Building Mainvue Emporio ER430 Ultima

Vino0512 · Sep 14, 2015 11:29 am

Hi Everyone!
After doing an incredible amount of lurking over the previous 3-4 months and following the progress of fellow Mainvue / Henley builders, I have finally gotten around to creating my own thread to track our journey. Please feel free to join in, I would love to have you along for the ride and hopefully future builders can pick up some gems of information.

We are doing a KDR in Melbourne's inner South East, building the Mainvue Emporio ER430.
After deciding that we needed to move from our current house in an inner suburb to get the backyard we wanted for the kids, we found we were spending all our time at open homes trying to find the perfect combo (house AND location). I quickly tired of that so we switched to the 'what if we built?' thought process and that led us to buy a 688sq lot not too far from where we were. We have since completed the demonstration and installed a pool (to avoid access dramas if we did it after the build).

Our build research (consisting of dragging the kids around display homes for a few weekends) led us to firstly to Boutique Homes, then Porter Davies and finally to Mainvue. Once we had walked through the Emporio, we kept coming back to it so we stopped looking and started researching, taking us to where we find ourselves today - contracts signed (3 Sept) and hopeful for a construction start of October.

Here's some of our key structural/floorplan customisations;
Extended the garage to plus size
Added understairs storage
Removed bath from ensuite which made bedroom 2 and 3 0.5m bigger each (thanks to MichaelQ for this idea)
Made bedroom 4 0.5m bigger (reducing leisure area by same amount)
Added cavity doors to theatre, study and ensuite
Alternative butler’s pantry option (closing 2nd entry off, added bonus of a linen cupboard in the hallway)
Window splashback in the kitchen (love!)
Upgraded stacker doors to boutique frames, double glazed.
Upgraded family room windows to picture windows (love!)
All windows double glazed
Added niches – ensuite and hallway (had to remove in bathroom to get the config I wanted with tap and shower rose)
Opened the void in the study (thanks to Conifers for this tip)

Vino0512 · Sep 14, 2015 11:30 am

For the facade and exterior colours…

After I had discounted all the facades with balconies (don’t love that look) I spent a few days flicking between the options and always came back to the Ultima so that was settled - lock in the Ultima please! Next...

What exteriors to pick… Well I love a rendered house (we rendered our last place because I hated the bricks) so right from the outset I was keen to do a full render... Until I saw the ridiculous price! So back to the drawing board on that one...
Plan B was to select a very on-trend dark charcoal brick and build out a grey/charcoal type colour palette... That was until we were at the brick display centre and halfway through by 'lobbying' for a dark brick I felt the difference in heat absorbency between a lighter and darker brick. Wowsers, it was amazing and all I could think was that we have a LOT of bricks getting a LOT of direct afternoon light. So, in the end we have gone with a compromise on my original concept and just to reduce the anxiety levels, I got it mocked up by NHV (@Dan on HomeOne) and (luckily!) I love it.
I think I have the balance right and if I don't like it (bx there is too much brick) then I have a plan of where to render further ourselves

Roof - classic tile in charcoal
Brick - truffle
Windows - monument
Down pipes, gutters, flashing etc - monument
Garage door - caboa
Render - calfskin (Dulux colour, similar to Colourbond Dune)
Feature render - monument

(will post a pic of the mockup when I can figure that out)

Vino0512 · Sep 14, 2015 12:06 pm

Here's what I 'hope' the exterior facade will look like...

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j77/Vino0512/Exterior%20Visual_zpscc64ojf3.jpg

Vino0512 · Sep 14, 2015 12:10 pm

Pool being installed... happy to share further details if anyone is considering a pool
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j77/Vino0512/Pool%20craned%20in_zpso7c8wzcc.jpg

And in place (it now has a hardcover over it, which will stay in place until after the Mainvue build is complete and then we will finish plumbing, landscaping etc).

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j77/Vino0512/Pool%20in%20place_zpsskzqixsc.jpg

chloea_ · Sep 14, 2015 3:23 pm

Looks great Vino. Great to see yet another Mainvue going up! Will follow your thread!

Conifers · Sep 14, 2015 6:45 pm

Wow, the mockup of the facade is great. Wish I had of done that. Your colours look great. I was a little worried too about the heat from the dark bricks, boral may have done me a favour in discontinuing the Midnight Hue.
You are lucky to have a big block our is only about 570sq so pool takes up most of the space. So what are you plans on landscaping around the pool?

TiVeena · Sep 14, 2015 10:06 pm

Hi Vino love the facade...did you have to pay Dan to do the mockup?

