Yanchep WA Build with Dreamstart (PLANTER AND LETTERBOX)

Land : Jindowie Estate in Yanchep, by developer Australand
Builder : Dreamstart Homes, through rep Michael Cheetham at the Butler Display Home

TIMELINE

Paperwork Stage

Applied for finance : 13 May 2014
Finance Pre-Approval granted : 16 May 2014
Signed Pre-Contract with builder : 25 May 2014
Signed Contract for land with developer : 28 May 2014
Land titled : 26 June 2014
Signed formal Building Contract with builder : 25 August 2014
Pre-Start selections meeting : 4 September 2014
Formal Approval (finance) granted : 25 September 2014
Final Variations to plans signed by us (we changed some things after Pre-Start) : 6 October 2014
Land Settlement : 20 October 2014
Builder commences Scheduling of our build : 21 October 2014

Total time = around 5 months

Building Stage

Water tap installed : 29 October 2014
Sand Pad : 30 October 2014
Site pegged out : 4 November 2014
Plumbing pre-lay and footings dug : 5 November 2014
Footings poured : 6 November 2014
Slab poured : 7 November 2014
Bricks, window frames, shed on site : 27 November 2014
Sand, cement, door frames, toilet on site : 4 December 2014
Bricklayers start : 11 December 2014 - 18 December (Christmas Break)
Bricklayers return and finish : 4 January 2015 - 9 January 2015
Roofing stuff delivered : 14-17 January 2015
Roof Frame started : 17 January 2015
Roof Frame/eaves/fascia (initially) finished : 23 January 2015
Porch Frame dismantled, porch realigned : Week to 4th February 2015
Colorbond up (except for porch and front of house) : 5th February 2015
Porch and front roof frame finished : 16 February 2015
Grey Plaster Float : 17-19 February 2015
NBN Data Cabling installed : 19 February 2015
Colorbond finished (porch and front of house) : 20 February 2015
Gas Meter installed : 25 February 2015
Ceiling stuff delivered : 27 February 2015
Ceilings and Cornices installed : 28 February 2015
Plaster white set finished : 5 March 2015
Doors hung : 11 March 2015
Glass in : 12 March 2015 (LOCK UP)
Bathtub & L'dry Sink installed : 15 March 2015
Ceilings painted, wall tiles delivered : 18 March 2015
External paint (except gutters/fascia) : 25 March 2015
Porch gutters and last downpipes up : 26 March 2015
Kitchen and bathroom cupboards delivered : 26 March 2015
Painting to Gutters, Fascia and Downpipes finished : 28 March 2015
Garage Slab/Hardstand : 31 March 2015
Kitchen and bathroom cabinets installed : 1 April 2015
Benchtops and sinks : 13/14 April 2015
Wet areas prepared : 21 April 2015
Garage door installed : 22 April 2015
Wet areas waterproofed and tiler begins : 23 April 2015
Pavers delivered : 23 April 2015
Tiler finished (except for one feature tile) : 29 April 2015
Plumbing final : 30 April 2015
Gas hot water, oven, lights and p.point installation (99% of electrical final) : 30 April 2015
Hotplates and rangehood installed : 1 May 2015
Insulation delivered : 1 May 2015
Insulation installed : 4 May 2015
Main Floor Tiles Delivered : 5 May 2015
1st Gloss Coat Internal Doors & Frames : 6 May 2015
Final Gloss Coat : 7 May 2015
NBN Utility Box installed : 10 May 2015
Paving : 11 May 2015
Main floor tiling : 12 May 2015
House cleaned, protective plastics removed! : 14 May 2015
Carpets installed : 18 May 2015
Blinds installed : 19 May 2015
Caulking completed : 20 May 2015
Showerscreens & mirrors installed : 21 May 2015
NBN Connection Box installed : 21 May 2015
Fly screens installed : 21 May 2015
Paving on drive redone (just as badly): 2 June 2015
PCI completed : 4 June 2015
Hubby dug up and redid driveway paving : 4 June 2015
Foxtel installed : 5 June 2015
Finally finished all the painting : 8 June 2015
My SS has jury duty and I have a hissy fit over a gutter : 11 June 2015
Gate installed : 12 June 2015
Handover : 17 June 2015
Move in : 19 June 2015










Finally I am starting my own thread after reading everyone's awesome stories. We're all signed up with Dreamstart Homes for our house build in Jindowie Estate, Yanchep WA.

