Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 21Sep 15, 2016 3:20 pm Our Custom Dale Alcock build in the Village at Wellard https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=78620 Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 22Sep 16, 2016 1:35 am Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 24Sep 17, 2016 1:31 pm Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 25Sep 17, 2016 2:22 pm Our Custom Dale Alcock build in the Village at Wellard https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=78620 Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 26Sep 17, 2016 6:36 pm Our Landsdale Build by Dale Alcock (Based on the Santa Monica) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=83031 Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 27Sep 17, 2016 8:23 pm Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 28Sep 17, 2016 8:41 pm I actually really like the quality of Summit and they have some nifty ideas but their plans just didn't suit our style (even though we changed our Dales plan entirely, the room sizes are all based on their display so for me I felt like I could walk through it and still get a feel for the house if that makes sense?) Red Ink I still really like but if I built with them I'd make sure I got an independent building inspector for multiple inspections - just to make sure everything was up to standard. Personally, I would never build with HGWA - I've read a lot of stuff on here that makes me uncomfortable and even though they appear a bit cheaper, I think if you're the type of person to upgrade lots of stuff (like we were) then I think for us Dales was better value for money and a better quality builder. But you'll need to suss out all three and find out (in writing) how much it would cost to upgrade A, B, C, D, E, F, etc. once you've got a draft plan done. Our Landsdale Build by Dale Alcock (Based on the Santa Monica) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=83031 Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 29Sep 17, 2016 8:46 pm Thanks SallyS, I am definitely impressed with Summit the most. Having seen their work and a friends recommendation & talking with their rep, his ideas were great. Speaking of Dale Alcock we actually based our ensuite and dressing room on their The Nine display home. Loved it Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 30Sep 17, 2016 9:07 pm Haha! For our first plan (which failed bank valuation as it was "too small") we'd based our ensuite on Red Ink's Biscay. Our Landsdale Build by Dale Alcock (Based on the Santa Monica) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=83031 Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 31Sep 17, 2016 9:30 pm I am going to add my couple of cents here too, we started looking at Redink too a friend actually works there. He himself said that they were extremely slow with admin work and if I am willing to wait for upto 8 months we should consider them.
Next up we went after plunkett the sales guy just didn't seem to be across what could have been possible, and as sally suggested yes their range is very very limited. Next up we went to summit homes and settled on new generation homes (part of summit). overall we fell in love with their display home that we are building now. They did throw in few additional things to get us to sign and anyways we were going to sign as couple of my friends just finished building with them and their build has been very smooth. Flexibility to change things was one of the main things we were after, we have changed almost every single thing from their standard offering and the price charged aren't that much. I must admit we had a slight issue with our sales guy but summit homes management jumped all over the issue and worked out a solution for us, this also helped us getting more value. While this was going on I looked at HGWA and Dales and very quickly realised that HGWA's inclusions are just shining bells and whistles - just to get a customer hooked, investigating further when I heard about other people on this forums having multiple issues made us rethink HGWA. Biggest issue for us was the flexibility of changing things out and they don't offer this period. Dale is something we were really serious about and by then summit management came back to us and sorted issues out. Since that day I think we have made a really good decision of sticking with summit. - Communication has been top notch - their staff go an extra yard to make things happen (we were overseas when bank valuation came under, their broker without telling us went to every other bank and even managed to get a discount for us on our build). - quality of the build, the bricky that worked on our place is one of the best around (I found out later) Quality of roof work has been proven by building inspector we used, who told me afterwards that I shouldn't worry as these guys know what they are doing. Our SS is a super guy who is now looking after 6 houses around us so you can see why when we ask him to meet or question anything he is always available Overall I think you can't go wrong with both summit or dales, comes down to what you want. Good luck! Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 33Sep 17, 2016 10:01 pm Thanks jpmontoya, I really appreciate your input. Can I ask what extras they gave you? Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 35Sep 25, 2016 12:48 am Today hubby & I met with Glenn from Summit homes and received the first, hand drawn, draft for our new house plans. We are so thrilled with the results & feel so much better with this design from Summit than the previous builder we had planned on using. We made a few changes today, change the entry to a single 1200 door, line up the study wall with the theatre wall, add a small hallway & double doors to the master suite and put in a wall flush slider door at the end of the living room to be able to close off the back end of the house. The recesses in the master bedroom are for a make up station across from the WIR and the other for a feature ethanol fire place. Hubby is loving the bi fold windows to the theatre room so he can watch footy from there in the alfresco with his mates!!!! and we decided to have the pool almost flush to the living room wall as it is all glass, probably be a nightmare to keep the window clean but will look fabulous. So now we are waiting on the actual design plan and costings! Fingers crossed it doesn't break the bank to bad! Oh and also need to tell the previous builder we are not going with them, we will lose our $2, 000 but we definitely feel so much more confident with Summit. Would love to hear your thoughts on the design Sorry, not the best pic. Will update when I receive the proper draft Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 36Sep 25, 2016 8:06 am ms_prez Hi All, I would really appreciate your thoughts. Our block is North facing. Now after reading through several threads regarding layout for north facing blocks, im completely confused about what should be where ???? for better cooling, heating, direct sun, natural light and so on... By north facing, I'm guessing you mean a northern frontage? Generally "north facing" is used to describe where your living area will be facing. This won't be the case for most northern frontage blocks, making them less than ideal in terms of orientation. To build a house that is warmer in winter, cooler in summer, is light & bright, you must try to build to "PASSIVE SOLAR" design principles. This amazing website has a wealth of information about energy efficient house design, & outlines passive solar design, http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design Passive solar design is quite simple, it just means taking the sun's path into account when building. As the sun's path is across the northern sky, this is where we should locate living areas (& much of the glazing). As the sun is higher in the sky in summer than winter, appropriately sized eaves on the north side of the house will shade the house in summer, while admitting winter sunlight. As the sun is low in the sky when it's in the east & west, eaves become somewhat ineffective here, so we want to minimize windows facing these directions. Particularly W windows, as afternoon sun can be very hot in summer. So for your northern frontage block this is a bit hard to do, as the garage takes up the northern aspect, robbing the house of light. But you are lucky to have such a wide block. That large frontage gives you some options in getting sunlight into your house from the north. So here's a few suggestions; Locate your garage on the NW corner. This will help limit afternoon summer sunshine, keeping the house cooler. Western sunshine is the major problem in summer, & this side of the house will be hottest at this time of year. So try to locate little used rooms on the W side of the house. Like the garage, laundry & bathrooms. It's usually not a good idea to locate bedrooms on the west, as they can be very hot on summer evenings. If you need to locate living areas on the west, the theatre room may be ok, as it's likely to have less glazing. Locate it's window up high, under the eave, where it will be somewhat protected from the sun for longer. That triple garage takes up a tonne of your northern aspect! If a triple garage is necessary, will all car spaces be used all the time, or will one space be used irregularly, or as a workshop? Is it possible to have a double garage at the front, with a tandem space behind them? The garage will now take up a larger portion of W aspect, a good idea. This will also free up a fair chunk of northern aspect for some windows. You could possibly locate a living area to the north now, possibly your activity room? It will be a nice warm escape, in the sunshine in winter. Also design for cross ventilation, maximizing your summer cooling breezes. Looks a little harder to do in WA. In Sydney, the hot summer winds come from the west, the same direction as hot afternoon sunshine. While cool summer breezes come from the east & north. So cooling breezes will be admitted through E & N windows, & W windows can be minimized. But in WA the cooling breezes come from the same direction as the hot afternoon sun (the Fremantle Doctor is from the SW). If you have large windows on the W, to let in the breeze, they'll also let in lots of hot summer sunlight. Are you sure you don't want your alfresco on this side of the house? It could help shade W windows. You could have plantation shutters wrapping your alfresco area? Close them to protect the alfresco from strong winds & hot sun, open them when you want the breeze to enter the house. I don't know, just a thought. The YourHome website I linked may have better ideas about designing for the Perth climate. Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 37Sep 25, 2016 10:53 am Thanks so much for your input ddarroch. Definitely some great points to consider. Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 38Sep 26, 2016 7:52 am No worries. If you've got the budget you can also do some interesting things with roof designs to get northern sun into your house. Skillion roofs with north facing clerestory windows may be an option. These high level windows will let sunlight into the house in winter. They are also great at purging heat on summer evenings, but can leak heat in winter. Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 39Sep 27, 2016 5:01 pm Summit is a quality builder, I know a few people over there. I would choose them over dales any day of the week Re: Secret Harbour WA Build. Any advice? 40Sep 27, 2016 7:18 pm Doozer1905 Summit is a quality builder, I know a few people over there. I would choose them over dales any day of the week Thanks Doozer, yes we are definitely feeling confident in our decision to go with Summit. Great to hear your feedback. Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5814 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18272 Can anyone recommend a good/affordable retaining wall and fence builder that I can get a quote from located in Sydney? 8 45838 |