Hi everyone! Thought I'd start a thread to document our journey building with Simonds Express.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of other Simonds Express threads around so I thought it might also be good for anyone who is thinking of doing this!
This first post will be long! Sorry!
We've gone from "yes you can afford to build"/pre-approval to finding our land and settling on a builder/layout in a really quick amount of time (1 week). My fiance has had this entire week off work (pre-planned leave) so we figured we may as well just get as much done as possible since our schedules don't line up very well and, getting time off together again would be difficult.
The first couple days we did the "visit every show home and come back with 239842093 pamphlets/books" thing. Our closest display village is Williams Landing which maybe doesn't give a realistic view on what we can afford but it was convenient because we set up a few in-person meetings with builders to get quotes.
We originally thought about building out in Bloomdale (Diggers Rest) but land prices were just above our budget. We decided rather quickly that we'd rather build a bigger house in our second choice location than build a shoebox in our number one location (maybe backwards thinking but we've got a lot of stuff and 1 kid with another on the way. We want room inside and outside!). We found a great piece of land in the Melton South area that was not only cheaper but also nearly 100 sq m bigger.
As far as Express layouts go, my favourite layout was the Argyle and my fiance liked the Rathdowne . Ignoring cost (Argyle is slightly more expensive) the thing that tipped us into going with the Rathdown was that we liked the slightly off-set family room at the back of the house. Having it like that sort of ensures that you don't have lounge space/stuff creeping into the meals area and vice versa (which we could see being an issue with us), and we liked the cut out on the side that could be turned into a courtyard/alfresco area.
The cons to this layout are the smaller laundry room, and lack of walk in linen/second linen cupboard. We also prefer the kitchen layout of the Westbury but it (obviously) wasn't a deal breaker.
Another HUGE (huge!) bonus is that the Rathdowne is on display. We were able to walk through it to get a feel for exactly how it will be built - another massive bonus with the Express system is that everything in the house (besides the slightly higher ceilings, blinds, & cooling) are built to the premium specifications. We were able to see VERY clearly what was included and what wasn't included.
Neither of us are very picky people so the four colour choices & four facades thing didn't phase us either. We're going with the Blackwood colour scheme because we really loved the look of the dark grey tiles and the dark Caesarstone bench (we like the way it will look on the outside too but we were more concerned with getting the inside looking how we wanted it). We are also going with the Langridge façade because we like the look of the triple window with the mini-bay-type window (is there a better name for that?). We're actually not that fussed about having a lot of render on the front of the house (and we don't think our estate requires it) so we were trying to pick something with the least amount.
I think we are actually really grateful that we don't have to do a colour selection appointment and agonise over tile & wall colours. If you want total control over colours, want to move walls around, or add/move power points/light switches/TV points/etc, doing the Express system isn't for you. You aren't allowed to change anything. Like I said, this actually suits us perfectly, our biggest nightmare was not being able to match colours or finding colours we liked only to be told it was going to cost us thousands of dollars more.
We met with our Simonds guy on Friday (27/03) and got all the details re: costs/inclusions/etc and he helped us match up a block of land that would be suitable in our price range. Afterwards we basically drove straight to the real estate office to put a deposit down on our land (we stopped between to check out the area - were pleasantly surprised to see that there were actually people there working on our future street! -- The first block of land we looked at is still undisturbed paddock so to see roads and light posts in was REALLY exciting!).
On Saturday my fiance drove out and put a deposit on the house side of things. Told our guy our colour/facade choices and went through a few other things (do we want higher ceilings? no, do we want them to build our alfresco? no) etc. The only extra costs we might be up for is if our estate requires coloured concrete on our driveway and if they are putting NBN in. Otherwise we got a full quote that we are really happy with. The only things we will need to cover ourselves are: landscaping, fencing, cooling, blinds, mailbox, clothesline.
We also got all the technical drawings and a print out of how our house will sit on the block of land (very exciting! I can post this stuff if anyone is interested). We are super rapt with our 7x12.5m backyard.
