Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 41May 16, 2015 7:20 pm OK. I got an update saying brickwork has been delayed for another two weeks. Instead of me grumbling about it, I'll just post something that's positive. I should give some credits to our sale guy. When we enquired about the house and land package, he presented us with a floorplan that we already quite happy with. There were minimal changes to the floorplan. Kitchen is my favorite place at home so I'll just make a post about it today. This is the original design. I don't like the corner being cut off and have the sink right next to the wall. I like to put cooking oil, spices etc next to the stove. With this design, they will be pretty close to the stove fire. My friend also has a kitchen exactly like this and feel pretty cramp. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ So we make the WIR smaller and open up the space. Adding overhead cupboard. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ When we got this drawing before prestart, we found a problem. Other than the overhead cupboard, there were only two small size cupboards and two dead corner cupboards, which would be hard to access. Not very practical. The cupboard space was less than what we have at our current appartment. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We decided to remodify it to this (see two pictures below). Ideally, we would want a front push door to access one dead corner cupboard between the sink and dishwasher space. Unfortunately, the builder was asking $500+ just for that. Anyone has a good idea of how to use that space, let me know. We managed to move the stove toward the left a bit more and put in a corner hinge. The idea is to put a corner carousel. Our original idea was to move the stove all the way right next to the bank of drawers so the corner will even have a larger space. Due to the restriction of the corner hinge, we are left with a tiny cupboard between the stove and the bank of drawers. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 42May 16, 2015 7:58 pm Can someone please tell me how to change the subject title at the very top? It is still using the old one. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 43May 16, 2015 8:15 pm We have spent a fortune to redesign the kitchen so will leave the following idea after handover. It is mainly due to not knowing the exact fridge size as well. We are thinking to have the carpenter making a "frame" for the fridge space and add cupboard above it after handover. The cupboard is for microwave. It is not ideal to put it high up but we have the exact same design at our current apartment and no problem so far. To frame up the fridge space is quite common as far as I have seen on H1. I have seen the kitchen cupboard etc go in first and then the tiler does the job. If we have this after handover, isn't that our "frame" will be sitting on top of the tile? Will it be any problem? We also think about bulkhead above the overhead cupboard. But it isn't a priority at this stage. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 45May 16, 2015 11:05 pm Ah....good idea but too late now. The plan is final. Hmmm...didn't think of that because the prestart officer accepted our original idea (ie putting the stove and oven all the way next to the drawers) but only to find out they couldn't make the corner cupboard bigger due to the hinge limitation later on. I really am not sure if this is the case or they just couldn't make the overhead cupboard in non-standard size. It does look odd if we do that. It was her idea to just make a tiny cupboard there instead of a flat panel. Isn't that drawer come in standard size as well? I know that you can make it wider but it has to fit in that width, I guess. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 46May 17, 2015 12:21 am Hi Sofia, I was trying to find your plans but I can't see it - it might be easier to suggest things if we see it in context? Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 47May 17, 2015 5:35 am Hi Sofia Most common use of that type of dead corner is to access it from the other side under the bench with a cupboard to store thing that aren't used very often, some use it for wine storage or bar fridge with the same matching panel with a push clip so you don't see a handle. For those from the rich and famous with mega bucks to waist you have an electric mini pantry that pops up with your herbs, spices and oils etc. The small cupboard between the draws and oven can be very handy for trays etc that are long but thin, also used by the older generation for for slide out tea towel racks with the most popular use being a slide out herb and spice rack which you can get from the local hardware, household supplier or Swedish home ware store. That said they are hard to secure if you have little children, who just love to open and shut cupboards when they starting to walk. Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 48May 17, 2015 8:19 am You could also increase your overhead cupboard heights to the ceiling for extra space. Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [kicthen layout] 49May 17, 2015 11:32 am Oaknew, good ideas for making use of that space. Ya, would have install the push door to access from the front. Except DS wants $500+. We spent $2k at Prestart to modify the kitchen and $2.5k + at sale stage, I think. Our sale guy refused to give us a break down but a lump sum for all the changes at the time. At one point, we think it would have been better to build this kitchen from scratch since modifications add a lot of money. We skip the softclose because we have a budget. Maybe will rethink the push door down the track. Haha....kid will be banned from kitchen with a gate. Hubby is planning to get a bottom freezer fridge next time and I told him that the walking toddler would love that fridge. Thanks fantastic four. We have 30c ceiling. It would be very difficult to reach the space. But worth considering down the track. Melsanie, no. I didn't post the entire floorplan. Next time. