Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 22, 2014 9:08 pm Hi all We have our gallery appointment in two weeks time (very exciting) and are trying to figure out what is likely to be in the standard range. We know it's a big day out and thought we could go through some suppliers websites to get a head start but really want to stick with the standard items. Can any one who built with Simonds give point us in the right direction as to what's in the standard range? I asked our crc and was offered a tour of the gallery but we just don't have time to do it twice, much better for us to browse websites late out night Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 2May 22, 2014 9:44 pm A few of the items in my selections are... The range varies from state to state as far as bricks go, but I have standard vanity basins (raised bowl type ones) the mixer taps are standard, lever style door handles for the internal doors are standard... The caroma close coupled toilet (venecia) , The bath (caroma medina 1700) was standard... Starts getting tricky when it comes to tiles & that sort of stuff, but as a start those items are standard. Some of my selections are pictured on around pg 6 & 7 on my thread if you want o have a peek. 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: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 3May 22, 2014 10:26 pm I can tell from experience that the standard rage is quite good I know when we done ours which was last year as we were early we did pick fair bit of upgrades up as I knew what the budget was for it and I ended up going over by 1k in saying that my opinion is everyone should do a tour as it opens your eyes. When it came to our colour selection we already knew what it what we wanted upgraded and how much money we had left over to play with if we wanted other stuff. I know we weren't going to do the carpet upgrades for bedrooms but ended up doing it as the standard wasn't that good and considering we done timber floors for rest of the living areas it was worth the extra $$$. Most of the showers we left the same but we did upgrade the units the day that we put the deposit so main dollar items that we liked from display home visit where done there and then which also helped. Also I found that the stuff that we actually wanted upgraded next one up wasn't that much difference in price. Hope that helps Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 4May 22, 2014 10:33 pm Thanks deluxes, that's good news! Those are the handles we like, and the basins. I guess we'll have to be patient and take our time on the day though. We are in Vic so probably different bricks, were those licorice bricks in the standard? We are hopeful there will be some darker bricks like a chocolate color brick in the standard range. Blogging Our Home Build With Simonds - Avalon 3512 4/05/14 Signed Contracts Land 5/05/14 Signed Off with Simonds Homes - Slightly Modified Avalon 3512 4/06/14 Simonds Gallery Appointment 4/07/14 Settlement! 28/07/14 Site Start Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 5May 22, 2014 10:40 pm Thanks hsv2ko, I know you're right about the extra day/tour but we don't have time. Good to bear the standard range is good. Cheers Blogging Our Home Build With Simonds - Avalon 3512 4/05/14 Signed Contracts Land 5/05/14 Signed Off with Simonds Homes - Slightly Modified Avalon 3512 4/06/14 Simonds Gallery Appointment 4/07/14 Settlement! 28/07/14 Site Start Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 6May 23, 2014 8:40 am Hi aRoba, we built with Simonds in Victoria. The standard range is definately different to those in other states. You have two choices of basins for the bathroom, two choices for bath shape. There are 5 choices for standard brick, 2 reds and 3 creams. I'm happy with what we came out with in the end (however I did cry when I found out what was available in the standard range and wondered how I was gonna make it look good), we upgraded our carpet to Cat 4 as the standard was horrible, upgraded our oven to an in built one but that was about it that I remember. The tour is only about an hour, or less and on a Saturday, however it at least gives you some ideas so when you get to your selection day you have some idea of what you like. Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 7May 23, 2014 10:43 am They are very different from state to state, but the two bath styles, 2 basin styles is the same in SA. The licorice bricks were Cat 4 and the archipelago ones were cat 2. We used the licorice for the Piers only, so it was only a few hundred dollars. The cat 2 brick upgrade to the rest of the house was about $500. I don't know what the standard brick choices are in Melbourne, but there was a few dark ones in the standard range here. PGH plateau was one and that was really nice. 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: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 8May 23, 2014 7:31 pm Thanks! Glad to see there is a raised basin in the standard and I guess the upgrades that are in the hundreds are a small price overall so maybe we will be tempted on the day. $500 for the entire house is doable in the scheme of this. This has been a long time coming, now that it's here so it's a long two weeks til gallery day! Blogging Our Home Build With Simonds - Avalon 3512 4/05/14 Signed Contracts Land 5/05/14 Signed Off with Simonds Homes - Slightly Modified Avalon 3512 4/06/14 Simonds Gallery Appointment 4/07/14 Settlement! 