My MainVue Amalfi 530 - Post Handover Journey Begins

I am very excited to be building my first ever house!

I am building on a 544sq block of land in Botanic Ridge (South East Melbourne) which is titling later this month.

I did a lot of shopping around when choosing the builder, and once I set eyes on the Amalfi, I kept going back to it. Absolutely love the layout, especially the Master/Ensuite.

I have chosen the Amalfi 530 with the Milton Facade.
Changes made include:
-Ensuite concept as per the 632 display - add freestanding bath on platform with picture window
-Butlers upgrade - close off second door and add more shelving, add extended stone bench with second sink and glass splash back with shelve above
- Kitchen extend bench out of one side to allow for stools around the corner, plus waterfall edge to other side - 40mm stone throughout
- Concealed ranged with handless overheads
- Laminex Crystal gloss throughout
- Add timber picture window to Dining, upgrade living windows to Timber
- Extend laundry bench across and add broom cupboard


I have tender next week, completed colours today. Very excited to get on site (Mainvue stating on site early May for a late august completion)

This is my block:



This is my plan:



This is my external selections:



Bricks- Austral Hawksburn 50mm to Facade, remainder normal size with off-white rolled mortar
Render to front two pillars - Linseed
Roof/Gutters/Fascia - Colourbond Surfmist
Timber door/windows - Chocolate Stained
Garage Door - similar colour Timberlook slimline
Remaining Windows - Jasper
Downpipes/Meter box/Water tank - Jasper

Internals:

Kitchen



Benchtop: Caesarstone Organic White
Cupboards: Crystal Gloss Polar White
Splash: Light grey glass
Tap like handles

Bathroom/Ensuite/Powder



Wall Tiles: Drizzle Black Matte with a silver/white grout (Probably in bricked layout)
Floor Tiles: Drizzle Grey Matte with same grout
Benchtops/Cupboards as per kitchen (white)

Powder Room:
As per ensuite but with addition of this feature tile
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/237x/ ... e01ba7.jpg

Laundry:



Floor Tile: Drizzle Grey Matte
Benchtop: Charcoal coloured Laminex
Cupboards: Polar White natural finish
Feature Tiles: Matte White "Brick finish" with charcoal grout


Paint: Walls Brume Quarter, with Lexicon Half for skirtings/architraves
Theatre will be painted Caps (Dark Grey)


My father is a sparky so Mainvue are going to let him do the electrical PRE handover now, he will be paid to complete the standard fitout (what is included in my cost) but can do anything extra at his own liking! Win!

So excited to get started!


