Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 01, 2014 9:28 am Hi, We're new to homeone. I'm really enjoying being able to see the progress of other homes in Perth and thought it would be nice to share a few photos of our progress so far, and would like to add more as the house continues to be built. In August 2013 we bought our block! 14.7m wide by 30m. We decided we wanted to build with Ben Trager. Our finance was approved for construction on Christmas Day. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ On 13 January 2014 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ On 23 January 2014 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bricks arrived on 31 January 2014. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We were quoted $3800 from Ben Trager for the soakwells so we decided to arrange that ourselves. It held up the bricks being layed and threw our scheduling out a bit but on 25 February 2014 our bricks finally began going up! Yay!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Back yard has plenty of space. We arranged for the footings on the alfresco to accomodate a pool we've chosen which was done at no extra charge. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And on 28 February (morning) hubby drove past the site. The brickies are working super fast. At this pace the bottom floor walls will be up un no time!!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 2Mar 01, 2014 11:04 am I don't think my photos uploaded properly... Sorry, trying again. Our block [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2013Aug_zps4e342df0.jpg[/img][/img] Site Cleared [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2014Jan13_zpsd34c9b36.jpg[/img][/img] Slab Down [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2014Jan23_zpsf2f24aa7.jpg[/img][/img] Brickwork Commenced [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2014Jan31_zps7a07843e.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2014Feb26_zps07e1b796.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2014Feb262_zps876271e4.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/2014Feb263_zps829f5568.jpg[/img][/img] Front Bricks started 1 day after the back of the house was done Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 3Mar 02, 2014 4:12 pm Hubby went past the work site again this morning. Here are some photos he took for me. I've been referring to it as our "block" for so long and now that the bricks are coming up it's exciting to be able to move on to calling it our site. I panicked when I saw that the window frames are black, as we want white window frames but was relieved to know that the frames always are black to start with and end up being covered up. Silly me... I'm new to this and still have a lot to learn. [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/BenTrager5_zps9d2bc76c.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/BenTrager4_zps064a4498.jpg[/img][/img] Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/BenTrager2_zps21a74336.jpg[/img][/img] Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 4Mar 02, 2014 11:30 pm Hi. Welcome to H1 from a fellow Ben Trager builder. Which house design are you building? It would be interesting to see your floor plan. Interesting that the soakwells held up your bricks. I thought the soakwells were scheduled for later in the build. We're having ours done by BT and they haven't been done yet. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 5Mar 03, 2014 12:20 pm Hi oncewerefurriers! We went with the Waverley which was a promotional home with aircon included which we were pretty happy about. Here's a rough plan. [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/Capture_zps1f76f019.png[/img][/img] We hadn't even thought about the soakwells until chatting with a neighbour once the slab went down. He's built a few houses before and this is our first so it's all a big learning curve for us. He told us it would be a good idea to put the soakwells in since both houses either side of us were already built with all fences up and our house will have limited access on the sides once the bricks are done. We pretty much had to arrange for the back of the house soakwell to be done within a few days. That messed up the scheduling a bit. We were wanting to have the pool put in before the bricks went up as well but BTH were against it due to safety reasons. I was having a look at your thread and it was so exciting seeing it come together! I got the hubby to check it out as well and we both love it. It has given us a better idea of what order things start to happen in and what to expect. I love the colour combinations you've gone with. It's going to be a beautiful home! Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 6Mar 03, 2014 1:08 pm Thanks for the kind words, kristal. We're hoping it's going to look good when it's finished. We've gone for a colour scheme that isn't very common so it's difficult to picture it. The Waverley was the promo home that took over from ours (Rokeby) it was only available for a short time so you did well to grab it. The large, splashback window is a nice touch. It will look great when it's finished. The soakwell issue makes sense now. We're fortunate that there's a vacant block next to us so rear access isn't an issue at the moment. Hopefully we'll have our build complete before our neighbours start (apart from the fact our building materials are all over their block) as we've got a pool as well as the soakwells. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 7Mar 03, 2014 5:49 pm Yes we were lucky to get the Waverley because that promotion had just ended. We liked it because it still left us with a decent back yard plus had the activity room. I like that your colour scheme is different. It's still nuetral enough to appeal to others and all the colours seem to go well with one another. We had trouble deciding on a colour scheme but Caroline was a great help. We ended up choosing colours similar to that of the Apella but I initially had similar colours to yours in mind (only with a whiteish roof instead). What displays had you visited? Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 8Mar 04, 2014 5:56 pm Following Our build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70984 Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 9Mar 10, 2014 6:54 pm Have scheduled our "plate height" inspection for next Monday and need to research what kinds of things to look out for. Any tips I can get would be awesome as this is all a great big learning curve. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 10Mar 11, 2014 1:47 am kristal_chev Have scheduled our "plate height" inspection for next Monday and need to research what kinds of things to look out for. Any tips I can get would be awesome as this is all a great big learning curve. I'm sure people will tell you there's things you need to look out for but in all honesty? I find that's what warranties are for. One brickie who was taught one way will have an opinion and another guy taught a different way will have a different opinion. At the end of the day, Ben Trager gives you a 25 year warranty from the looks of their website. If you ever have an issue, you fall back on your warranty and the HIA. It would cost the builder an absolute fortune to fix brickwork issues so a good builder doesn't risk cutting corners on something like bricks. You're more likely to find corners cut on things like plastering or tiling; those are the areas you really want to watch from my experience. Oh, and I'll prepare you for the inevitable: rooms look small at plate height! It's because it's dark... Very dark. If a room seems small, don't stress, that's a normal reaction. Working as a building rep in WA. All advice will be general and I won't give any opinions on specific builders. The name is fake and I won't say who I work for. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 11Mar 11, 2014 10:39 am Thanks tomxavier, I really appreciate the advice. It gives me a great deal of peace of mind knowing that I don't need to be an expert on bricklaying by Monday to ensure a good job has been done I haven't seen the site since the interior walls have gone up but my husband has and he actually thinks the rooms look huge so that's great news.... they'll look even bigger when the house is complete. Don't be surprised if I hit you up for more advice when the plastering and tiling starts Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 12Mar 11, 2014 9:52 pm Congratulations on plate height. tomxavier kristal_chev Have scheduled our "plate height" inspection for next Monday and need to research what kinds of things to look out for. Any tips I can get would be awesome as this is all a great big learning curve. I'm sure people will tell you there's things you need to look out for but in all honesty? I find that's what warranties are for. One brickie who was taught one way will have an opinion and another guy taught a different way will have a different opinion. That's a bit of a blinkered view. A warranty is there for un-noticed things that subsequently go wrong or come to light. Getting it right now can save a truck load of hassle down the line. That's why there are actual standards that apply to the quality of brickwork; straightness, mortar gaps etc. The walls should be built in compliance with these irrespective of opinions. However, kristal, if the walls look 'right' they probably are. The walls that are going to be rendered (2 course red clay) will look worse than the faced-brick walls (1 course limestone), that's a given so don't obsess if they look tatty. You'll never see them! There will be big gaps that are filled with slivers of brick, loads of mortar or even just left empty. This seems like normal practice for WA. Again, if they're getting rendered over, don't worry unless there are lots of them. Make sure the mortar lines are pretty even along the length of each wall length and that they don't look too large. Check that no bricks are protruding out beyond the others. If you have a long spirit level place that against the wall in different places to make sure the wall are vertical. Check that any lintels that are supposed to be above doors, windows etc are there. It's easier to fix now than later. We had one that was missed because it had been hidden by the sand, the brickies knocked out a couple of bricks and put it in. Had it been missed, who knows? Finally, check that the window frames are straight and square. Again, easier to fix now than later. tomxavier It would cost the builder an absolute fortune to fix brickwork issues so a good builder doesn't risk cutting corners on something like bricks. I don't think the builder would intentionally cut corners in this area but stage checks sometimes get missed. For instance we had a window frame that wasn't square and hadn't been noticed by the SS. Easy to fix at the time but would have been a massive PITA to fix when the wall had been rendered inside and out. Plus, it's always worth protecting your investment now than trying to claim later. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 13Mar 22, 2014 11:54 am Went past yesterday and are happy to see that the beams are in place for the second storey slab. Our site supervisor says the second storey work should take about 6 weeks. [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/image_zps5b610584.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/image_zpsc4ba000d.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/image_zpsbef27c3a.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/image_zps5f47ec45.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/image_zps0541f510.jpg[/img][/img] [img][IMG]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/kristalhilaire/Capture_zps1f76f019.png[/img][/img] Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 14Mar 22, 2014 6:00 pm Congratulations guys. Looking good. Be wary of putting too much faith in timescales given to you. There's no way they can guarantee that the work will happen and you just get frustrated when it doesn't. We were told around 16 weeks to PCI, at the beggining of December. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 15Mar 23, 2014 11:25 am Thanks oncewerefurriers, I will try not to pay too much attention to the time frames. It's hard though. Especially when we only live 10 minutes away Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 16Mar 23, 2014 1:30 pm We're the same we live just around the corner from our build. It's great when things are happening and you can see it grow. It's not so great when things aren't happening. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 18Apr 04, 2014 9:32 am We had a call from Ben Trager to let us know that the upper slab has now been poured and the carpenters are booked in to start the timber frames. So far we're very satisfied with the way things are going. FIFO life has me missing out on all the excitement at the moment but hubby is sending me photos to keep me up to date. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 19Apr 04, 2014 12:35 pm Con-upper-slab-ulations. Great news guys, moving along nicely. Re: Our First Home... Ben Trager, in The Vines. 20Apr 04, 2014 3:35 pm I am new to this forum and have been reading with great interest. We are looking at BT homes but would like your honest and unbiased opinion on the 2nd storey build. Can you hear people walking/ talking/ jumping etc upstairs? does sound travel easily? We were looking at the usual concrete slab for 2nd level but cost is a major factor, but not too sure if we are willing to go down the engineering slab path if noise is a factor we have to live with. All comments would be appreciated. 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 27307 We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. 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