Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 14, 2016 5:22 pm Hi Everyone! I decided to start my own thread after reading through so many others. This forum has been a gold mine, so I thought I would give back to hopefully help others. Earlier last year we went to contract on a 630m2 block in Brisbane, the land will hopefully register and settle in December. We just finished selling our existing home, have moved in with the parentals to save extra $$$ and are full stream ahead in planning our dream home. We had narrowed down our initial home choices to: - Stylemaster - Piazza 39FB - Plantation either the Trinity or Eclipse - Clarendon - Crestmead 40 We originally decided to go with Stylemaster, the Piazza is a beautiful home and they had a great offer. The floor plan was great, we didn't love it, but felt for the most part we could work with it. We were mostly happy with the initial quote as whilst it was the most expensive we justified the price as they had a good level of inclusions and thier homes seemed to be of a very high quality. Unfortunately, as we got to tender 5 we realised that it just wasn't working and as the price creeped higher for things that seemed like they shouldn't cost that much we decided to part ways. Stylemaster offered to refund our $3K which was a pleasant surprise. Back to the drawing board.. we initially loved Plantation, especially the Trinity and after viewing it again we knew it was the home for us! The next day we happily parted with our cash to Plantation and now here we are! We made a couple of changes to the floor plan, nothing major and all options Plantation already offered: - extending rumpus to the grand rumpus option - extending alfresco to the grand alfresco - adding a spa to the ensuite - adding cavity sliding doors to theatre - adding door to study - adding door to pantry opening inside the butlers pantry - butters pantry cabinetry, sink, bench top and overhead cupboards - laundry cabinetry - we also deleted 3 windows which were in awkward places and not needed. Current timeline: 1. Signed Sales Agreement - May 2016 2. Tender Appointment (1st tender) - 11 October 2016 3. Tender 2 and Plans - 3 November 2016 4. Tender 3 and plans - December 2016 5. Contract signed - 22 December 2016 6. Colours & electrical appointment - 18 January 2017! 7. PVC - February 2017 8. Final Plans - March 2017 9. Handed to Site - 11 April 2017 Our Trinity Lux Q1 with Plantation Homes: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85254&view=undread#unread Insta: @newhomedream Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 2Oct 14, 2016 6:03 pm I thought I'd start a seperate post for this part as my first post was getting very long. Upgrades/ Additions / changes are a very important part to consider with any build, mostly because this is where all the extra expenses come from. In addition to the changes listed above in the previous post, these are the additions which have been added in to our tender. Quite a few of these would normally be added in a colours but we wanted to make sure that we new costs before we got to contract and as we already knew what we wanted with these we asked if they could be included. We are really really happy with some of the prices we got that. And back as well. Trinity Lux Q1 - Campbell Facade (no cost for facade choice) - additional yard gully traps (our block is super flat so we needed these) - 5000L slimline Watertank (even though these aren't compulsory anymore we felt it was a necessary inclusion) - upgrade to phase 3 underground power - increas bottom floor ceiling height to 2720mm - increase ceiling batt insulation to 5.0batts - niche to shower in ensuite - driveway, front walkway and porch (this probably would be cheaper after handover but for ease we are going with Plantation and we felt the price was reasonable) - concrete to alfresco - render to front piers and above - upgrade to category B bricks (going with PGH Eclipse, I saw elsewhere on the forum that these bricks had been discontinued so I had Plantation check with the supplier and they are not so I was relieved to hear that!) - off white mortar in flush finish - timber tread stairs - increased stacker doors to 2400mm - cavity doors to theatre - door to study - 2400mm high x 1200mm wide front pivot door with sidelight - Gainsborough back to back pull handle for pivot door - timber door to laundry instead of back sliding door with translucent glass - skylight to upper to TV room (kids play room) - translucent glass to timber butlers pantry door Appliance upgrades (from the standard Technika) - Rangehood - Fisher Paykel 900mm power pack (overhead cupboards needed to be added as well to suit this option) - Oven - Westinghouse 900mm Pyrolytic under bench electric - cooktop - Westinghouse 