The epic home building race - HANDOVER FINALLY!!!

Hi all,

I hope you will find our build thread interesting and helpful. I have been stalking the forums for the past few months whilst we have been planning and planning and planning our first home and building new! Whilst I have not made comments or otherwise on any of your blogs yet, I have been grateful for all the stories, dramas, tips, and shares in helping us understand some of the ins and outs of home building.

But it has all begun now. We have broken ground - lets call today B+2 -. And as the title implies, we are looking to have the house finished before our second child is born (and at least that is what one of us will be praying for!). We are building in Stanthorpe, which is probably a different location to most of the houses have been built on H1. This perhaps will give some people a different perspective on house builds in a regional/rural area.

We have linked up with local guys, Dixon Homes New England (DHNE), who are franchisees of Dixon Homes. The team there have been great so far, with hardly a major hiccup to date. Being first home builders, I think we have given this whole experience so far a lot of benefit of the doubt but we have not run into any major issues with the process so far. There are few local builders but we are hoping DHNE will come through with an awesome build!

Let us hope that the building part will be just as pleasant and great as the service in the preparation and contract phase has been!

TIMELINE and DATES:
01/07/2016 - began to look in earnest for our first block of land!!
at the same time, began to look at house designs that would fit our needs (more details on this in subsequent posts!) We have a big house in mind so needed to find land that would fit... that was a bit of a struggle in our area!
30/09/2016 - BABY day! (the day we found out we were having another baby!) and at the same time, it got real... need to find a new place to live pronto!
07/10/2016 - offer placed on a 1/4 acre plot with some dream features - in a cul de sac, near the creek but elevated from flood level, town views, and two kids playgrounds nearby
11/10/2016 - offer accepted and contract stage for land with real estate
16/10/2016 - first modified home design plans visualised within the block!
19/10/2016 - home loan application submitted! eek!
27/10/2016 - conditional approval
25/11/2016 - unconditional approval!!
05/12/2016 - finalised quote and contract stage for house with builders
20/12/2016 - after some delays with land settlement due to financing and conveyancing delays, land finally settled!!
20/12/2016 - and on the same day, DA submitted!!
22/12/2016 - Christmas lockdown..
03/01/2017 - council reopens!
16/01/2017 - DA approval!!
27/01/2017 - authority to commence construction issued by bank!! and the anxious wait for ground breaking begins!
09/02/2017 - ground breaking!! (B-Day)::party::
HEATWAVE HALTS WORK! Stay safe and hydrated people!

STAGE 1: RETAINING WALL
16/02/2017 - council connects water meter and sewerage
18/02/2017 - family GC trip - and feature tile quest!
28/02/2016 - retaining wall started!
03/03/2016 - retaining wall finished!

STAGE 2: FILL
14/03/2017 - started Day 1 of fill? (we only saw the fill being put down over weekend)
RAIN RAIN RAIN!!
17/03/2017 - Day 2 of fill?
MORE RAIN RAIN RAIN!!
29/03/2017 - Day3-4-5 FILL DONE!?
LONG DELAY FROM CYCLONE WEATHER
causing wet ground on site
10/04/2017 - finished FILL...

STAGE 3: SLAB
12/04/2017 - started foundation work!
19/04/2017 - piers and footings done
EASTER BREAK IN BETWEEN
AND ANZAC DAY...

27/04/2017 - SLAB DONE!!

STAGE 4: FRAMING
03/05/2017 - frames delivered
04/05/2017 - work started!
10/05/2017 - WALL FRAMES DONE
11/05/2017 - TRUSSES STARTED
12/05/2017 - NEARLY DONE...
16/05/2017 - roofing steel delivered!
19/05/2017 - DONE
STAGE 5: ROOFING
23/05/2017 - started!
26/05/2016 - waterproofed roof! Essentially done except a few gutters missing.

