Browse Forums Building A New House Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 62May 07, 2016 8:25 pm I love split level homes Ronski -- I think that's reasonable as you can spend a lot more on excavation and retaining. Eg. To level our block cost us nearly $50k (extra earthworks, reinforced thickened slab with piers and retaining). We love what we did though. If we weren't on corner we would have looked at split. Corner meant house roof would look weird from side . Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 63May 07, 2016 8:38 pm I'm with TC. We had to do split level to suit the block. The original concept elevations of our place were single level and we thought we were going to mess it up by going split but it has worked really well. Using my LG-G4 to bring you this update. Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 65May 09, 2016 4:47 pm Ronski Split level gonna cost around 10k as i been told by fairmont Very close to what we have been quoted by Fairmont. Our retaining costs are coming in around $22k .....its amazing how what looks like a little slope ends up being a 1.5m retaining wall Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 66May 12, 2016 2:45 pm I have finished working out the cost for doing the fence and retaining walls. We will have a 1.2m retaining wall at the rear Both sides need a retaining wall which slopes from 1.2m at the rear, to 0m near the front of the house. The retaining wall materials, (160 concrete sleepers, 50 steel posts, concrete, 60m ag pipe, black plastic, drainage gravel) should cost about $7500 for all of it Then the fence we need is a colorbond good neighbour fence. I have found the panels in kits for about $93 per 2.3m section. Will need about 28 of these fence sections costing $2600. Need to hire machinery like a dingo/kanga loader, with a post hole digger attachment, but not sure how long it will take. It's a few hundred dollars per weekend to hire. Let's see how many weeks it takes me... Oh, and I need to get council approval because the retaining wall is over 1m, and also because the retaining wall + fence height exceeds 2.1m. Not sure how or what I need to do for approval, but will work it out in due course. Hopefully doing it myself saves us some significant amount Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 67May 12, 2016 2:53 pm Wow, it's not cheap is it? Good luck with it though. I didn't know about the council approval. We need to put in the retaining wall before the build apparently, fence will go on after. Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 68May 12, 2016 2:55 pm Good luck MJT! Im not brave enough to do myself - you will save a bucket load though. I believe you also need an engineering report for retaining walls over 1m in Onkaparinga if you havent scoped that out already. Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 69May 12, 2016 3:00 pm Here are some pictures from our selections at Direct Interiors Bathroom Floor tile Charcoal, and White gloss wall tile, with a mosaic feature tile strip Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Basin and mixer (part of bathroom upgrade pack) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Shower and bath mixer Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Shower head (downgraded to standard one) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Toilet Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Door sets - standard range. Will probably upgrade front door after handover Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Sink - this one, but different mixer Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This sink mixer tap Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 70May 12, 2016 3:04 pm hillbuilder Good luck MJT! Im not brave enough to do myself - you will save a bucket load though. I believe you also need an engineering report for retaining walls over 1m in Onkaparinga if you havent scoped that out already. We have retaining walls and engineering reports in our plans already, but its only for the side the builder is doing the site cut on. I have assumed the other side will be much the same for the purposes of costings. I realise I will need to get the engineering done before I can proceed and before council will approve it. If getting engineering done becomes too much drama or expense, then the other option is to keep to 1m high retaining, and cut less of the site. This would have our yard being raised above the house level and might look a bit weird and not be very practical though. Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 71May 12, 2016 3:09 pm Marshall5858 Wow, it's not cheap is it? Good luck with it though. I didn't know about the council approval. We need to put in the retaining wall before the build apparently, fence will go on after. Yeah I think in some cases this needs to happen. Because of the way our site is being cut, the builder is leaving a battered slope up to the normal level of the land. This will hold things fine until after the real retaining wall goes in. Or at least that's what i have been told. Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 72May 12, 2016 4:10 pm MJT Heh. Yeah well we will both be waiting then it seems. Our settlement is supposed to be May 31st, but it is becoming clear that despite us being ready, the builder won't be. The land and builder is the same group so that should be easy for them to deal with. I suppose our conveyancer is the one to adjust or request an extension? It's not like we got any say in the matter, they just gave us that date and it was the first we had heard of it. We have had a few thoughts about the garden, but want to wait for the land to settle, and the council to actually approve the building before we get too set on any particular landscaping. We aren't 100% sure of the finished level, and what retaining walls may be needed yet. We chose our particular block and house layout so that we could get a large grassed area, and will likely put a raised bed around the sides. A couple of larger trees, and the rest hopefully some nice grasses and natives that don't need much water. I am doing some 3d modelling to see exactly how much shade will hit different parts of the backyard. Trying to pair that with grass and plants that like the conditions. We will be putting a vertical garden outside the kitchen window as it is a feature view from inside. It will get a fair bit of shade so some nice ferns will hopefully work well there. The front will likely be grasses and gravels, with some bluestone boulder retaining to make up the slight height difference. It all comes down to exactly how it will all sit, and whether we will end up with a flat yard, or multiple levels. Hi MJT, My name is Amir from Up The Wall Vertical Gardens. We specialise in custom built vertical gardens and landscaping..... In a shaded area, ferns are great, but there are also a lot of other options that you have if you want to introduce more colour and texture I would love to help you with your Vertical garden design and supply if that is something you would be interested in. Take a look at our website - www.upthewall.com.au and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Up-The-Wall-Ve ... 483910162/ and see what we we can achieve! I can be contacted on 0428550999 or via email amir@berger.net.au Looking forward to hearing from you! Amir Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 73May 12, 2016 4:50 pm Thanks for your offer. There are certainly some pretty gardens on your website. We will look more closely at the vertical garden options when we get to the gardening stage of our build in about 12 months time Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: First Home - Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows 74May 13, 2016 6:02 pm Nice tile selections there MJT, I love a bit of mosaic Re: Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows SA 75May 17, 2016 6:48 pm Selections tomorrow for kitchen and joinery.. Eeek Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows SA 78May 18, 2016 9:50 pm Went pretty well. Spent a tiny bit much Ended up with waterfall island, some semi gloss overheads, bit deeper cupboards, wine rack Kitchen Underbench Cupboards Burnie Timber Burnt Oak Naturale (woodgrain texture) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Benchtops Wilsonart Calcutta Marble (natural finish) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Overhead Cupboards Laminex Polar White (Semi Gloss) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bathrooms Benchtops Wilsonart Black Alicante (Semi Gloss) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Vanity Laminex Polar White (Semi Gloss) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Handles Some Shiny ones Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Re: Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows SA 79May 18, 2016 10:14 pm Very nice, I love the Calcutta marble. Re: Fairmont Custom - Seaford Meadows SA 80May 18, 2016 10:57 pm This kitchen was part of the inspiration Similar, We will have white overheads though, and different pantry Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building a Fairmont Custom in Seaford Meadows Our Build Thread Need to remove glass panel out of concrete without wrecking the glass to get the spa room in, any recommendations on how to do that. Thank you 0 39034 We are at the stage on our build in Kilcoy, Queensland where we need to get our fencing installed but we cant get any contact details for our neighbours to give them… 0 6144 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74688 |