Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 2Oct 20, 2014 12:28 am HI 1st a good lesson. If the builder makes a mistake in your contract and it works in your favour don't bring it to their attention. I had a incident on our last build where they put a 900mm under bench oven cupboard in the kitchen plan but only charged for a 600mm oven. They actually fitted the kitchen cupboards and Essa-Stone. When it came time to install the 600mm oven they obviousley realised their mistake and sent me a variation for a 900mm oven. When I asked them why they were trying to charge me for a 900mm oven they admitted their mistake with the cupboards and tried to insist I pay the difference. I told them if they didn't wish to cover the cost of their mistake they were welcome to replace the essa-stone and cupboards to accommodate a 600mm oven as that was all I had asked for as per the contracts that we had both signed. Needless to say they upgraded the oven at their expense. Now the bad lesson. On this build it didn't occur too me to check the instantaneous hot water unit meets the capacity of the house. Its too small for this house really. My Build, viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64837 Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 3Oct 20, 2014 9:09 am If you can get a block with no neighbours - buy it ... But one on the end - say - with no rear neighbour and only one next door - buy it. You'll always have neighbours across the road. Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 6Oct 23, 2014 9:40 am Saint Mike If you can get a block with no neighbours - buy it ... But one on the end - say - with no rear neighbour and only one next door - buy it. You'll always have neighbours across the road. That's exactly why we bought the block we did. Corner block with protected bushland across the road so only two neighbours! Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 7Nov 13, 2014 9:19 pm Check check and recheck the plans.... In our case after we signed we found that the alfresco door, which we indicated to be stacking doors, we still noted as sliding doors. However, because we constantly sent a list of revisions/changes separately to the building consultant during the course of the consultation, we were not charged for the variation. Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 8Nov 13, 2014 9:37 pm We bought a corner block, our back neighbour is vacant land 3m below us, our only other neighbour is 15m away from our house, we have a park across from the front and the otherside we have bush land. Shouldn't have any neighbour problems I hope! Our build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70984 Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 9Nov 14, 2014 12:23 am Think about bench heights. Often standard heights are quite low and don't take into account the 10-15mm or more you lose by tiling your floor. Heights easily accommodated by increasing height of kick boards underneath cabinetry. Power point in the back of your overhead cupboard can help with LED strip lighting on the underside of your overhead cabinets. Re: Building a New House - Lessons Learned 10Nov 21, 2014 10:25 pm Beazley77 Think about bench heights. Often standard heights are quite low and don't take into account the 10-15mm or more you lose by tiling your floor. Heights easily accommodated by increasing height of kick boards underneath cabinetry. Power point in the back of your overhead cupboard can help with LED strip lighting on the underside of your overhead cabinets. Great tips! Both too late for me to apply but for anyone reading this, get these done. My tip - review your window placements. Our study window is off-centre and had never noticed in the hundreds of versions of our plan. We moved the location of the window from one wall to another, but when it was moved, the draftsman rightly made sure it was enough distance from the corner, but of course the other side had too much space. --- Yes well there solution is to blame everyone else while I a 65yr old woman with major medical problems have to just continue to boil water and wash myself in a bucket… 2 15998 If you make sure all taps inside and out are turned off, what does the water meter show if you leave it for a while. 2 20231 13 6605 |