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My husband and I are building our first home and have chosen the Amalfi 530 by MainVue homes.
Land settlement was 16th January 2015.
Waiting for UE to install our electricity pit.
Also waiting on council approval for dispensation for the front setback, as council regulations require that we are set back average to our neighbours houses. However we would prefer a smaller front
yard and larger back yard as most people would.
Our land size is 585msq its a long block, and we plan on a 9.5 meter back yard.
We thought our block was rather flat, until we had a nasty surprise at our tender appointment.
$16,000 for a hydraulic pump to pump our stormwater!!!!! Apparently our block is really sloped.
The site survey shows an approximate 1 metre drop from front left corner of the block to back right corner of the block. In saying that, next to no raw land is perfectly flat.
Our sight costs were all of a sudden a whopping $44,000
Included in these site costs were cutting and levelling the block, and the inclusion of retaining walls (amongst many other items).
Needless to say we're never going to pay that amount due to a hydraulic pump.
We are going with option two, which our tender presenter conveniently 'forgot' to mention...
Accessing the easement through our neighbours property to use the stormwater discharge pit located in our neighbours back yard, along their rear fence line.
And at a fraction of the cost.. We lost a little bit of faith with our builder after that drama which was
really disappointing!
We've spoken to the local council about our legal point of discharge for our stormwater and their engineer recommends curb & channel, and is bemused about the hydraulic pump suggestion. It was also suggested that once the land is cut and levelled that the gradient would be sufficient for using the curb and channel. Has anyone had an experience similar to this that could offer some input and/or advice?
Colour appointment was 21st November 2014
Tender appointment was 5th December 2014
Waiting for our electrical appointment and contract signing.
In saying that, my husband and I are incredibly excited about the upcoming construction.
Hi kirst81.
Very interesting regarding the hydraulic pump 'option'. I can't offer too much info or experience here.
We are building with MainVue too, Titling in May this year. We have a block with about 600 fall and we have been quoted fixed site costs at around $18k. I've accepted it and we have color day in a couple of weeks and tender in the middle of March.
What sort of color and fitting choices have you made for your new house?
Hi joshd,
Great to hear from another MainVue customer. I look forward to hearing about your building experience over the coming months. It's such an exciting time.
$18K for site costs is brilliant! Well done on locking that in. Unfortunately we can't fix costs as we aren't building in an estate.
Colour appointment is mind blowing - there are so many things to consider. I strongly advise you and your partner to do a few pre-visits to Cosham and get a bit of a rough idea of what you want, and also what you don't want. This will make the colour appointment so much easier, and less stressful.
See below for pictures of our colour selection. Although in saying that, we have changed our carpet colour today. Our initial choice had too much of what we consider a "pink tinge" when you look at it in certain lights. You'll probably see what I mean. Our new colour is a deeper brown that contrasts our tiles beautifully.
Below is the new carpet choice - Diamonds Are Forever - colour Bell Tower. This carpet only joins to the tile on the left - Milano Latte Gloss (Cat 1). The tile on the right, Satori Coffee (Cat 3 - upgrade) is for the walls of our ensuite and bathroom. The light in this photo gives the tiles a greenish appearance, which is not the case when you look at them in natural and/or artificial light.
Brick Colour - ASH - Austral Bricks have these on display. Why do they have that horrible black render on top!!?? Our mortar is also off white.
Below is a better picture of our tiles:
- Top one is Milano Latte Matte - this is for the floor of our showers.
- Bottom left is Milano Latte Gloss - for the floors of all of our tiled areas - We are using carpet and tiles for our flooring options.
- Bottom right is Satori Coffee - for the walls of our bathroom, powder room and ensuite.
Below are colours of our exterior.
- The brown at top is our colorbond roof - Jasper
- The brown to the left of that is for our aluminium window frames - Jasper
- The bottom left white colour is our garage door - Surfmist
- The colour swab on the bricks is our downpipe colour - Paperbark
- Our brick is Ash
- The render piece is for our front two pillars at our entrance - Grand Piano 1/2
- The wood piece to the right is for our timber windows (front of house, family room, dining room, and alfresco) - Rich Chocolate
Our latest floor plan drawings are below. We made a number of changes to the original layout:
- Extended Alfresco to Grand alfresco option
- Closed off and shelved 2nd entrance to butlers pantry (we deleted the bottom shelf on this wall to install our wine racks)
- Dishwasher and sink installed in the butlers pantry.
- Added double slider doors to the ensuite
- Added niches to both showers
- Moved the window in Bedroom 4 to the far wall. Originally this window faced the void between the bedroom and the alfresco, and left a massive plain brick wall from the backyard perspective.
- Large timber Picture window in the dining room
Will post some more pictures soon
I am too building a 530 (With some changes)!
My land titles this month and MainVue are aiming to be on site by May.
I have colours on Tuesday.... So many decisions!
Oh great thanks for all the info. Your colors look great, going to look nice.
We had a visit to cosham a few weeks ago and we have pretty much decided on everything already. We were 4 months in with another builder until we had had enough and left them for MainVue so we pretty much had already figured out all of the colors and bits and pieces we wanted. We just now need to match the colors with suppliers available from MainVue.
Compared with your colors we are going much darker for everything. Exterior will be dark grey bricks (Boral Domino) and a dark grey colorbond roof (monument). Our part render to the front will be the white pebble like yours. White garage door too. Oh and black window frames.
Inside, light timber look flooring (Artesan Cream). Tiles we haven't settled on yet but will be a mid to dark grey. All kitchen/ensuite/bathroom/laundry cupboards will be white silk finish. Benchtops will be oceanfoam caesarstone. A stark white paint to all of the interior.