STAGE 6: ROUGH-IN
30/05/2017 - wrapping started and done! BABY VICTORIA BORN!!
01/06/2017 - windows sited!
03/06/2017 - BRICKS CAUGHT ON SITE!!
05/06/2017 - plumbing started, BABY AND MUM HOME!!
07/06/2017 - electrical appointment done today, some more roofing being done today, possibly tubs installed today??
09/06/2017 - bathtubs INSTALLED! AIR CON TUBING INSTALLED! PLUMBING essentially DONE!
12/06/2017 - ELECTRICALS DONE!! (was done over the week, with touches here and there)

STAGE 7: BRICKING
14/06/2017 - STARTED!!
14/06/2017 - GYPROCK started!!
17/06/2017 - progress check and walk-around, all looking good!
26/06/2017 - HALF-WAY WITH BRICKING and PLASTERING!!
10/07/2017 - nearly done bricking and plastering. A few cornices left and the window bricks left

STAGE 8: INTERNALS & FIT-OUTS
7/7/2017 - doors delivered!
10/07/2017 - front door up! Some electrical being done too. Internal doors and frames started!
20/07/2017 - garage doors up, kitchen and sewing benches in!!
24/07/2017 - waterproofing done!!

STAGE 9: TILING & PAINTING
26/07/2017 - TILERS ON SITE!
04/08/2017 - TILERS finished WET AREAS and MOST OF KITCHEN (just the pantry to be done)
07/08/2017 - PAINTERS started
15/08/2017 - PAINTERS finished!
31/08/2017 - checked the house today, Electrical fit out all done except for pendants, kitchen pieces installed, showers mostly installed, wardrobe doors in, waiting on flooring...

05/09/2017 - Floors starting! fly screens in.
08/09/2017 - FLOORS DONE
15/09/2017 - DOORS FINISHED

16/09/2017 - 20/09/2017 As there was no action we cleaned up all the tradie rubbish around the lot.
21/09/2017 - Topsoil mound redistributed and front driveway started with form work
22/09/2017 solar panel system installed
26/09/2017 alfresco concreted
27/09/2017 driveway and front portico done!

1st week October - had new fridge and new washer delivered, AC system installed! More topsoil pushed around. And it rained!!

2/11/2017 - FENCE IS FINALLY GOING UP!!
9/11/2017 - FENCE DONE.. letterbox and clothesline are done!

INSPECTIONS
9/11/2017 - Plumbing inspection done
10/11/2017 - Council inspection done
13/11/2017 - pre handover walk-through
15/11/2017 - Valuer inspection
16/11/2017 HANDOVER!!

Thank you for following our journey!

Whilst we bask in this amazing heatwave.. not...

Time for more details about our house!

It is going to be a 6 bed, 3 bath, 3 car single-storey in brick veneer. We modified a few of the internal spaces to allow for a sewing room (bed 6), large contained kids play area, bath tub and shower in the master ensuite, and also it is wheelchair friendly with all hallways and doors of appropriate size.

This is the approximate colour combination of roof, brick and garage door that we are after - noting that it fits with the feel of the town - with lots of classic Italian-style colour choices.



Courtesy of Colorbond website "colour selector"

This is the actual brick colour




This is the block in the flesh (we will be building towards the higher ground - as the lower ground got flooded in the big 2011 flood)


This is the area where our house will be built. Yes, some rocks in the way, more on that later as well!





This is the northwestern view towards one of the hills surrounding the town


P.S. if anyone knows how to get the image loader to work with Google Drive photos, please let me know. Otherwise I'll try to figure it out sooner or later... (fixed!)

Download the Tapatalk app to upload photos it's really easy to use. Good luck with your build!

Thanks, will have a go!

Congrats on the baby news and on starting your new family home!!

