Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 17, 2013 1:14 am Hi Everyone, So my boyfriend and I have finally come close to settling on a builder. After months of looking around, playing with designs, being told that certain builders won't work with our block etc etc we are almost set on Redink. We are just playing with the design at the moment before we put down our deposit and officially sign with them. We are on a 300sqm block with 13m frontage. We have quite an interesting slope going on. I'm not entirely sure on how to read the slope measurements but I know it's a good few metres and lots of builders don't like that. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I have uploaded the plan we have so far. I know how everyone here loves plans . We have not officially signed yet and I would love to get some feedback before we put down our deposit. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Also please keep in mind that we are expecting our site costs to be quite large so we are trying to keep our costly upgrades/structural changes to a minimum. Thanks Re: Building our first home - Plans 2Nov 17, 2013 5:30 am That looks like a big single level house for a small steep site. It's not only high site costs you will also have the problem of a very steep driveway which is going to make getting the car in the garage a big problem. It may be better to look for a company that specializes in building on slopes and looking at building a split level house. Although the base price may be higher the site works will be less and the layout will be more suitable for the site. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Building our first home - Plans 3Nov 17, 2013 8:59 am What bashworth said I was going to say the same thing At lease it will not be a cookie cutter house. my house is a cookie cutter house but it's not special Re: Building our first home - Plans 4Nov 17, 2013 10:12 am Yay for makibg progress! It feels like it takes ages - but don't rush it! As you know, we built with redink on a rear 'non standard lot' - we had a slope but it wasn't massive. They did a cut and fill and we retained. Honestly there will be pros and cons. Redink have not demonstrated the best knowledge of these kinds of builds. They messed up our retaining and soak well requirements massively. On the plus side as they messed it up, they paid for it. I got some snarky comments from the SS about our block. They really are just used to building on flat, eat access blocks. On the flip side because I don't think they do it all the time, they don't charge an arm and leg for every single small addition to build on a difficult block. We spoke to most of the major project developers who all spends HOURS telling us how hard to be to build on the block, how we would need this and that etc etc - adding on ridiculous amts of money. Around 40-50j. Ie: temp fencing, temp driveways, water tanks/ lots of gear to make it fit with Fremantles energy/water rules. We haven't done any of this with redink. No one was interested in selling us a house - only in telling us what heroes they would be if they pulled it off. In hindsight I think it is designed to scare you into building with a developer. BUT if you do go ahead do your research, find out what retaining and draining Etc you need. You will need to be on top of them. Re: Building our first home - Plans 5Nov 17, 2013 10:18 am Re the plan - looks good. Personally I'd take out walk in cupboards as they are less space efficienct. I don't know if you can move you sink to give you the bar bit free? It's a small living area so you could use that as a table / space to sit around - which I always find less pleasant with a sink... Re: Building our first home - Plans 6Nov 17, 2013 11:24 am I would try and recess the robes for beds 2 and 3 so that the rooms are free of protruding walls. For bed 2: move the master WIR and master door up so that a robe can be recessed under the WIR. for bed 3: rearrange the laundry somewhat as there is wasted space there and a robe could easily be recessed in the laundry space. This would make the rooms more usable? I think the master/ensuite/wir layout could be fiddled to use the space better as well. Also have you seen the price difference with adding any packages to the house? I think we have the choice package which gives stone bench tops, air con, sliding mirror robe doors etc. If you will be adding air con later it might be worth looking at? If you are going to go for split systems then probably best to stick with what you have got and just upgrade little bits if they fit in the budget. As far as Redink goes, I'd be more than happy to build with them again but I've only been through the process of a simple flat block so can't comment on the slope bit! Good luck Re: Building our first home - Plans 7Nov 17, 2013 12:24 pm Wow - that is a steep site! You have around 2m of rise in the first 2/3 of the site. Looks like you need a custom design where the garage and perhaps another room are underneath the front of the house. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Building our first home - Plans 8Nov 17, 2013 4:17 pm Hi, Thanks guys for the feedback. I've written all your suggestions down to bring up with our Redink guy. We looked at a few builders who specialise in 2 storey homes/sloped blocks but found that their prices were just way out of our budget usually because their standard inclusions were top of the range. We got some snarky comments from a few sales guys when we asked to downgrade some items. Other builders wouldn't even give me the time of day because of our slope. Still waiting to hear back from some of them. We have been promised a lot from a few different builders but the design/sales guy at Redink has really been the best so far. When I ask him questions he know what he's talking about and can spit out prices of upgrades, which I have found really helpful when considering how much we want to spend. We will still be looking around and also asking Redink what they can do to drop the driveway. Re: Building our first home - Plans 9Dec 10, 2013 6:00 pm Hi firsthomenewbie, Just wondering how you went with your plans? Any news ? Cheers 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 27182 6 11528 Really tight at the top of the stairs- how to get furniture into those rooms? Study books - does anyone really use them these days? Large storage closet would be more functional. 2 6882 |