KDR - SE Melb - Simonds Flinders - Settlement! WE ARE IN!!!

Hi,
I'm new to this site so I'm looking forward to reading other peoples posts and getting lots of advice, lol
So we are doing a knock down rebuild in SE Melb. We chose to go with Simonds and are building a Flinders (with a few alterations). Will share diagrams shortly.
We've been in the paperwork stage so far and have our Tender appt in about 2 weeks. Feels like things are going so slowly at the moment but things are getting done. Our first real visual today was the local council just chopped down a tree as per our request so that we can move our crossover. We are on a corner block and need to move our crossover from the side street to the front of our block.
I guess one of our biggest things at the moment is the fact that we are still living in our house and need to work out what needs to be done in what order so that we don't delay things. We'd like to avoid moving out for as long as possible to avoid extra rent costs. Would love to hear from anyone who has been through this.
My to do list so far includes -
Tree removal - Half done. Stump needs to be ground down
Demolition company - currently getting quotes
Crossover permit - waiting for council
Concreter - again waiting for council permit for crossover
Powerpit -
Rental property -
Abolishing of gas and elec -

Hi,

Exciting (and unfortunately stressful) times ahead. I would advise applying for your electrical pit As soon as possible. It took Ausnet 9 weeks just to send us a quote (which was a lot more than we expected) and they say it can take up to 8 weeks from when you pay them to when they install the pit. Ours is costing almost $5000 as where we are everyone has overhead power and our nearest electrical pole is on the other side of the road.

oh thanks for that. We'll put that up the top of our to do list. It's hard to know what to do when so I'm so glad I found this site.
The power pole is right on our corner so we'll save money with that but thanks to the power lines it will cost us more in site costs later for a crane etc.

I thought that the power lines to the houses on each side of us would be an issue too as they are quiet Lo Wong go right across our block but turns out they are not so hopefully they won't be for you either.

This site has been the best site I've ever come across for information and advice.

I am also on KDR process.

Applying for electrical pit quote
Already renting a place
Collecting quotes for demo
Talking to council for setback and vegetation protection overlay
Finalizing quotes with the builders

We're on a corner, the power lines go along the side and front so we'll be up for crane costs which is a bummer but an acquaintance did a KDR last not long ago and the power lines were on the other side of the road. Their pit cost them $15,000, yikes.
Going to give United Energy a call tomorrow and get this pit application started asap. Thanks.

Sounds like you're at about the same stage as us. Who are you building with?
Getting demo quotes is a bit frustrating. Would be easier if we weren't living in the house, they could quote the asbestos easier but for now they can only say "any other asbestos found will be extra".

Hi,

I am yet to finalize a builder, tossing between PD, Carlisle and Arden. I am also building in SE Melb, I spoke to united energy last week and they ask me to send the quotation request form via email, I think this is going to be a painful process. For demo yeah the quotes have this fine print for asbestos, looks like nothing straight forward.. some quotes say we need arrange for front fencing (we have existing fencing on sides and rear)..

Good luck with your choice. We checked them all out and looked at so many plans before settling with Simonds.
oh really. I better get on to United Energy asap. I was told the power pit stuff would take 2 weeks but now I'm getting told a lot longer.
We have about 7 demo quotes so far. Waiting for another company to give me their written quote and then we can sit down and compare. It's frustrating how they are all so different. Like fencing, some include, some don't.
Being on a corner we have fencing to the back and 2 sides but haven't decided if we should get the side fencing on the road demolished and use temp fencing or keep it and replace it after the build. It needs to be replaced anyway.

We are building with Simonds Homes and have chosen to build a Flinders with a Kyoto facade.
This is the original floor plan before our changes

[url=<a]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u491/BriFlinders/Original%20Flinders%20Floor%20plan_zpsmlqpzsou.jpg[/url]">http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u491/BriFlinders/Original%20Flinders%20Floor%20plan_zpsmlqpzsou.jpg

This is our edited plan - pre Tender appt.

[url=<a]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u491/BriFlinders/Altered%20Flinders%20floor%20plan%20-%20Pre%20tender._zpsxuamzdkp.jpg[/url]">http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u491/BriFlinders/Altered%20Flinders%20floor%20plan%20-%20Pre%20tender._zpsxuamzdkp.jpg

Ok I'm not sure why but my original picture won't show. I give up for now, lol

So from the original the changes we made were -

Extended the garage forward and sideways to make it now 7000 x 7000. So now there will be storage space on the back wall and workshop space on the side and still fit 2 cars.
Swapped Bed 4 / Study and Lounge
The back of the house has been flipped to suit our site / the sun etc.
Alfresco option added
Bed 1 / Ensuite changed to make room for larger shower and double vanity
WC no longer going around a bend to allow for a larger/longer WIR
Bigger shower in main bath

Sent our Pole to Pit application to the power company today. Not a great sign when the email back says they are experiences extremely high application numbers and there may be a delay )o:

Ausnet took 9 weeks to respond to us and that was after I made several phone calls and emails. The quote then states it can take 8 weeks for installation from time of payment.

We're dealing with United Energy and I've heard the same thing from someone else - 9 weeks just for the quote.
Wow 8 weeks for installation. That is crazy. That's not a good sign for our timeline. I'm hoping (*fingers crossed) ours won't take too long because we are on a corner block with the power lines on our side of the road. A power pole is like 3 metres from where we want the pit to be.

Hi Bri1234,
We are currently in the middle of our house being demolished.
We have had to get an electrical pit in $7500 as we had to go from across the road. We need to move our water meter from one side as we are going to be moving the crossover, $5500 to move the water meter. Demo is estimated at coming in at 16k - so far $3300 for asbestos to be removed and then I'm looking to get pricing for the cross over to be installed.
You will need to abolish your electricity and gas, this can take 4 weeks, but check with your provider of these services.