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [brickwall again] 50May 27, 2015 11:03 pm OK...where to start. My timeline for the brickwork might not seem as painful as those who built a year ago when the industry was facing bricklayer shortage. However, our brickwork timeline must have broken the record of any recent Dreamstart homes build on this forum. I don't know what is happening with our bricklayering team. They obviously aren't working on our house continuously. The progress was extremely slow from the start of brickwork (week 1--5). Poof......we almost have the entire house done last week. Yeah!!!! There are only 3 walls left to be built. We were told that it should be finished by this week. Unfortunately, as of Monday, we were told that it will be delayed for another week! 3 walls?!? Really? I am speechless.......8w in total for brickwork. And we have gotten a bill for plate height in the mail. On the positive side, we can finally see the house in 3D. This was taken at the alfresco area. I must say that the brickwork on the non-rendered external walls is done beautifully. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I posted the damaged sliding door frame few weeks ago. I thought they had been replaced because it wasn't with the other window frames. We couldn't find it on the site as well. Somehow it is now fitted in. While it is not bricklayer responsibility to report it, doesn't one instint know that it will have to be replaced in the end. I'm not sure how easy it is to take it out now given the bricks are sitting on top. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hallway, looking toward the entrance and bed1 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our feature brick wall. Nicely done. It won't be rendered. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ OK, to those who don't want to hear about my rant about the poor workmanship of the brickwork, you can skip anything below. In the past few weeks, we have been stressing over the quality of brickwork. When we pointed out the non-filled perpend joints early on, we were told that it has something to do with the bricks that DS is using. We were not completely convinced because we have read up AS3700 building code to understand that this is NOT standard. Besides, looking at few houses built by DS in the area (particularly one house from someone who i know personally), all their perpend joints are filled. This clearly means that it has nothing to do with the type of brick that we are using. This is simply sloppy brickwork. It is not one or two holes, I am talking about 90% of the perpends of our internal wall aren't filled. They only filled those near the window and door frames. The lenghtly build time makes the disappointment even worse. Yes, i have been told many times on this forum that most WA houses are like this. The plaster will cover it up etc but it certainly doesn't build to standard and it potentially affects the structural integrity of the building. I don't want to blame DS for this because it is obviously somethng to do with the bricklayering team. I have seen many complaints here on homeone from WA people and wonder why they are still allowed to continue doing this. If our judgement about the brickwork is wrong, I hope any building inspector out there correct it. The storage room is again nicely done. When i turned around, I saw this. What is this exactly? Are they supposed to put more mortar to cover it up? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Example of non-filled perpends for the internal wall. There are a few with big gap which can fit in a finger. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Perpends filled near the door frame. OK, we thought they at least filled them near the frames but there are a few aren't filled. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Front elevation. We are OK with it because couple of holes here and there will be covered up by the render/plaster. Only the expert can judge the quality. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ At long last............we will have a site meeting with the SS at the end of next week. DS insisted to have SS and our independent inspector there at the same time. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [brickwork again] 51May 28, 2015 7:22 am sofia I'm so glad to see your update, I know you're a bit peeved re the time it has taken but I think it looks amazing I LOVE that feature wall and the face brick looks so neat! Fingers crossed they'll finish off the little bit to do quickly for you. I'd be a bit concerned about the frame too though -did you bring it to their attention when you first saw it? Would be interested to know what they say/how they fix it. I think from our pictures that one of the frames have blown over too - no idea whether it has been damaged or not though, can only hope not. Good luck with your meeting next week Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [brickwork again] 52May 28, 2015 9:28 pm Wow I've missed all of your posts Sofia- another annoying Tapatalk instance. I will have to be more vigilant. I totally understand your frustration. The time it's taken for your brickwork is ridiculous and bordering on insulting in my opinion. I think the irony is that if they hadn't let the brickwork drag on so long you wouldn't have had so much time to find fault with it and the mortar gaps might not have bothered you so much. Or how about the irony that they have clearly NOT been in a rush to finish your job yet the brickwork appears to be very rushed?! It was silly of DS to let the brickwork be so stop-start on one person's job and I think they should do something about getting new brickies on the payroll! As I understand it the walls are at peak strength when the weight of the roof sits on them, effectively then making the entire structure "firm" and "tight". So I guess the gaps between the bricks wouldn't matter in that respect. But what happens when you go to hang something and drill the part of the wall that is missing mortar and you suddenly open up a huge hole? Actually a friend of mine told me when they built their first house the gaps were so great that one kick from her hubby and the entire wall came down. A few walls they thought