Dreamstart's rep up at the Butler display home, Micky, is an absolute star and we've been able to get so much bang for our buck thanks to Dreamstart and Micky. Our block is only small (around 390m2), with a 12m frontage, and Micky was able to come up with a variation based on the "Dream Achieve" plan that fitted the smaller frontage. We're building a house with 3 Bedrooms plus a Theatre/Lounge and a Study. Micky knew we really needed all those components and we can later easily turn the Theatre into an extra Bedroom if we need to. Kudos to Micky for actually thinking of our family and our needs, that really meant a lot to us.

Now I will try and figure out how to put our plans up...

Woohoo! I use image shack to upload my photos

Oh thanks Holly. Now to figure out that one too.....!

Google how to do it, that's what I did

Ggggrrrrrrr I've uploaded to image shack Holly. Now where do I paste the URL?

Ok so if you go to write a post in full editor, there will be a button up the top that says 'img'. Click on that, then paste the URL in the middle of what comes up, then just clock submit post and it should come up

Holly you're a star thank you!

Glad things work out in the end. Post to follow...

Awesome have you got your modified plans yet?

Hi PerthAussie2014 - posting to follow your build, we'll be building in Yanchep too soon

MalSannie - Cool, nice to meet you will follow your thread too!

Holly, yes we have all the plans done.

There were a few things that had to change for the Dream Achieve to fit our block - the width was the biggest problem. We've put the garage wall on the boundary but given our block is only 12m wide and a garage is about 6m wide, we're left with only a little bit of space to fit a lot of stuff in.

So, Dreamstart have been very patient with me as I've never built a house before and my other half isn't at all interested in it so everything has been down to me. We've got kids to take care of too so it's been a busy few months figuring out things on my own. I've had my moments but I am now at the point where I don't have to make house decisions any more so I can chill out and think about landscaping instead. We will either stay in this house as the kids grow and extend an extra room or two or just sell and move. We'll see what happens in the area.

Few notes about the plan:
- The robe in Bed 1 will be built after handover and will stretch the entire length of the external wall (backing the electricity and gas meters).
- We took the original kitchen pantry and the fridge out from either side of the cooktop/oven so we could get big pot drawers there and lots more bench space. After handover we are having a nice big Pantry and Fridge surround with high cupboard installed along the left wall, backing on to the Theatre/Bed 2. Once that wall is completed the kitchen should look quite big and spacious (which will help as the room isn't huge).

The plan and elevations.....



I really love our front elevation and I think changing it to it's current appearance was worth every cent. BTW the cost was MINIMAL- I couldn't believe how cheap the custom front window was. There is also a restrictive covenant on the block that says we have to have two render colours so our porch will be a darker render than the house.

Here's our front door....
Corinthian Windsor Meranti WIN 5G

We might later put some cladding like this up the top of the porch between the pillars...

And this is our garage door style, Tuscan, in Surfmist...

I really love this window style and in order to look a bit different to all the other Dreamstart houses in Jindowie we changed our front window so its similar. They're awnings with fixed hi-lites and our window colour is Pearl White.

I knocked on someone's door and said how much I loved her colours and she invited me in whereupon I discovered I loved her internal colour too! Lovely lady. She got her builder folder out and her colours, and now our colours, are/will be:

Main render will be Solver White Cliffs @ 300%.
Feature render on porch will be Solver Botany Grey.
Internal colours will be Solver First Snow on frames and doors.
Walls will be Solver Ice Volcano 1/2.
Roof will be Colorbond Shale Grey.
Gutters will be Colorbond Shale Grey.
Fascia will be Solver White Cliffs @ 300%.
Here are the render colours:

Here are my tile selections- lots of boring whites and creams. I need to be able to easily match my kitchen gloss Formica for my future pantry and upper cupboards so Snowdrift is the most replicated colour by others.