Today (30/03/15) we got the great news that our offer on the land has been accepted, our conveyancer & mortgage broker have received the contracts, and our mortgage broker is going to get the ball rolling on the first home buyers grant.
Our Simonds guy has sent us a few congrats text messages along the way which I think is a really nice touch.
Even though we have a long way to go, all these little things happening now are all very encouraging.
Our land is supposed to title April/May but we're going conservative and saying not till June. After seeing the progress out there and knowing the street over from us (previous stage) is titling "after Easter" I'm cautiously optimistic it will title on time.
Thanks for reading!
Simonds Express - Rathdowne - Western Melbourne
Page 1 of 31
Hi everyone! Thought I'd start a thread to document our journey building with Simonds Express.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of other Simonds Express threads around so I thought it might also be good for anyone who is thinking of doing this!
This first post will be long! Sorry!
We've gone from "yes you can afford to build"/pre-approval to finding our land and settling on a builder/layout in a really quick amount of time (1 week). My fiance has had this entire week off work (pre-planned leave) so we figured we may as well just get as much done as possible since our schedules don't line up very well and, getting time off together again would be difficult.
The first couple days we did the "visit every show home and come back with 239842093 pamphlets/books" thing. Our closest display village is Williams Landing which maybe doesn't give a realistic view on what we can afford but it was convenient because we set up a few in-person meetings with builders to get quotes.
We originally thought about building out in Bloomdale (Diggers Rest) but land prices were just above our budget. We decided rather quickly that we'd rather build a bigger house in our second choice location than build a shoebox in our number one location (maybe backwards thinking but we've got a lot of stuff and 1 kid with another on the way. We want room inside and outside!). We found a great piece of land in the Melton South area that was not only cheaper but also nearly 100 sq m bigger.
As far as Express layouts go, my favourite layout was the Argyle and my fiance liked the Rathdowne . Ignoring cost (Argyle is slightly more expensive) the thing that tipped us into going with the Rathdown was that we liked the slightly off-set family room at the back of the house. Having it like that sort of ensures that you don't have lounge space/stuff creeping into the meals area and vice versa (which we could see being an issue with us), and we liked the cut out on the side that could be turned into a courtyard/alfresco area.
The cons to this layout are the smaller laundry room, and lack of walk in linen/second linen cupboard. We also prefer the kitchen layout of the Westbury but it (obviously) wasn't a deal breaker.
Another HUGE (huge!) bonus is that the Rathdowne is on display. We were able to walk through it to get a feel for exactly how it will be built - another massive bonus with the Express system is that everything in the house (besides the slightly higher ceilings, blinds, & cooling) are built to the premium specifications. We were able to see VERY clearly what was included and what wasn't included.
Neither of us are very picky people so the four colour choices & four facades thing didn't phase us either. We're going with the Blackwood colour scheme because we really loved the look of the dark grey tiles and the dark Caesarstone bench (we like the way it will look on the outside too but we were more concerned with getting the inside looking how we wanted it). We are also going with the Langridge façade because we like the look of the triple window with the mini-bay-type window (is there a better name for that?). We're actually not that fussed about having a lot of render on the front of the house (and we don't think our estate requires it) so we were trying to pick something with the least amount.
I think we are actually really grateful that we don't have to do a colour selection appointment and agonise over tile & wall colours. If you want total control over colours, want to move walls around, or add/move power points/light switches/TV points/etc, doing the Express system isn't for you. You aren't allowed to change anything. Like I said, this actually suits us perfectly, our biggest nightmare was not being able to match colours or finding colours we liked only to be told it was going to cost us thousands of dollars more.
We met with our Simonds guy on Friday (27/03) and got all the details re: costs/inclusions/etc and he helped us match up a block of land that would be suitable in our price range. Afterwards we basically drove straight to the real estate office to put a deposit down on our land (we stopped between to check out the area - were pleasantly surprised to see that there were actually people there working on our future street! -- The first block of land we looked at is still undisturbed paddock so to see roads and light posts in was REALLY exciting!).
