Building in Perth - 101 Residential - first ever build

cchelsiee · Nov 05, 2015 1:20 pm

Hi all

I am a long time stalker of this forum as we are building a house in Perth with 101 Residential at the moment. We owned an older house on a larger block which we originally wanted to renovate and extend, but then changed our minds and decided to subdivide and build our dream home on the rear block. We completed the subdivision on the land and then sold the front house. Our block size is about 570sq including our driveway. It’s a nice square block.

We had a look at a lot of display homes, and like most of you probably looked at every single house plan that every company had to offer, but we kept coming back to the Mont Blanc through 101 Residential. Although we wanted to make a few mods to the floor plan it was pretty spot on to what we wanted. We got rid of the theatre room and changed up the garage so hubby could have a 2 car workshop in front of the 2 car garage.

Went a bit over board at pre start and paid extra for quite a few things that weren’t in their standard range, but we figured we may as well do it right so we are in love with the final product!
Things like:
- We went with a free standing bath in the main bathroom and upgraded all the bathroom sinks to those above counter ones.
- We got 101 Residential to credit us for the stairs and the balustrade because I didn’t really like any of the ones they had in their standard and premium ranges. I wanted more of a classic timber look. So we got a few external quotes and ended up going with a place in Perth called Stallion Products, and I must say it was a very pleasant experience. They were a pleasure to deal with and have done an amazing job.
- I also paid extra for shaker style kitchen cabinets as 101 only had plain stuff in their standard range. We also extended the island bench out to 3m, upgraded to an under mount sink and nicer taps etc.

We were really hoping to be in by Christmas but a few frustrating things have now made that look to be not possible. I am still keeping my fingers crossed though.

TIMELINE:

20th Feb 2014 – almost completed block Subdivision so decided to Start looking for a Builder!
22nd Feb 2014 – got 101 residential to do us some plans
18th April 2014 - paid our deposit with 101 Residential
30th June 2014 - Working drawings completed
21st Aug 2014 - Interior Design Consult
22nd Aug 2014 – Prestart and signed building contracts!
31st Oct 2014 – Final Plans Received
07th Nov 2014 – Received our building permit
24th Dec 2014 – received finance final approval
09th Jan 2015 – finished pre construction phase and moved to Construction phase.
02nd Feb 2015 – site works start
05th Mar 2015 – Slab Laid
10th Mar 2015– soak wells etc put in
20th Apr 2015 – Bricks started getting laid (finally)
11th May 2015 – plate height reached
03th Aug 2015 – roof carpenter starts
03rd Sept 2015 – Roof completed
23rd Sept 2015 – LOCK UP!.
09th Oct 2015 – staircase installed
28th Oct 2015 – concrete in garage laid, plastering finished, ceilings painted, tilers started, cabinetry started

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cchelsiee · Nov 05, 2015 2:48 pm

A pic of the Top level after being finished

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also just got these pics through of the staircase - we will be painting the balustrade white and dark staining the rail bit, as we are getting dark bamboo floors put in after hand over. The stairs will be in the bamboo as well

I hope i don't regret the bamboo.. I have heard so many good things, but I have also been told some annoying things about them as well.. does anyone have any opinions on their experience with bamboo?

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i hope the pics work

colorbond · Nov 06, 2015 2:55 pm

You have 1 massive nice house there. And nice pics!

I was thinking of doing the stallion stairs too for my build.
Alternatively after handover, as I was skeptical that my builder would allows another tradie to do them during construction.

Does your builder allows you to do that?
Or did you get your builder to supply the stallion stairs?

archetto · Nov 06, 2015 3:55 pm

Colourbond I'm pretty sure BTH do allow you to do your own stairs however they recommend against it as the credit you get back is minimal and it will be quite costly to do your own.

Sounds like you've had a good experience with 101

you should be close to keys making your build only 9-10 months from slab??

colorbond · Nov 06, 2015 4:33 pm

archetto

Colourbond I'm pretty sure BTH do allow you to do your own stairs however they recommend against it as the credit you get back is minimal and it will be quite costly to do your own.

You maybe right archetto as I haven't had any reply when I asked BTH on this.
The quote I got from them for stairs upgrade is $20k with a full frame glass balustrade.
I am planning to do spine.
I don't have a complete quote yet to compare if its cheaper to use builder to do the stairs upgrade or demolish the standard MDF stairs and install the spine one after handover.

cchelsiee · Nov 06, 2015 4:43 pm

Thanks colorbond - yeah 101 were pretty good with letting me get an external company come in and do the stairs - I think they do deal with Stallion for some of their products from time to time anyway, so I think that made it easier. it was a very easy process.

archetto is correct in saying that the builder gives you minimal credit for the stairs - but Stallion were pretty well priced to be honest, so the difference in what we paid was ok.. it was worth it for me to be 100% happy with the finished product because I just prefer the look of the timber stairs. I think from memory the credit I got for the stairs and balustrade was just over 4k which isn't too bad.

So far our experience hasn't been too bad with 101 - a few small hiccups along the way which is always to be expected I suppose. They have told us we might have our PCI just before Christmas so I'm guessing early Jan we will hopefully get our keys if everything is ok. And just to add a little bit of extra stress to the mix, I am actually pregnant with twins due in Feb, so will be cutting it a bit fine if we aren't in by Jan..!! :shock:

colorbond · Nov 06, 2015 6:42 pm

Awww.. that is so sweet and congratulations!
So there are double celebrations to look forward to in the upcoming years.
Don't stress too much on the build I'm sure it'll turn out to be awesome.

cchelsiee · Nov 25, 2015 12:02 pm

So after not having any updates from 101 for a while hubby and i went over to the house to have a look if there had been ANY progress at all.. and to our surprise there has been a bit of work done. All the lights are in, tiling is done although they have stuffed up or kitchen splashback.. I chose subway tiles at pre start and put the note in our specifications for the tiles to be laid in a 'brickwork' pattern like most subway tiles, but they have just laid them in straight lines. Pretty dissapointing but i emailed 101 and they said they will fix it. The kitchen is almost finished by the looks of it.. they are just waiting for the cupboard doors to be delivered (because we chose ones that werent in our builders range) hopefully we will be able to go back when someone is there so we can go in and take a few pics.