Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 07, 2013 3:18 pm Hi Everyone, After looking at existing houses for sale for the last 3 years, my husband and I have decided to build. We purchased our 938m2 block in the McIvor Forest Estate Junortoun (Bendigo) by Private Sale and only had to endure a 2.5 week settlement!! We had the small trees removed the day after settlement. Photo of our block at sunset Photo of our block with the small trees removed The beautiful bushland behind our block is not in the current estate development plan but we assume it will be developed at some state in the future. After looking at a gazillion display houses, 2 weeks ago we signed up with DFH to build the Hastings 242 Next we have to do our colour selections (dreading this as we have already spend HOURS looking at different colour schemes) and wait for the contracts to come back (approx 12 week wait). 16/05/2013 - Signed land contract of sale. 03/06/2013 - Land Settlement. 23/06/2013 - Paid initial Deposit with DFH. Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build - Bendigo 2Jul 07, 2013 3:47 pm Energy Efficiency We wanted to build a home that wasn't going to cost us a fortune to heat and cool but still within our budget. Unfortunately we didn't think about the orientation of the block before we bought it and only found out once we started looking into energy efficiency that our block is not ideal for the kind of house we wanted to build. The block runs north-south so the front of the house will be north (master bedroom & garage), Living is South-East and WC, ensuite, bathroom, laundry and bedroom 2 on the west. Energy Efficiency Upgrades we have selected 600mm eaves to the North (ideally these would be 900mm but 600mm is all the builder can offer) R6.0 Insulation to roof R2.7 Insulation to external walls Light coloured colourbond Roof with Sarking and Whirly Bird. Upgraded ducted heating from 3.5 star to 5 Star with zoning. Double Glazed Windows (only excluding Laundry and WIR). LED Downlights througout. We will add an alfresco area to the living/family so that should block out some of the summer sun. We have 2 meters from the fence on the west side so will consider planing trees or putting a veranda depending on how hot Bedroom 2 gets. We also selected the 24 square home over the 28 square home, it's just the 2 of us at the moment, hopefully this is not something we live to regret once we have kids. We have plenty of space left over on the block so there is always the option of extending. Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build - Bendigo 4Jul 08, 2013 3:07 pm What a gorgeous block! Lovely floorplan, something that you can definitely grow in to... or as you said extend down the track if you need to also. Looking forward to following your build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Re: Our First Home Build - Bendigo 5Sep 15, 2013 10:53 am Well our contract is finally back and we've had our colour appointment and selected the following colours and fixtures. Hopefully going to site within 6 weeks. Yay!!. Bricks - Boral Mocha Colourbond Roof and Gutter - Dune Downpipes, Fascia, Meter Box and Garage Door - Woodland Grey Windows - Black Interior Paint - Wattyl Flokati Bamboo Flooring for Entry, Kitchen and Meals Area - Driftwood Carpet - Peat Boag Kitchen Ceaserstone Benchtops - Linen Cupboards - Polar White Starfire Glass Splashback - Royal Beige Laundry Laminex Benchtops - Fossil. (I wanted to get CeaserStone but DH said NO WAY and gave me the death glare). Cupboards - Polar White Bathroom & Ensuite CeaserStone Benchtops - Walnut Floor Tile (To Bathroom, Ensuite, WC & Laundry) - 600 x 600 Polished Porcelain, Beige Wall Tile - Cream Gloss Photos of our colour selections and fixtures on our blog. http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 7Sep 15, 2013 8:02 pm What great insulation you'll be getting. Great floorplan, nice big kitchen. Your colours sound great too. Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 8Sep 24, 2013 3:35 pm Hi Sallie, How's everything going so far? Have you heard anything regarding permits etc? Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 9Sep 24, 2013 4:10 pm I received an email Monday, they have to wait for the new working drawings to arrive before they can apply for the building permit. The working drawings should be back this week. Did you have any variations to your working drawings? Have you heard anything? Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 10Sep 24, 2013 4:14 pm Yep, we had to change a couple of things in the Contract and but those variations are now all signed and have been returned. I am still waiting on the banks valuation of the building Contract! very nervous! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 11Sep 24, 2013 4:20 pm Have your amended working drawings come back from production yet? Did you get pre-approval for your loan? I don't think you'll have an issue with the valuation, they basically just look at how much it's going to cost and say that's the value of it. We received our loan approval letter last week so as soon as the working drawings are back DFH will start ordering the building materials!! Hope it's soon!! Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 12Sep 24, 2013 4:25 pm Yep they are all corrected, so now they're going to start ordering everything in. One thing they did let me know was with the land title search, that the land still wasn't in my name which is a bit weird as settlement was in July!@ Yes pre-approval was all good, so hopefully there won't be any dramas! Wow you're so close to getting started now! hopefully the drawings won't take too long to come back! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 13Sep 28, 2013 10:20 am Does anyone know how long it takes for a building permit to be approved? We are expecting our working drawings back Monday and DFH said they would apply for the building permit next week... We were meant to be going to site in 3 weeks but that doesn't sound like long to have the building permit approved and get everything organised? Sallie Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 14Oct 01, 2013 9:41 pm We received our working drawings back today but they are still missing the water tank which is required for council building permit approval. Hopefully this doesn't cause any further delays!! Have emailed our sales consultant, waiting to hear back tomorrow. Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 15Oct 02, 2013 9:56 pm Good News, the council do not require the water tank to be shown on the working drawings so no further delays. DFH applied for our building permit today so not long to wait now. Phew!! We also received our energy rating report and it's 7.1 stars. Pretty happy with that as it's not including replacing all lights with LED downlights. Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 16Oct 02, 2013 10:14 pm That's awesome congrats! Our energy rating was 6.8 we're also getting led downlights too, but they're not in the contract plans. The permit should only takes about 2-3 weeks, going from our experience. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 18Oct 21, 2013 8:50 pm Thanks Mark. Do you have any pics of your build? Would love to see your colour scheme! Quick update, our building permit was rejected because the neighbour's house is set back 7.1 meters and we were requesting 6 meter set back (estate minimum). We had to go and get consent from both neighbours and resubmit the building permit application (resubmitted last Tuesday). Hope to hear that it's been approved sometime this week. Sallie Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 19Oct 23, 2013 10:52 am Oh no, what a shame! I hope they get it all sorted asap Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Our First Home Build DFH - Bendigo 20Oct 29, 2013 7:18 am Received a call from our site supervisor yesterday, we are officially onsite!! Site scrape is happening on Friday, Monday they will mark out the house, Tuesday plumbers are doing under slab plumbing and Wednesday they are preparing for slab pouring. FINALLY something is happening yay. Build Blog: http://sallieandlukeshouse.blogspot.com.au/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65860&p=1053758&hilit=bendigo#p1053758 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 27702 hi guys. Please be nice. 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