Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 05, 2014 7:07 pm Hi everyone! After reading what feels like every thread on this forum, some of them multiple times (cough...'Show me your kitchen'... cough), I feel like we're finally ready to start our own build thread. I'm a little fuzzy on the dates, but to be honest it hasn't been very long since my partner Dan and I decided to buy a house together, let alone start building! We spent a few months trawling real estate websites looking for something within our budget of $350,000, but this mainly left us depressed and frustrated. Fortunately for us, Dan's brother finished building a house while we were in the process of looking for something. We couldn't believe that he had 4 bedrooms and 2 living areas, all of it brand new, when we had been looking at 3 bedroom shockers within the same price range. It didn't take us long from there to: - July: Meet up with the same local builder that Dan's brother had used - August: Find an 800m2 block and put in an offer for $115000. The real estate agent sounded pretty doubtful that it would be accepted... but we got the call an hour later letting us know it was all moving ahead! - October: Have our block settle after two long months. Go on a month long colours and selections rampage and come out mostly intact. Would you believe that there was no angst until we got to the lighting?? Who would have thought lights of all things would be stressful? - November: Signed a contract and sent plans to council. The Block!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Here is a picture of our site plan: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And here is a copy of our house plan: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Not very large or fancy, but this is just our first little home and we didn't want to risk a large mortgage. We have made quite a few changes from the initial plan though, hopefully none of them to our detriment! Fortunately for us we could change things as much as we wanted to, all we had to keep in mind were that every m2 costs. The main thing we did was get rid of the garage as without it we had a lot more room to play with in fitting both the house and Dan's shed on the block. This also allowed us to add a bit of extra space to our living space, master bedroom, ensuite and WIR. I also got the walk in pantry I'd always wanted! Our original plan also had the laundry as part of the kitchen, so we moved it next to the bathroom and added all of that extra space into the kitchen. Finally, we added some extra concrete around the alfresco (the red part) to give us a little more room when entertaining. Hopefully when we see it in the flesh, we'll love it as much as we do on paper! Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left 3Jan 05, 2014 9:20 pm Ha! I knew someone was going to pick on the ensuite window. It isn't my favourite part of the house, but we wanted more storage in the wir and the house looked a bit ridiculous without a window there, so it seemed unavoidable. I don't think it'll be too much of an issue tbh, that's why blinds were invented! We'll also put a little garden bed in front of there with some tall shrubs and we should be well hidden then Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Slab 4Jan 05, 2014 10:55 pm 26/11/13 - Our block is scraped and ready for pre-slab. 12/12/13 - We have a pre-slab, portaloo, a pile of dirt and pipes! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 16/12/13 - Our early Christmas present... A slab! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 30/12/13 - Dan, his brother and a few of his mates build our retaining wall in 40 degree heat. I'm pretty lucky to have such a handyman for a boyfriend 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 ⋅ After speaking to our inside man at the builders (we've got a friend who works for him) we are hopefully expecting frame stuff to arrive tomorrow! A little bit worried about the rain forecasted for the rest of the week though... Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Slab 5Jan 15, 2014 12:37 pm We have a house frame! I thought I'd be excited for the slab, but our visit to the block yesterday afternoon was about 10 million times better!! It was so exciting to walk around the house and get a better picture of exactly how big all of the rooms will be and imagine our furniture in all of the different spaces. After looking around yesterday I'm particularly excited about our kitchen/living/dining space while Dan is already envisioning his bbq and the patio area. We can't wait to see the house with bricks and a roof now! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - FRAME!! 6Jan 15, 2014 1:51 pm Looking good. Soil looks ok too. Its a fun - if stressful time. As I kept telling my wife - by Christmas time (3 months) all the bad things will have been forgotten - and they were. Slab appears, then frame. But it will seem to slow down. Keep the projected date in mind. I like the lights. Good idea to add to alfresco - the more size the merrier in my opinion. Exciting times. Re: Third House on the Left - FRAME!! 7Jan 16, 2014 8:34 am Bargin price on the land, well done. Congrats on your frame and slab too. Re: Third House on the Left - FRAME!! 8Jan 17, 2014 9:21 am Thanks for the lovely comments mike and Tina! We have had lots of warnings about the work slowing down, so am trying to be prepared... But I just want it finished! Yesterday! Lol. Fortunately, things still seem to be moving quickly, when we visited on Wednesday we had windows! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The plumber had started setting up most of the copper pipes on Thursday. The scaffolding was also set up for the gutters and fascia which will hopefully be up when we visit this afternoon. I really like the look of ironstone and dune together so far Apparently we should have a roof on Monday?? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - FRAME!! 9Jan 18, 2014 2:48 pm Not sure the work slows - but it seems like it - they are slaving away inside ... But - you want it done right ! Re: Third House on the Left - Roof :) 10Jan 22, 2014 6:48 pm This has been a really busy week! We had a meeting with the electrician Monday to make final decisions regarding light, switches and power point placement. That was a little stressful but we're pretty happy with the final result so far... We will see how user friendly it all is when we move in! Fortunately our electrician was really good about suggesting alternatives when he thought a few little changes might make things run smoother. We have also had a half a roof for most of the week, fortunately it was all completed today and looks beautiful. Our guess is that maybe some of the roof sheets were cut incorrectly? Or maybe it was just too hot to get back in and do the last little bit We can't blame them for that! Our electrician also had a very tight turn around between completing the rough in on Tuesday and a new set of workers coming in today to start plaster boarding the walls and ceiling. Most rooms are already finished! Unfortunately I think this may be the beginning of some tricky rooms to take photos of. They just don't look quite the same as in real