Here are the Kitchen colours:

Kitchen cupboards: Formica Snowdrift in Gloss finish.
Kitchen benchtop: Essastone New Crystal Salt.
Splashbacks: 200x400mm Lanka Gloss White. 4 rows over benchtops.
Main tiles throughout house: 400x400mm National Nature Sand.
Wall colour: Solver Ice Volcano 1/2.
Door frames and doors: Solver First Snow.
Ceilings and cornice: Standard Ceiling White.
Window frames: Powdercoat Pearl White.



Bathroom, Ensuite and L'dry colours:

Bathroom cabinets: Formica Rock Salt.
Bathroom benchtops: Essastone New Crystal Salt.
Wall tiles, skirting tiles and laundry splashbacks: 200x400mm Lanka Gloss White.
Feature wall tiles in showers: 200x400mm Lanka Fashion Almond (feature strip down centre of non-tap wall).
Floor tiles: 200x200mm Seranit Arc Vizon.



Ensuite:

Kids Bathroom:

Laundry:


Carpet:

Carpet in Bedrooms, Theatre/Lounge and Study.

Originally I just went with a Builders Range carpet because I have young kids who make lots of mess and are known to occasionally have a middle-of-the-night projectile spew. Can get quite a distance and cause total carnage from a top bunk bed. So I didn't want to spend money upgrading the carpet.
But then someone reminded me that..........

I. HAVE. A. CAT.
and
CAT + LOOP PILE CARPET =

So I had to go back to Carpet Call and upgrade to a pile that doesn't catch on his claws. Let's hope the bugger doesn't start territorial spraying again like he was a few months ago....!
Upgraded to the Medusa Twist Pile, Colour Donne, as well as upgraded the underlay and all for only $550 - bargain! I like that this colour has a discreet fleck through it which is good for not showing up every little crumb or mark. Perfect for kids and pets- we have dogs as well.

You've put a lot of thought into your plans and selections it is going to be lovely to live in.

The windows are very stylish - I find it so difficult to image what windows will look like from a flat plan and can't wait to see the proper drawings. Love the front door too - and as I've said in another thread - I have serious portico envy as we'll not have one and I think it looks beautiful

The idea to use that area for the fridge and WIP is very good as it maximises the space - very clever. We were also going to have normal robes in the main bedroom, but then thought maybe we did have space for it and if it was included in the price it was probably the most cost effective way of doing it so have it back in on the plan. I am concerned about it being dark, but planning on using mirrors to bounce light around - hopefully that will help.

I love the layout of your main bathroom - that layout is on my list for prestart changes when we have a few things we want to change. I think it makes it feel more spacious - just hope we'll not have problems with changing windows as I want to change the window in the ensuite too lol

Looking forward to see more

MalSannie I hear you, re porch envy lol! We managed to get what we could afford in terms of $ and space. It was a little over $1000 for us to do that porch, which if you consider how much extra material and work it is, is really really cheap. Again, kudos to Dreamstart they really have given us good bang for our buck there.

I changed a few windows, some sills were lowered and a few were changed in style from sliding to awning. Changing window sill height cost us nothing, and changing the style and type of window was only $220 per window- including the front one which I think is great value for money.

Here's the changing front facade as we got to the final stages and nutted out the type of look we were going for...

Original Dream Achieve Modern Facade:


Window style first changed, Blade wall removed and Eaves added:


First Porch added:


Final facade with porch widened so it wraps around Bed 1 wall, small eaves added to the porch, brick pillars widened slightly, and Bed 1 window height and frame tweaked slightly:

Wow Emily! You are so super organized..well done! That was so funny that you found the house you wanted and it all fell into place for you! What a lovely lady to have invited you in - I guess she would have been very flattered too. I love your colours and think they will look great together. I am a big fan of the 'greiges' - such a gorgeous neutral base. Beautiful front door too.