On Saturday my fiance drove out and put a deposit on the house side of things. Told our guy our colour/facade choices and went through a few other things (do we want higher ceilings? no, do we want them to build our alfresco? no) etc. The only extra costs we might be up for is if our estate requires coloured concrete on our driveway and if they are putting NBN in. Otherwise we got a full quote that we are really happy with. The only things we will need to cover ourselves are: landscaping, fencing, cooling, blinds, mailbox, clothesline.
We also got all the technical drawings and a print out of how our house will sit on the block of land (very exciting! I can post this stuff if anyone is interested). We are super rapt with our 7x12.5m backyard.
Today (30/03/15) we got the great news that our offer on the land has been accepted, our conveyancer & mortgage broker have received the contracts, and our mortgage broker is going to get the ball rolling on the first home buyers grant.
Our Simonds guy has sent us a few congrats text messages along the way which I think is a really nice touch.
Even though we have a long way to go, all these little things happening now are all very encouraging.
Our land is supposed to title April/May but we're going conservative and saying not till June. After seeing the progress out there and knowing the street over from us (previous stage) is titling "after Easter" I'm cautiously optimistic it will title on time.
Thanks for reading!
There doesn't seem to be a lot of other Simonds Express threads around so I thought it might also be good for anyone who is thinking of doing this!
This first post will be long! Sorry!
We've gone from "yes you can afford to build"/pre-approval to finding our land and settling on a builder/layout in a really quick amount of time (1 week). My fiance has had this entire week off work (pre-planned leave) so we figured we may as well just get as much done as possible since our schedules don't line up very well and, getting time off together again would be difficult.
The first couple days we did the "visit every show home and come back with 239842093 pamphlets/books" thing. Our closest display village is Williams Landing which maybe doesn't give a realistic view on what we can afford but it was convenient because we set up a few in-person meetings with builders to get quotes.
We originally thought about building out in Bloomdale (Diggers Rest) but land prices were just above our budget. We decided rather quickly that we'd rather build a bigger house in our second choice location than build a shoebox in our number one location (maybe backwards thinking but we've got a lot of stuff and 1 kid with another on the way. We want room inside and outside!). We found a great piece of land in the Melton South area that was not only cheaper but also nearly 100 sq m bigger.
As far as Express layouts go, my favourite layout was the Argyle and my fiance liked the Rathdowne . Ignoring cost (Argyle is slightly more expensive) the thing that tipped us into going with the Rathdown was that we liked the slightly off-set family room at the back of the house. Having it like that sort of ensures that you don't have lounge space/stuff creeping into the meals area and vice versa (which we could see being an issue with us), and we liked the cut out on the side that could be turned into a courtyard/alfresco area.
The cons to this layout are the smaller laundry room, and lack of walk in linen/second linen cupboard. We also prefer the kitchen layout of the Westbury but it (obviously) wasn't a deal breaker.
Another HUGE (huge!) bonus is that the Rathdowne is on display. We were able to walk through it to get a feel for exactly how it will be built - another massive bonus with the Express system is that everything in the house (besides the slightly higher ceilings, blinds, & cooling) are built to the premium specifications. We were able to see VERY clearly what was included and what wasn't included.
Neither of us are very picky people so the four colour choices & four facades thing didn't phase us either. We're going with the Blackwood colour scheme because we really loved the look of the dark grey tiles and the dark Caesarstone bench (we like the way it will look on the outside too but we were more concerned with getting the inside looking how we wanted it). We are also going with the Langridge façade because we like the look of the triple window with the mini-bay-type window (is there a better name for that?). We're actually not that fussed about having a lot of render on the front of the house (and we don't think our estate requires it) so we were trying to pick something with the least amount.
I think we are actually really grateful that we don't have to do a colour selection appointment and agonise over tile & wall colours. If you want total control over colours, want to move walls around, or add/move power points/light switches/TV points/etc, doing the Express system isn't for you. You aren't allowed to change anything. Like I said, this actually suits us perfectly, our biggest nightmare was not being able to match colours or finding colours we liked only to be told it was going to cost us thousands of dollars more.
