Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Switch homes 2 storey - Ceilings door painted, render fi 61Jul 20, 2013 10:58 am Ceilings painted and door frames painted on Wednesday (upstairs only!) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Acrylic render started Thursday 18/7 and finished Friday 19/7- looks good! They have one a great job! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ It appears that the scaffolding will be taken down and the rear and bottom of the house will be started! Fingers crossed they will do it as fast as they have done the upper floor!! Re: Switch homes 2 storey - ceilings/doors painted,render fi 62Jul 20, 2013 11:17 am Awesome, it's coming along nicely. Re: Switch homes 2 storey - ceilings/doors painted,render fi 63Jul 20, 2013 11:43 am If I could wolf whistle, I definitely would! Looking fantastic, you must be very happy ![]() I think that's the fastest 2 storey build I've seen! Render looks great ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - ceilings/doors painted,render fi 64Jul 20, 2013 11:52 am That's looking great so glad we chose Switch too. Hoping our build is just as fast ![]() H1 Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61557 Re: Switch homes 2 storey - ceilings/doors painted,render fi 66Jul 28, 2013 11:47 am Ok another update.... Scaffolding removed and wooden frame installed for powder room downstairs.... (Wed 24/7) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Roof beams delivered for the back section of the house roof to be completed! (Thursday 25/7/13) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hopefully the roof will go on this coming week and the electrician and plumber come to chase in the walls and then the renderers can start again! Re: Switch homes 2 storey - scaffolding removed/roof timbers 67Jul 28, 2013 3:24 pm Thanks for the pictures, good up date ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - roof timbers finished, elect fit 68Aug 11, 2013 1:37 am Hi Kirsty, We are also building a 2 storey Switch Home on a small block. Thanks so much for your great thread. It has given us great confidence that ours will be built to a high standard. It is looking fantastic. We are at currently at contract stage and are a little confused. Can you possibly explain what process you went through when you first got your contracts? From your timeline it looks like you held off signing for a while? Did you make any amendments before signing? Also you mention signing contracts after Pre-start are these just variations to the contract and final working drawings? Sorry, I find it all rather confusing and our consultant has been off for a while. Was it council approval that held things up for you guys or was it at Switch's end? Also I'd love to know more about your aircon system. I'm assuming it is evaporative and can you get it through the whole house or just first floor? We aren't sure about evaporative and then what to do for heating. Reverse cycle is going to cost the earth to run and we don't have much room for solar panels. Can you recommend an air con installation company? We are getting aircon quoted through Switch but I think we should find another company but not sure which one! I'll stop with all the questions now! Great to see some other Switch builders on here so we can all compare notes. We are going through a rough patch with things being very slow and not being done when promised but I did expect building would be a challenge. I just wasn't prepared for certain challenges that have arisen. Thanks so much! Re: Switch homes 2 storey - roof timbers finished, elect fit 69Aug 12, 2013 9:12 pm Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in pictures... my photobucket uploading wasnt working!! As of today the electrician has finished. The plumber was there on Saturday and completed the job on the same day! Here is some pictures of the electrical "work in progress" from Wednesday last week. The cinema room... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The Family room TV area... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Here is a picture of the roof carpenters finished work and a picture of the kitchen plumbing and electrical! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The colourbond still hasnt been put on the rear of the property yet... maybe tomorrow if the rain doesnt hold it up... we are also hoping that the renderers will come this week to put the grey float on the walls. We received an email this afternoon from Switch to organise a meeting with the site supervisor (?tile meeting?).... will update when i know what is going on!? Hope everyone is well ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - roof timbers finished, elect fit 70Aug 12, 2013 9:33 pm ![]() Hi Kirsty, We are also building a 2 storey Switch Home on a small block. Thanks so much for your great thread. It has given us great confidence that ours will be built to a high standard. It is looking fantastic. We are at currently at contract stage and are a little confused. Can you possibly explain what process you went through when you first got