Well I've been stalking/lurking on here for what seems like forever. Now that we've finally made the decision to sign with Redink I thought I'd start my new thread. I feel like I know so many of you I've been following your builds and am so appreciative of all the great tips. Special thank you to charlie23 and felicity01, you both so graciously responded to my PM's and gave me some wonderful advice. We started looking for land SOR about 6 months ago and finally purchased in Piara Waters at the end of August. It felt like it was meant to be. It's a 565 sqm block with a nice long northern (ish) exposure. The north side and east side will be public open space, so only one neighbor to the south. We have looked at so many display homes, my oldest son just rolls his eyes now when I say we're going to look at houses:) and we tried to get "quotes" from about 4 or 5 different builders with plans we liked. Man, it was tough getting pricing from builders, you'd think we were trying to steal government secrets! I mean, I guess I sort of understand that they don't want everyone running around with their numbers, and it's quite a bit of work to adjust floor plans and get the costs, however we didn't feel we could make an informed decision about something so major without at least trying to compare apples to apples. But, as we learned that's pretty much impossible. In the end we really liked the Redink floor plan the best, we think we can apply many passive solar elements (which was a very important factor in why we chose the block and how we've designed the home) and the Redink sales person really went above and beyond to assist us and give us pricing for every last little thing we could possibly think of. We've added about $30K to the base price, which is insane because I don't even think we've done anything that major, but you all know how each little thing adds up so quickly. We included an extra $10K prestart allowance, please tell me this should be sufficient?!?! And since we haven't made a final decision about what we want our front elevation to look like, and we need to satisfy some estate design elements for the 2 sides facing the open space we've allocated about $5K for elevation allowance. Again, I hope this is adequate, because that's $45K on the base price and we haven't even signed a contract or picked a tile or a tap yet Titles to the land are due in about 2 weeks, but I'm quite sure there will be a bit of a delay. I sort of assumed at least a month delay from the get go, so we'll see....
That's our story. If there's one very important thing I've learned reading everyone's posts it's that you all LOVE pictures So here is our floor plan as it currently stands and some pictures of our pile of dirt and retaining wall. We have a couple weeks before we can't make any more structural changes. We're having a solar assessment done now, so we'll see what they suggest, and I'm open to suggestions from the crowd. FYI, the pool is a bit of a pipe dream at the moment but I love my virtual pool!!! Having never built before, and only living in Australia for about 3.5 years, this whole process and the lingo is new to me so please bear with me
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Our colour and tile selections:
Exterior
Render colour and veranda beams/posts: Solver Designer White
Contrast render at base of veranda posts: Monument
Roof, fascia and garage door: Colorbond Surfmist
Gutters: Colorbond Monument
Window frames: Charcoal
Bricks where not rendered: Augusta Limestone
Front doors: Solver Deep Valentine
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Kitchen
Benchtops: Essastone Sorbet
Lower cabinets, front of island and extended sides: Formica Fini Wenge
Upper cabinets: Formica Warm White
Backsplash: Light green glass
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Ensuite
Floor tiles: Perspectives Taupe
Shower wall tiles: White matte
Shower feature wall with recess and row above vanity: Scotland cream
Benchtop: Formica Fini Wenge
Cabinets and Shelving: Formica Rock Salt
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Main Bathroom
Shower Tiles: White gloss
Shower recess: Stone and glass mosaic
Around bath: Chocolate gloss
Floor Tiles: Perspectives Taupe
Benchtop: Formica Fini Wenge
Cabinet: Formica Rock Salt
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Timeline:
Mothers Day 2013- Looked at first display home and decided we wanted to build
29 August 2013- After looking at about a zillion pieces of land, we secured a block in Piara Waters
30 September 2013- Signed Prelimiary Agreement with Redink & paid deposit
15 December 2013- Signed PCQ and draft plans
18 December 2013- Settlement on our block
17 January 2014- Received email from Client Advocate to inform that file received in office and admin stage officially beginning
2 May 2014- Interior Designer consultation
19 May 2014- Prestart
24 June 2014- Final Plans and Addenda received for us to sign
30 June 2014- Final Plans and Addenda submitted to Redink
19 July 2014- building permit received
Week of 25 August 2014- Siteworks Completed
3 September 2014- SLAB!!!! (3.5 months from Prestart)
23 September 2014- Bricks delivered
17 October 2014- Brickwork begins
8 December 2014- Brickwork completed (just over 3 months from Slab)
9 December 2014- Roof carpentry begins
Week of 15 December 2014- Colorbond on and roof completed
16 January 2015- grey float completed
Week of 19 January 2015- white set
Week of 26 January 2015- ceilings and cornices installed and windows in
3 February 2015- doors delivered
4 February 2015- LOCK UP! (5 months from slab)
10 February 2015- Cabinets and non stone benchtops and basins installed
16 February 2015- Tiles Delivered
17 February 2015- Essastone Installed, Garage Grano poured (and HWS and AC slabs), Kitchen sink installed, tile prep begins
27 February 2015- Tiling completed
2 - 6 March 2015- Appliances installed, doors, cornices, ceilings painted, electrical work, exterior render painting started
9-16 March 2015- Gas and plumbing finals partially completed, insulation installed, some tapware and toilets installed
16-20 March- Insulation completed
28 April - PCI! (34 weeks from slab)
15 May-KEYS!!!! (36 weeks from slab)