center plan "The Ultimate St Marks" won out of the three. It was nice to have the upgrades like stone bench tops, 900mm appliances and chrome drains included in the price. All tho slightly more expensive, the design is what held the deal together. From the plan chosen the hunt was on for a 15 meter wide block. Found the perfect block quickly, all tho only 420sqm, was perfect as it's low maintenance and a nice $5,000 cash back from Stock land was very helpful. I have to put in a mention here to thank Nicola Rose our Sales Professional who was more than helpful and proactive in the process to make the cut for the $5,000 as I had a short time to settle to be eligible for the cash back. We ended up in the New Haven Estate in Piara Waters. After settlement for the land, our pre-start meeting followed shortly after. This is when I visited this great forum to find out how others had gone building the St Marks. Also find out how Home Buyers are with their Clients and Quality. I had a look at changes that were made by others to the standard plans and all other ideas to consider. Thanks also to Meatbag and others for spending the time to post your process. The list of changes made to my St Marks house were: Extend Ensuite Vanity adding 3 Draws either side (Kept it to one basin for more bench space) Extended the shower (Kept it to one shower head to save water) Bigger Hers WIR to His. I'm a nice guy, and honestly i don't need as much space. Added a M/W recess and pot draw to the Island Bench. Slightly extended the Hot Plate Bench by changing cupboards to 3x Pot Draws either Side. Cold water for the fridge Door to the Laundry Took the Laundry layout from the Endevour Moved the toilet door to open in the Bathroom Door to Theater room All Electrical by Owner. As I'm an Electrician and work with the ABN Group, I was able to persuade with much difficulty.. to complete electrical works myself. The cost saving for electrical is unbelievable. I could not pay builders markups on an item I could complete myself. Pre-start went well and cost $4650 total. This was for flick mixers thru out, slimline mirrors, and extra work in the kitchen along with a few other little bits and pieces. I have attached the house plan below and will upload photos of the progress soon. The house is at lockup stage now with the tiler working hard and doing a great job. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 2Feb 01, 2013 6:58 pm Will start from the beginning. Progress from Slab Down to Plate Height!
Here is the block. Little sandy Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Then the slab is prepared.. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Followed by the footings being laid. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And then the Slab gets poured. The day I drove to the house to check for updates, the last cement truck was just leaving. Perfect timing. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bricks and door frames were delivered. The sign of progress to come. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I met our Brickie on site a few times over the weeks he was laying Bricks. Outside went up first followed by all the internal walls and cavity insulation to the majority of the cavities. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We were extremely happy with Matt our Brickie as he did an amazing job with a great eye for detail. Face brick to all the external bricks and it looks amazing. Internally looks strong and well constructed. More progress to follow. Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 3Feb 01, 2013 7:01 pm great plan and the land is fantastic. Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 4Feb 11, 2013 1:49 am Hi Matt My fiancé and I just signed our Pre contract today for an ultimate St marks too love the plan! The changes you made were all great ones!! We made a few too, like adding wings to ensuite vanity, changing the WIR (removing the wall in between), extending alfresco, changed pantry to. WIP, ummm... Door to theatre aswell, oh we put bed 4 window facing the backyard like Bed 3 too. I'm really excited about things starting!!! My mans an electrician as well and was asking for a general electrical plan today and they couldn't help us lol he is going to get them to put all the cables in but then pull them down himself.... Or something along those lines?!? Electrical talk confuses me Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 5Feb 11, 2013 10:08 am Hey Matt. Good luck with your build! Are you in the trails release?? I'm waiting for titles in the Heart release. Building with Aveling homes and also doing my own electrical. Look forward to watching your progress. My Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62001 Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 6Feb 11, 2013 3:36 pm Hi jaceb, yes this is in the Trails Release. Very nice area so far. Can't wait to meet some of the neighbors.
Hi Sam, great idea on moving the window! I wanted to keep the wall in the W.I.R tho. Need to make sure I don't loose any more of my side I had many issues choosing to do Owner Electrical with Home Buyers Center. It's the one trade that they can make tonnes of money on. Saved around 20k+ doing all my own work. For the Alfresco, we intend to see Stratco about buying a Vergola with a gabled roof for some extra space, height and style. Building is an exciting process. I'm enjoying it! Would you like me to send you a copy of the electrical plan? Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 7Feb 11, 2013 3:45 pm I would love to see the electrical plan if you dont mind!!! That would be great! Are you putting a power point on the kitchen bench island? Besides the one for the dishwasher of course. I cant believe its not standard :S I cant wait to do pre start, but really hope we dont go crazy over budget but im sure I will, as everyone question i asked my sales rep before signing, her answer was 'thats pre start - cant help you'. We only signed last night and she was getting so narky towards the end i was tempted to start from scratch!!! What happened to being sweet as pie to customers lol Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 8Feb 11, 2013 6:29 pm For the Island bench, we have a power point for the dishwasher and M/W recess that we added in. As we extended the bench top where the hot plate is, we will have plenty of room to mix there with a power point either side. Have also included a power point in the pantry. Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 10Feb 18, 2013 10:41 pm Welcome to the neighbourhood Re: Matts build - Ultimate St Marks HBC, Piara Waters 12Jun 19, 2013 8:11 pm Matt!!! Are you guys happy with the house?! Hi, Would you please share some photos of your Orlando 20 HBC build? I would like to get some insight on the living and dining area. Thank you 0 1644 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 17616 Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9572 |