your contracts? From your timeline it looks like you held off signing for a while? Did you make any amendments before signing? Also you mention signing contracts after Pre-start are these just variations to the contract and final working drawings? Sorry, I find it all rather confusing and our consultant has been off for a while. Was it council approval that held things up for you guys or was it at Switch's end? Also I'd love to know more about your aircon system. I'm assuming it is evaporative and can you get it through the whole house or just first floor? We aren't sure about evaporative and then what to do for heating. Reverse cycle is going to cost the earth to run and we don't have much room for solar panels. Can you recommend an air con installation company? We are getting aircon quoted through Switch but I think we should find another company but not sure which one! I'll stop with all the questions now! Great to see some other Switch builders on here so we can all compare notes. We are going through a rough patch with things being very slow and not being done when promised but I did expect building would be a challenge. I just wasn't prepared for certain challenges that have arisen. Thanks so much! Hi Alice77, Thanks for your message. The reason we held off signing contracts was they were busy doing the working drawings and they didn't require them yet. It also gave us time to organise the finance etc as we didn't want to sign any contract committing us to building if we couldn't get the finance! Once we had the approval we signed. We had no problems with council approval so the hold up was at Switches end.... they took a lot longer than we were expecting, but I suppose that we also had a "one off" design so they would have to work out costs and numbers of bricks etc etc They have made it up with the speed and quality of the build. The contracts we signed after pre-start were our variations, final drawings and also the updated addenda with our pre-start selections. Its so hard to remember as it was almost one year ago! hahah Aircon... We decided to go through Switches preferred supplier, Stinson. They were reasonable on price and have done a good job so far. Yep it is evaporative, I am generally a really cold person so find refrigerated really cold and dry! I have grown up/still living with Evaporative aircon so know exactly how it work/when it doesn't work so well! The air-conditioning will be ducted throughout the upper and lower floors... it can be done, you just have to be careful where you have "penetrations" that go through the slab from upper to lower floor. We have one in out WIR (hubby's space will be taken up-not mine! ![]() It certainly is a frustrating time, in particular prior to constriction... the paperwork seems to take forever and nothing feels like it is happening! Keep on smiling and you will get there eventually! Once construction begins its good to see progress... every day or so you have a little surprise waiting for you at the block/house and you get closer and closer to moving in! We can't wait to move in... its been a very interesting journey! We have been "homeless"... well not really... but we moved out of our rental in March 2012 and have been living at my parents or house sitting at various locations all around Perth!! Its been fun (not!) living out of a suitcase! And another thing to add to the list is that we are getting married on October 5th this year... so we have less than 8 weeks to go till that happens! we would have loved to be in the house before the wedding.... but we don't think that will be a reality! I think we will be newlyweds living at my parents!! Fingers crossed the house will be ready in early november/late october... but then the real fun starts when we organise carpets/tiling/decking/painting/landscaping etc! Fun times ahead! Hope that helps!? Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions!! ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - electrical/plumbing fit-out comp 71Aug 15, 2013 1:59 pm Thanks so much Kirsty for all that information. I am now confused what to go with for air con ![]() Sorry to hear you have been "homeless" for so long ![]() Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I can't imagine building a house and organising a wedding at the same time! We also had a custom design but the pricing side did not take long really. I think perhaps things have improved in that area since a year ago. Thanks again! I look forward to the next exciting instalment on your build ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - electrical/plumbing fit-out comp 72Aug 25, 2013 10:58 am Cabinetry installed upstairs 16/08/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kids alcove Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our double vanity Colourbond moment (roof completed on first storey section) 21/08/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Looking towards kitchen (standing in alfresco) Renderers haven't started yet ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - Colourbond installed / some cabi 74Aug 31, 2013 2:30 pm Alice we took