Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 13, 2014 1:36 am Hi guys, so I have joined the gang as well. Building my first home on a 500 sqm land. We have just signed up with the builders and have confirmed the house plan after a long long to and fros with the design. Finally we have something we are content with. I have attached the plan. Let me know what you think guys https://www.dropbox.com/s/122010adx94s2nv/House%20Plan_edited.jpg Re: First home builders 4Jul 13, 2014 9:45 pm Hi Maddymo, you have a great plan there. Well thought out with good flow. Where are you building and who are you building with? Toni's thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=71645 Re: First home builders 6Jul 14, 2014 4:14 pm We are now trying to figure out what the best option in for the flooring. We looked at timber/bamboo and boy that is expensive. Carpets (Bedrooms/theatre) - We though of going with it but again the though of hygiene and cleaning carpets was bit of a concern for me. We plan to have kids soon and cant have different kinds of stains and fumes reeking off the carpets Tiles (whole house) - They turn into ice during winters. We have them in our rented house and the tiles is kitchen get so cold that its impossible to work there without having socks on Vinyl flooring (entire house except theatre)- They are cheap - they look so real. Like the ones that look like wood or tiles, they look great. At this point we were thinking on going with vinyl wooden look throughout the house except the home theatre. Would you guys have any views on this or any recommendations? Thanks all Re: First home builders 7Jul 14, 2014 4:49 pm Hello, Welcome to the forums! Another first home builder here. Feel free to ask any questions, I owe this website a great debt! It has been fantastic for feedback and advice. A few comments on your plan. I love it, think its great. I especially like how each room has a degree of privacy. You've buffered each one with the laundry and bathroom. Your future kids will love you for it! I also really like the decent sized wardrobes in each room. I see some people with a 600mm wardrobe and think that my shoes wouldn't even fit in there! So now for some things I would personally consider. I couldn't tell where the door is to the study. I would align the study-to-house door with the garage-to-study door. Think about coming home each day. 9 out of 10 times you'll use the garage entry, not your front door. Seems innocuous, but I know I would prefer to walk in a straight line to get through the room and enter the house. Also, those are some mighty big windows in beds 2-4. Bed 4 may struggle in summer with the north facing aspect too. It'll get warm in there. I don't know. My windows were that big, then mum told me to make them smaller. Less heat exchange, smaller window to clean, easy to find curtains, smaller window means smaller (cheaper) furnishings etc. My final comment is with regards to the theatre. My original design had a big window with glazed doors, not too different to yours. Then I thought about what I would use this room for - mainly movies and gaming. So my priorities shifted to keep it quiet, keep it dark. I ditched the glazed doors and switched back to wood. Had to fight for a long, thin skylight window. I would have gone for no windows if they let me. But there's a silly 10% of the floor area rule for habitable rooms. Anyway, I love my theatre set up now. I guess I chose function over aesthetics in the end. I'm keen to see what you choose for flooring. I'm also facing the same dilemma. I want timber floorboards, quite badly. But at $13,000 for just the living areas and hallways, it's crazy expensive! That karndean stuff is all the rage at the moment. I'll have to consider it - or bite the bullet and go for the wood. I'm sticking to carpet in the bedrooms because I'm a big advocate of floor napping. Carpet is just so cozy! Well I think I've procrastinated enough from work, better get back to it! Good luck with the floors! P.R Re: First home builders 8Jul 14, 2014 7:00 pm Thank you PanRaptor The study door is in the middle. We though of having it right in front of thr garage but then though why not have it in the middle, it would look good. Yes, your point makes sense about the use of the garage entry, not the front door. Need to think about that. Nice one though. Regarding the windows, how do you read those numbers. Sorry if this is a dumb question. I agree with your comment on smaller windows. I wanted theatre to have those doors from a looks point of view it doesn't bother me if there's darkness or not so am happy with that Flooring is going to be a tricky question. Will let you know how I go about it. What stage are you at? Where are you building? Would you mind sharing your plan too please? Cheers Re: First home builders 9Jul 14, 2014 9:59 pm maddymo Thank you PanRaptor No probs! Happy to help maddymo Regarding the windows, how do you read those numbers. Sorry if this is a dumb question. I agree with your comment on smaller windows. Not a dumb question at all. So when a window size says 18 x 2410 for example, that window is 18 courses of (single) brick high and 2.41m wide. The windows in your plan are quite wide for their height. I'm unsure if they are a standard size. I can't really claim the comment about small windows. Mum pointed it out! After all, she knows best. maddymo What stage are you at? Where are you building? Would you mind sharing your plan too please? I'm building in the north eastern suburbs of Perth in an established suburb. My builder is Redink Homes. I started the home building process last May, signed a PCQ in June and had prestart in November of last year. Currently up to grey float stage. I have my own thread which is in the signature at the bottom of this post. The first post contains my plan. There's about 20 pages of stuff in my thread so far. I try to add lots of photos where I can because pictures are better than words! Re: First home builders 10Jul 15, 2014 7:03 am If you get a good quality synthetic carpet, stains wont be an issue so much and ive never heard of fumes from carpet being an issue. Vinyl flooring is horrible in my opinion. The truly good stuff is comprable in price to expensive wood flooring. The issue I take with it is that while it looks like wood, it doesn't feel like wood. And the moment you step on it its obvious. It doesn't increase the value of your home the way a good quality tile or wood does either. Bamboo is expensive because builders mark it up significantly. Trust me when I tell you this, they wont be using the best quality either. If you want to save some cash, do floors after hand over and chose a good quality material. It will be cheaper and your options will be better Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: First home builders 11Jul 15, 2014 11:25 pm Ponzu If you get a good quality synthetic carpet, stains wont be an issue so much and ive never heard of fumes from carpet being an issue. Vinyl flooring is horrible in my opinion. The truly good stuff is comprable in price to expensive wood flooring. The issue I take with it is that while it looks like wood, it doesn't feel like wood. And the moment you step on it its obvious. It doesn't increase the value of your home the way a good quality tile or wood does either. Bamboo is expensive because builders mark it up significantly. Trust me when I tell you this, they wont be using the best quality either. If you want to save some cash, do floors after hand over and chose a good quality material. It will be cheaper and your options will be better Thanks for your views Ponzu! We aren't getting our vinyls from the builders.Thats not included in the contract. We went to one of the carpet shops and saw these vinyls by Karndean design flooring and liked a few. One of them which I liked was model # Mid Worn Oak KP103 http://www.karndean.com/en-au/floors/products/kp103-mid-worn-oak Of course its not going to feel like wood but at this point my understanding (subject to change is that vinyls are much more easy to clean and maintain. Also putting some quality rugs on vinyls in bedrooms will make the house look cosier as well. Let me know what you think. cheers Re: First home builders 12Jul 15, 2014 11:28 pm Quote: So when a window size says 18 x 2410 for example, that window is 18 courses of (single) brick high and 2.41m wide. The windows in your plan are quite wide for their height. I'm unsure if they are a standard size. Oh ok. Thanks PanRaptor. I will ask the builder to see what his views are on this. Hi All, we are starting to think of building with Masterpiece Builders in Victoria, has anyone had any feedback or experience with them 0 13567 1 7926 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 27328 |