Official Timeline

30/11/14: Deposit placed on block of land
07/12/14: First Deposit to Mainvue
30/12/14: Second Deposit to Mainvue (Now non-refundable!)
10/02/15: Colour Appointment
18/02/15: Tender #1
25/02/15: First Soil & Survey Completed
08/04/15: Land Finally Settles
11/04/15: Own Site Cut complete
15/04/15: Second Soil & Survey Completed
12/05/15: Tender #2 Signed & Contracts Signed
31/05/15: Block Re-surveyed & Tap installed
01/06/15: Finance Unconditional
10/06/15: Council Dispensation Approved
24/06/15: Developer Approval: Rejected
03/07/15: Second Developer Approval: Approved!
04/07/15: Building Permit Received
11/07/15: Handed over to Construction
20/07/15: Temp Fence Installed, Portaloo & Bin
21/07/15: Site Pegged out
22/07/15: Concrete Piers done
24/07/15: Plumbing Done, Meter Box Installed
29/07/15: Site recut and levelled in preparation for slab. Gravel surface.
30/07/15: Slab prep commenced, boxed up and plastic installed
31/07/15: Slab prep complete, foam and steel complete.
03/08/15: Slab poured
04/08/15: Site Clean up & Frames commenced (Set out)
10/08/15: Frames Complete
12/08/15: Windows, external door frames and alfresco sliders installed.
14/08/15: Gutters & Fascia installed, temporary downpipes installed.
17/08/15: Scaffold Erected, Plaster delivered
18/08/15: Roof commenced
21/08/15: Roof complete, plumbing rough in commenced
24/08/15: Electrical rough in commenced, bricks delivered, ducted heating delivered
25/08/15: House wrapped up, bricks commenced, electrical, plumbing and ducted heating rough in complete
31/08/15: Bricks complete - Lock up!
01/09/15: Plaster commenced - complete house hung.
03/09/15: Plaster complete
05/09/15: garage cornice installed, plaster sanded back.
07/09/15: Eaves half installed
08/09/15: Eaves complete
10/09/15: Bricks cleaned
11/09/15: Base coat Render to front pillars. Skirtings, Architraves and internal doors delivered.
12/09/15: All internal and external doors installed
15/09/15: Skirtings, Architraves complete
16/09/15: Cabinetry installed, waterproofing of wet areas, downpipes installed
21/09/15: Plaster touch ups, Tiles delivered
22/09/15: Tiling commences
26/09/15: Painting starts - staining of external timber
28/09/15: External staining continues, second coat of Render applied to pillars, windows & doors plastic wrapped for internal painting.
29/09/15: First coat of paint
30/09/15: Internal paint second coat, Stone benches installed, Tiling complete
01/10/15: Internal painting complete
02/10/15: External painting complete including alfresco, down pipes and second coat staining on timber.
06/10/15: Ducted heating fit off complete, Termaguard installed.
07/10/15: Electrical fit off complete, capentry fit off complete including door handles, towel rails etc
08/10/15: Pantry, linen shelves installed and WIR. Mirrors.
12/10/15: Laundry tiles done, vanity basins installed
13/10/15: Plumbing fit off 80% complete. Shower screens installed. Mirror sliding doors installed.
16/10/15: Slab levelled in prep for floors. Splash backs installed, garage door installed. Temp fence removed.
19/10/15: PCI done, NHP Booked!
20/10/15: Timber laminate
22/10/15: Carpet, missing shelve installed, cabinetry handles installed
28/10/15: New home presentation complete.
29/10/15: Valuation Complete
30/10/15: KEYS!


Total Build Time 14 weeks!

Hi Chloe,

Good to see a Mainvue thread among all Henley ones.

We are building the Amalfi 532, in Craigieburn. Just had the colour information session. Land does not title till July, so loads of time..

Whereabouts are you building??

Thanks

Hi Mrs_TLG!

Yay another Amalfi! Been smooth sailing thus far, just can't wait to get started!

I have my Tender appointment on Tuesday.

Building in Botanic Ridge, kinda near Cranbourne South (South east)

Hey Chloe!!

How was your tender appointment??

Any surprises??

Well yes and no!

Couldn't sign off on it, basically I am not doing fixed site costs - my Dad's friend is going to do the cut/fill/site prep for me, then Maine will recheck and if they are happy then I can re-do Tender (minus the $30k of provisionals for site costs )

Other than the 30k of provisional (which I am hoping to get <10k, hopefully even a lot less), I had to delete the 50mm bricks from my facade - ridiculous they were cat 4 (2k whole house for normal size, cat 5 for 50mm ($2900 whole house) - Tender came back with 1750 (3/4 house in cat 4) PLUS $2600 for JUST the facade in 50mm bricks - told them to where to stick that! Other nasty surprise the supposed $500 picture window for the dining came in at $2800 apparently due to double glazing :S so deleted that back to standard (which is only 2.5 inches smaller anyway!

Everything else was fine.

So from here - trying to get them to come to the party and let me resign tender and sign contracts on the same day to stop my build from being pushed back another 6 weeks - they are considering that so fingers crossed!

On the positive - site survey and soil tests done this week so should have the results from that this week and land settles in 2-3 weeks (fingers crossed) so our friend will do the site works on the day of settlement with view to re-do tender in approx 4 weeks.

Well all the best for the site costs!!

What all upgrades are you going with??
And how accurate were the prices given by the sales consultant /cosham??

