Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 17, 2013 12:07 pm Hello fellow readers
Considering there hasn't been a dedicated post on the MainVue Amalfi 532 build, we thought we'll start one. We've been meaning to write about our experiences of building our own home, but never got around to document it. So without further adieu, here i go. It all started when we saw the HomeBuyers Centre advert on TV (insert the advert here), "Own your own home for as little as $3,000" Thinking to myself, is home-ownership that easy?, there's got to be a catch!...There was! Anyway going to the HomeBuyers Centre for an information session was our first foray into our search of trying to own our first home!...so thank-you HomeBuyers Centre. We directly started with by visiting display villages in the Cranbourne area and were smitten by some of the display homes. Little did we know that we actually had to buy land rather know what size frontage we wanted before we could zero in on a house design! Our next dilemma was where we want to live...after living (read: renting) in beautiful and leafy Glen Iris for so long, I had to diversify my search outside of our area, where my original criteria of 'neat town house in good suburb close to the city' quickly became 'inhabitable area with at least one dry patch for a bed' and even then we couldn't find anything in around our area. Cranbourne seemed like traveling to the country side. I’d mentally smile every time a land sales agent said “it’s only 50 mins to the city”. And the West was well...the ‘west’...who wants to live there?! Anyway fast-forward 4 months and stalking realestate.com.au to find something suitable and within our budget, we made our peace to live in the south west and have put a deposit on a non titled land of 578 sqm in Truganina! Now, before you ask where's that? let me Google that for you! http://goo.gl/mTCtP Here's an Engineering Plan of our lot. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 2Jul 17, 2013 12:15 pm Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 3Jul 18, 2013 11:38 am • Kitchen Island Bench 1300mm(w) x 3290mm (l) 40mm Caesarstone bench-top with 20mm shadow-line and dropped sides, it will end up looking like this... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ • All appliances changed to SMEG • Kitchen Benchtop Caesarstone (Ocean Spary) and Cabinets (Noturne Oak) • Barazza Cubo AFS400D – Double Bowl Overall Premium grade stainless steel sink with designer plug. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bathroom • Floor to Wall tiles to En-suite and Bathroom 2. Entry • Corinthian INF6G 2340 x 1200mm pivot Front entry Door front entry door with 600mm pull handles back to back. Windows • Feature Picture Timber Window as displayed in lieu of standard Timber three-panel window, to Dining/Family.$2,330, this would look something like the square window in the background, slightly bigger (apologies for the poor quality, taken from an iphone) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ ...in the background Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Other • Electron EVS 2707-H Ducted Vacuum System 2HP - 5 Points with Ducted Vacuum Dustpan Attachment to Kitchen Kick-rail - Including Extra Vacuum Point. • Cat 5 Carpet Upgrade to Bedrooms and Theatre. • We’ll get the flooring as below for the rest of the house done post-handover from tectonic flooring Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 5Jul 22, 2013 9:06 pm Haha yeah you beat to it! Been following your thread too ever since I discovered it. Yeah we just started our build about a month ago, we are upto frame stage now. I haven't been updating this thread as no one seemed to reading it, but now I will Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 7Jul 24, 2013 4:25 pm Well for those who are still interested…after a very short wait of 1 year & 9 months, we are finally proud owners of a 580 sqm dirt patch in Melbourne. Not much has happened since then apart from a few dramas with the bank when they couldn't find $35k of our funds on the day of the settlement! Needless to say we had to postpone the settlement by a few days, as the banks suggestion of "simply" crediting another 35k, while they find the missing funds was not an option. The banks really live in a different world don't they? I suppose without some drama all this isn't fun. Frankly i'm just glad that they found our money quickly! During this short period we've have been (trying) meticulously to save up. Finalised on the couches for the living room. Bought the dining table we had our eye on. A few nick knacks for interiors. So all and all its been good so far. Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 8Jul 24, 2013 4:26 pm So a fortnight ago our site supervisor calls us and introduces himself as "Joe", just Joe (maybe he's like Madonna or Seal). He informs us that they have already started digging on our site and low and behold they have found rocks, lots of rocks, apparently 2 trucks full of them! So much so that they have to now source a 12ton machine instead of a standard 9 ton machine to carry on. Honestly I wasn't surprised by the news as i knew what was going on at the site before the title, more on this later. Moreover the weather Gods have not been kind with the sunshine for the last 2 weeks, apparently every 1 day of rain, delays the construction by about 3-4 days after. So at the moment we are stuck with a big ditch in the ground and awaiting a 12 ton machine to finish the rest of the job, before they can pour the concrete. Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 9Jul 24, 2013 4:30 pm Considering our official Site Start came with a whole lot of excitement for us, we have been disappointed with the poor weather which has delayed the building plans… We officially started our building journey on 7 of June 2013, so it’s have been over a month to see the slab has finally been poured, the clearing of all those rocks on our site did push out the slab pour for about 2-3 weeks. Luckily the good weather this week ensured it got done! We received a call from the site manager on Friday morning to say the slab has been poured so SG and I were itching to see the progress on our building site. Due to the delay in pouring our slab because, the other two houses across our street have taken the lead. One of them has the frame up while the other already has the bricks and roof done. (Their builders must be on a different dosage!) Anyways, we have an independent inspection scheduled in today. The next few days will consist of a site clean and the frame timber also arrives for a Wednesday start. Here are some pics of the slab pour, it was extremely muddy so didn't want to venture into the site…I noticed there wasn't any step-down to the garage (the LHS of the pic2). Is it because we are building to the boundary? Not, sure if this is normal. So will check with the BI on this. Good Weather, I hope you are here to stay! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 10Jul 24, 2013 4:31 pm btw, an update from the no step-down to the garage fiasco...
