Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 09, 2014 6:45 pm Hi everyone Thought it was time to start my own thread for our build. My partner and I are building our first home - the Stamford with Simonds SA - in north-eastern Adelaide, estimated start date 11/08/14. It's taken us a while to get to this stage: Settlement for land: 06/12/13 Gallery selections: 25/03/14 Contract signed: 30/04/14 Council approval: 15/05/14 (2 weeks approx) Finance approval: 05/06/14 Development approval: 17/07/14 (1 week approx) DA was supposed to be submitted by 13 June 14, but was not submitted until July. Things seem to be progressing quite slowly, and we can only hope that Simonds stick to the estimated start date. Our story started back in October 2013 when we purchased a 450sqm block in north-eastern Adelaide, close to the Torrens River. The block was in an ideal location, but is north-facing (south-facing backyard), so we were a bit hesitant to purchase it. However, we have always wanted to live in that area, so couldn't pass on the opportunity to buy the block. We then spent a couple of months looking at builders in Adelaide before deciding on Simonds. I guess the main reasons we went with Simonds were the transparency in the costings (we could get a footings report up-front and know how much our footings would cost) and the sales rep Haydn, who was extremely helpful throughout the planning stage. We've had a couple of hiccups since then, e.g. being told that our driveway will not receive council approval as it runs too close to a stobie pole (we raised this with Simonds before we even purchased the land and asked specifically if it would be an issue) and not receiving 6-star energy rating (we were never led to believe this would be an issue). To their credit, Simonds did resolve these issues for us. We have also had issues with our neighbours' builders dumping cement on our block. We spent $700 on fencing off the property to make sure this didn't happen again Our council and development approval were surprisingly quick, once submitted. We didn't really have any problems with finance (valuation came in at $4k under cost, my guess is that some of our upgrades, e.g. tiles, didn't add value from the bank's perpective). We are now looking forward to starting our build, and hopefully all issues have been put behind us. Will post updates with photos, once I work out how to upload them! Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 2Aug 09, 2014 7:02 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is what our facade should look like - we went with St Ives facade, rendered front Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 3Aug 09, 2014 7:07 pm Our kitchen colours: Alto eggshell for tiles, olive fabrini for benchtop and Bliss W for paint colour Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ For our bathroom we went alto ash for floor tiles, starstone for wall tiles, white for cupboards and stone fabrini for benchtops Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 4Aug 09, 2014 7:13 pm I love finding new simonds builds, the Stamford has a decent sized kitchen by the looks of it. We are doing the st ives facade on our Sierra, it's money well spent. I look forward to following your build. Building a Sierra on the Gold Coast https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68899 Full timeline on Pg 1 Settlement: 13/05/14 Retaining Walls: 20/06/14 Site Start: 02/07/14 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 5Aug 09, 2014 7:18 pm Thanks StephyD, I have been following your build whilst waiting for ours to start! Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 6Aug 09, 2014 7:19 pm Here is our block at the start of winter - you can see the stobie pole is roughly 4m into our boundary: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 7Aug 09, 2014 7:22 pm Some more pics of the block, you can see we've put the fence up to keep the other builders out: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Quite a bit of rubbish dumped on our block: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 8Aug 09, 2014 7:54 pm Wow, I love the St Ives façade and penguins too And how good is it that you're near the Torrens? We wanted to build at Highbury originally, but settled on GG. We kept getting cement dumped on our block and the tradies who did it were stupid because all the surrounding builds were the same builder, so we rang and complained (it worked). Can't wait to see your build progressing. Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 9Aug 09, 2014 8:03 pm Looks great The Stamford is a lovely house plan... Your choices look really good and should compliment each other nicely. If this makes you feel any better and is consolation to know you aren't alone, We had quite a wait with our start, over 12 months from land purchase (waiting for titles) until start. We found Simonds in comparison with our last build to be so proactive, and really quick, more so when reading timelinEs of other builders on here. Not to stick up for builders, because quite frankly they can be very trying! But they are up against a lot of stuff behind the scenes that seems simple from our side of the fence, but quite time consuming, intricate and tedious from their end. My dad is in the industry and has calmed alot of my meltdowns.. Haha Seems to feel like forever when you're so excited To get going though! I'm sure you'll get going soon enough, we were 2 weeks 2 days after our DA came in and so far our build progress has soared past all the others. The house that had their slab laid a week before ours is still sitting there with a partial frame, we will be locked up by Wednesday. The others that started around the same time are either still slabs or have just had their frames done. It'll zoom by once it starts... Exciting stuff Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 10Aug 12, 2014 9:57 pm Hi Deluxes, its great to have some more people to share my frustrations with We found out on Monday that although they were supposed to go to site this week, it probably wont happen until next week (if we're lucky) due to an equipment shortage in the area so much for "usually takes 2 weeks from development approval". Looks like we will have to sit tight for another week. Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 11Aug 12, 2014 11:58 pm Hey penguin86
Welcome !!! Stamford is a lovely house plan. Im building the Prague also with Simonds. We have just gone through 3 and a halfs of an emotional roller coaster n now we are happy to reach our final inspection this Thursday keys to follow. Looking forward to following ur build. Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 12Aug 13, 2014 1:32 pm penguin86 Hi Deluxes, its great to have some more people to share my frustrations with to We found out on Monday that although they were supposed to go to site this week, it probably wont happen until next week (if we're lucky) due to an equipment shortage in the area so much for "usually takes 2 weeks from development approval". Looks like we will have to sit tight for another week. Breathe deep! You'll get there, take it in your stride and just try and keep your sanity when it happens. Much better of an experience and much less stressful for you. Some of the stories I've read on here, oh my god... The nightmares. We can count ourselves lucky that we aren'tbuilding with some of the other ones! Eeek Not long now! Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 13Aug 13, 2014 11:28 pm We upgraded on tiles throughout the whole house (600x600 polished porcelain tiles) and our valuations came in right on the spot. Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 14Aug 14, 2014 7:46 pm Any news on when you'll be starting? Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=71963&start=50#p1203154 Settlement: January 2014 Currently waiting council approval Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 15Aug 17, 2014 7:40 pm Simondscleo Any news on when you'll be starting? Update: we have dirt on our block! A truck load of dirt! Hopefully they start this week, but I will give thema call on Monday just to check. Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 16Aug 17, 2014 8:04 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Let's all take a moment to appreciate the progress that has been made on our neighbours houses! Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 17Aug 22, 2014 7:40 pm So we drove past the block today and they have put down our slab! Super excited! Things got started very quickly this week, started off with some dirt last Friday and exactly a week later our foundation has been poured. In other news, I think our neighour's door has been stolen (well at least their frame has disappeared from the photos!). Also starting to regret the very small size of our backyard. Oh well, at least we are close to a park Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72717 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 18Aug 22, 2014 8:18 pm Congratulations!!!! That's fabulous There's some great weather coming up, so hopefully you're progress will steam along... Don't worry about the backyard, less to take care of! 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: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 19Aug 22, 2014 8:43 pm Wow that looks fantastic, congratulations!. Building a Sierra on the Gold Coast https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68899 Full timeline on Pg 1 Settlement: 13/05/14 Retaining Walls: 20/06/14 Site Start: 02/07/14 Re: Simonds SA Build - Stamford 20Aug 22, 2014 10:37 pm Yay!! Congrats!! Now the fun begins Keep us updated with loads of photos. Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=71963&start=50#p1203154 Settlement: January 2014 Currently waiting council approval Hi all stamford owners thank for sharing your experience. We had look at warnavale stamford 38 and we really like it. Just need to know how was your experience with… 0 2587 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 17679 Hi We have finally decided to complete a KDR on our corner plot in NE Melbourne suburbs. Given its a corner plot approx. 400 sqm just a standard design may not fit the… 0 8600 |