Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 04, 2013 12:42 am Hi everyone
Like many others, we've found this forum really helpful, so we thought we'd start a thread for our build, in case our experience so far is of use to others. Our build We have a demolition and single storey build project with Webb & Brown-Neaves, and although it's taken us a while to get this far, we now have a slab and are hoping to have bricklayers arrive soon. We did quite a lot of research before choosing WBN. We went to lots of display homes, from lots of different companies, and met with home building brokers to consider a smaller builder too. We ultimately chose WBN because they'd built houses we liked in the suburbs we'd been looking to buy in, we were confident that they were big enough to not worry about insolvency and we liked the idea of having a showroom of options to choose from, rather than having to visit lots of shops to make all our choices ourselves. (As it turns out, that was one of the things we were wrong about, because the showroom didn't have many options to pick from, and we ended up spending many, many Saturdays visiting all the shops ourselves.) Our design was originally based on a WBN standard plan, but has been heavily modified so it no longer bears much resemblance to the original. We started with the idea of having our pool up next to the house, alongside a large open plan kitchen/dining/living area. The rest of the plan followed on from that. Timeline so far: Bought block June 2012 PPA October 2012 Council approval March 2013 Prestart 3 April 2013 Demolition early June 2013 Pool concreted June 2013 Signed off on Prestart Variations 29 July 2013 Slab down 16 August 2013 Bricks delivered 30 August 2013 Brickies 10 September 2013 (did 3 days then came back 3 Oct) - 15 October 2013 Roofing 21 October 2013 - 11 November 2013 Grey float 21 November 2013 - 29 November 2013 Ceilings 29 November 2013 - 3 December 2013 Cornices 5 December 2013 - 12 December 2013 (except wet areas and home theatre) White set 10 December 2013 - 12 December 2013 Windows & Bifolds 13 December 2013 - 17 December 2013 Lock up 17 December 2013 Fixing carpenter 17 December 2013 - 19 December 2013 Painting 13 January 2014 Cabinetry 15 January 2014 - 17 January 2014 Tiling 18 January 2014 - Electrician 4 February 2014 - Front door installed 7 February 2014 Grano & Plinth 11 February 2014 Plumbing finals 21 February 2014 - Garage door 5 March 2014 Flyscreen to bifolds 13 March 2014 Paving 17 and 18 March 2014 Mirrors and shower screens 18 March 2014 Painting 19 - 21 March 2014 Flyscreens 31 March 2014 PCI 2 April 2014 Handover 16 April 2014 Flooring (laid) 16-19 April 2014 Stonework 24-30 April 2014 Painting 12 - 15 May 2014 AC finished off 16 May 2014 Floors finished 20 - 22 May 2014 Carpet (minor bedrooms) 26 May 2014 Blinds, shutters, splashback, solar power 28 May 2014 Moved in 2 June 2014 Companies we've dealt with: (rating) Demolition: S & L Salvage (poor) Pool: Dolphin Pools (good) Lighting: Lighting City (good service but expensive), Emotive Earth (great) Structured Cabling: eInteriors Tiles: Tiles Expo Air-conditioning: Complete Air (very good) Cabinets: International Cabinets (good) Flooring: Chelsea Flooring Our top tips We wish we'd realised the importance of getting the right sales consultant. Even within the one company, they are not all created equal and this will have a big impact on your experience. Go to lots of different displays, talk to lots of consultants and pick someone you feel comfortable with, even if the house you're planning to build isn't the display home they work at. Keep lists of what you need to do and also what the builder has said they'll do for you, so you can follow up if this doesn't happen. Get as much as possible in writing. Check everything really carefully: drawings, addenda, variations, costings... We still cannot believe the dollar value of the errors we found in our prestart costings (after asking lots of questions). And the builder made some changes to our plans without telling us that we're glad we spotted. If something is important to you, be prepared to do the research yourself to find out whether it's possible, as the builder might be wrong when they tell you it's not possible. Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) 2Sep 04, 2013 5:37 am hi and welcome do you have a plan of the house Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) 3Sep 04, 2013 9:58 pm Our rough plan. Some changes have occurred but this is the only plan we have that includes the pool. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) 4Sep 04, 2013 10:36 pm Some snaps of our block: The flat block: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Slab Down: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bricks Delivered: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Are we building a lego clown college? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) 5Sep 04, 2013 10:56 pm Oooh, I'm excited now! Someone else building with WBN to compare notes with. Will send you some Q's when I have more time. You are ahead of us. We are still mulling over the contract, trying to get all those little details right. http://www.housebythewater.wordpress.com From blank block to new home in Mandurah, Western Australia. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65564 Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) 6Sep 05, 2013 1:29 am housebythewater Oooh, I'm excited now! Someone else building with WBN to compare notes with. Will send you some Q's when I have more time. You are ahead of us. We are still mulling over the contract, trying to get all those little details right. Hello housebythewater! We know your blog! And we did get to visit the Rubix while it was still open. We loved it - especially the scullery and that huge void over the living area. We know exactly how you feel about the contract. Good luck! It's true there don't seem to be too many people on here building with WBN. We look forward to comparing notes along the way... Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) - brickies ons 7Sep 15, 2013 10:46 pm Brickies have arrived and even though it rained all week they have completed a fair amount. Work in progress Garage Windows overlooking the pool Bird's eye view Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) - Brickies ons 8Sep 16, 2013 6:49 am It's amazing how quickly it suddens turns from "on paper" to 3D real thing you can walk around. Exciting for you. http://www.housebythewater.wordpress.com From blank block to new home in Mandurah, Western Australia. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65564 Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) - Brickies ons 9Sep 16, 2013 8:04 am Love some of the Webb & Brown-Neaves houses, there was a display home in Iluka years ago that we admired often Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) - Brickies ons 10Sep 18, 2013 11:31 pm We met our site supervisor yesterday and he seems helpful and knowledgeable. We have found a couple of small issues that are being fixed up but nothing major. The brickies are on another project for a week and a half. We're looking forward to having them back later next week - and having some more photos to share then. Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) - Brickies ons 11Sep 22, 2013 11:02 pm Thought we would put up the builders visualisation of our front elevation. Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Building with Webb & Brown-Neaves (in WA) - Brickies ons 12Sep 23, 2013 7:10 pm Looks great. Do you mind sharing your colour selections? We are also have a column of stone on our front facade. We are going for country ledgestone in "shale", but I haven't picked the rest of the colours yet. http://www.housebythewater.wordpress.com From blank block to new home in Mandurah, Western Australia. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65564 Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - Elevation selectio 13Sep 23, 2013 11:01 pm Hi housebythewater. We like the look of your country ledgestone in shale. Like our stone, it's got a few colours within it to work with for the rest of your selections. Our front colours are: - main render: Dulux ghosting - planters and weatherboard cladding: Dulux Western Myall - window frames: charcoal lustre - roof: Surfmist - stone cladding: Eco Outdoors crackenback We're also putting the stone cladding under our kitchen island bench and somewhere (we haven't decided exactly where yet) near the pool. It was the first colour decision we made, and we made the rest of our selections to fit in with that. Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - Elevation selectio 14Oct 05, 2013 8:47 pm Wow the drawing looks like you are going to have a lovely looking home. I agree very much with you about making sure all the inital details are correct. We are near the end of our build and I still find my slef going back over emails and documents to ensure we get what we want. I must say our builder has been very amicable when issues have been found. Good luck with your build Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - Elevation selectio 15Oct 05, 2013 9:20 pm bradster181 Wow the drawing looks like you are going to have a lovely looking home. I agree very much with you about making sure all the inital details are correct. We are near the end of our build and I still find my slef going back over emails and documents to ensure we get what we want. I must say our builder has been very amicable when issues have been found. Good luck with your build Thanks Bradster. We've done a lot of the same thing. Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - Brickies back 16Oct 05, 2013 10:04 pm Our brickies did 3 days initially back in mid September and then had to head off to another job. Now they are back we've got some exciting progress and photos. The view from the backyard (pool through to Master Bed alongside the living area windows) Insulation in the cavity walls Apparently our brickies like a warm meal The view from the bath tub in the ensuite through the bedroom to the pool The front corner from the street The home theatre Laundry The WIR The theatre sound insulation The Study and store rooms Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - Brickies back 17Oct 06, 2013 11:01 am Great update, I hope you get to keep your brickies through to plate height now? Very good Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - brickies finished 18Oct 22, 2013 10:58 pm Happy to say our brickies have finished. Front Entrance Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Window through to ensuite from master bedroom Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Minor bathroom Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen / living area (the single course of bricks will be part of the island bench) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread Re: Build with Webb & Brown-Neaves (WA) - brickies finished 19Oct 22, 2013 10:59 pm We've made a couple of changes already, but they were pretty easy to organise. Our ensuite was going to have a window over the mirror: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The first time we walked into the room after it reached full height, Cameron realised the mirror was too low for him to see his face. Oops. So we had to get them to brick in that window: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ They'd also forgotten to specify a starting height for the niche in the entry, but our very nice brickies were happy to do that for us for no charge (when we dropped by with some morning tea for them): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Built with WBN in WA Slab down 16 Aug 2013, Handover 16 April 2014, Moved in 2 June 2014 Our house build thread 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 17511 thank you! do we need to get this or our builder before we commence new build on the block? 2 10404 Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9559 |