28/07/14 Site Start Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 9May 23, 2014 8:10 pm I hope you have a fantastic time at the Gallery! We did, it was such good fun It's a very exciting time... You should start a build thread 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: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 10May 25, 2014 4:26 pm Hi aRoba we have just had our gallery appointment last week in traralgon Vic, we hadnt been to any display homes nor had a look through the gallery previously however it was surprisingly so easy, we had a good idea of the colour scheme we wanted to go. The bricks we chose were homestead tan and they were a category 5 and think were about $1500 to upgrade. There are no brown coloured bricks in the standard range, only cream and red but I think there was a browny one in cat 3 or 4. The roof tiles were sambuca and they were standard, same with the garage door we chose but there were options there to upgrade. All the laminates are standard but I believe the ceasarstone benchtops are a bit more, the shower bases are poly marble and a bit boring so we may be upgrading this, haven't decided yet. The grey tiles we chose for flooring were standard and look great as well as the timber laminate flooring. If you were to go all the standard range your house would still look fabulous but it's just those little extras you want that make the difference! Slab 19/9 Framed 22/9 Locked up 20/10 Simonds Lenox!! Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 11May 25, 2014 6:49 pm An advance walk through is a really good idea. Trust me the day will be overwhelming as it is. Spend your money on things not easily upgradable later. Eg bathroom floor to ceiling tiles, shower upgrade to semi frameless, ceiling height, brick and/or facade. Every upgrade with the builder has massive markup for the convenience factor. I would recommend against having thrm do things like ceaserstone. Instead specify all benchtops to be secured with screws only - no nail, no glue. Get Bunnings for example to replace with ceaserstone equivalent after for 1/3 price fully installed. In QLD at least, prepare for disappointment with standard brick choices. In the very least visit Boral display center or whatever brick supplier they use in your state and review their premade walls of your brick choices. Everything looks different outside the showroom, especially colour. If you want white mortar specify it exactly - do not accept off white. We did - it's grey and disappointing. Beware floor covering costs. Recommend you do upstairs carpet afterwards and pay half the price for better. Maybe let them deal with ground floor which will likely require leveling abs stuffing around with the skirting boards. Our advice in a nutshell is: if it can be done post build, don't get the builder involved! Use serviceseeking.com.au or similar to find your post build contractors. Oh and recommend you use an independant building inspector. Personally our build with Simonds here in brissy has gone excellently so far, with only a handful of minor issues found (one moderate issue which they will address). It's money well spent I think Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 12Jun 05, 2014 11:32 pm Thanks for the tips brissyguy and jaclegg88! We had our gallery appointment yesterday, what a good day it was! Did do my head in a little though with so many decisions to make. We deleted our appliances and upgraded a couple things, bricks, carpet, zoned the heating (which will save $$ long term) and downlights. I reckon we may have set a record too, got there at 9:05am and were finished by 12:20pm! Blogging Our Home Build With Simonds - Avalon 3512 4/05/14 Signed Contracts Land 5/05/14 Signed Off with Simonds Homes - Slightly Modified Avalon 3512 4/06/14 Simonds Gallery Appointment 4/07/14 Settlement! 28/07/14 Site Start Re: Help with Simonds Standard Range? 13Jun 17, 2014 1:45 am Here a sum up of what we upgraded on. Higher ceiling- $3400 extra (don't recall the height for standard) All internal doors to next one up $750 extra x 15 doors (I hated the standard plush ones) Floor tiles to meals, kitchen, family, bathrooms, laundry, toilets : Majestic Ivory Porcelain tiles 600x600 - total was $11200 (standard would of only cost $7000 Feature tile mosaic in ensuite shower $124 Ceaserstone benchtops in kitchen: Wild rocks $2000 extra Cat 3 bricks in Access Fawn $300 extra (brownish tanish colour) love it Cat 2 carpet $700 extra for all 4 bedrooms Extra big window in meals $650 Glazed front door $250 extra (our front door was standard but we added the glazed effect so ppl can't see through into your house. Porch lights x2 $194 20 LED down lights not including the 4 rooms $1994 2 pendant lights above the sink benchtops (can't remember price) And any other extra switches and lights you want is extra $30 2 extra top kitchen cupboards $550 I really suggest upgrading on the features of the house like your bricks, tiles, ceiling, lights things you can't change later. What we have done in a few theatres ( including my own) is run 2 layers of 13mm gyprock, but sounds insulation especially for the bass is really tricky as a lot of that… 4 2553 Hi there, long-time lurker but first time posting. I've bought a house 2 and a bit years ago and last year we had some major water damage on a converted pergola area… 0 7929 Yes, unless you are in a low intensity rainfall area or the area is protected from rain. Do you have access to NCC Part 2 or can you download it? I can email you a copy… 10 12508 |