Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 21Apr 13, 2017 6:40 pm That's great news, that's how much our upgraded insulation and E-glazing came to too Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 22Apr 13, 2017 6:53 pm Good to hear it's not off the mark/somehow crazily different Our next big thing to start thinking about (thanks to the house being pretty much covered thankfully when we get the keys!) is our gardening/landscaping. The Mr is very private a fellow and is constantly discussing if we need a front fence/boundary; while I'm pro-noFence, as we have no sidewalk out the front of our place and I think not having a defined barrier (ie: maybe put a bit of a planting hedge but not really?) will make the front yard look bigger. That being said, we've got a big dog and are then having to think "future proofing" (eek! Way too young to be making these decisions!! :oops::lol:) and definitely interested in hearing how others went deciding what to do "Out Front"! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 23Apr 13, 2017 7:05 pm We want something out the front, mainly to stop our dog from bombing it down the road every time we open the door but we also have the footpath on our side of the street Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 24Apr 13, 2017 7:36 pm I have two little boys and they are nuts so we will be looking to put something up to stop them running for the road. just not sure what yet! I still want it to look nice though, it's hard to make these decisions before seeing and getting a feel for the house if that makes sense. Awesome that you haven't gone over budget with the energy rating Building the simonds palisade in gippsland Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 25Apr 13, 2017 7:45 pm Cassie.f90 I have two little boys and they are nuts so we will be looking to put something up to stop them running for the road. just not sure what yet! I still want it to look nice though, it's hard to make these decisions before seeing and getting a feel for the house if that makes sense. Awesome that you haven't gone over budget with the energy rating We're discussing filling up a few of the bedrooms eventually, so that's definitely a concern for us! Thankfully it's a pretty quiet little cul-de-sac though at least; but no idea how that'll be down the track. Our developer provides a free landscaping plan with The Garden Depot but I'm concerned about the Mr's love for going for the big, shiney, blingy "most expensive" choices and just what might have been suggested (even if we could do a better priced job ourselves). It definitely has been a challenge balancing what we want now/can't do later against each other. Now the stresses of waiting for the bank valuation to come back after the signing! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 26Apr 13, 2017 8:41 pm Yeh I was pretty nervous about the valuation as I'd heard many bad stories but thankfully we didn't have an issue! That's handy that they give you a free landscaping plan, I'd love to have one just for some ideas. Building the simonds palisade in gippsland Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 27Apr 13, 2017 8:55 pm We're lucky that we've currently saved about or just over 30% of the end house cost (land+build+stamp duty) without going for first home buyers on top - so we're not too concerned if the valuation comes in lower so long as it's to the point that the loan amount will be 80% or lower of the amount they come up with. We're happy to pay higher as we find getting the carpet and tiling and everything done before we're in to be worth the mark up. We also get trades prices from Stratco thanks to the developer, so we're definitely glad we picked such a lovely development (non-advertised/mentioned bonuses prior to now). I'm really interested in feedback for the beat way to landscape front and back as I'd love a kitchen garden but the Mr hates gardening/anything but lawn! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 28Apr 14, 2017 3:48 pm JM1911A1 Cassie.f90 I have two little boys and they are nuts so we will be looking to put something up to stop them running for the road. just not sure what yet! I still want it to look nice though, it's hard to make these decisions before seeing and getting a feel for the house if that makes sense. Awesome that you haven't gone over budget with the energy rating We're discussing filling up a few of the bedrooms eventually, so that's definitely a concern for us! Thankfully it's a pretty quiet little cul-de-sac though at least; but no idea how that'll be down the track. Our developer provides a free landscaping plan with The Garden Depot but I'm concerned about the Mr's love for going for the big, shiney, blingy "most expensive" choices and just what might have been suggested (even if we could do a better priced job ourselves). Oh cool I didnt know this! Did Springlake give this to you at settlement? Building in Springlake Mount Barker SA Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 29Apr 14, 2017 3:49 pm HFBMPC JM1911A1 Cassie.f90 I have two little boys and they are nuts so we will be looking to put something up to stop them running for the road. just not sure what yet! I still want it to look nice though, it's hard to make these decisions before seeing and getting a feel for the house if that makes sense. Awesome that you haven't gone over budget with the energy rating We're discussing filling up a few of the bedrooms eventually, so that's definitely a concern for us! Thankfully it's a pretty quiet little cul-de-sac though at least; but no idea how that'll be down the track. Our developer provides a free landscaping plan with The Garden Depot but I'm concerned about the Mr's love for going for the big, shiney, blingy "most expensive" choices and just what might have been suggested (even if we could do a better priced job ourselves). Oh cool I didnt know this! Did Springlake give this to you at settlement? Yeah we got a letter which included a free landscaping plan meeting to get ideas and information/help with developing our landscaping plans with Garden Depot in Mount Barker, as well as trades prices with Stratco for fencing materials etc. Hello watertank! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 30Apr 25, 2017 5:08 pm Big day tomorrow - contract day!! Anyone have any recommendations of anything we really need to check up on? We already want to get e-copies of everything so we can send to the bank the next morning/right away, as we should be able to get that confirmation very very quickly if we can (even though Simonds is sure they'll get all the paperwork to them etc - we'd just like to ensure we get it all to them ourselves just in case!). Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 32May 09, 2017 5:56 pm Finance approval is fully in - got valuation in of just $5k under what we're contracting to (which is fantastic as we were currently financing a large portion of the build so this isn't a big blow), glad to know we're not over-capitalising! The bank is offering us a larger loan that previously discussed - we're not sure if its better to go for a larger loan to use towards our landscaping/finalising/furniture/establishing costs etc, or continue our savings as we were planning to do. (ie: Use savings to pay for these things, with lower loan; or higher loan to pay for these things, add savings to offset what we can ahead of time) Anyone good at financing have any good advice??! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 33May 09, 2017 6:19 pm Great news that you finance is finalized! I'm not great at financing but all I can say is I really wish I'd added a few extra things like fencing, shed, and landscaping but we were rushed and missed the opportunity to do that. So if I were you I'd take up that opportunity. Building the simonds palisade in gippsland Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 34May 09, 2017 6:23 pm At the moment we've been frantically trying to save everything we can (as we're both moving from our family-homes, so no couch, no tv, no fridge, etc!) to cover our landscaping and fencing and furniture/establishing things...So I'm leaning towards taking advantage of the offer from the bank - really interesting the amount extra they're offering when before (prior to our deciding to build, so regular house hunting) they refused to budge/go higher by much at all! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 35May 09, 2017 6:33 pm Every penny helps! There are so many unexpected expenditures that crop up along the way, we've just been asked for another $1200 for fencing which is a bit of a blow considering that we've had a quote for months Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 36May 09, 2017 6:35 pm Yep I totally get the frantically saving part. We have most of what we need but as a young family of 4 we really can't afford to go in with no backup! I guess it all depends on your personal situation, If you can afford the repayments on the larger loan I'd say go for it. If you are going to be pushing it month to month maybe think about just adding on the things that you will need immediately then use your savings for the rest? Building the simonds palisade in gippsland Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 37May 09, 2017 6:39 pm Thanks Marshall and Cassie - we'll probably go with getting the extra as the extra repayments are only a sliver over what we were originally budgeting for! Definitely worth the higher repayment for that peace of mind should anything drastically pop up Right now we have no idea about fencing - as we've an empty block on one side (with a much worse slope than ours!!!) and a bought block the otherside that we haven't heard what they need regarding retaining etc to split! Let alone what we need to do for retaining around our spots as is in the engineers suggestions! So many unexpected bits!! Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 38May 09, 2017 6:57 pm Yeh I never realized there are so many little things that pop up! And they all add up. For e.g. Our bank miscalculated the stamp duty so just had to cough up an extra 2k. Plus post contract variations (builder forgot our covenant requires a water tank installed) were done after formal approval so that was another 3.5k have already paid $2.3k on fencing plus like you we have a vacant block so if it's not sold that will be another 3k. So annoying. Building the simonds palisade in gippsland Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 39May 09, 2017 7:02 pm Our developer is quite lovely and whatever we pay for fencing on our vacant side - we provide the proof of payment, and they add an encumbrance on the lot to pay us half in future. Annoying to pony up to start with, and should no one ever choose the block - but somewhat nice to know we should hear back! Our area requires a water tank, but thankfully we can put it in after handover so we can sort a good deal ourselves! The big costs we're expecting are landscaping, water tank, fencing, retaining walls, furniture, start up costs (for gas/electricity/etc)... and god knows what else will show up! At least we don't have to do septic like many in our building area, thanks to the developer.. Re: Simonds Harcrest - SA Build 40May 09, 2017 7:11 pm JM1911A1 Our developer is quite lovely and whatever we pay for fencing on our vacant side - we provide the proof of payment, and they add an encumbrance on the lot to pay us half in future. Annoying to pony up to start with, and should no one ever choose the block - but somewhat nice to know we should hear back! Our area requires a water tank, but thankfully we can put it in after handover so we can sort a good deal ourselves! The big costs we're expecting are landscaping, water tank, fencing, retaining walls, furniture, start up costs (for gas/electricity/etc)... and god knows what else will show up! At least we don't have to do septic like many in our building area, thanks to the developer.. We have the same situation, the lot that was vacant has now sold but we're not worried about doing the fencing next week because we know we're going to get the money back. Have you had any pricing done for retaining walls? We were absolutely shocked at how pricey it is, our first block was around 11k more expensive because it needed a retaining wall and that was for a smaller block too We hired Darbecca to do every stage inspection, and I strongly recommend them to anyone that asks me. They were amazing. Thorough reports with photos at every stage,… 6 7143 i would not be signing anything on the day read your contract about when builder submits final invoice generally, have to meet builder within 7 days of receiving final… 1 4747 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 17616 |