Demo company will need water onsite for asbestos removal so you can't cap that until the house is down. You will also need to cap your sewage point.

Check where your LPOD - legal point of discharge is when moving your crossover, as you may need to move this as well.

For the demo company we had to remove our front fence (steel post fence) and install temp fencing, we also had to apply to council for Asset Protection for the original one and organise the crossover protection as we having move it as yet, even tho council has approved the permit to move it - go figure.

We also have to clear the trees that are hangover from the neighbours trees as this is going over the build footprint. This will get down after the house demo is completed.

The other thing that we have in the pipeline is requesting our neighbours to agree for our new house to be brought forward by 3m so an 5m setback instead of 8m. We are awaiting on council to provide the neighbours addresses as both sides of us are rental properties. So waiting again on council to provide information.

We are currently at 65k for site costs, due to requirements for - pillars, root barriers due to the neighbours trees and we have requested a raft slab instead of waffle. We have a fairly flat block but reactive soil, so it all adds up. We still haven't signed the contract as yet either as we can't do that until after the house is gone, as we need a 2nd soil testing.

It's a very interesting process for a KDR and all you can do is deal with each issue, one at a time. We have built previously with new land and so far that was much easier.

Good Luck

Hi Rachael
Thanks for your response. It's great to hear from someone else at the same stage, roughly.
We're hoping that our power pit will come closer to $3000-$4000 as the power is on our side. Someone we know had to get power from across the road as well and it cost him $15000, yikes.
I'm hoping our water meter can stay where it is because it's right next to the neighbours and not in the way. The new crossover will go beside it.
Your demo quotes seem to be roughly the same as ours. I've got a few and they are ranging from $11000 - $17000 depending on what they include.
Are you still living in the property? I'm trying to work out when to do what as we are still in the property and don't want to move out too soon and pay the extra rent.

We are still waiting for our crossover moving permit. We applied for it about 3-4 weeks ago and it shouldn't be a problem (I spoke to him on the phone) but we still haven't heard back. I think the hold up is the council arborist. We needed a nature strip tree removed to make room for the new crossover at the front of our property. That was approved quickly but then took a few weeks for them to chop it down. We are still waiting for them to grind the stump. It's supposed to be done by the end of this week.
The quotes I got for the new cross over were approx $3000-$4000.
LPOD would that be what we are referring to as a "Weep hole"? No word on what we need to do with that as yet.

Oh that's a big change to the set back. Hope you can get the approval. We are bringing our house forward slightly, I think less than a metre.
I don't think our neighbours will be a problem. The ones to the back/side are interested in what we are doing because they are thinking of doing the same. The other neighbour is nice but we haven't talked about it with him yet as language is a barrier.

We don't have a front fence at the moment. We were thinking of keeping our side and back fences till after the build to limit the amount of temp fencing we needed and then replacing the whole fence after the build but they aren't in good condition and may be too low to be legal. A demo guy suggested we buy second hand temp fencing to save money and sell it again after the build. We haven't decided yet.


Our quoted site costs so far are $36,000 but same as you that is not the final until after the house is gone and they do another soil and survey.

Yes it's all one step at a time, tick things off as we go. I'll be so glad when all the paperwork is done.

Hi Bri123,
We moved out at the end of Jan into a rental - 10mins from our rebuild. We literally have the demo company pulling down the house this week. It's great to see some movement finally as we started this process back in Jan last year, min d you we did change builders along the way.

We had the power pit sorted October, and we signed our tender in Feb with Henley Reserve (was Mainvue).

For the temp fencing, I hired this, as I really could not be bother having to resell later, there is enough to do and the hiring company delivered and installed. It was about $400 for 6 months for 40m. We needed the 40m as we are keeping our garage 6 x 18m and need to fence around that as well as across the front.

Your perimeter fencing will depend on Simonds - check with them if you can keep the existing fence. I have to remove part of our side fence and add temp fencing there as the house that we are building will have an attached double garage and this is going close to the fence line. That will be done after the demo

As for moving, that is the tricky part as to timing of everything. We are fortunate that we have some cash flow, so extra rent whilst not ideal, is possible. Depending on the area that you want to rent you will need to review what is available. We saw some shockers, that I would not have my animals live in, let alone my husband and kids. It took us about 3 months for find a suitable rental. We were very lucky that the first place we applied for, accepted us and the animals. We did downsize, and this is brought us a lot closer. Can't wait for the new house to be built, two teenagers in a smaller house is.... interesting.. lol.

We found that having the demo company sorted out was the lynch pin, to getting things rolling, whilst they sorted demo permits with the council, we hunted for a rental, once moved we sorted disconnection and abolishment for gas and electricity, our demo company was great and I just kept them updated on progress for the abolishment. They moved our booking a couple of times and started last week.

Ring your gas and electricity company and ask long time abolishment after disconnection takes - this will assist you with timing.

oh wow how exciting for you.

We have a contract date for Mid July so at this point we are thinking time wise move into a rental in June and organise to get the services abolished ready for demo after contract. We were going to try and move after contract but I think we'll be pushing our luck and would risk holding things up if we can't find a place.
I've been keeping an eye on rentals and hopefully we shouldn't have a problem, fingers crossed. We're also looking for somewhere for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs. Not too fussed size wise as we are currently living in a tiny house (hence the build, lol). It will be so great to have some more space.

Not sure if it's allowed on this site but would you recommend your demo company? Feel free to PM me. I have about 7 quotes so far and we really need to sit down and go through them and make our decision. One company had been recommended but after 3 calls I still haven't got a quote from them.

I'm leaning towards just getting the fence demolished and renting temp fencing. Sometimes paying that little extra is worth it for less stress.