Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 121Mar 19, 2017 5:20 pm I'm disheartened, I'm sad and I'm angry, all in equal measures. I returned from an overseas trip (my last for a few years I dare say, since I now have a mortgage) to 3 voicemails and an email from the builder. Uh oh. My plans got rejected by council. Now, it strikes me that the builder should absolutely know, while drawing up my plans, that the setback in my council area is 4.5m for a double garage but it's 5.5m for a single garage. Surely builders/draftspeople should know this things? So anyway my plans were prepared with a 4.5m setback for my single garage, and the plans got denied. The easiest solution of course would be to move my house back 1 m. Only we can't, because the rear of my block is on an angle, and then my house breaches the 3m rear setback. I don't want the house moved back 1m. That means I'm then losing 1m of my garden, which I don't want as it's already a minuscule back yard. My block is only 377m2. My house is only 142m2. Tiny house, tiny block. But I get no say, it's happening regardless. Also happening regardless is that the rear of my house needs to be redesigned so as to not breach the rear setback rule. The first suggestion that the builder came up with means that I am losing usable floor space in my lounge room. When I tried to explain it to him, he raised his voice, told me I was wrong, he was right, I'm not losing any floor space, and that I clearly don't know how to read a set of plans. I almost lost it then and there. Um, yes I bloody well know how to read plans, and believe me when I tell you that if you're going to move the doorway to the master bedroom up by 600mm deeper into my lounge then I need to leave the area in front of the master bedroom clear as it's an entrance walkway, so YES I absolutely am losing USEABLE floor space. The space may be there but I can't put my sofa there because how will I bloody well get into my bedroom? Ugh! I bloody well hate mansplainers who talk down to me because I have b00bs. I may be female but I am not stupid! Needless to say I have rejected their plans and told them to go away and think of another solution which will mean me not losing useable floor space in my lounge room. Oh, and something else that they decided to save space at the back? They are going to use cladding instead of brick. When I asked him to provide me with information on the thermal properties of cladding versus brick, he was unable to do so. All I want to know is whether my master bedroom is now going to be freezing cold in winter and a hot box in summer. And he can't tell me. So yeah no dude, I don't agree to that either. Not until you give me some detailed data so that I can make an informed decision. I'm so over it right now. This was supposed to be a fabulous experience and right now I want to throw in the towel and give up and walk away. So frustrated and sad and mad. Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 122Mar 19, 2017 5:27 pm Oh that is so frustrating! Stand your ground and don't let them talk you into something you don't want! I hope you enjoyed your holiday though! Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 123Mar 19, 2017 5:29 pm I did, thank you I got to show my OH my homeland and it was wonderful, he fell in love with it, we had a great time and made some magical memories. Was so sad to come home to this bad news Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 124Mar 19, 2017 5:31 pm Oh that is so frustrating! Stand your ground and don't let them talk you into something you don't want! I hope you enjoyed your holiday though! Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 125Mar 19, 2017 5:44 pm So sorry you had that awful conversation!! Stand your ground babes and don't let them walk over you, show them you aren't a push over. Hopefully they come up with a better solution instead of wasting valuable floor space GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277 viewtopic.php?t=83643 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 126Mar 19, 2017 7:09 pm I'm really cranky for you but pretty sure you gathered that from my texts. Jerks. Building in Stone Ridge with CMA - Follow my build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85842 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 127Mar 19, 2017 7:20 pm 1sttimer_stoneridge I'm really cranky for you but pretty sure you gathered that from my texts. Jerks. LOL yeah I had sensed that! Your idea for swapping alfresco and master around has merit, so I'm going to raise that tomorrow. Was way too grumbly to speak to anyone on Friday! I don't think I could have bitten my tongue. Let's see what they come back with tomorrow... (Gee there's a lot of banned words on H1!!! Hahaha) Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 128Mar 19, 2017 7:24 pm There sure is, isn't there . Symbols can still get your point across though. Good luck and make sure your stick to your guns. They need to be made aware that the customer experience is lacking and what they have done wrong! It's your hard earned money and your amazing lifetime event. They need to be reminded what they are here to do Building in Stone Ridge with CMA - Follow my build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85842 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 129Mar 19, 2017 9:24 pm That's horrible news to come home to! Hope you are able to reach a solution with them. Crazy that they got through drafting without knowing the council requirements. Our build thread with Smart Homes for Living in Wellard https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=86092 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 130Mar 25, 2017 8:54 pm So it's been just over two