chandler alfresco in the barossa

thought i might post my own thread on the house my hubby and myself are building.

we are building with construction services australia(hickinbotham) and our house plan looks like this


we have a 663m2 block which is 20m wide and approx 33-34m long.

colour selections are just around the corner on the 19th march, looking forward to it, already have most of the colours/ selecitons picked but want to see a few in person rather than a book.

whilst we build we are living 6hrs away from our block so we wont be able to drive past and check all the time like most people do.

h

Hi hachy, congratulations. Your house will be twice the size of the one we are planning to build, also Hickinbotham. The Barossa is a lovely spot. Looking forward to following your progress.

hi lucinda,

where are you building?
what house are you looking to build?

h

Hi Hachy
I like your design. The house will look great!

We are starting to build hopefully pretty soon too, however in QLD
This is our thread with already some photos
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63479

Looking forward to follow yours!

Looking forward to some updates Hachy!

We're building a Hickinbotham Topaz, probably half the size of yours, at St Clair, the old Cheltenham Racecourse site.

we had our colour selections yesterday and came out with a different colour scheme to some things than what we went in "prepared" for.

bricks - almond with upgraded grout(lite yellow)
roof tiles - ebony
external door - xt5(colour:monument) with sentinel estate series 15 stainless steel door handles
added patio bolts to both sliding doors

roller doors, fascia, gutters - monument
render - vintage lace (think we picked that colour for downpipes too)
windows - paperbark
paving - promenade charcol

internal wall paint - pacific pearl(probably the most popular colour people choose)
doors - RMDF(would have liked to match internal doors to front door but too expensive), door handles upgraded to estate series 15 stainless steel

robe doors - white birch
carpet - unique living soot 799
benchtop to kitchen - white valencia diamond gloss double roll postform
cupboards to kitchen - laminex polar white natural finish
cupboard door handles to kitchen - 04607854 vertical(upgrade)
splashback - 03265 200x400 tiles
oven - WVE916SA(upgrade)
stove - GHR95S(upgrade)
rangehood - WRH908I(upgrade)
oven, stove and rangehood cost an extra $100 each to upgrade to stainless steel
sink - linea 1180 with flickmixer sink mixer(adelphi is no longer and this is the replacement)
gas point added to alfresco($250)
bath - maxton 1525
bathroom and ensuite benchtops - ebony marble diamond gloss double roll postform
bathroom and ensuite cupboards - polar white natural finish with 04607854 door handles horizontally
tapware to ensuite and bathroom - elegance
hand towel holder and toilet roll holder - belmore
shower door screens - white
removed soap holders and towel holders as we will be purchasing our own not in the builders range.
laundry taps - cadet
laundry tub - 42ltr tub and cabinet
26ltr continuous flow hot water
bathroom and ensuite wall tile 03222 with ultra white grout
bathroom floor tiles 78984 with magellan grey grout
living area tiles - 49212 with mudberry grout
verandah tiles - 49236 with slate grey grout
upgraded drains to square chrome instead of standard round plastic

I've been thinking of you, wondering how your trip went. Thanks so much for listing your selections. Did they have tiles at the office or did you have to go elsewhere to see them?



Good to know that they let us remove some items so that we can do them later ourselves.

How long now until the build is expected to start?

They have tiles there, pretty much everyting is there except all the stoves, ovens, rangehoods, laundry tubs, baths.

You get credit back on what you take off but it is not much, i think we are getting $100 credit but we spent $5500 haha. $600odd was for them to re peg the land so we dont have dramas when they go to start building, the engineers report did state that there was only 2 pegs.

Not sure when building starts,hopefully soon before we get delays due to weather.
Still need 2nd and 3rd stages of council approved and finance then "ok to start" date.

some of our colour choices(the only ones i took photos of), sorry about the quality.

