Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 20, 2016 10:34 pm Hello fellow builders, After almost a year anonymously visiting Homeone for information relating to Coral Homes builds, I am now starting my own thread to document my build. I am calling this build 'Manhattan Project'. Helpful tips I learned along the way: - Integrate outdoor and porch slabs to main slab. - Add bricks above all openings except garage. (requires lintels) - Get Anticons for best roof insulation. (installed between roof sheets and roof trusses) Timeline: September 2015 - Finance pre-approval. - Corner block found. - Deposit for block of land done. October 2015 - Narrow down list of builders. - Sat down with Coral Homes to see what is suitable for block size. - Initial deposit made to Coral Homes. - Options limited to 3 bedrooms or the 2 story Hampton. - Lot was only 25m deep. - Decided on the Manhattan 21. - Selecting Promos & Inclusions - Start modifying Manhattan 21 to make it fit our block of land. - Soil test done by Coral Homes (Class M). - Settlement complete for block of land. November 2015 - Found Homeone Forum and started viewing Coral Homes threads for information. - Customising Manhattan 21 design. - Sent modified Manhattan 21 design to Coral Homes for drafting. December 2015 - Version 1 (pre-lim) of plans received from Coral Homes. - Customising some more. - Sent modifications to Coral Homes for drafting. January 2016 - Version 2 (pre-lim) of plans received from Coral Homes. - Happy with design. - Getting ready for tender. February 2016 - Research on retaining wall options and suppliers. - Research on fencing options and suppliers. March 2016 - Version 1 of tender letter received from Coral Homes. - Customised tender to suit our needs. - Modify site plans to suite covenant and council. April 2016 - More modifications to tender. May 2016 - Version 2 of tender letter received from Coral Homes. - Minor modifications to tender. - Version 1 (Contract) plans received from Coral Homes. - Minor modifications to contract plans. - Contract signed and full deposit made. - Tile selection with Beaumont Tiles complete. - Electrical appointment with Clipsal by Schneider Electric. June 2016 - Colour Selection with Coral Homes complete. - Variation 1 (Fixed site cost) signed - Variation 2 (Clipsal selection upgrades) signed. - Variation 3 (Contract and plan modifications) signed. July 2016 - FHOG Approved. - Finance to build approved. - Variation 4 (Colour selection upgrades) signed. - Variation 5 (Tile selection upgrades) signed. - Variation 6 (Additional items) signed. August 2016 - Variation 7 (Plan modifications) signed. - Variation 8 signed. - Variation 9 (pad height) signed. - Version 1 (Construction plans) received. - Groundbreaking. (Cut & Fill) - Pipeworks - Slab - Steel Frames September 2016 - Roof Trusses - Colorbond Fascia, Gutter and Roof - Whirlybird - Anticon Insulation - Electrical, Data and Security Cabling - Solar Power Pre-Wiring - Gas and Water plumbing compete - Windows and Glass sliding doors installed - Bricks Complete - Gyprock Internal Walls complete - Cornice started October 2016 - External and Internal door installation complete - Eaves installation complete. - Cabinetry installation in complete - Floor and wet areas tiling in progress - Internal painting in progress - Garage door installed - Lockup mode November 2016 - Electrical fitout complete - External painting complete - Plumbing fitout complete - Driveway & footpath concreting complete - Final walk through complete - Hand over complete It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 2Aug 20, 2016 11:08 pm Awesome! I look forward to seeing your selections and your house come together! Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 3Aug 20, 2016 11:28 pm Thanks Bojaxvogue. I am currently figuring out how to post images. It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 4Aug 21, 2016 12:00 am My block is 25m deep. Covenant setback to brickwork requirements are 3m front and 3m rear. This leaves me with 19m to work with. The Manhattan 21 design is 20.5m deep. I will have to shorten the design by 1.5m from the rear. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 5Aug 21, 2016 7:13 am Following! The manhattans have been pretty popular lately. If you're in qld your build should be finished quickly. Have you got a start date yet? Would love to see your selections. Best of luck with the build. Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast viewtopic.php?f=31&t=81406 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 6Aug 21, 2016 7:17 am Its such a shame the plan does not fit on the block. How have you worked out how to fit it? If you sign up to tapatalk, you can post images from your phone. Would love to see your modified plans! Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast viewtopic.php?f=31&t=81406 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 8Aug 21, 2016 10:20 pm Hello Von, Thanks for following. Start date was 19/08/2016. It was challenging at first figuring out where to start. Ausdesign Australia was my source of information. Their 'Australian Dream' articles help me understand what it takes to build and stay within the building standards of Australia. Another source of information was the Coral Homes catalogue to get ideas from layout plans of the different Manhattan design. We had to make sure we only use design elements that belongs to Coral Homes and what is originally ours. I liked the Manhattan kitchen/pantry design with the window as the splashback. Bedroom sizes are already small so they had to stay the same or be bigger. Master bedroom, ensuite, kitchen layout had to be modified. Front layout had to stay the same because there is not much space to move. I have 20m of width at the rear that I can take advantage of. My wife's input needs to be taken into consideration. All she wants is to add a tub in the ensuite, a longer kitchen bench and a walk-in pantry which are non-negotiable. This is my corner block. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 9Aug 21, 2016 10:22 pm Hello Dee80, Thank you for following. I will do my best to keep my Manhattan Project thread informative for myself and for others. It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 10Aug 22, 2016 6:41 am Exodus Hello Von, Thanks for following. Start date was 19/08/2016. It was challenging at first figuring out where to start. Ausdesign Australia was my source of information. Their 'Australian Dream' articles help me understand what it takes to build and stay within the building standards of Australia. Another source of information was the Coral Homes catalogue to get ideas from layout plans of the different Manhattan design. We had to make sure we only use design elements that belongs to Coral Homes and what is originally ours. I liked the Manhattan kitchen/pantry design with the window as the splashback. Bedroom sizes are already small so they had to stay the same or be bigger. Master bedroom, ensuite, kitchen layout had to be modified. Front layout had to stay the same because there is not much space to move. I have 20m of width at the rear that I can take advantage of. My wife's input needs to be taken into consideration. All she wants is to add a tub in the ensuite, a longer kitchen bench and a walk-in pantry which are non-negotiable. This is my corner block. Wow that is great that you have more room to work with at the back. I was trying to work out what you were going to do with the master and alfresco, wrongly assuming you had a atandard rectangular block, but the shape of your lot allows you to do so much more. I had to have a tub in the master too and not many floor plans have that. Where are you building? Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast viewtopic.php?f=31&t=81406 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 11Aug 22, 2016 5:10 pm Hello Von, We are building in North Lakes. The shape of the corner block determined the modifications I can do with the Manhattan 21 and its final layout and design. It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 12Aug 22, 2016 5:29 pm Ah not too far. Being in qld, the build will fly by really quickly! Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast viewtopic.php?f=31&t=81406 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 14Aug 22, 2016 5:59 pm Measuring Tools for modifying a standard plan: It is important to have different types of measuring tools. These are the measuring tools I invested on. Kent Triangular Scale Ruler (make sure it has 1:100) The triangular scale ruler is the most basic measuring tool that I have. The A3 plans given to me are 1:100 scale. The ruler helped me when changing the layout and checking if items such as furnitures and appliances will fit. Fridge space is probably one item that gets miscalculated. Ryobi 30m Laser Distance Measurer (indoor use) The laser distance measurer is very good when taking measurements in the display homes. For instance, try to determine the ceiling height in the display homes, this tool did it for me. Point, click and I get a measurement on anything I need to know the dimensions. This made it easy for me to compare dimensions on the layout plan I was working on and the display homes we visited to the current house we are living in. Stanley 30m FatMax Tape Measure (outdoor use) The tape measure helped me take measurements on how the house will sit in the block of land we have in particular setbacks and driveways. Then comparing these dimensions to the outdoor dimensions we have in the house we are currently living in. It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 15Aug 22, 2016 6:00 pm Thanks for following Shortnstumpy ... It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 17Aug 22, 2016 7:45 pm hi exodus! that manhattan design looks like a nice design to start with, and it sounds like you're on the right track with your research. on the image of the site you have shown, in which direction is north? depending on the site's orientation there's plenty of options to ways to optimise the design, especially with a nice corner block like yours. if you'd like a bit of input on the design (i work in the industry!), i'd be happy to help out. Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 18Aug 22, 2016 8:37 pm Following along!! I too would love to see what you've changed GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277 viewtopic.php?t=83643 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 19Aug 23, 2016 8:59 pm Hello Innerbloom, Thanks for the offer, we have started our build already, but feel free to comment on my posts. It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 Re: Coral Homes - Manhattan Project 20Aug 23, 2016 9:01 pm Thanks for following Charlibear. It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation; It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies. Proverbs 24:3-4 8 6291 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 18972 I'll be here once a week, lets make that Mondays. If you have a question, this will be the day I will log in for a look around.. If your lucky, sooner. Ask away...… 0 6481 |