MichaelQ · Sep 15, 2015 12:04 am

Colors work really well Vino.
Not sure what tool was used to create the facade, looks very realistic.
Most of the online tools I used were a waste of time so didn't bother in the end.

Can't wait to see the progress!

Drew01 · Sep 15, 2015 12:08 am

TiVeena

Hi Vino love the facade...did you have to pay Dan to do the mockup?

Please tell! We're struggling with facade visualisation

Vino0512 · Sep 15, 2015 9:21 am

[quote="chloea_"]Looks great Vino. Great to see yet another Mainvue going up! Will follow your thread!

Hi Chloea, thanks! I am following your thread too - love the Amalfi and looks like you are making good progress.

Vino0512 · Sep 15, 2015 9:32 am

Drew01

TiVeena

Hi Vino love the facade...did you have to pay Dan to do the mockup?

Please tell! We're struggling with facade visualisation

Hi Drew, TiVeena

Yes, I did pay Dan - all the details are on his website http://www.newhomevisuals.com/
I think it's the best $95 I spent as I know it's going to come together and I won't spend the entire build wondering "Ah, what if I hate it???". You can use your elevation drawings as well - that's cheaper, $45 I think.
What facades are you considering?
You also get 2 free revisions. Because I was happy with mine I have tried not to play around with it too much in case I do find something better that I want to change :roll:

I have used one revision to get an idea of slightly more render on the columns - I think this looks better but it's something we can easily do afterwards. I have one more revision left - any suggestions of what I could try?

MichaelQ - I tried online tools as well but it was all too hard. Paying a professional was much simpler;)

Vino0512 · Sep 15, 2015 9:39 am

Here's what it looks like with the middle column rendered.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j77/Vino0512/nhv275-2_zpsfukyorsl.jpg

Dan also explained that my monument feature colour (horizontal through the middle) looks lighter than I expected due to the neighbouring colours being dark.

The one thing that would have looked better would have been brick infill above the garage...

chloea_ · Sep 15, 2015 9:45 am

You could still add the brick infil. It was only about $950 I think.

Vino0512 · Sep 15, 2015 10:08 am

Conifers

Wow, the mockup of the facade is great. Wish I had of done that. Your colours look great. I was a little worried too about the heat from the dark bricks, boral may have done me a favour in discontinuing the Midnight Hue.
You are lucky to have a big block our is only about 570sq so pool takes up most of the space. So what are you plans on landscaping around the pool?

Thanks Conifers. Yes, midnight hue was the brick I wanted too! I can't wait to see how your platium comes up - I think it will be fab. I'm still slightly nervous about the colour of the bricks but I can deal with it

As for the landscaping plans... well, that's the downside of having the pool in such good sized backyard - it's going to cost a fortune to do! Hubby has already vetoed my fancy ideas :lol:

So looks like we will start with the basic pave and frame with glass panels. The pool is about 2.5m set back from the house and centred to the family room picture windows so we are thinking to fence from the 'corner' of the house where the family room and alfresco meet, and up around the end of the pool to the boundary fence. Then we just need a gate at the side of the house to secure it off. We wanted the full perimeter with glass fencing but that seems stupid for the price - may as well use the boundary fence (which needs to be replaced anyway).
What are your plans?

Conifers · Sep 15, 2015 9:21 pm

Your pool fence from the corner of the house & alfresco sounds perfect. Our pool goes past the alfresco so I think we will have to fence halfway along there and then to the boundary fence. I need to get a expert out to give me some advice. We might put up bamboo screening on the boundary fence to make the pool compliant for safety. We are thinking of doing a row of coping around the pool and then fake grass. I like the idea of little gem magnolia's along the back fence near the pool, but I need to do a bit more research on the best plants beside a pool.

MichaelQ · Sep 15, 2015 10:40 pm

chloea_

You could still add the brick infil. It was only about $950 I think.

Agree if the budget allows, I would go for the brick infill.

chloea_ · Sep 30, 2015 10:29 pm

How are you coming along Vino? Any word on a start date?

Vino0512 · Oct 02, 2015 9:52 am

chloea_

How are you coming along Vino? Any word on a start date?

Hi Chloea
Thanks for checking in.
We had our building permit approved this week

so we should be handed over to construction super soon! My guess is we will see some action on site by Oct 17 as that's the end date of our quiktrack 20week period

I can't wait to stalk progress!

Building Mainvue Emporio
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=79850

TiVeena · Oct 02, 2015 10:44 am

Congrats Vino!! Can't wait to see your build and your facade..I'm still waiting for the final PCV since signing our contract on the 1st sep

chloea_ · Oct 02, 2015 10:48 am

Woohoo that's awesome news! I had action within about a week of getting my permits through! Let the stalking begin