Diary - Build with Meltricon at Beulah Park

On 17 December 2014
Visited Metricon display home at Light View, requested for book of plans, the consultant gave me a memory stick, This is quite interesting, I copied all the plans to my computer and viewed again and again.

We think we will like Chelsea, it got all the things we wish to have from the plan, so visited Metricon display home at Mount Barker on 21 February, we were very disappointed with the display one, do not know why the big house split into so many small room/sections

On 28 February 2015
we went to Light view again, My wife fell in love with Metricon's two story home Sentosa 44 and Medallion's Erbis

29 March 2015, we went back to Lightview and checked price of Sentosa 44, Metricon consultant suggested high 500k for this two story home, the consultant offered free designer service

Wow, $500k! I guess in Beulah Park you wont be over-capitalising. That is a lot to spend on a project built home. For that sort of money you can get an original unique 'hand-crafted' design with a boutique builder like Serenity or APS. Can't wait to see what you choose.

$500k is a quite a lot of money, but that place is 410m2, so running around $1200/m2 which is in line with 2 storey builds. From memory that was about the entry level cost of Medallion for single storey.

The Sentosa looks like it's designed for a South facing block.

I think 500k is on the money for 411sqm, about $1200 per sqm for the house alone. So for an as displayed home high $500s would be expected. Look forwArd to your build.

Yes, 500K is way too expensive, we reviewed all Metricon single and double story plans, and end up choosing plan Lincoln 30 or Lincoln 37, with a little bit changes.

Send out my first sketches based on Lincoln 30 to Metricon consultant on 29th of March

By the way, anyone know how to upload a photo to this thread? I tried many ways without success.

I use photo bucket - paste the link between the [img]s. There is also a tutorial somewhere on the forum search how to attach photos.
There are various ways to attach them.
Good luck look forward to your build Metricon make very stunning houses.
Hope Burnside council is kind : )

Beaulah Park is a nice area, we just sold at Kensington Park. Going from the Sentosa to the Lincoln 30 is a big drop in size. Did you decide that you didnt need so much room, or trying to keep costs down?

An easy way to upload photos is to install the taptalk app on your phone. Photos can be uploaded direct from your phone without having to first upload them to a cloud.

Thanks everyone, I will try to see whether I can get the modified plan uploaded.

It's a bit of both, we only got two kids, I guess Sentosa is a little bit too big for us, Sentosa is not really designed safe for a five year active, fearless boy. Another thing is, when the sales agent say high 500k, you probably have to prepare 700k.

My plan is modified based on Lincoln 30, but with the size of Lincoln 37, one of the largest single level home. The starting price is 250K, and I really have not upgrade much, then the quote jump to nearly 370K, still not including flooring, air conditioning, landscaping, fencing and other long long list. Honesty, I do not know or realize where the 120k has been/will be spent

On 27th April,

I met the town planer from Burnside council, walked through the plan with their setback requirements. Garage built to boundary is OK, but both sides are not left with enough space, it has to be at least two meters from boundary.

I probably should discuss with town planer first before paying a hefty deposit. I saw quite a few Metricon houses at burnside council, there are no reasons that they do not know Burnside setback plan for single level homes, just wonder why they did not let me know at first place.

We just finished building with M in the burnside council but our frontage is 19m with 4m setback on one side and 2m on the other. We have an 8m setback from the front.

Yes, I see your point. We also decided against the Sentosa due to safety.

On 29 April 2015

Metricon seems not interested in to change my plan to meet with Burnside council setback requirements, it looks like they are willing to try their luck instead of fixing issue now.

I might have to pull the plug and switch to a different builder, pity my $1500 deposit. Called couple of other builders today, and will meet them next week for further discussion.

Lucky I have not signed a contract with Metricon, may just be an expensive lesson, again I regret that I have not checked with council first.

By the way, the Burnside planner told me, I have to submit a shadow plan and send notice to the neighbors if the plan does not meet council's requirements, even it is only a single story.

That's ashame. What reason did they give you for not wanting the alter their plan?

Another option is to speak with your neighbours and sound them out for any concerns regarding your proximity to the boundary. If they are okay, then you can try proeeding with the current plans. We had to consult all neighbours and give them the opportunity to object. It is important to engage your neighbours in the process early.

How wide is your block? Most builder have designed their homes to suit narrrow blocks but Burnside council has strict requirements with its setback requirements.

Setback guidelines can be flexible with councils, and it sounds like Metricon might be fairly confident it will get through. They may be justified in this if they have a lot of experience with that council. On the other hand, they might just be stringing you on and know they can get you to pay more for changes later if needed.

The council planner should have been able to give a fair indication of whether it had a decent chance as it was, so that can guide your decision. You can also guess based on the alignment of the block whether overshadowing would be an issue. For example, on your northern boundary it probably wouldn't be an issue - as then you would only be taking from yourself to build close to the north side. Then you can also look at what the neighbour has along that fenceline that you would be blocking the sun from. I'm guessing if you are building the garage to the boundary, you'll be needing the shadow approval for that anyhow.

So it's extra complications, but there are a few things you can work through .

We too went through Burnside and showed our plans to two planners who okayed it - was then rejected when submitted. We had the choice of fighting it through or changing we changed the plan. The council website has a good handout on building a house guidelines regarding setbacks. I am surprised you need a shadow diagram for a single storey - we have had two council applications and did not need shadow diagrams.
Good luck with the whole process, I would ask builder directly what their experience is with the council and have they dealt with the setback issue with council before, to save time and pain later.
Look forward to seeing it all happen