Simmonds Villa Modena ( Advice/ Opinions Needed)

My partner and I had originally decided to go with another builder based on a display home we saw and loved without really doing too much of a search to see if anything fit better. Long story short. The house was 4 bedrooms we wanted 5, it had a smaller butlers pantry we wanted larger. So we basically ended up chopping changing and adding things to the house but it was at a cost. When I spoke to my banker who is also a friend he advised my partner and I to consider a custom build because we had basically designed a new house and based on the quote of almost 500k before we even got to the point of colors and extras we were easily going to go to 600k maybe more. So we made an appointment to see a custom/ project builder up in Ballarat where we are building.

While we were up there and waiting for them to give us a basic quote we were told to go have some lunch a cup of coffee and come back in an hour or so. We got back from lunch early and decided to have a walk around the Lucas estate and wandered into a Simonds display that had a kitchen I absolutely loved but the house was In no way what I wanted but in the mean time my partner had been looking through that Simonds Bible of houses and she found the Modena and it was perfect.

I had heard so many bad things about Simonds though and I was not trying to hear anything about switching builders plus the base price of the house was more than my original builder so i figure it would end up being far more expensive. So to appease my partner I said we would accept a quote and when he emailed me the next day I almost fell out of my seat. It was over 100k less.

I didn't want to go based on price though so I set out to read as much as I could and while there was a good deal of bad there was also a lot of good too. I also had a few people from my original builder send me messages advising that they too had problems with the original builder and it is mainly up to you no matter what builder to make sure your build goes right.

With that knowledge I decided that I would wait until my gallery tour to decide based on what upgrades I could get and I was blown away.

For one even though the people who were doing the tour were not designers they were very knowledgeable.
The gallery was also laid out in a way that you could see the options in front of you and not on paper and we were all told basically whatever their suppliers provided we could have....at a cost. But if you are willing to pay there is no limit. I asked if I could have a curved staircase in place of standard. They said don't see why not and emailed the estimator there and then.

I told my sales agent I wasn't a fan of their taps and he asked me did I know what I wanted. When I told him he said to get quotes from suppliers and give them to him and he can add them in as a work order. When I said I wanted a marble back splash and I had already ordered the subway tiles based on my last builder telling me they could not source them for me nor could they leave the backsplash off but I could take off the 2k glass one they were "giving" me as a promo and replace it with tile post handover. He said thats fine an the quote now has a $650 credit for tiles which is great because I got an amazing deal on carrara marble at $171 psm I might do the powder room as well if they still have some. As of now i'm only out a bit over $400 for a marble splashback

So as of today we paid the $1500 deposit and I am so nervous but so hopeful.

Wish us luck

this is our facade



This is our floorplan only with the 5 bedroom upgrade.


not sure how good these will show

Wow! Love the floorplan. Very spacious and functional

Thank you we quite like it.

We were this (__) close to going for a custom build when we found it and it works so well with being able to shut off the formal and informal areas.

Hi Bella,

Love your facade...St. Ives is my favorite one...)) I wanted to get this one but we were already over our original budget.

Your floor plan looks great. It is going to be really biiiigggg house...)))

We are going with standard facade Kew. Will get it rendered/stone stack in the future.

We going to have double cavity sliding doors in the formal lounge and bedroom passage towards family area...so that we are able to close it when required.

We ended up switching to the Carringdale. That ummm extension you can drive your car under for the front of the house ended up being 21k which is insanity.

Yes its going to be a biiiiiigggg house lol everyone goes mental on the size but the plan is for it to be the last house I live in until I'm old and fragile and then we will move back into one of our townhouses and sell or rent it out who knows. My MIL is retired and could run rings around me so hopefully i'm like her and never age.

Thats a good idea closing it up like that. Did you end up getting zoned heating ??

Love your floor plan and facade, looking forward to seeing it built!

thanks me too unfortunately we have to wait until November but I'm planning , planning , planning so it gives me something to do while I wait. I've already done a mood board for my closet.

great that you have found a builder to suit. Huge plan, I'm sure it will look fantastic!

Thank you Tina. I will be posting heaps of pictures. It's my first and hopefully last build so it better look fantastic lol

Wow that's a large house.

I'm also building a 2 storey Simonds (Stanten) and went with the Novelle facade. I'm about a week off plastering and everything has been good so far. My 3rd build, first time with Simonds.

Good luck with it!

Wow you must have nerves of steel to build three times. I'm loosing my mind building once.

I know I know its a big house. That is every ones first response when i show them but in my defense it will be my last too

Some pictures from the Simmonds Gallery


here are some of the options for the stairs


I really like the look of this.



At the moment our stairs are L shaped but we are working to get them curved



The Roof Tile Selection Area



Standard Door Handles




Potential Facade Selection

With Grey Window Frames


With white Window frames

Here is a video of the first floor i quickly mocked up on Chief Architect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_arsKfodhM

Hiya, looks like it will be lovely! Personally I couldn't stand the cleaning of the place that size but I can appreciate how spacious it will feel when you're in there. I can just barely keep one living room clean let alone 5. You'll have to invest in a few roombas! I love the glass double doors throughout the lower levels. Can I ask which was is north? It's hard to see on your plans.

Honestly I'm totally getting a roomba but im not too concerned about the size. I find bigger places actually easier to clean.

Those plans are not the final plans so i am not sure where they are going to place it on the block but based on the stock plans north would be on the side where the garage is.

I suppose with the larger places, the mess gets spread out over a larger areas rather then being concentrated in one area, I like that

Lol no more organized because you have more space.

We currently own a 2 bedroom townhouse I can never keep clean. everything is so bloody tight and then I can never find anything especially in the closets because they are so small but deep so we have to put things in the back and front. Our tenant on the other hand in an identical house to ours loves it she thinks it forces her to pare down. I will never get rid of my shoes

In my old apartment I had a walk in that was always organized easy to find things and even easier to get around to clean floors ect.

Most people in my family have houses bigger than this and there isnt an overwhelming need to clean every moment. I think it also comes from the way I handle cleaning. You do it daily and as you use things. I think the most time consuming would be vacuuming and mopping but that's why I will be getting an army of roomba's to handle my bidding. Dusting could also be a bit annoying I suppose.

I also generally do a big clean every few months to reevaluate what i have and where it needs to go. And once a year or so I will have a cleaning crew come in and do the annoying bits like cleaning grout , carpets and couches. I can't see myself turning into a slob

Haha yeah. I think it's just because I come from a family home which was quite large and the large open plan downstairs was tiled and we had dogs so the dust and hair that collected in the corners was a nightmare and my folks weren't so fussed about vacuuming or sweeping so it was almost never completely clean. It was tidy, just the dust that bothered me. Definitely for a family it was great to have some space to get away from each other and then also, the space to come back together as a family. No doubt, your home is going to be totally luxe, It's the kind of home I've always thought of as being one of those 'in your dreams' type houses so congrats ! It'll be great to see it take shape

I'm pretty strict on dust and dirt especially since I want ebony floors.

Lol this is literally my dream home. There were alot of austerity measures involved to get there I tell you.

I'm excited though.