Hi All
Have looked at this site a few time during our build - which has just gone to council stage - so I thought it was time to join up and share.
We have lived in Blackwood Park for 8 years in a little Villa and after the second child came along we thought it was time to upsize - especially with it being two daughters (and nowhere for a man-cave). One of my preferences was to be able to have enough room in the back yard for the kids to play. Luckily, at that time the perfect block came up in the latest release just around the corner. Going from 398m2 to 1362m2 is going to be a great challenge, but perfect for what we want. we managed to sell our home just before we lost the hold on the block. Deciding on a builder was quite easy - our friends built with Dechellis and we liked what we saw - and when we spoke to the salesman he helped up create a plan that we loved (with a little tweaking). Our main problems were a large significant tree and a slope of just over 2m from front left to rear right of the house. We decided against a split level and have gone with a deep edge rebate to solve the slope problem (there is quite a strict set of encumbrances that make it a little difficult to achieve what you could in other areas).
So here is a breakdown of whats happened when.
12 March 2013 - Block Settled
21 June 2013 - Plans sent for Encumbrance Approval
30 June 2013 - Encumbrance Approval and off to Mitcham Council
...and back to waiting again