Building with Blueprint in Providence Wellard

Hi All!

We've been trawling the forum for many months now, gathering excellent tips and ideas, whilst we waited for our land to be titled. So finally on the 19th of December titles were issued and tomorrow at 2.45pm settlement goes through. It hasn't been a smooth ride with quite a few stuff ups with the bank but fingers crossed things will go smoothly from now. I like to be optimistic

Okay so we have purchased a fairly large block in Providence, Wellard. We were fortunate enough to get a 544sqm block, which we've discovered is very difficult to get these days. Our main issue was that we had found the house we loved but then had to find a block with 17m frontage to fit it. Luck was on our side, or perhaps it was that we harassed the lovely sales agents. Either way we are so happy with our acquisition.

Signed our building contracts with Blueprint on the 29th of October to build the Altona and received our preliminary plans with changes we requested. Now we wait for surveyors to have a look at the block and wait to hear back from Blueprint with the next stages.

Hopefully the pictures I attach will work

This one is the original plan we started with

This is the plan with our changes

Changes we've made -
* reduced the size of the Study to include a storage area in the garage
* squared off the living area
* added activity room
* added a few extra doors - theatre/WIR/bathroom
* changed the layout of the laundry
* added mirrored sliders in minor bedrooms (we are adding into Bed 2 as well)
* flipped house to comply with 6 star rating
* added overhead cupboards in kitchen/over fridge recess
* extended laundry bench
plus a few other little bits and pieces

Just realised I've been rambling. Will post colour choices etc in another post.

We've asked for flued exhausts in the toilets and bathrooms but have been charged a fair few $$ to get them flued. I would have assumed its mandatory to have them flued, can anyone shed some light?

Thanks

Congrats on titles and welcome to Providence
We had to get our toilet exhausts flumed externally due to council requirements (which I agree should be standard ) and it cost us $650 for 2 toilets.

Love the plan btw! Just check your fridge will fit the recess (seems to be a common problem)

By having that garage on the zero lot boundary it's created two 'dead' sides to the house. How about shifting it over (left 950mm) to make the space behind the garage more usable.

Thanks Guys. Jays we've put in a 2.4m manual roller door inside the garage to allow access to the rear. So hopefully this will alleviate any access issues.

Jays I've just shown hubby what you've suggested and I misunderstood what you were saying. It's makes sense! So I've emailed the builder to see if it's still feasible seeing as we haven't gone to Prestart yet.

Im very interested to see how your build progresses as we don't get our titles til April and the Altona through Blueprint is one we are considering. However I cant seem to find much feedback about people building with Blueprint.

I'm going to go see their showroom on Sunday to look at their pre-start options between the Essentials vs the Elegance Specifications. Did the upgrades set you back much if you dont mind me asking? I like the changes you made to the plan.

Congrats Stick! Plan looks nice and open - very envious of your back yard and en-suite shower!!

The upgrades definitely aren't cheap but we wanted to include as much as possible in the contracts prior to prestart.

Soak wells - $4770
31c ceilings - $3422 (we took out)
3c dropped ceiling in kitchen - $1582 (we took out)
Extra door & frame - $390 each
Double doors on theatre - $763
Upgrade front door to 1020mm - $250
Overhead cupboards in kitchen - $2079
Microwave stack with overhead cupboard
Freestyle bench tops in kitchen in lieu of laminate - $3170 (we were offered Della Vista instead of Freestyle)
Waterfall end in Freestyle - $643 (replaced with Della Vita)
Set of large drawers in kitchen - $555 per set
Bevelled edge mirror in bathroom - $188 (went with standard)
Bevelled edge mirror in ensuite - $295 (went with standard)
Extra basin in ensuite - $558
Set of 300mm drawers in ensuite - $276
Extra 1.1m of benchtop in laundry - $412
Additional double PowerPoint - $68
Additional light point - $65
Flumed exhaust fans - $590 each
Panasonic reverse cycle Air Con (up to 10 outlets & 4 zones) - $12100

Hope this gives you an idea of some prices. Obviously all builders are different and it would vary with each design too.

Thanks! The backyard is teeny compared to what we are use to but we aren't gardeners so suits us just fine. I love the ensuite shower too. I'm considering getting a second shower head installed but depends on how much they charge. We wouldn't use it regularly but may ,at it easier to clean the shower as it is pretty large

Does anyone have any idea how much it is to upgrade the interior doors? I though I overheard the prestart lady telling someone it was approx $90 per door. I know there is only a difference of about $20 in store to purchase the upgraded door so don't see why it would be marked up so much. They install them and paint them in the same way so can't see them being $90 per door.