We met with our Simonds guy on Friday (27/03) and got all the details re: costs/inclusions/etc and he helped us match up a block of land that would be suitable in our price range. Afterwards we basically drove straight to the real estate office to put a deposit down on our land (we stopped between to check out the area - were pleasantly surprised to see that there were actually people there working on our future street! -- The first block of land we looked at is still undisturbed paddock so to see roads and light posts in was REALLY exciting!).
On Saturday my fiance drove out and put a deposit on the house side of things. Told our guy our colour/facade choices and went through a few other things (do we want higher ceilings? no, do we want them to build our alfresco? no) etc. The only extra costs we might be up for is if our estate requires coloured concrete on our driveway and if they are putting NBN in. Otherwise we got a full quote that we are really happy with. The only things we will need to cover ourselves are: landscaping, fencing, cooling, blinds, mailbox, clothesline.
We also got all the technical drawings and a print out of how our house will sit on the block of land (very exciting! I can post this stuff if anyone is interested). We are super rapt with our 7x12.5m backyard.
Today (30/03/15) we got the great news that our offer on the land has been accepted, our conveyancer & mortgage broker have received the contracts, and our mortgage broker is going to get the ball rolling on the first home buyers grant.
Our Simonds guy has sent us a few congrats text messages along the way which I think is a really nice touch.
Even though we have a long way to go, all these little things happening now are all very encouraging.
Our land is supposed to title April/May but we're going conservative and saying not till June. After seeing the progress out there and knowing the street over from us (previous stage) is titling "after Easter" I'm cautiously optimistic it will title on time.
Thanks for reading!
Congrats on your securing the land and finalizing a design for your new home...We are building the Harcrest with Simonds... Its been a very exciting journey so far and wish you the same...
Thanks for your reply harmelb!
I went and looked at your floorplan, wow! Definitely envious over your huge pantry and laundry room!
I went and looked at your floorplan, wow! Definitely envious over your huge pantry and laundry room!
Got a phone call from our CRC today to set up our contract signing appointment today! Very exciting! Due to us being busy at work next week we won't be able to make it in until the 15th.
Luckily we will be dealing with the Point Cook office which is right around the corner - SO convenient!
Even though I wish our land was titled and ready to go, I'm glad we are at least able to "front load" all this paperwork and stuff so when the time comes we'll be ready to go. Was encouraged to hear that if our land happens to title sooner than we estimate, Simonds will be ready to get started asap (rather than waiting until our estimated date).
It's going to be pretty full-on because we're sort of expecting the land to title or be ready to start right around the time I'm about to have baby 2. It's going to be a busy few months!
Luckily we will be dealing with the Point Cook office which is right around the corner - SO convenient!
Even though I wish our land was titled and ready to go, I'm glad we are at least able to "front load" all this paperwork and stuff so when the time comes we'll be ready to go. Was encouraged to hear that if our land happens to title sooner than we estimate, Simonds will be ready to get started asap (rather than waiting until our estimated date).
It's going to be pretty full-on because we're sort of expecting the land to title or be ready to start right around the time I'm about to have baby 2. It's going to be a busy few months!
Hi Megera,
Gud to hear that you are signing your contract soon... Who is your CRC? Ours is Crystal and she has been really good and efficient so far in getting things done . BTW, did you get your Simonds tablet ? It's going to be really exciting months for you ahead as 2 good things are on their way...
Gud to hear that you are signing your contract soon... Who is your CRC? Ours is Crystal and she has been really good and efficient so far in getting things done . BTW, did you get your Simonds tablet ? It's going to be really exciting months for you ahead as 2 good things are on their way...
Hi Megera,
Gud to hear that you are signing your contract soon... Who is your CRC? Ours is Crystal and she has been really good and efficient so far in getting things done . BTW, did you get your Simonds tablet ? It's going to be really exciting months for you ahead as 2 good things are on their way...
Gud to hear that you are signing your contract soon... Who is your CRC? Ours is Crystal and she has been really good and efficient so far in getting things done . BTW, did you get your Simonds tablet ? It's going to be really exciting months for you ahead as 2 good things are on their way...
