Architecturally Designed Home - Vic

Hi everyone,

First time poster, thought I'd share our journey into our first family home.

The existing house is in Melbourne with many spacial constraints due to party walls. We chose to engage an architect due to the constraints we faced, the difficult of space utilisation and the fact that I will be interstate for much of the project. Being able to handball most of the project responsibility was a key driver.

We are currently still in the preliminary stages with designs being finalised, being getting a planning approval from the council.

We hope by sharing this that not only will it be an interest to the members here, but also for us to learn and gain feedback from the community.

Timeline:
Nov 2016 - Engaged architect
Dec 2016 - Master planning
Feb 2017 - Sketch designs finalised (TBC)
Feb 2017 - Sketch designs completed
Mar 2017 - QS Estimate - $1.07m
Mar 2017 - Pre App meeting completed
May 2017 - Planning app submitted
Aug 2017 - Planning permit approved
Mar 2018 - Contract signed
Apr 2018 - Demo/leveling/site prep
May 2018 - Slab done, garage rebuilt (for wider opening)
June 2018 - Metal frame done, timber frames ongoing
July 2018 - Timber framing done, brickwork ongoing
Sept 2018 - Brickwork/exteriors all done (screens to go in), ceiling ongoing



Photos of the designs and floorplans are uploaded into my blog here: http://fnahome.blogspot.com.au/

Looking forward to your messages, feedback and any questions you have

Thanks

Hi Frank, love the rendering, the curves are so unusual and beautiful! Are you demolishing the entire old house or adding to/ renovating it? Looking forward to following and seeing the final house. We are doing the same in Sydney.

We are demolishing part of the existing house where there is no party wall with the neighbour. Effectively we are renovating anything left of the front door (floor plan perspective) and demolishing/building everything to the right.

Will post new renders once the final designs are done next week.

Wow! Love the lines in your plans it blends the new with the old in a seamless way that makes a bold statement at the same time. Love the detail in the brickwork, the entry is going to be amazing.

Did you have any heritage overlay? It's nice to see someone actually keeping the original character of the house instead of knocking it down and rebuilding. The heritage of some of Melbourne's older suburbs is slowly being destroyed by McMansions and horrible multiplexes. I wish I could afford an architect designed house in the inner suburbs. I grew up in a beautiful big Federation house about 5kms from the CBD. Would love to live near my parents but for my first home I'm building 30kms from the city, maybe one day......

Good luck!

thanks for the comment! The house is actually in the kew/hawthorn/camberwell area, but luckily my home didn't have any heritage overlay, although couple of houses down the road does.

yes, one of the most important thing i wanted to do was not have this be a generic french provincial house that is all over Balwyn.

it is going to be....a very expensive build.. a lot higher than i had anticipated!

good luck with your build though!

Do you have an idea of cost per m2?

they estimated $3,800/m2 for the new area and 2,400 for the renovated areas

Ouch!

hi everyone,

just go updated designs for the north facade and we really like it

http://fnahome.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/21-feb-2017.html

next up is updated budget and starting council applications.

woo. progress

WOW! so good to see something a little different.... will be keeping an eye on this thread, plz keep it updated

thanks! i uploaded some images in the OP, saves people from need to visit the blog.

will keep everyone updated

So we just had our pre-app meeting with the council. Seemed to go quite well, one of our biggest concerns was the interpretation of our neighbour's windows (whether they are part of "living space" or not given they are windows part of the bathroom and walkway). The planner said it all seems ok so it's looking good.

Our council however is doing a council wide heritage review, whilst our property is highly unlikely to be applied with a heritage protection, it means we have to spend 2 weeks applying for the review.

The architect will now start the application documents and we expect the planning application to be lodged mid-late April

Fingers crossed!

Good luck with all the paperwork!

I really like seeing builds like this. You've certainly got a good approach to using your available space!

quick update, we submitted our planning app almost 2 months ago, advertising started today, so 14 days to go.

response from council has been largely positive, spoke with all the neighbours and they are all happy with the design. Only issue council raised was the front entrance is further back than they prefer, not sure how big of an issue this is going to...so we'll see.

Hoping to get planning permit approved by end of July or early August and finally get on with the detailed designs (which is another 4-5 months).

this process is taking sooooooooo long haha.

we got our planning permit today! although the council had verbally indicated it was ok a month ago, took them long time to do the whole formal process. We only had 2 conditions, one was for a canopy for the front entrance and the second was a tree management plan. nothing major

we've started the interior designs already and hope to be done next month, detailed drawings for the rest of the year and build as soon as possible! exciting.

we are also looking to import as much as possible from the UK, appliances, sinks, anything! please share your experience if you have done the same.

Congratulations!

We're looking at importing our ovens from the EU, but that's all - if you search around there's some other forums which have experiences of people importing appliances from EU/UK (not sure about sinks, though)! The experience seems to be mostly positive, although I expect it depends on who you organise it through.

amazing! definitely one of a kind. I cant wait to see its progress. Love the entrance, and beautiful ceilings.

Love the modernist influence here frankily - congratulations on your planning permit.

Can't wait to see this built! Very exciting.

frankily
All you have is a Plan & Rendered images of what it may look like and basic planning?
Have you got the engineering?
Compliance & Building applications?
Construction Cost breakdowns & Proofs?
Look around there are plenty of Architectural renderings that never made light of day...
BTW, Instead of posting renderings only ... put up data and proofs...otherwise you may be dreaming.
As an Engineer & Builder I deal with this stuff everyday...designers that sell the rendered dream and deliver a nightmare on site
LOL, you got my feedback mate
You might want to read Architects Costs what is reasonable

Hi structural guy, we are currently going through the construction drawings at the moment. The structural engineer has reviewed our plans and hasn't indicated anything that isn't feasible.
We obviously didn't want to proceed so much further without the planning permit, that would be wasting thousands of dollars if the council rejected some of our elements.
Having received the permit, we are having engineers going through it now as i mentioned above. if you really want to see the all the details, i will post them as i receive

anyway, i just made an update on the blog: http://fnahome.blogspot.com.au/

i'll add some comments in the next message