Welcome to Providence!

We upgraded our doors and it was $748 for all the doors... this wasn't even the most expensive choice - I wish I had paid the extra $200 or whatever it was for the doors I really wanted!

Now flumed exhaust - another thing I know nothing about. Where does it tell you if you have flumed exhausts?! Vetty - help! hahahah

Welcome Stick751, congrats on titles.
Love your plan so much space. I'm currently building with Blueprint, everything is marked up at prestart. You will need your gas & electricity nos for prestart. I did this a week prior to my prestart date. Not sure if flumes are compulsory however I do have them. Will follow your build progress..

Thanks Aimee. We can't wait for it all to start. We've had nothing but one problem after another with the bank, no fault of ours and a bit over it all.

I figured it would be about $1200 to upgrade the doors, I'd like the Rockport. It's such a massive cost but I'd seriously regret it if I didn't do it. Just annoys the heck out of me when I know what the price difference is between the doors (we sell them where I work) and also the range hood we want is $955 but we sell it at my work for $400

Which home are you building? I'm am and am not looking forward to prestart because I'm not looking forward to seeing the cost of our electrical.

Can I ask when you applied for you electricity nos did you also have to request temporary power? I tried to do it online but was unsure if I had to request it or if the builder did.

Hi Stick751,
I'm building in Providence as well, The Sanctuary..as a 1st home builder, this plan suited my budget at the time. I only increased the store room so I can use it as a spare room, upgraded the bedroom doors, added kitchen cupboards..any further upgrades to the house will be done after handover. Electricity was only over by a 100 , no down lights as this will also be done after handover. So I have a lot to do after handover phew...

Yes, you have to request the permanent & temporary nos. at the same time, I just telephoned, it didn't take long... You will only need it for prestart, have they giving you a date?

No date yet I'm unsure if they've even done the surveying yet. The surveyors went out prior to the Xmas break but weren't satisfied that the block was completed. Really hoping the ball starts rolling soon.

Just had a look at the plan for The Sanctuary, great first home. It's a lot bigger than our first home and 13 years later we are still in it! It amazes me how many extras you get included, we have to pay extra for all of that and our base model started at $192000

Thanks Stick it will do for now. When we signed in 2013 the base price was 173 and did not include air-con or stone bench tops I agree theres more inclusions now to entice the buyers, which is a good thing.

Welcome to Wellard! Lovely plan. We are not so lucky to buy a big block. We aren't with blueprint but we have recently done the prestart with our builder and there are things worth considering for you. We are quite shocked about a lot of misc stuff required in the end as those weren't factored into the house price. Perhaps it is a way for builder to get more money legally after building price has increased as a result of delay (?!). Who knows.

By building the garage or structure all the way to the boundary, it will incur you extra engineering cost and footing. Don't ever do soakwell through the builder. Yes, we thought it is a good idea and it might be 1k or 2k extra than other soakwell company but it might save us hassle. So it is quoted $6k in the end. This doesn't include the engineering drawing ($500--$700) and storm water related piping ($1k+) + extra requirement charges. All up $8k! This is due to the fact that we are very unlucky. The engineer decides to put them in the most inconvenience places, ie. underneath garage and alfresco. You are then forced to do paving for garage instead of grano hardstand. We know we can do soakwell+storm water piping with a soakwell company for $2k and it doesn't even have to go into those places. Yes, $2k vs $8k. Luckily, the builder let us take the soakwell+stormwater out of the contract but we've to pay the engineering cost and suggested extra footing for the alfresco. This is under the assumption that we will put the soakwells underneath. We aren't going to but it has to comply to engineering suggestion. Wasted $2k. Also, because of this, we have to take the paving of garage, alfresco + (portico) out of the contract. As you know, credit money usually isn't going to be enough to do these by indepedent contractor afterward.

Just to warn you that someone who I know on the other forum encounters a similar problem. They are building with blueprint and they ended up paying the expensive soakwells through blueprint because the company threaten not to be responsible for the warranty if they decide to take it out of the contract and put the soakwells elsewhere.

As for the exhaust fan, yes, we are charged as well. It is ridiculous that it isn't a standard. I did argue with the sale guy because it is clearly listed as an inclusion in the specification sheet that we signed off. And I asked for if it is included during the pre-sale stage and the sale guy said yes. The caveat is the wording. It says "where applicable". That's why we were told not included. OK, it needs to be there so it is applicable, isn't it?

It seems like everything goes pretty fast on your side.

BTW, I'll be interested to see your standard inclusion, such as tapware etc. Looking forward to see more. Exciting time ahead!