Hi everyone! How exciting is it t be building a home? I always said my first home would be a new-build and I think my family and friends always thought I was a dreamer but we made it happen! Found a good block in Beverley in the inner(?) west of Adelaide for a reasonable price - total size is 442sqm with a narrow frontage of 10.54m and a depth of 42m.
We shopped around for a house plan for a little while - we consulted Hickinbotham, Rossdale and Rendition (whilst also having a look at a few other builders plans and pricing).
We chose Hickinbotham in the end solely because the $33k March inclusions promo meant other builders couldn't come close. I also have two family members who have built with Hickinbotham previously and got a good end product.
Did anyone else hate the shopping around process? All the builders do is bash each other and try to instil fear in you that leads you to choosing them. So frustrating. EVERY other builder we spoke to warned us that we would get hit with many variations with Hickinbotham. They said "Hickies" suck you in with low quotes and then hit you with variations later. I am still waiting on a fixed price contract so I will let you know if this comes to fruition! Let me know how you go too!
So...the details. We are building the Acacia Mk II with the following changes:
- enlarged WIR and ensuite to master suite (WIR extends full width of master with walk through to ensuite also extending full width behind);
- walk in pantry added behind kitchen (no direct kitchen access, access is through hallway - practically no difference and couldn't spare the bench space that would be eaten up by a doorway to pantry);
- large alfresco;
- small courtyard added between master and second lounge with glass sliding door access to lounge, master and hallway;
- removed wall between toilet and main bath to enlarge main bath, removed 1800mm bath (will be installing freestanding bath after handover);
- changed windows in ensuite and main bath to floor-to-ceiling, unfrosted glass for view to side garden.
The upgrades we selected at the contract stage include:
- 4 part sliding glass doors to alfresco;
- panel lift automated garage door.
The items included in the $33k March promo (for which we paid $5k) include;
- upgrade to 2700mm ceiling heights throughout (originally costed in our contract for around $4k);
- 6m of essastone benchtops;
- white high gloss kitchen cabinetry;
- upgrade to stainless steel kitchen appliances;
- tsiro dishwasher and dishwasher provision;
- upgrades to silver range for wet area tiling, interior doors and handles;
- upgrade to Milano semi-frameless shower screens (have no idea what these even look like. Does anyone know?)
The things we have decided so far (ahead of selections):
Bricks/facade
We have narrowed our choice down to Austral Cobalt, Grange or the lighter of the two light colours. We haven't made any choices on fascias, gutters etc. we will seek some professional advice on that.
My partner wants tiles on the roof so we will probably go with as dark as possible dependent on brick choice.
Kitchen
White high gloss cabinetry with essastone benchtops (I have heard the colour choice for the promo is limited to 4 colours - we will choose white). Currently undecided on splashback. We like the long, squarish handles and would like a modern finish to overhead cupboards and pot drawers to the lower cabinetry. Would love to hear more from people about what the kitchen has standard and what you had to upgrade!
Bathrooms
No idea! Will depend on tile choice. We went to Beaumonts the other day to see what we could find in the silver range. It is a tough choice! I think I will need to talk this one through with the colour consultants and make sure I haven't missed any of the possible choices.
Does anyone know anything about what cabinetry you get standard and if you can upgrade to floating cabinetry etc and prices?
Flooring (not in contract - we will be paying for this ourselves)
Currently we are tossing up between polished concrete (in a play to Beverley's industrial roots), large unpolished concrete tiles or grey-wash laminate floorboards. We are going with greys in the interior of our home accented with dark wood (decking to alfresco, courtyard and potentially front porch area as well). The decor will be centred around something I like to call shabby hipster chic (meaning a cross between a more sophisticated, polished look and the shabbier hipster look that is currently quite trendy. I love Scandinavian design and decor as well. If you want to know what I mean I'll check my sign in name on Pinterest and you can check out some of my boards).
If there is anything else you want to know just let me know! Happy to share prices with you too. I will try to figure out how to post our current sketches so you can see what I'm talking about above - my apologies if I haven't done a very good of describing them!
Look forward to following all of your progress!
Courtney