I will have some photos on my thread once we have had our proper color selection.
Mods you've made to your plans look quite good too. We closed off the theater with double sliders, Closed off the ensuite with a slider, changed the WIR to a slider, Closed off the second butlers entrance with shelving, and added a swing door to the butlers entrance.
Really looking forward to seeing your place as it gets built!
Interested to know as well, you say you 'added shower niches'
I thought this was standard with MainVue?
We have also removed all of the timber windows and doors, we will be having aluminium for all of it. We like it better and less maintenance. I wish we could afford a picture window too!! They look great.
Also, what facade have you gone with?
Hi chloea_,
Wow, you're building the 530 as well!! Hope to see your thread online. Good luck with your colours. If you're well prepared it should take 3 hours thereabouts. Look forward to hearing about your colour choices.
Hi Joshd,
You've got some lovely choices made there for your colours. Definitely a lot darker than ours. Given we're building near the beach, we want to maintain a coastal feel to the house, hence our colour choices.
Some of the other changes we've done is go with a 40mm stone island bench, and 20mm stone bench for back kitchen bench and butlers pantry (colour Linen).
We're using downlights throughout. And are adding 3 pendant lights to the island bench, and one in the dining room. We considered sliding cavity doors to the theatre, but our intention is to make this a formal lounge room, so we're leaving it open.
We went with the standard façade of Eclipse. Would love the Avenue/Cape façades but couldn't justify the massive spend to upgrade. As stated above we upgraded the 2 front pillars to render finish. What façade have you chosen?
Yes, shower niches were an addition @ $295 each.
Ah I thought o read that they were included on my quote..! Might have to check it out.
We are building close to the beach too but just prefer the darker colors.
Same facade as you with the pillars rendered.. We are considering having bricks over the garage for $950..
Our electrical, we went with the luxury pack. Down lights throughout including lights above mirrors in bathroom ensuite and powder room, and junction boxes on the front of the house to allow us to put lights there later.
We have gone standard 20mm stone and upgraded the laundry to have it too with option 15 for the cupboards, that's overhead plus the skinny broom cupboard.
All very exciting cant wait
I think we've gone for a very similar lighting pack, including the junction boxes on the pillars for lights afterwards. Your lights above the mirrors sound great. We hadn't even considered that. Another thing to throw in the choices bag that is so overflowing. LOL!
I think your upgraded stone bench will look mint in your laundry!
What colour stone bench have you chosen? Have you taken the same stone all the way through the house?
I thought we had our laundry options nailed. We were doing Option 3 (the extended bench), plus a 700mm plaster broom cupboard. Due to space we've changed to option 2 (standard bench with 2 small overhead cupboards) and have maintained the 700mm plaster broom cupboard. Not sure if you're aware of that option? But it's one that saved us some considerable money in upgrades for the laundry. Option 2 came in at $350. Plaster broom cupboard came in at $400 which gives us lots of room to store brooms, mops, vacuums, etc...
So many decisions to make when building, and I've gotta say it's great to chat with others building on this forum to gain insight and ideas.
Hey yeah same stone right through the house, will be ocean foam.
The lights above the mirrors are called wall lights and are just an inclusion in the luxury electrical pack.
We wanted a plaster cupboard like yours but our laundry is a bit smaller so we are just getting the thin broom cupboard.. The vac will have to go in the linen. Yeah I think the laundry cupboards are costing us a bit ill have to check.
I agree, I enjoy seeing others mainvue homes seeing what colors and upgrades they choose too!
Yeah so its 1500 for our laundry cabinets with stone.. Same as the cost for the cabinetry in the butlers with stone. Might check again to see if we can get the plaster cupboard in
Also I just checked our quote and the tiled shower recess is included... No extra cost..
yea, costs on upgrades certainly add up. Hopefully you can get the plaster cupboard in your laundry.
No extra cost on your shower niches hey? I might have to lean on our consultant a little I think.
Search for shower recess on your quote. In the section with all of the standard inclusions
Nice to see an active discussion on mainvue
I got charged for my niche too
Provide Shower Niche 300mm X 580mm NOMINAL to Shower Wall. Note Sizes nominated are approx. & are stud to stud and opening sizes may vary on site. The actual finished (including plaster, tiles etc..) size is approximately 30mm less than frame dimensions. Wall to be adjusted to 180mm.
Here's what is says standard
Tiled shower recess and base
Niche vs recess?
Yeah so I was just assuming that recess was the niche... I think I have to ask the question now...
Yep, shower recess is just the area for the shower. The niche is the cut out in the wall.
The combination of double sliders to the ensuite meant we have a 180mm wall which shortens our ensuite shower by 90mm. The bathroom shower has the same issue also because the niche here ensures that the wall between the shower and the walk in linen is 180mm.
Niche and sliders thicken the wall, didn't know that. assumed the niche went flush against plasterboard and slider was in the 90mm wall
Anyone going colorbond roof? Are you getting sarking or anticon?
Ive got colorbond with one whirlybird.. Sarking is included at the moment... With the bushfire attack level inclusion. Hoping our lot will be rezoned and it will be removed but its there for the moment.
We're going colorbond too with 2 whirlybirds it seems. Choosing the free colorbond upgrade was a no brainer for us.
I'd have to look at our tender to check if we've got sarking or anticon. Not sure off the top of my head.
BAL can be a pain in the proverbial due to the impact it has on so many parameters! I hope you have a relatively low BAL josh.