weeks since my plans were rejected by council, and after lots of toing and froing with the builder & draftsman, and having been very firm in declaring I was not prepared to accept an inferior solution, we have ~finally~ rejigged the plans so that council, myself, and the builders are happy. Turns out that by removing bricking from the rear wall and instead having it made from cladding, and doing a cut-in on the corner of the house where the master bedroom is, we got back enough space to meet the rear setback. Yay! It was a very ingenious solution. So now, one corner of my bedroom has a corner cut in... so we've decided to make it a feature, and we've cut a matching corner out of the other side, and now we have a little niche with a bulkhead above where my bed and bedside tables will sit. I'm trying really hard to consider it a design feature, instead of a workaround for the paper-pushers of the world... fingers crossed it ends up looking something like the below (only of course my bedroom is wider than this, but I think this is similar): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ These are the amended landscaping/setback plans (now with render on the garage side of the house, upgraded fencing, and cutout in the corner of the fence for a new garden bed - all the changes the estate demanded to meet covenant): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is the amended floor plan with the niche/bulkhead in the master bedroom: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ These are the final electrical/data plans: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ These are the CAD drawings of the exterior: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Now they're all on their way back to council again so fingers crossed it's not another month of waiting for approvals. Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 131Mar 26, 2017 9:20 am The new changes are great and practical! It's good that you forgo a tiny bit of bedroom space rather than the lounge room space they first suggested. Fingers crossed for speedy approval and no more surprises! I was just reviewing your electrical plan. I sure hope the on site electrician is approachable and willing to do a cash job because I need to make changes and additions and don't want to pay for a variation. ~~~next week is good news week, hopefully~~~ Building in Stone Ridge with CMA - Follow my build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85842 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 132Mar 26, 2017 9:35 am Glad you managed to reach a solution and one that looks great too! Fingers crossed it goes through the approvals smoothly this time! Our build thread with Smart Homes for Living in Wellard https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=86092 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 133Mar 26, 2017 1:18 pm You stood your ground and very nice end result.. the niche feature will be very good.. a different colour paint to make it a feature wall of a big canvas maybe! interesting electrical plan... 5 smoke detectors and a lot of external taps... Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 134Mar 27, 2017 9:09 am RegVic interesting electrical plan... 5 smoke detectors and a lot of external taps... The 5 smoke detectors is the minimum required by Qld legislation. There must be one in each bedroom, in any hallway which leads to or connects a bedroom. I'm hopeful (pretty confident) that the location of the alarm in lounge/outside the master bedroom is far enough away from the kitchen that it doesn't set off the alarms... in my current house, the smoke alarm gets set off once a month or so if I'm cooking steak or bacon. Not quite sure why they marked the outside taps on the electrical plan? hehe Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 135Mar 27, 2017 9:12 am 1sttimer_stoneridge I was just reviewing your electrical plan. I sure hope the on site electrician is approachable and willing to do a cash job because I need to make changes and additions and don't want to pay for a variation. Me too, there's a couple of additions I'd love if possible, so will need to practice fluttering my lashes at cute sparkies! Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 136Mar 27, 2017 9:17 am So happy that it all worked out for you sweets!!! Your niche is going to look fab GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277 viewtopic.php?t=83643 Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 137Mar 27, 2017 1:05 pm ***doing the happy My-Plans-Just-Got-Approved-By-Council dance*** Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 139Mar 27, 2017 1:36 pm scubabe ***doing the happy My-Plans-Just-Got-Approved-By-Council dance*** Great news... Re: Building the Bella with Homes by CMA in North Harbour, S 140Mar 30, 2017 7:58 am So on Monday I sent off the insurance certificates from the builder, plus the stamped approved by council plans to my mortgage company, who are going to prepare the official Authority To Commence. Once this has been issued, I can finally get a start date from the builders. It's been 7 months so far... I had no idea it was going to take this long. I stupidly thought, when I began this journey in May/June last year, that I'd be in my shiny new house by the end of the year... oh how naive I was! May I ask why you chose not to use GJ Gardiner? I'm actually meeting with one of the sales guys tomorrow for an appointment. Definitely not signing anything yet… 3 13250 Hi i am looking to buy an investment near by North Rothbury. How is this area? is there schools inside this estate? please advice good builders around that area to buy… 0 3021 The warning is on the sticker on the door too. Second the aluminium powdercoat 6 18198 |