Ours is Nicole. She sounded really nice on the phone, it will be good to meet her and put a face to the name!
No tablet yet but I'm assuming we'll get that at our signing appointment.
I know it's still early days but I like that we've been talking to someone (mortgage broker, developer, Simonds, etc) nearly every day, shuffling paperwork back and forth or coordinating this and that. Makes me feel like we're actually doing something!
Hi Megera,
Gud to hear that you are signing your contract soon... Who is your CRC? Ours is Crystal and she has been really good and efficient so far in getting things done . BTW, did you get your Simonds tablet ? It's going to be really exciting months for you ahead as 2 good things are on their way...
Gud to hear that you are signing your contract soon... Who is your CRC? Ours is Crystal and she has been really good and efficient so far in getting things done . BTW, did you get your Simonds tablet ? It's going to be really exciting months for you ahead as 2 good things are on their way...
Hi harmelb, what's the Simonds tablet? You mean an actual iPad like tablet? Did you get it at signing?
Hi noisuf,
Yes, an actual iPad like tablet. We got it from our CRC after we paid out initial deposit - so even before signing the contract ...
Yes, an actual iPad like tablet. We got it from our CRC after we paid out initial deposit - so even before signing the contract ...
Hi noisuf,
Yes, an actual iPad like tablet. We got it from our CRC after we paid out initial deposit - so even before signing the contract ...
Yes, an actual iPad like tablet. We got it from our CRC after we paid out initial deposit - so even before signing the contract ...
Thanks for posting that! We have been curious about what sort of tablet it is!
I think the reason we don't have ours yet is because we didn't put our initial deposit down with a CRC, we did the initial stuff through a sales consultant.
Hi Megera,
We paid the initial deposit to the sales consultant as well. After that we got a call from our CRC to collect the Simonds tablet . You might get yours soon...
We paid the initial deposit to the sales consultant as well. After that we got a call from our CRC to collect the Simonds tablet . You might get yours soon...
Hi noisuf,
Yes, an actual iPad like tablet. We got it from our CRC after we paid out initial deposit - so even before signing the contract ...
Yes, an actual iPad like tablet. We got it from our CRC after we paid out initial deposit - so even before signing the contract ...
Thanks harmelb, I'm going to be following them up on this one.
Hi Megera,
Congratulations for your new house! Great to see another simonds house building around Melbourne.
We are building Simonds Cleo in Western Melbourne.
Plus we got a tablet too, on contract day.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Congratulations for your new house! Great to see another simonds house building around Melbourne.
We are building Simonds Cleo in Western Melbourne.
Plus we got a tablet too, on contract day.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Hi Megera,
Congratulations for your new house! Great to see another simonds house building around Melbourne.
We are building Simonds Cleo in Western Melbourne.
Plus we got a tablet too, on contract day.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Congratulations for your new house! Great to see another simonds house building around Melbourne.
We are building Simonds Cleo in Western Melbourne.
Plus we got a tablet too, on contract day.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Thanks for your reply! I just went and looked at your thread
Has your land titled yet? When do you think you'll start building?
We did a very similar thing to you too - we pretty much went to every builder in Williams Landing to get info. We're not building there but it's the most convenient display village to get to from where we're currently living. We figured if we had to go back to talk to anyone or ask questions driving 10 minutes up the road was easier than 20 or 30!
Our land is already titled. Building permit hasn't been issued, but Builder promised to start site work in April.
Did you apply for the first home buyer grant and duty reduction as well? We have no idea how to apply.
Did you apply for the first home buyer grant and duty reduction as well? We have no idea how to apply.
Our land is already titled. Building permit hasn't been issued, but Builder promised to start site work in April.
Did you apply for the first home buyer grant and duty reduction as well? We have no idea how to apply.
Did you apply for the first home buyer grant and duty reduction as well? We have no idea how to apply.
That's exciting! Should be happening quickly then!
Our mortgage broker is doing all that sort of stuff for us, I wouldn't know how to do it either!
OK, we will ask our broker after Easter.