were ******* came down that day and therefore had to be redone...presumably the brickies got the hint and there were no gaps in the replacement walls. Not condoning vandalism of course, but a funny little story I thought. Yanchep build with Dreamstart Homes ____________________________________________________________ Our build thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=73323 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [brickwork again] 53May 29, 2015 12:34 am MalSannie, thanks. It is a bit vague of what they are going to do with the frame. CLO said that it will be replaced but we should proceed with the plate height meeting etc in the meantime. I assume it also means payment...... Yes, PerthAussie, I have been very polite in all my communications in due respect. However, it has gotten to the point of losing my patience. I don't know how many times I have been reminded that the work will be done in a timely manner not to compromise the quality. Really?!? The quality of brickwork is rubbish and the SS is not listening to our concerns. Yes, insulting to say the least. Good that they made a big progress last week because i was ready to tell DS to get another bricklayering team if they can't keep their promise multiple times. My happinesss didn't last when I was told that they need another 1.5 week to finish the last 3 walls! Another week of delay. Well, you have it all right. Our concern is the structural integrity of those internal walls. Bearing the roof and drilling holes etc. BTW, our roof won't be tied down given that we aren't in the coastal zone. Somone (another DS client) has a dispute with them and asked about it on H1. It is even more insulting given that we told them in advance about what kind of brickwork quality we are expecting. We sent them a few photos of bad quality brickwork as examples. I don't know whose fault it is. The site supervisor for not being well orgnised or really the bricklayering team. Our original goal from the beginning is to minimize complaint to DS and SS. We don't want to be one of those difficult clients if you know what i mean. It is difficult when no one seems to be listening. Hopefully, the brickwork drama will be over soon. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [roof frame] 54Jun 06, 2015 8:28 pm Finally, we are moving onto the next stage! We were quite surprised to see that the roof work started the following day after the brickwork was finished on Wed. We were scheduled to have a plate height meeting with the SS and a building inspector at the same time. It didn't work out quite well given that roofer were working on site. In any case, we had a good chat with the inspector while waiting for the SS to show up. He ended up doing a quick inspection for the house across from us to give us some examples of good and bad quality brickwork. LOL. I hope that house did an inspection because he picked up couple major issues which were also quite visible to us as well. SS answered our questions. Our concerns have also been addressed by the inspector independently. Minor issues have been fixed up and will be fixed later on. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [roof frame] 55Jun 06, 2015 9:20 pm Sofia that is fantastic news you must be so relieved. I think it is a good idea to get an independent inspector, I think I'd have been totally stressed out if we didn't know we'd have someone looking over the details for us! Looking forward to see your first roof pictures - do you have roof timber pictures yet?? Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [roof frame] 56Jun 06, 2015 11:09 pm No. I didn't get a chance to snap a picture. A meeting like this took us the whole afternoon off work. It is quite a drive for us. We thougth we might go down this weekend again but probably won't now. I am hoping they would finish the frame at the end of next week and the roof tile goes on the following week. Fingers crossed that we don't get another team, which starts a job and takes ages to finish. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [roof frame] 57Jun 15, 2015 6:15 pm Hi sophia, Glad you didnt have any issues with your External building inspector. What they say about your perpends? are they getting fixed? Glad you got some peace after your inspection! Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes [roof frame] 58Jun 15, 2015 9:37 pm kenjiurban: well, the inspector said that it isn't a problem for the non-filled perpends if the ceiling is less than 31c. Our ceiling is 30c. If they want to be non-filled, ideally, you want it to be about 1mm (if i remember correctly). However, there is no such thing as a perfect job. That means we just have to accept those slightly larger/smaller gap ones. There aren't many of those anyway. Just as i expected, it is a lost case for us. Bad luck with the bricklayer team, I guess. Given that other teams are filling the perpends, I don't see why ours aren't. It isn't like we are paying the company less money. I just hope that we don't drill into those empty holes in the future. While we were waiting for the SS to come, the inspector walked us through the house across from us (basically, an inspection for them!). He pointed out several major problems of the brickwork in that house. In a way, we feel lucky that we don't have those major problems. Couple of things SS have said that they would fix so the inspector only noted down briefly in the report. Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes-wall cavity insulat 59Jun 16, 2015 3:34 pm I feel rather strange that our house has NO wall cavity insulation at all. Is this normal? Our neighbour house has it so i would assume the same side of our house would have it too? Timeline: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76782 Re: Build @wellard with Dreamstart homes-wall cavity insulat 60Jun 16, 2015 4:34 pm Hi Sofia - you've not got your plan online so can't see whether it is indicated on there. Should be in your addenda and on your plans though if you're supposed to get it? Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17601 3 48389 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74702 |