Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 10, 2013 4:35 pm Ok so here we are newbies to the forum. We sold our family home and have bought a block in Madora Bay (Mandurah WA) but have no idea what to do next. Our block has a 21m frontage, is rectangular and runs 31.5m deep. The last time we built was over 20 years ago and things seem to have changed a little since then! We have no particular builder in mind or even a basic plan really. We have a busy lifestyle and not much spare time for research and display home crawls etc. Unlike other people on this forum, due to other priorities and distractions we haven't really got the excitement levels going yet. So here we are wondering what to do next. All we have are some 'features' in mind to include in our next home: 4x2, study, generous ensuite, walk in robes, walk in pantry and alfresco to an area for small pool. First of a zillion questions seems to 1 or 2 stories... Answer: No idea! I guess it would be great to maximise the land space by reducing the home's footprint making 2 storey an option? If we went down that track unlike typical plans, we would probably want minor bedrooms (2,3 &4) upstairs with a small common living area and the master bedroom on the ground floor near (or off) the alfresco. Can't seem to find any creatures like that. Ok, so any tips on where to start? Thanks for reading Cheers Bralex __________________________ January 2013 - bought our block in Madora Bay February 2013 - Certificate of Title Issued Since - Confused and don't know where to start! Re: Bought our land. Now what? 2Jun 10, 2013 4:54 pm first i would start looking through this forum write down ideas then when time allows look at builders in your area. also you may want to consider a custom home. we built our first home 27 years ago and when we started our new home had no idea what to do. so we talked to builders talked to people who built with them checked out what we wanted in a home found this forum had a builder that was no good then found the amazing builder who built our custom home. we had no idea when we started on what to ask for expect so building has been a very big learning curb for us. if you can get hold of a couple of brochures you may find what you like or like we did a cut and paste of different homes to get what we wanted. a big hurdle is over at least finding a block of land Re: Bought our land. Now what? 3Jun 10, 2013 5:26 pm We did something similar, bought land even though we were intending to buy established the whole time and were completely unprepared. I trawled through this forum for months, getting ideas and we went to many display homes, in the end went with Dale Alcock's but are building a custom design that we created ourselves. I know you say you are too busy but I would really recommend spending a Saturday or Sunday at a display village in Baldivis or something and just have a wander through all the houses that you like the look of and do a shortlist from there. Also the internet has plenty of floorplans for most builders to have a look through if you just want to have a browse to start with. Also start planning your budget now and try and stick to it, I've found building to be a lot more expensive than we had planned. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64434 Building our own custom design based on the Elwood by Dale Alcock Land settled - November Plans submitted to council - January Prestart - March Slab - 18 September Brickies - 23 October Re: Bought our land. Now what? 4Jun 11, 2013 5:26 pm Welcome to the forum We currently live in Madora Bay but are building in lakelands.. just finalising contracts. Madora bay is beautiful to live in, can hear the waves crashing at night Are you to the right or left of the main roundabout? Our home building & decorating blog - http://www.rocknsoul.com.au/blog Re: Bought our land. Now what? 5Jun 27, 2013 5:39 pm Thanks jcbissor, We are north of the roundabout... but still no closer to knowing what to do next... Cheers Bralex __________________________ January 2013 - bought our block in Madora Bay February 2013 - Certificate of Title Issued Since - Confused and don't know where to start! Re: Bought our land. Now what? 6Jun 27, 2013 9:05 pm I would start by looking at your block. Think about the orientation, you want living areas facing north and lesser used rooms on the south that are ok being dark. Think about what kind of rooms you want near the road or the back of the block. Have a good think about eco options, these can cut a lot off the running costs of your new home. I'd start writing a list of everything you want to include in your house. Think about all the houses you've been in and make sure you list the things you really loved and on a separate sheet, things you really want to avoid/ would hate in your house. Then start doing some drawings. There are great apps available, programs or just the good old pen and graph paper. Just get some things down. Next to the list of rooms you want, write down minimum sizes of the rooms you'd be happy with. If you need help with that look at your current house or house plans online. After you have a really good idea of what you want and have got a sketch going that fits on your block, start to think about whether you want a smaller builder or project builder and meet with a few builders to chat about the kinds of things they can offer you. If you pick a project builder they will do most of the work for you in the one place ie. plans, site analysis, engineering, council submission. All you will have to do is selections. Or you can take more control as we did, organize planning (draftsman or architect), engineering, council yourself and get a smaller builder to do the actual building. It can be a lot easier to just deal with one person and always talk to them directly whenever you need to. With project builders you may only get to talk to the customer service person tied to your case, some don't even let you talk to your site supervisor. There are many options, I suggest talking to as many as you can. The first stage is brainstorming and once you have your lists and sketches, that's the time to move on and start talking to people seriously about it all. Then it's all hurry up and wait whether it's for your engineer to pull their finger out or just to hear where your plans are up to. Research is your best friend and everyone's experience is so different you really have to work out what's best for you. Good luck! I hope I was helpful. Blog http://tobuildahomeimprobable.blogspot.com.au/ Settlement Apr Council Jul Contracts Dec Earthworks Dec Frames Jan Trusses Feb Roof Feb Windows Mar 9 24791 This is one of the reasons I decided to go overseas for my double glazed windows. As the builder indicated, he's worked on many upmarket builds, these were the most well… 13 19239 2 15463 |