life... We are hoping they are going to start bricking up the house tomorrow because there are a bunch of pallets of bricks and piles of sand outside the house! Can't wait to see the roof, bricks and windows together for the final check on just how well they all work :S Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ our lounge room Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen and walk in pantry door Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Living, dining and patio space Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Roof :) 11Jan 22, 2014 9:30 pm House looks great - we currently have ensuite window at the front - to balance the look mainly. We got some decorative frosting film from ebay - looks beautiful - no blind needed!! Re: Third House on the Left - Roof :) 12Jan 23, 2014 7:57 am Thanks blue steel, that is very comforting! We did it for the same reason, the house definitely looked odd without windows on both sides. I think I'm a bit more nervous now that the house is going up.... Things that I was sure about pre-build are now coming back to haunt and re-stress me. It reminds me of an exam where you wonder if it's worth changing your answer! Except if you change it, it's a very expensive mistake... Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Bricks :) 13Jan 28, 2014 9:31 pm It's been another busy week on the block and our baby house is looking more and more like a home! Dan and I are really happy with the colour scheme so far... But less talk and more pictures! Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Bricks :) 14Jan 30, 2014 9:17 pm I forgot to add a completed picture of the house! All finished yesterday so even a little bit ahead of schedule. We are hoping for the fit out of all our robes and pantry next week. Colour choices on the exterior: Roof- Ironstone Gutters - Ironstone Fascia - Dune Downpipes and Soffit - Paperbark Bricks - PGH Frost with white mortar Windows - Pearl White Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Bricks :) 15Jan 31, 2014 11:51 am finished just in time to beat the rain, well done Re: Third House on the Left - Doors, Robes, Vanities and Til 16Feb 07, 2014 7:40 am The house is still rocketing along at a cracking pace this week, and we got our first projected finish date... 6 weeks!! We might need to get onto our furniture choices a bit quicker if they keep it up. Dan and I are definitely feeling lucky that we only live 15 minutes away from the house this week and our daily visits are certainly worthwhile. We've been able to pick up several little (and one medium-big) problems in the afternoon, call our SS the next morning and have them fixed by the next afternoon. Definitely happy with speed and quality of the work so far... We just wish the trades would actually read our plans sometimes! I guess because our builder does a lot of investment homes, they're not used to people changing the plans on them! Here's our progress for the week: Monday - internal doors and vanities were delivered. We discovered that our WIP shelving wouldn't quite work as planned as the cut out for our tambour door was bigger than we had been expecting. Dan and the SS met in the afternoon and planned a few changes. For anyone interested, the internal doors we chose were from the builders standard range- Hume Denmark. Tuesday - internal doors hung and fit out of robes and pantries. We discovered that they'd put cubbies into our WIR contrary to the plan which was hanging space only. The doors on the linen cupboards also had a big gap between them (one of the BIR doors had gotten mixed up with the linen cupboard one, so this was an easy fix). We do like the doors though, I think they're a bit cute! Wednesday - WIR was fixed and ready to go, and the pantry was almost finished. More excitingly... Tiles were delivered and they'd already started on the ensuite bathroom! Thursday - our first reaction on walking into the house was 'wow'. We absolutely looove the tiles! Our second reaction... Hang on a second.... That room was meant to be carpeted! We're confident that it will be fixed... But what a pain. A whole room that needs to be ripped back up and smoothed out again. Looking forward to checking out the house today! Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Doors, Robes, Vanities and Til 17Feb 12, 2014 7:30 pm A quick question all-knowing forumers! Can you get a colourbond colour as a paint colour? We have our appointment with the painters to choose colours tomorrow and I'm hoping to make the roof trims dune to match the house fascia. That is possible, right? Also, what on earth have people done for the colour of their down pipes? Do you just ask them to match them to the brick? Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Doors, Robes, Vanities and Til 18Feb 13, 2014 1:04 pm Agentnaget A quick question all-knowing forumers! Can you get a colourbond colour as a paint colour? We have our appointment with the painters to choose colours tomorrow and I'm hoping to make the roof trims dune to match the house fascia. That is possible, right? Also, what on earth have people done for the colour of their down pipes? Do you just ask them to match them to the brick? 1) Yeah, you just go to paint shop and ask for it. For example, our downpipes were colourbond "Monument", so I just went to the bristol shop and asked for a litre of colourbond monument and they made it in their mixer machine. You can do the same at Bunnings but you'll pay much more for it. 2) Our downpipes (metal) are the same colour as our bargeboards. In that case I think that would work for you as your bargeboards are light coloured, as are your bricks. Re: Third House on the Left - questions! Please help! 19Feb 20, 2014 5:30 pm Thanks for the help wokwon! It all ended up being fine in the end. The painter was pretty good about recommending colours for the exterior as we really had no idea and we ended up with paperbark on the soffits and down pipes next to the bricks and dune on the upper down pipes. Very happy with the final result! Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Re: Third House on the Left - Painting & Kitchen!! 20Feb 20, 2014 5:37 pm Lots of updates since my last post! First up though... Our house from the outside with its beautiful red front door. The colour we picked is Dulux Happy Valentine and weirdly enough, the door was painted on valentines day! I'm absolutely in love with the colour, it is luscious and kissable and a risk that has totally paid off. Even more so when you see it from the inside! Our front door is the Hume Newington XN1. Our house building journey --- https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68842 Old Home Restoration / Renovation Hi, just discovered all these junks left behind under the floor. Could any of these be asbestos? Best to leave as it is or clean up? Thank you for your thoughts 0 8070 you need a fridgie to answer but I would think you vac the whole system then add gas if you have a leak, unless it is new install with the gas already loaded, in that case… 1 3657 If so what were the "special circumstances" under which it was granted? "Note: If the development consent is for 'dual occupancy' an owner-builder permit can only be… 0 14070 |