Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 07, 2014 12:27 am My boyfriend and I are building our first home this year/next year.
We are building a modified design of Homegroup WA's Mediterranean house in Helena valley views estate. We first put down our deposit on the land in July 2013 and after SIGNIFICANT delays we're finally starting to get close to getting titles through, we'll be getting our contracts & colour selection file from the builders in the next couple of weeks. I would love any opinions/suggestions on our design in case there are any changes I haven't thought of before we sign final contracts. (Never posted a picture before so hopefully this works...) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 2Jul 07, 2014 12:42 am Hey welcome to the Home Group family and we're close by, I'm in the Shire of Kalamunda. Love your house plan, this is one good sized house. That master bedroom is huge, I'm a little jealous! I couldn't pick up too much, maybe some things I would consider if it were me: 1. Consider putting in 31cse ceilings in the front hallway/entrance way, so that it flows into the kitchen/dining/living area seamlessly. I know you have brick work at 25cse into that space, but it will open it up. Also with a normal 28cse portico and an 820 door, raising the ceiling might make it look bigger than it would otherwise be. 2. Your windows in the living and dining areas are raised - did you do this to suit furnishing the rooms etc? If not, and provided you aren't going to be getting copious amounts of summer sun, consider dropping them to full length windows to allow for great views to your gardens. 3. Are you putting anything into the laundry alongside the bench? I know sometimes people leave a space to allow for an ironing board etc, but if not, consider some cupboards ... you can never have too much storage. Or extend the bench top. 4. Broom closet space?? Have you allowed for putting the ironing board, vacuum cleaner and brooms/mops somewhere? I couldn't see a spot in the linen cupboard. Apart from the above, I love what you have achieved with the house. Best of luck that titles come through soon, have heard they have been taking some time over in Helena Valley. Look forward to following your build. Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 3Jul 07, 2014 9:37 am Bit different to go through games to get to rear bedrooms. Saves on wasted hallway space I guess! Things I'd consider is the size of ensuite, bed2 and bed3. These are key utility areas that if not add more value than they cost, they make it a lot more marketable. Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 4Jul 07, 2014 12:23 pm Could you push your garage wall out to the boundary to allow for storage down that side? Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 5Jul 07, 2014 10:53 pm Thanks for the replies. The original house design had a little hallway in to the games room which is what I turned in to the WIL because I thought it was wasted space, I did think it was a little unusual having the minor bedrooms coming straight off the games room, but eventually that will be kids playroom and bedrooms etc so it should hopefully be fine. Brooms & mops etc I'll keep in the original linen closet with the sliding doors in the laundry then have the WIL for bedding etc. my mum had asked about that already, making sure I'll be keeping clean haha. I'll keep that in mind about the raised ceilings for the front, it would make the entrance look a lot more open. I'm not too keen on making the garage bigger, I don't like how close it is to the boundary already, but stuck with it unfortunately. We received a plant in the mail today from Homegroup WA haha, silly but cute. Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 6Jul 08, 2014 12:01 am Congrats on your house very nice. I also have a block in helena valley views stage 1 its been a long time coming. Waiting on builder getting organised with site costs have you got yours yet I have one suggestion put a door on the wir from the ensuite. No matter how good the extractor fan you still get steam and you will get damp clothes. Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 7Jul 08, 2014 10:32 am Ah yes, good thinking copper! I will definitely be adding that, as well as a door to the ensuite in general I think, it's very strange it's not included. No we haven't got our site costs yet, we're in stage 2 and it hasn't been opened for the builders to go and investigate yet, hopefully it's not too outrageous. I'll be interested to see how much you get told, are you building with Homegroup too? Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 8Jul 08, 2014 12:15 pm Just had a look at your plan vs the original Mediterranean, like how you changed up the games room, great use of space. I know we aren't in Helena Valley, but we are foothills and are sitting on clay - our earthworks were $18k, we are on a raised block, raised with sand so a lower block with more clay will be more. We had originally budgeted $25k. Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 9Jul 08, 2014 3:29 pm Marcia Just had a look at your plan vs the original Mediterranean, like how you changed up the games room, great use of space. I know we aren't in Helena Valley, but we are foothills and are sitting on clay - our earthworks were $18k, we are on a raised block, raised with sand so a lower block with more clay will be more. We had originally budgeted $25k. That's pretty good, hopefully ours will be around the same, we kept getting told by builders to expect over $20k so we've budgeted about $25k too Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 10Jul 08, 2014 3:42 pm Hi . Your plan looks great . Dont worry about going through games to get in bedrooms . I have the same set out , I do however have a hallway that they can go down to acess it too but kids always go through gamesroom .have you got a door on your laundry ? Would you put anothet door on the other side of games or do you think too many doors ? Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 11Jul 08, 2014 3:45 pm Oh make sure you get exhaust fan for toilet and ensuite some builders only give you one on toliet. I know you might think I love doors lol but what about a door on ensuite. I know alot of people wish they had put one on due to the light coming through Even for warmth . Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 12Jul 09, 2014 2:00 pm Hi, Good idea putting a door onto the ensuite as well I am thinking of doing that with mine (if it doesn't create a melt down with the builder) I noticed on your plan you have a bulkhead running through the middle of the main bathroom shower is the display home the same? Builder just sent me an email their doing the working drawings now as they have the site class and it's better than expected down to estimated 20k (whole lot better than the original 40k) Have one more suggestion you have an island bench in the kitchen you might want to think about putting a power point in, otherwise no where to plug mixer,blender etc. Friends had hi spec red ink home built and no power point in bench, had to chase the concrete floor to put one in so no polished concrete floor not happy. Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 13Jul 09, 2014 5:03 pm Hi All, love your design - its massive!!! Great for a first home. Totally jealous of your master bedroom area. fantastic!!!! We are seriously considering joining with HGWA, what has your experience been like so far? We thought we had decided on Blueprint, but HG have come in and given me something completely different and almost doubled the size of my back yard (with a bigger house too) so its a winner so far. Would love to know how everyone is going with them. 14 Dreng Way, Brabham Signed Land Contract - 29/06/2014 Finance Formal approval - 16/09/2014 Prestart - 30/04/2015 Titles - 22/05/2015 Building Permit - 25/05/2015 Land settled - Slab - Bricks - Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 14Jul 09, 2014 6:52 pm Thanks, yes it is a big house, but we're hoping it's not just our first home but a long term one and we shouldn't have to move again any time soon! Plenty of room for growing So far my experience has been really good with HGWA, I'm still only in the early stages and have only dealt with the sales rep, but he has been fantastic. We've had on going delays because of the land titles and he's done everything he can to be accommodating, including getting us in to sign new contracts when there was a special price on so we could extend our contract date as the original one we signed was going to expire before titles, he saved us around $11k by doing that because the house price has gone up since. He's always been very quick to reply to any questions I've had or changes I've made to the design, he's had them redrawn within a few days. Thanks copper, that's another good idea about the power point in the island, I saw a concealed one in a Switch homes show home that pops up out of the bench, I imagine that's pretty pricey though, but I'll look at the options. As for the bulkhead in the bathroom, it's not something I've added, however i have made changes to the original bathroom design so I don't know if it'll cause an issue or anything. I'd not even noticed it to be honest, I wonder why they've included it...just a design feature or for some reason..? Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 15Jul 09, 2014 6:56 pm This is the original design. http://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj619/thegeckobrothers/13D68355-518A-4EF8-942B-3B912A3083CF_zps2ir4rthw.png Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 16Jul 09, 2014 7:30 pm Great plan, we were looking at that one before deciding on a revised version of the Bordeaux. I concur with the above comment about the power point in the island, we almost missed that but friends recommended it as they didn't do it and had to have them installed after. Looking forward to following your journey Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 18Aug 01, 2014 8:15 pm Yay you got the file!!! Were you excited to get it?????? I am sorry I haven't posted before. I have been missing a lot these past few weeks! Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 19Aug 01, 2014 8:51 pm I was excited about getting it, but now I've actually seen the size of it it's pretty overwhelming! We're still going to have ages to go through it as te titles on the land won't be available until September anyway, but I think we're going to need it! I'm really struggling to picture the colours together, like the brick/gutters/paving combinations. I might have to have a play on photoshop! Re: Helena Valley build with Homegroup WA 20Sep 11, 2014 6:34 pm Hi Bennycat, Just posting to let you know I've subscribed to your H1 journey. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or need me to put you in touch with anyone here at HGWA. All the best for your build journey! - Dylan thanks guys! yes this is how I've exactly raised it with the builder. still awaiting response. 12 6043 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17590 Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9565 |