Your exterior looks very nice

Would love to see your house plan


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
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Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Ah this has been a busy week already, but we will going to Gold Coast this weekend for a valentine's-family weekend trip! Also visit our beach wedding site as our anniversary just passed!
Now some time to try and keep this topic thread going!
Still trying to figure out the best way to link the photos on the thread, but for now

Here are some house plans

-- so we modified the walk-in robe for the master to allow for a shower and bath combo in our ensuite
-- we also having part of the kids play area - installed with an internal rock climbing wall!! (no babies allowed)
-- and we have a pretty basic laundry area - but a large robe for that area anyway
-- have the windows smaller than say the style of windows on the coast due to climate here and heating efficiency (believe me its cold in winter!!)
-- the third garage will double as an attached "shed" - which could be a gym, or storage area or extra car port.
-- we also have the possibility of raising the roof in future if we so please, and likely to have the stairwell run at a right angle past our master suite wall
-- we had considered adding height by doing two storey, but with the site works and timelines (both equally important considerations) we decided on a single story sprawling house option (plus benefit of wheelchair useability).
-- there is also an internal opening between the sewing room and the play room for supervising the children
-- kitchen is going to be a bit fancy but more on that later!
-- we also have a working water well, which we plan to use for gardening and or car washing
-- solar system, gas heating with solar ready in case we decide to become more 'off-grid' and electric stovetop and oven
-- our house is pretty family and comfort oriented

--The Elevations

--- I still cant wrap my head around the tallness of the house with 25 degrees roof pitch (which is near perfect for the efficiency of solar absorption off the panels)
--- also noting that a larger portion of the roof space is basically 3000mm which means possibly a 2nd level without needing to raise the roof much! (I am still in love with idea of a 2nd level for views etc but we have to be mindful of wheelchair accessibility for family )


house plans on the land

-- with the slope and rocks in the way, best solution for us seemed to be a retaining wall (high one up to1.5m in height, with safety steel frame fence along the northside boundary - this will allow us to maintain a traditional slab, without any pillars or steps to the entrances, also will probably make our view of the town even more amazing, especially when and if we build on the adjacent block towards the creek with units or another house or something (and that house will be looking up on us)
-- it is dear though all the costs.. Dixon weren't game to do any fixed price prior to costings for the engineering and fill costs.
--Stanthorpe is known for all its granite rocks - hence "granite belt area"


Finally lighting plans

--just allowed the builders to install the minimum required LED downlights for lighting and power ports same
--will talk to the electrician direct for any upgrades
--but otherwise plan to set up a wi-fi Philips Hue lighting system in some of the main and important areas (really in love with the concept of controlling your own lighting from wi-fi system... though yes, it could be hacked.. and that would be an interesting experience):-/
--only question mark is what solutions we have to have a light in the master ensuite shower space, coz that space is likely to be dark with no natural light. ?waterproofed/humidity proofed LED down light? - again will talk to electrician about that


More to come!
some colour selections
and then some progress photos! retaining wall is to be built first, then the next step is fill, then building!

Thanks again for reading our fluff!::bedtime::

Love your plan!!! Wow so big and spacious

Your elevations look great, I am the same with the tall roof, but fingers crossed it's going to turn out great for both of us lol.

Can't wait to see your selections


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
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Ok got this photo upload stuff working! All it took was a morning fiddling around on my day off!

COLOUR SELECTIONS:
As we have a "Resort" level contract, we got a pretty wide selection on little things, in particular the choice of stone, laminates, tiles, etc. It is funny how we ended up picking some of the more mid-range or even some basic choices anyway!

So when we went into selections:
The theme we were aiming for in our heads was - blank slate, modern clean design but with some colour in the detail areas

This is what we came up with:
FLOORING
Common areas:
Tiles were a thought, but given the cold winters and slippage risks, vinyl won over the day and we went with a warm light oak wood colour (and matches with the baby's future window curtains)


Carpets:
We picked the Belcanto line at Andersens - soft pile but medium cost
-in a medium warm grey
--no great pics unfortunately...just have to imagine walking barefoot on the carpet of your room at a Sofitel resort...that was our inspiration!