900mm 5 zone induction cooktop - dishwasher - Westinghouse Continuing in the kitchen - - upgrade to Franke Kubus undermount sink in onyx - upgrade tapeware to Phoenix Blix hose sink mixer - 70mm island bench stone Bathroom upgrades: - upgrade all toilets to wall edge faced - added spa to ensuite - all tapeware, showers etc were upgrades to a Matt black (rush wall bath set, rush walk basin set x2, rush shower mixer, Levi twin shower head, radii towel ladder, radii toilet roll holder) - Daikan air con with 8 zone and skyfi controller We have also added in an amount for our electrical allowance and an amount for our colours appointment. I'm super excited to see how it all ends up coming together! We had our tender appointment and it went well, only issue we have is with the timber stackers, they can't have a tracker added in the outside for screens, so our options are: - screen on inside - change to aluminium We still can't decide what to do on this one.. Any input at this stage would be appreciated!! We are doing flooring after handover as we couldn't get what we wanted through plantation, but that's ok. I went to a flooring store today with our floor plans and they are going to send me some quotes this week! ?? Our Trinity Lux Q1 with Plantation Homes: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85254&view=undread#unread Insta: @newhomedream Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 3Oct 14, 2016 6:45 pm http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/240258A4-5A28-49B7-B639-18A7E3C42D53_zpshkjpzv1q.png
http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/BDD14854-E886-48B5-850A-12CED829CC08_zpskzu7hnha.png http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/64DFB1B2-7596-4192-86E5-4367BDD6B0DD_zps0b3ldlp0.png Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 4Oct 14, 2016 10:23 pm Hi Mec06 & welcome to H1. Absolutely love the layout and design of your plans. With regards to the stackers, personally I would change to aluminum as im not a big fan of wood. Can I ask what a rumpus room is used for? Im in WA and we speak a completely different lingo over here.....lol.... I have never heard of it before! Looking forward to following your build Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 5Oct 15, 2016 2:23 am Excited to find someone else building trinity lux q1. We're building south gc. Sales signed April tender June contract July. Building permits issued finance sorted, PCv signed. Now final drawings.... We've extended rumpus and alfresco made study into guest room, added shower to powder and flipped master to rear. Removed a few windows, increased height of others. Changed from timber stackers to aluminium and increased height.. Doing ac ourselves, and flooring after handover. Just impatient to get things finalised n start building.. Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 6Oct 15, 2016 8:46 am ms_prez Hi Mec06 & welcome to H1. Absolutely love the layout and design of your plans. With regards to the stackers, personally I would change to aluminum as im not a big fan of wood. Can I ask what a rumpus room is used for? Im in WA and we speak a completely different lingo over here.....lol.... I have never heard of it before! Looking forward to following your build Thanks Mrs Prez! We are using our rumpus for a games room, hubby wants to put a pool table in there, I think most people would use it for something similar, it's really just a multi purpose room. Yeah I'm starting to think that aluminium is the way to go, I really love the look of the timber, but the upkeep is a consideration.. Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 7Oct 15, 2016 8:48 am lp77 Excited to find someone else building trinity lux q1. We're building south gc. Sales signed April tender June contract July. Building permits issued finance sorted, PCv signed. Now final drawings.... We've extended rumpus and alfresco made study into guest room, added shower to powder and flipped master to rear. Removed a few windows, increased height of others. Changed from timber stackers to aluminium and increased height.. Doing ac ourselves, and flooring after handover. Just impatient to get things finalised n start building.. Yay! Another trinity builder, I'm really keen to see how yours looks with the master added to the rear, did you just do the standard change from the booklet or a few more alterations? How has your journey gone do far? I saw on another post you had some issues with PCV? Hope that has cleared up for you now. It's such a long process isn't it?! Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 8Oct 15, 2016 6:58 pm Given that we are still waiting for our land to register and settle, I'm using the time to research research research and plan every last detail. Today I procrastinated from doing uni work by creating some mood boards, haha.
