Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 19, 2015 3:06 pm Hi guys, We have been building for what seems like forever. My girlfriend and I are only young (well she is I guess...), and had no intentions of building so early in our lives. We went through to have a look at some display homes in a new area to get a feel for what builders are out there and what to expect with building a house. As we thought, going through all the houses we got more and more keen to build a house, and started to ask questions and prices ect. With this, we found a lot of the builders were very rude (more the high end builders), as they thought we were just wasting time. Until we came across the Affordable Living display and had a helpful salesman talk to us like humans. This is were our nightmare began. This was back in 2013, a very naive couple decided to get a pre approval for a loan to see how we go. We had jobs that didnt pay too bad, and had a lot of savings due to saving for the house anyway. It came back clear and we were good to go. Past the administration part we had to wait from July 2013 to September for the titles, as the part of Aveley we were building in was not finished being developed yet. Over the months we went down to our part of the suburb to check the progress of the land development. Its quite surprising to see what was then to now, they had to build the road leading up to our street, as well as clearing out all the bushland and what not to build everything. July turned to November, and we were advised that there was a set back and we had to wait until January for the titles. A little p!ssed off we waited patiently. January comes, and we again are told to wait until the end of February for the titles. End of March came along with our titles and we were good to go. Our block is a corner block, risen above the other houses on our street. It is a small cottage sized lot - 363sqm. Because there is no car access on the front of the house, along with the back of the house having another lot there, we had to get a custom home plan made up with access for the side of the house. With this all set up, all site surveying began and we got our pre start. At the pre start we had a interesting time. The girl "helping" us was no help with anything at all and the whole meeting was just utter bullsh!t. I got so frustrated with things that we couldnt change and arguing with things that were supposed to be in a particular place ect, I almost walked out. Anyway, weeks after the pre start we got an email with the final details, and the whole plan was wrong. Things that we asked to change were not changed, things added that we didnt not ask for - it was a mess. Despite us re-doing the whole plan to what we originally asked for, confirmations were sent back again with things added/missing. 6 weeks later, we finally had everything confirmed and we signed the variations. Happy days (not). Soon after we got the slab down and everything was all good. Mind you at this point it was July 2014. We got told that we were going to recieve the bricks shortly, however there was a shortage of bricklayers and apparently bricks...? So we waited and waited. Called everyday after 3 weeks to find out what the heck was going on. Same thing every day - "your bricks will be delivered TOMORROW". This went on for another 4 weeks, despite us talking to managers and what not! Finally the bricks got delivered some time in August, however we got told there was going to be a delay in bricklayers - 6 weeks. Fine, what can you do right? Another 14 weeks later, and many, many frustrating calls, the bricks started going up. All was fine. Until the roof went up. Tiles got put half on, then nothing for 4 weeks again. What the heck! We rang up again and found out that the site supervisor was an idiot and was scheduling the tilers on other jobs and not finishing others! He ended up getting the sack and we started getting a good flow of work done. Finally the house got locked up in the start of last month, and now have finished the tiles inside the house. We have been going there every day since lock up, leaving one of the windows a smidge open for us to jump through and have a look around. Will be putting up pictures later on, we are just dying to have this nightmare end. Thanks for reading! Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 2Mar 19, 2015 3:13 pm Hi, we are building in Vale too...what a journey you've been through. Glad that you have finally reached the stage that you're at and hope to see photos soon. Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 3Mar 19, 2015 3:37 pm Hootie Hi, we are building in Vale too...what a journey you've been through. Glad that you have finally reached the stage that you're at and hope to see photos soon. Where about in the Vale are you building in? If it wasnt for the location, I would of just quit a long time ago lol. Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 4Mar 19, 2015 3:42 pm We are on Farina St...which street are you on? I can certainly feel your frustration, especially when the communication from the builder is not up to expectations. Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 6Mar 19, 2015 4:08 pm Well hello neighbour! Aveley is a nice suburb, we have been living in Ellenbrook for 9 years, so will just be moving across one suburb lol... This is the first time we are building so started out a bit nervous, but we have been keeping on top of things and the builder has been great so far... Hopefully the rest of the build will go well for you. Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 7Mar 19, 2015 4:24 pm Any reason for leaving Ellenbrook? Its our first time building too, and our first house. Luckily we have been living together for around 3 or 4 years now, but at her parents house. So its going to be quite an adventure living alone together. I have had a read through your build thread, looking good! How much of your yard do you have? Thank you! We are getting the carpets in on the 1st of April, as they are painting the render and cleaning the house up (its literally filled with sand) so hopefully it wont be too much longer! Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 8Mar 19, 2015 5:45 pm No reason other than we wanted to have a bigger house because the kids are growing up and the new land releases in Ellenbrook were quite a distance into the suburb. Our lot in Aveley now is near the exit to Gnangara Road, so we bought there. Other than that we have always loved living near the Swan Valley. Now that Ellenbrook town centre has expanded, it's so much more convenient. Our Aveley lot is 595sqm but after the house is built (built up area 325sqm I think), we would have a smallish garden/yard. Our existing lot size is 661sqm and the built up area is 150sqm, so there is quite a bit of outdoor space. I am sure that you will enjoy the independence of living in your very own house and having your own space Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 9Mar 19, 2015 5:51 pm Ah right, I suppose a lot of people would be moving along more closer to the Swan Valley too! That is a very nicely sized block, I was looking at something far bigger than ours to something similar to your size, however we couldnt pass up the height difference and park locations around the house. You have a very big yard space at the moment it seems! wow! Re: First home owners building in WA - The Vale Aveley. 10Mar 19, 2015 6:00 pm Looks like you did well with the elevation and location when you considered your lot Yes, the yard space is something that I will be "giving up" when we move, but then we will have more living area, so it evens out in the end. Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27713 Can anyone give me any onfo on New Homes WA? Good or bad, hopefully good just need to know if my choice was good or not? Thanks ❤️ 0 8938 That is a really good attitude Akin to you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I do enjoy watching that tik tok inspector from Victoria but he does go a little… 12 81884 |