Disappointing result in the end as the slab has already been poured and nothing can be done about that. I suppose its partly our mistake too that we didn't notice it on when we singed one of the post contract variations. But you'd think when they can raise variations on the most menial things like the rake joints colour needs a change, a significant change like a step-down, something which was in the plan all along would have been bought to our attention. I know its not the end of the world, but this can definitely serve as a warning to the rest. apparently, henley/mainvue removed the step-down from the standard inclusion not long ago.. so make sure you ask for this, if that's something you want. some of the frames we delivered the other day. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 11Jul 24, 2013 4:44 pm I had asked our Building inspector to check to see if there was any precedence to argue the case of having a mandatory step-down to the garage. Long story short, its not mandatory and all depends on the slope of your site. It's not a deal breaker for us, but would definitely prefer to have the step-down, given the option. Here's what he had to say. We have been advised by the Building Commission that the most pertinent section in the Building Codes Australia is 3.1.2.3 (b) which is "Surface Water Drainage" and refers to slab on ground finished ground levels. The advice given is relates to Houses as Class 1 buildings; and garages, sheds and the like as Class 10. If the garage is fully waterproofed and weather proofed ie damp course under the slab, impervious walls, flashed and drained roof, etc; and the garage floor complies with the above clause, then the set down is not necessarily required. Section 3.1.2.3 Surface Water Drainage Surface water must be diverted away from Class 1 buildings as follows: (a) Slab on ground finished ground level adjacent to buildings The external finished surface surrounding the slab must be drained to move surface water away from the building and graded to give a slope of not less than 50mm over the first 1metre from the building. (b) Slab on ground finished slab heightsThe height of the slab on ground (measured at the slab edge) above external finished surfaces must not be less than; (i) 150 mm above ground level (ii) 100 mm above sandy well drained areas (iii) 50 mm above paved or concreted areas that slope from the building in accordance (a) Our inspector advises that based on your property and the fall of the land down from the house and garage towards the front boundary (also using the site plan as reference) that the garage floor level being the same as the house slab level may be okay within these guidelines. As the plans have been approved by the surveyor under the building permit, it appears there may be no basis for further discussion with the construction company. We suggest that for the rear of the garage, that ground levels be graded to provide a slope away of not less than 50mm over the first 1metre from the building. This is to be monitored in the latter stages of construction. ...if you are still reading, we'll have some pics of the completed frame over the weekend! Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 13Jul 25, 2013 12:27 pm Ooh! Another MV thread. Commenting so I can follow it lol. - MrsT Brought first house in 2008. Renovated...a LOT. Built in 2013. Our thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67954 Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 15Jul 26, 2013 4:01 pm Ouch!I would not be happy about the lack of step down as it was a standard inclusion when we signed up. Having said that, my better half just mentioned that we've been sent new drawings today that we need to review and sign. Strange considering we initialled a set of drawings on contract signing. Either way, thanks for the tip and please keep updating, as i'm really interested in your thread Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 16Jul 26, 2013 4:09 pm txateu Ouch!I would not be happy about the lack of step down as it was a standard inclusion when we signed up. Having said that, my better half just mentioned that we've been sent new drawings today that we need to review and sign. Strange considering we initialled a set of drawings on contract signing. Either way, thanks for the tip and please keep updating, as i'm really interested in your thread thanks txateu, I'll be sure to post updates as soon as i have something to update I'm not sure if there was anywhere in the contract which specified that the step-down is a standard inclusion, i reckon they simply keep their options open by not mentioning it. We too had it all the way right up until the last drawings. So be sure to check yours atleast twice! One thing we were assured of was that the building approval would not have been granted if the step-down was mandatory. Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 18Jul 27, 2013 9:16 am txateu Hi comfortablywacky can you please post your kitchen elevations or pm them to be? Your island bench layout is different to mine. And I think yours looks better! It's the as displayed island as the Pointcook Amalfi632 display. I'll post the drawings soon. Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 19Jul 27, 2013 10:09 am congrats on slab posting to follow Re: First home build with MainVue - Amalfi532 20Jul 27, 2013 11:35 am Kitchen drawings - Kitchen Benchtop and Island 40mm Caesarstone (Ocean Foam), - Laminex Crystal Gloss - All Base Cabinets/drawers (Noturne Oak), overhead cabinets (Stipple Hemp) - Barazza Cubo AFS400D – Inset mount - All Appliances SMEG - Side tower with micro/wave provision - Concealed rangehood vented through the roof Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27722 hi guys. Please be nice. First time home builder in Qld. I would like some feedback please on whether I should build my granny flat first before my main house at the… 0 4589 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17609 |