Hi Hatchy,
We are building in the Barossa as well with Hickenbotham. We also signed in November (late) and our selections appointment is not until mid April. It was extremely helpful to see your upgrade prices....I got a shock at some though!! We are probably about 4-6 weeks behind you I think! As you live so far away I will be able to give you progress reports if you want as we live near by. We have enjoyed the process so far and cant wait for selections....

hi zub13,

oh we might be neighbours.
what design house are you building?
if you need any prices i will try to help you out if i have the prices.
not sure if you are aware but you get charged to make your breakfast bar flat instead of raised.
the first available appt we could get for colour selections was tuesday just gone, but we booked it about a month in advance. we didnt have the colour consultant we were spose to but another lady as apparently they are really busy atm.

h

we also moved the stove across next to the fridge space so we can fit our microwave next to it instead of paying $300+ for a microwave provision.

We signed with Hicki in Feb 2012 and did our selection in Nov 2012. Ignored multiple letters advising of selection dates. We weren't ready to select as like other we had no idea of prices for upgrades. I obtained upgrade prices for selection book items by emailing (a long list) via the liaison guy.

we also got some prices off of our sales consultant via email but some things they cant give you like tiles or carpet upgrades etc.

Hi zub13 and gopowa. Where are you building gopowa? Hope to follow each of your progress too.

hachy, if you don't mind, what type of towel holders did you want that are outside of the range? I think I would like a towel ladder but they don't have one in the book.

Also, if we wanted something from the same supplier but a different model, would that be considered outside the builder's range. For example, let's say I wanted a different oven from Westinghouse, one that is not in the selections book, would I be able to ask for that? And tiles, if they don't have the tiles in the selections area, can I pick something else from the Beaumont range?

I guess I'd better send a long list to ask for prices before our selections day too--no point making a long trip to find I can't afford what I want and have to pick on the day, under pressure of time constraints.

Thanks, as always, for all and any advice you can offer.

Hi everyone,
Sorry Hachy for previously adding the t!,
We may indeed be neighbours, or at the very least estate neighbours!! We based our design on the Rochester, but we have modified it a bit. We took out the dining room and made a big butlers pantry and we took out the study to make a big ensuite and double WIR for our master, plus a few other modifications to room sizes etc.
We have the prices of extra power points ($55 for a double) and we have the upgrade package included in our deal when we signed up, which includes essastone bench tops, flat bench, 9 foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances including dishwasher and some silver upgrades for tiles etc.
Its the hidden things that I want to know about like the cross over. What is this and why was it $2500? Prices for extra external lights, Drawers for the ensuite, and pot drawers in the kitchen would be handy, plus knowing a rough price for the gutter and fascia upgrade to colorbond would be good too....

Also, hachy, what did you do about the NBN? We have heard conflicting stories.

Its great being able to talk to others who are building with the same company, and in the same area too

lucinda i want towel ladders, found some at harvey norman
http://dny4libbg4qa4.cloudfront.net/med ... 50_1_2.jpg

i am not to sure if you would be able to ask for something outside of their range, i would say probably not but i could be wrong. you could always send them an email or give them a phone call and ask that way you know beforehand.
not sure about the tiles either sorry.

yep definately send an email to try to get prices beforehand so you can go prepared.
do you have a colour selections date as yet?

hi zub,

no worries about the "t" someone else already has done that haha.
the name hachy would be pronounced like you would say the letter h, haha.
just a nickname picked up on another forum.
i have a funny suspicion you may be one of the blocks behind me but i will private message you in regards to that. just sounds like one of the ones behind as i know the ones behind our block are all 900m2 blocks, if we had an extra 30 000 i would have loved one of those blocks.
i do feel sorry for you if you do happen to be my neighbour though as i have two small kids so you will probably hear me telling my eldest off all the time.
sounds like you got some great upgrades, wish we qualified for them

sorry i didnt get any of the upgrades you are after as our budget doesnt stretch that far so i dont have any prices for those things.

NBN costs $1030 for hickies to do and you cant get telstra so they tell me :/
we didnt get it, we dont use a house phone and currently have the prepaid usb internet which i guess we will be sticking to.
i dont actually know much about it to be honest.

I love the towel ladder. I want one now! We were lucky with the upgrade deal as we would not have been able to afford a lot if it otherwise! We have 2 dogs and I'm not sure how they will cope with 'suberbia' either as they are used to having a big area to run around in....

just recieved final prices fixed in the mail and site plans and all other paperwork.
funny enough all of the paper work has our names on it and a written note from our colour consultant has my name wrong hahaha, luckily that is only a note for us and not a formal one we have to get changed.