Wet Tiles:
OMG! this is where we could have got lost... actually, no we are, we are still trying to pick our the feature tiles!!
--essentially not a great range from the builders because none had any colour! (remember our theme? hehe) but we don't hold that against them for our particularity!

1. Kitchen:
C-stone - Frosty Carrina both to the benchtop and to the island with waterfall edges
Tower cupboards - Graphite colour with woodgrain (shannon oak)
Bottom cupboards - Pure white glossy
INSPIRATION here:

Kitchen backsplash - stairwell type subway tile lay with a light cream tile
-- not decided if we want to put a row of accent tile yet to match the bathrooms, whenever we finally pick them...

2. Pantry
Laminate - Marble type to benchtop
Bottom cupboards - Pure white
Also the cream stairwell tile splash-back pattern
Then white coloured open shelves of course... or could go graphite?? hmm...

3. Laundry
-left blank, we might add in later, again feature tile dilemma!
4. Baths
Floor tiles - dark and matte, Wall tiles - white and shiny
--we loved the feature tile in the photo but it is too thick so will stick out.. would love that still if we eventually put niches in!:x]


WALLS:
Canvas White to most walls
Then 'special' Lilac to the Sewing room - haha


TAPWARE:
We are going with square edges in a chrome look, and a swivel tap for the child's bath!

And that is that!

Yay selections!!! I just love everything you have chosen!!! It's going to look awesome!!!


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
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Thanks charlie!
There's definitely different ways to skin a cat... or design a house isn't it? It is a bit of a compromise because I'm more for modern but wife is more a classics person. Totally reminds me of House Hunters on the 9Life network with all the couples with basically opposite tastes.

And then there's our five year old who goes for all the high priced bling!

Building update:
Builder says two weeks to retaining wall and concrete has the blocks ordered for next week. They also say completion by mid-May which sounds optimistic to us. But here's hoping anyway!
Council just came round this week to turn on or turn off the sewer taps.. not sure which one?
Neighbours were not impressed with the pile of dirt they dug up though it was on the nature strip.

Hahaha sounds like my husband and I lol. Hubby wanted all stainless steel kitchen where I wanted a modern contemporary look so we settled on an all white kitchen

That's exciting 2 weeks to retaining wall!!


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
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Congratulations on your first home and first build!!!

Hubby and I have just been approved for our first home and first build through Dixon Homes! I can't wait to see how your build goes! I'll be following along

Love the house design and the colour selections!!!!

Disappointing end to the week...
Absolutely no action all this week on our lot!
It remains a flattened dirt trap.

We were so busy this week, we didn't have any time to check in with the builders.

Not sure how their two week retaining wall estimate will go. Or how many days delay this will put to our build time!
Time will tell perhaps.

Thanks fleabea!
Sorry missed this post earlier!

But congratulations to you guys too! Please contribute your build with us all when you can!

Loving your thread! and love the colour choices!

our first home build
https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=84578&f=31&p=1677389#p1677389

Thank you
Sorry, it's taken me this long to find out how to write back
As soon as we have some movement I will start a thread

Woohoo! We have lift off!

That's awesome!!! Congratulations!

After 3 days of total crazy busy life... work, school, volunteering at school, antenatal stuff, and after-work work...
Wife with some bad news about the pregnancy and trying to come to terms with that. We'll be ok though!
It's been a few days here as well. And not seeing any action in the past two days, gave up hope for any action today before the weekend.
I stopped by the block at midnight as I was coming home...
and we have a completed retaining wall!
those bat rastards completed the job in two days (over a week). Awesome!

Next stop --> FILL!

Will take and post pics tomorrow when it's daylight out. Happy weekend everyone!

Sorry to hear had bad news with the pregnancy, I truly hope you and your wife will be ok.

Awesome stuff about the retaining finally being completed


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
viewtopic.php?t=83643