Quite a few

Main things off the top of my head:

Upgraded ensuite to platform with free standing bath option
Added timber windows to the living that were previously aluminum (2x small ones next to TV space)
Cat 3 tiles throughout wet areas
Cat 2 Caesarstone throughout
40mm stone in kitchen
Upgraded butlers to have stone, sink and splash back
Concealed rangehood
2x pot draws
Kitchen extended bench with waterfall
Crystal gloss to everywhere bar laundry
Upgraded tapwear
Mirrored sliding doors to 1x bedroom (rest are WIR)
Double sliders to theatre, which I am painting a dark grey (upgrade)


Theres a LOT of other stuff I'm sure but don't have the Tender doc with me at present.

Without the 30k of provisionals I should be in budget.......... just a little over

A few little updates!

Soil report came back, not fantastic

The block is a P (Problem) site with H1 soil (Highly reactive).

So they recommend a H1 Waffle Pod slab (which will be an upgrade) however, not looking like I will need any piers so should keep costs reasonable.

Finally have heard that finally in Titles office! Meaning settlement in 3ish weeks! Finally! Only approx 1 month behind schedule so can't complain. Once we have settlement will be able to do the site cut then hopefully be signing Tender and contracts by the start of next month.......

Just got to keep jumping through each hoop!

Oh and I have chosen my flooring


Timber look laminate:

And with my carpet choice:

Love your colours!!

Bit of an update!

Essentially - have finally had my site cut done privately (post land settling a few weeks ago finally!) which has saved me approx $25k in site costs - amazing!

Signing contracts and tender tomorrow and hoping for a construction start in 6 or so weeks! Woo hoo!

This is me standing in my future kitchen

Wow wee your site cut looks great. What a money saver! Good on you.

Reckon our houses will start/finish around the same time. So exciting!

We're just waiting on the valuation of our contract from our bank before we kick off.

PS - Put a signature on your ID that includes a link to your thread. That way you can expose more people to your thread.

Gonna be a nice place once it's all done.
It really is about who you know, not what you know sometimes. Massive score on those savings!

Contracts Signed!!!

Site costs came back at around $7500 and $3000 of Provisional rock removal (Unlikely to be required)

Which is awesome, considering I was looking at $36,000 to fix my site costs!

Council applications lodged today apparently so they *should* be back within 30 days... hopefully sooner. Should be on site within 4-6 weeks apparently which is awesome

My Final siting and plans:

Hey Chloea,

Great to hear you're at a similar stage to us. The old hot pink tape stage is rather exciting.

Just a couple of points for you. I notice you were also stung a ridiculous fee to double glaze your picture window in the dining room. We had that nasty surprise when our contract came in. We've requested that this window not be double glazed, and thus saved us $2500 thereabouts. Doing this did not affect our 6* energy rating either. So if you're keen on that window, that's an option.

I notice that your ensuite has no sliding door. On a lot of the forums I've been on, people regret not closing their ensuite off. This is evident when partners get up before you for work (or vice versa), and you're in bed. The sound of the exhaust fan, and the light from the lights (of course) causes a lot of frustration. Just some food for thought for you. My understanding is that installing cavity sliders after build completion is rather difficult/pricey, if at all possible.

Sucks that your Dad isn't allowed on site. My Dad had to provide relevant white cards, insurance details, etc. It was a difficult process though. Be persistent.

K.

Oh they told me I'd have to get it double glazed! Oh well I reverted back to the original window which is actually not much smaller!

The ensuite I considered the doors but it's a big feature for me, I'll just have to suck it up! It's too late now to change I'll cop a PCV

On a plus I have a tap! Haha the small things excite me at the moment!

How exciting for a start! Did you get notification or just found the tap? The wait is killing me.

No just went down and found it there! They also resurveyed last week.

My finance is now unconditional, just waiting on settlement and council approval and should be kicking off!

Are you far off a start?

I had the land resurveyed last week after the developer had to cut and level it due to incorrect measurements. Council approval and building permit are done so I'm hopeful this week something is happening but don't want to get my hopes up. Your plans look great. Can't wait to see photos as it gets going

Must be close then!!
They move quick once they start so just got to get that temp fence up and we are on our way!