Our land is already titled. Building permit hasn't been issued, but Builder promised to start site work in April.
Did you apply for the first home buyer grant and duty reduction as well? We have no idea how to apply.
Did you apply for the first home buyer grant and duty reduction as well? We have no idea how to apply.
Hi shara,
For us the stamp duty reduction application was put forward by our conveyancer before the land settlement, while the first home owner grant application by the mortgage consultant and was paid along with the first progress payment for the home loan.
But this is what they did :
1) For the PPR concession and the first home buyer duty reduction (50% reduction in stamp duty), Duties Form 61 was filled and submitted to the bank by the conveyancer before the land settlement along with other documents.
2) For the FHOG, the mortgage consultant submitted the application for first home owner grant along with our loan documents to the bank.
Hope this helps
Exciting day today! We signed our contract!
We had to get an extension on our land contract to cover singing the contract today (rather than last week) & to give the bank time to do what they're going to do. Our mortgage broker is getting the ball rolling for our first home owners grant and we just got a bundle of papers in the mail from our conveyancer for the stamp duty reduction/etc.
We have all our plans etc (rather than the mock up ones we got a few weeks ago), it's good to see the house in the correct orientation rather than imagining everything flipped around!
We also drove out to the land today to get a look at what is happening. Very exciting as the sidewalks and crossovers are in now! Surely there can't be months and months of work left to be done before things are titled? (does anyone know? I posted a thread in the buying land forum but no one has replied). Anyway, we are really encouraged by this seeing as the previous lot we looked at was still paddock!
This is the zoomed in picture, our lot should be between the first two white poles you see. We can't tell if our crossover is the one on the near side of the light post or the one on the other side of the dirt pile.
I'll also include a picture of the interior of the rathdowne display at the Atherstone estate in Melton which is the colour palette we're going with (blackwood) so you can get an idea of what the inside will look like!
We had to get an extension on our land contract to cover singing the contract today (rather than last week) & to give the bank time to do what they're going to do. Our mortgage broker is getting the ball rolling for our first home owners grant and we just got a bundle of papers in the mail from our conveyancer for the stamp duty reduction/etc.
We have all our plans etc (rather than the mock up ones we got a few weeks ago), it's good to see the house in the correct orientation rather than imagining everything flipped around!
We also drove out to the land today to get a look at what is happening. Very exciting as the sidewalks and crossovers are in now! Surely there can't be months and months of work left to be done before things are titled? (does anyone know? I posted a thread in the buying land forum but no one has replied). Anyway, we are really encouraged by this seeing as the previous lot we looked at was still paddock!
This is the zoomed in picture, our lot should be between the first two white poles you see. We can't tell if our crossover is the one on the near side of the light post or the one on the other side of the dirt pile.
I'll also include a picture of the interior of the rathdowne display at the Atherstone estate in Melton which is the colour palette we're going with (blackwood) so you can get an idea of what the inside will look like!
Looks great, congratulations
Looks great, congratulations
Thanks! We are ridiculously excited! We talked to our mortgage broker last night (he stopped by to get us to sign the FHOG stuff) and even HE sounds excited for us! haha After he left last night I turned to DF and I was like "I think he's going above and beyond the typical broker role isn't he?" and DF agreed that he's definitely helped us out way more than is probably typical with things that probably don't *quite* fall under his MB role. SO THANKFUL for that!
You have been so patient with all your delays! It would be driving me insane! I wonder why you guys aren't getting tablets in SA? It's actually not a bad little unit as far as 'no name' tablets go, I have a feeling that it is going to be claimed by a certain 3½ year old I know though haha
There are definite advantages to going 'Express', as much as it would be nice to change a few things here and there I'm glad I don't have the headache and stress of it. I honestly don't know where I would even start when it comes to picking colours and fixtures and all that sort of thing! It also really helps with keeping the budget in check! (which is really our biggest concern!)
It probably also speeds up a bunch of steps too since we don't have to go in for multiple appointments (which means time off work). Hopefully we can get all this "back end" stuff done now before the land titles so we're ready to go as soon as possible.
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