almost a year and a half to get everything finalised and we had an existing plan ![]() ![]() Re: Switch homes 2 storey - Colourbond installed / some cabi 75Sep 01, 2013 5:20 pm Hi Kristy Just joined forum and found it very informative. We are looking to build with Switch and as first time builders we have a few questions. Like everyone we are on a budget and want to get value for money. As far as pre-start goes what is there range like, ie. stone benchtops, taps, shower screens etc. is there 2 or 3 choices or is their plenty to choose from? Also, noticed in one of your posts you mentioned a Clipsal Electrical Consultation..what is this about? and is it included in the contract or is this an additional cost. Re: Switch homes 2 storey-Grey float,ceilings,cornices,white 76Sep 06, 2013 11:27 am Hi everyone! Finally a lot has happened since my last post now! All go again in this last week! Plumbing finished 30/8/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Internal render started and finished 30/8/13 (one day!!) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Partial External Render started (held up by rain) 31/8/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Can see the extractor fan vents poking out the side! Ceilings started 2/09/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ looking into the kitchen bulkhead from alfresco Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ sliding cavity plaster wall completed Ceilings Finished 03/09/13 Cornices started and completed 4/09/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ White Set Completed (whole house one day) 5/09/13 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ terrible photo (was taken with a mini torchlight at 7pm!!) So exciting news!! all rocking along again after the little lull we had! We have our tiling meeting on the 19/09/13 so hopefully that means that we will be at lockup in the next week or so?! Also means that cabinets will be in?! not sure! exciting! everything is happening! Also the wedding is less than a month away now!! Re: Switch homes 2 storey - Colourbond installed / some cabi 77Sep 06, 2013 11:42 am ![]() Hi Kristy Just joined forum and found it very informative. We are looking to build with Switch and as first time builders we have a few questions. Like everyone we are on a budget and want to get value for money. As far as pre-start goes what is there range like, ie. stone benchtops, taps, shower screens etc. is there 2 or 3 choices or is their plenty to choose from? Also, noticed in one of your posts you mentioned a Clipsal Electrical Consultation..what is this about? and is it included in the contract or is this an additional cost. Hi alejess, The pre start was adequate. We were happy with the choices. Some things there were like 10-20 things to choose from (e.g. door handles, doors, bench tops, colour bond etc)... and other things there were only 2-3 choices (e.g. tapware, toilets, sliding robe doors, mirrors, shower screens)... we found this fine though.. as i find if you are given too much choice it can overwhelm you! I am sure that if you wanted you would be able to pick something else (e.g. different style of tap ware) you would just give them the model number i assume ![]() The electrical consult with clipsal was included in the contract. You head to the clipsal showroom inside home base expo and sit down with a consultant and decide where you want your lights, points, tv points etc etc it is very useful an the people are very knowledgeable and can give good advise as they do it all day! I think Switch are trying to steer away from the pre-start consultants doing it because they are a "jack of all trades" and may not give the right advise in regards to number and position of points etc. It went for around 90 minutes. Hpe that helps! Re: Switch homes 2 storey-grey float,ceilings,cornices,white 78Sep 06, 2013 12:37 pm Your house is looking fab and sounds like you had a much better experience so far with Switch than what I had a few years ago! We are about to build again but in the process of picking a builder. All the best of luck and hope it all keeps going smoothly! We said we'd never build again.... Re: Switch homes 2 storey-grey float,ceilings,cornices,white 79Sep 13, 2013 12:04 pm Your house is looking great! We seem to have stalled in the Switch system again. We are waiting for the final working drawings now after we managed to drag pre start out for almost a month with getting various estimates done. We decided to use Stinson Air too but have been charged $500 supervision fee by Switch for Stinson to install our air con - just wondering if you got charged that too? Looking forward to your next round of photos and updates! We are building over a main (100mm, 2m deep and concrete encased) - unfortunately in our case the SM was a late find post settlement (grrr) We have a DA and just… 2 21756 3 14927 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi there, We have recently built a double storey house by Coral Homes, it is a steel frame house. When someone walks upstairs it cracks with every step and it is very… 0 12337 |