Kitchen inspiration: http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/69FDA75C-F9C5-4751-A49D-A6FBFFFD638C_zpspagopm8l.jpg http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/62A860D4-B70B-4E90-8403-9A74D6D935BB_zpsnjbteioj.jpg Ensuite inspiration and tapware choices: http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/4AE0CE46-43CF-4941-AF95-FCE1C1492C15_zpsbeiqfevu.jpg http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/E361CFE0-F203-42FF-8C1E-E219D092E163_zpsqgpfcdaj.jpg Exterior inspiration: http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/E97688E6-AD1D-4272-A291-543E20991687_zpsaflczk5a.jpg Main bedroom inspiration: http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/1349D2BF-E63A-4448-8C7E-545778016FC1_zpsau8inup3.jpg Living areas inspiration: http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/93682036-1EBE-4DFB-9ED3-3EAA52E2067D_zps8qy4oats.jpg Overall we are aiming for a hamptons-esk contemporary feel. We have no intention to sell this house in any foreseeable future so we are basically creating it to be completely ours ???... this is an exciting prospect as our previous house never felt like it was 'ours', we were always too afraid to make any changes or personalise as we always had it in our head that we'd be selling it... Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 9Oct 15, 2016 7:14 pm Great moodboards, your selections and style will look fabulous. I really love the black tap ware. Stilettos & Bricks, our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.wordpress.com/ Building thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 10Oct 22, 2016 10:09 pm We are really struggling with splashback choices at the moment... we really really wanted a Carrara Herringbone tile.. http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/0B5C6624-0697-49A7-8C43-872652B14951_zpsxqnicb2i.jpg It's so beautiful and would suit the style we want perfectly. The price was $1800 for the kitchen only and that's with nearly a full window splashback, so the tile is only a small amount on the side and up the top - I've attached a picture from the Display home so it's easy to see how much is covered. I was intially ok with this but then I realised the price was only for the kitchen and not the butlers pantry.. now I know I don't have to have the same for both but given the layout and the fact you can see into the butlers pantry from the kitchen and some surrounding rooms I want to have continuity and I'm not sure I can stomach around $3K for a splashback that's got barely any coverage... http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/EFDBDA85-5B5B-4621-A367-F4D25B130F9C_zpsagbdscd6.jpg http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/C6DB13B6-0C88-4FBC-B4AD-22E641FCF3FF_zpsxt7sl3eo.jpg So today my husband went to Cosham Studios and got about 20 Glass splashback samples so I could try and decide if maybe we should just go for the included option for the moment and I can always change it later if I really decide I can't live without the Carrara Herringbone.. Out of my bazillion samples, I've narrowed it down to a couple which I think are ok and two which I like, including one silvery glittery beauty which is not usually my taste for a home but I do love a bit of glitter, haha. The splashback is in the middle and I've included with it out cabinetry colours, bench stone, paint choices and flooring Cabinets on the bottom: Polar White Cabinets up top: Burnished Wood Bench stone: Luna White Flooring: Karndean LVP - Dover http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/73AC7375-4A63-4520-A956-AD1C5C756942_zps0zcfi5d8.jpg http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/901DA671-AA36-4185-9B02-9D19F294180B_zps845sbxsv.jpg http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r672/mec06/Mobile%20Uploads/7C852C00-49A6-496A-8DDC-BB656EE90462_zpst03lkvrn.jpg Thoughts??? I'm feeling a little lost in colour right now. Not even sure what looks good right now. Our Trinity Lux Q1 with Plantation Homes: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85254&view=undread#unread Insta: @newhomedream Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 11Oct 23, 2016 12:38 am Sorry to hear about your tiles. With regards to your selections, all 3 look beautiful, my personal preference is choice number 2. Your colour choice for the cabinets and benchtops are fabulous. I prefer to stick with neutral and add splashes of colour with decor choices, even though I have a huge love of anything bling. My friend sent me this yesterday asking if I was planning on using it for our splash back Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Good luck with your decision. Stilettos & Bricks, our Building Journey Blog - https://stilettosbricks.com Building thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 12Oct 23, 2016 9:48 pm Haha, oh my I didn't even know Glitter grout was a thing!! ?? Such a hard choice, I'm leaning towards the 2nd one as it's more classic and won't date necessarily the same one the silver will.. I'm just so disappointed about the Carrara Herringbone, it's one of those things where we can afford to have it put in, but it seems like a wasteful spend when I consider the coverage and how much of the splashback you'll actually see, ergh! ?? Our Trinity Lux Q1 with Plantation Homes: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85254&view=undread#unread Insta: @newhomedream Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 13Oct 23, 2016 11:39 pm I had never seen the Glitter grout before either. It is so frustrating with regards to your splash back, and I totally get what you mean about prioritising the costs for such a small space. Did you query the price from your builder? I did with one of our quotes and they actually came back and said they had over charged us by $2, 800. Again, No 2 pic looks gorgeous. Stilettos & Bricks, our Building Journey blog - http://stilettosbricks.com Our Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183 Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 14Oct 24, 2016 9:20 pm Mec06 lp77 Excited to find someone else building trinity lux q1. We're building south gc. Sales signed April tender June contract July. Building permits issued finance sorted, PCv signed. Now final drawings.... We've extended rumpus and alfresco made study into guest room, added shower to powder and flipped master to rear. Removed a few windows, increased height of others. Changed from timber stackers to aluminium and increased height.. Doing ac ourselves, and flooring after handover. Just impatient to get things finalised n start building.. Yay! Another trinity builder, I'm really keen to see how yours looks with the master added to the rear, did you just do the standard change from the booklet or a few more alterations? How has your journey gone do far? I saw on another post you had some issues with PCV? Hope that has cleared up for you now. It's such a long process isn't it?! We added in shower downstairs and made study a bedroom. Upstairs as is, altered and removed some windows. Miller facade with axon cladding. Full brick front.. At PCv stage our site costs increased (we had missed the fact it shd have been fixed site costs.. Doh!!!) and a few things not right some added or removed... The. Drawings our drawings didn't match our tiling extension.... Here's hoping the build process smoother.. Not sure how to upload a picture... Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 15Oct 24, 2016 10:09 pm ms_prez I had never seen the Glitter grout before either. It is so frustrating with regards to your splash back, and I totally get what you mean about prioritising the costs for such a small space. Did you query the price from your builder? I did with one of our quotes and they actually came back and said they had over charged us by $2, 800. Again, No 2 pic looks gorgeous. Stilettos & Bricks, our Building Journey blog - http://stilettosbricks.com Our Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183 Good tip - I'll query the cost, you never know - fingers crossed! Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 16Oct 24, 2016 10:11 pm lp77 Mec06 lp77 Excited to find someone else building trinity lux q1. We're building south gc. Sales signed April tender June contract July. Building permits issued finance sorted, PCv signed. Now final drawings.... We've extended rumpus and alfresco made study into guest room, added shower to powder and flipped master to rear. Removed a few windows, increased height of others. Changed from timber stackers to aluminium and increased height.. Doing ac ourselves, and flooring after handover. Just impatient to get things finalised n start building.. Yay! Another trinity builder, I'm really keen to see how yours looks with the master added to the rear, did you just do the standard change from the booklet or a few more alterations? How has your journey gone do far? I saw on another post you had some issues with PCV? Hope that has cleared up for you now. It's such a long process isn't it?! We added in shower downstairs and made study a bedroom. Upstairs as is, altered and removed some windows. Miller facade with axon cladding. Full brick front.. At PCv stage our site costs increased (we had missed the fact it shd have been fixed site costs.. Doh!!!) and a few things not right some added or removed... The. Drawings our drawings didn't match our tiling extension.... Here's hoping the build process smoother.. Not sure how to upload a picture... Fingers crossed for a smoother build for you! I use the Photobucket app and the image copy button to paste the photo code to upload images, there are a few how to threads but that's the easiest way I found for it ? Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 17Oct 29, 2016 9:59 am Yesterday I provided the land sales consultant with forms for our future neighbours to sign regarding our zero lot garage and relaxation request to council for the road boundary, hopefully there will be no issues with those and we can get them back soon for Plantation to add to our file. They have been great and I like that they've been proactive with getting these things pre-ready now so it's a little smoother (hopefully) later on. Still waiting to get tender 2 back, I have a few adjustments that need to be added as we finally decided that we should forego the timber stackers and get the aluminium due to the screening issue, the tender consultant told us we'd get a credit back so that's one positive I suppose. We also ordered some foxtail palms and cordyline seedlings online from a nursery @ a bargain price and we've received them now - so we have potted those up with fertiliser so they can spend the next year growing while the house is being built. Might be a bit smaller when they go in the ground but we spent $170 giving us a savings of over $1000 doing it this way instead of getting slightly more mature plants from Bunnings. So the cost for all plants (8x foxtail palms and 10x corylines) was only $5 more than 1 foxtail palm at Bunnings ??? Flooring quotes have come back and happy with both our no carpet in bedrooms quote and carpet in bedrooms quote.. not sure whether we want to have carpet in the house, it's such a pain to clean! Decisions, decisions! ??? Our Trinity Lux Q1 with Plantation Homes: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85254&view=undread#unread Insta: @newhomedream Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 18Oct 30, 2016 12:05 am What a great tip for plants. Definitely will be doing this as well, thanks Stilettos & Bricks, our Building Journey blog - http://stilettosbricks.com Our Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183 Stilettos & Bricks -our Building Journey Blog https://stilettosbricks.com viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85183&hilit=secret+harbour Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 19Nov 04, 2016 10:23 am Love the colours, agree that a more neutral splashback won't date the house and you can jazz it up with decor items. There is lots of marble look items around at the moment, maybe you can deck out the kitchen in your favourite look that way for now Re: Our build journey - Trinity Lux Q1 - Plantation Homes 20Nov 08, 2016 11:11 am Yes, we've decided to go with the white glass splashback, we visited a Metricon Display home and they had the white and we loved how crisp it looked @Mrs Prez, check our Daley's Nursery, they courier to you and their prices were great. Also I'm loving your blog Good News! We received information today that our Land should be registered and titles issues in the next 3 weeks, then settlement! We received back Tender 2 and Plans, it was exciting to see everything, a few errors with door heights and some things which needed to be removed and added from the tender. The kitchen bench was also different on the plans than in the display and I was told they were the same, so querying this as well. Getting a couple of quotes on some additional extras, so fingers crossed tender 3 doesn't look too horrendous! We visited Beaumont's on the week-end to try and finalise exactly what we want for all our wet area's.. I had my heart set on the Carrara Novona Ice Fan as a feature in the ensuite for covering the Spa and the niche, but we worked out its the MOST expensive of any of the Carrara options they had per m2, ergh, so I decided on a few back ups just in case I decide I can't stomach the price Looking at either the Carrara Subway tile, Herringbone or Diamond possibly in its place. My husband reckons we should just go with the fan regardless of the price, because we like it the most... he might not say that once it blows our colour budget! Our Trinity Lux Q1 with Plantation Homes: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=85254&view=undread#unread Insta: @newhomedream Hi all. Anyone know when the $11,000 limit was set in legislation for renovations in QLD? Ive been renovating for 5 years now and this was the limit back then. As we know,… 0 4414 Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5197 We used a smaller qld builder who went bankrupt about 12 months after completion of ours. It was a shame as they were good and relatively cheap and I would have used… 3 5129 |