Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 18, 2017 11:41 am So after spending the last six months researching all over these forums, it’s time to start a build thread. We have signed contracts today! Yay! This forum has been a wealth of information and I've loved reading about people's builds so I thought I should probably add to it. Hubby and I bought a new block late last year to build our first home together. Our block is located at the bowl of a court and despite it being a decent size, it wasn’t until we started trying to fit something on it that we realised how difficult it’s funny shape was going to be to build on. Our block has a great view so we were pretty determined to make it work. Here’s some pictures of our block and the lovely view. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our options were definitely limited with our block, but in the end we’ve found the perfect double storey house to put on it. Going through all the builders and houses on offer we loved the look of the Bordeaux façade, although we never wanted a house anywhere near that big or expensive. The Trentham was the perfect size and floorplan for us and we have customised the Manor façade with some elements to create our ‘Baby Bordeaux’. Our main structural and façade changes: Detach garage from house and increase to triple garage Centralise portico/balcony and make façade symmetrical Increase ceiling height on ground floor to 2550mm Addition of arch tops to first floor façade windows Addition of parapets and mouldings to façade Complete Hebel rendered finish Addition of four pillar lights on façade, two on the portico pillars and two either side of the balcony (Dubrovnik downward facing from Beacon lighting) Planning to do our alfresco area at the rear of the house after handover (eventually) We love how it’s turned out in the drawings, Metricon have been fantastic in helping us achieve the look we were after. Here’s the front elevation and floor plans. Like ⋅ 1 comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ So that's a start! Next post will be all about our selections. Construction is estimated to begin in 4-5 weeks so fingers crossed for a smooth building journey! Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 2May 18, 2017 12:01 pm That's cool, good luck on your build journey =) Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 4May 18, 2017 12:52 pm hehe, you're welcome. Many before me have provided a lot of valuable information which helped me so it's only right to continue passing on the info. I'm sure as yours progresses, you'll provide much needed info to the next lot of house builders. =) Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 5May 18, 2017 1:19 pm Congrats on getting this far. I hope you enjoy the process. Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 6May 18, 2017 3:47 pm Thanks Vuster. Yes we started in January with Metricon, I suppose the admin stage feels like such a long time with our block sitting there ready so it's nice to know some work on site shouldn't be far away! Congratulations on your Bordeaux, we went through the display home in Balwyn, such a beautiful house. Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 7May 18, 2017 6:34 pm Congratulations we are building the Threntham as well. I like the idea of building a mini bourdeux home we were going down the same route but due to the developer guidelines we were not allowed to do so as they wanted a modern facade. We have basically the same floor plan but I have done a few modifications such as the outdoor room dining room and the removal of the bedroom upstairs. I'm currently at bricking stage and I'm excited to see how your builds progresses as well. Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 10May 19, 2017 7:20 am Bethany Thanks! I've been watching your build thread, I think you're the first Trentham build on this forum so I was excited to see what you had decided to do with your house plans. We had to do a lot of modifications to ours, we originally went with the Glendale however due to unusual dimensions of the block it did not fit. The Threntham provided us the flexibility as we could move the garage around and change the internal floor plan quite a bit. I'm excited to see your internal selections unfortunately I could not take pictures of my internal selections as we picked it last year, we have waited a year for our build to start! Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 11May 19, 2017 8:48 am Adnan633 Bethany Thanks! I've been watching your build thread, I think you're the first Trentham build on this forum so I was excited to see what you had decided to do with your house plans. We had to do a lot of modifications to ours, we originally went with the Glendale however due to unusual dimensions of the block it did not fit. The Threntham provided us the flexibility as we could move the garage around and change the internal floor plan quite a bit. I'm excited to see your internal selections unfortunately I could not take pictures of my internal selections as we picked it last year, we have waited a year for our build to start! Your floor plan became quite a different, it's nice having something that's customised to what you want though. Yeah I wasn't a fan of the garage at the front of the house but once we found out they were happy to detach it from the house for us I was really keen on the Trentham. How come it took so long for your build to start?! I'll post up all the selections soon. Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 12May 19, 2017 8:55 am The original sales consultant left and did not tell us that the Glendale did not fit on our block. We had to go go through the whole process again picking out a new design selections e.t.c. with a new sales consultant. The silver lining is that we got a bonus outdoor and dining room which the Glendale did not have (on our original plan) and also Metricon gave us a nice credit for the time it took to get new plans done I am also happy with got two rooms downstairs at the front of the home as this is a wider plan then the Glendale and our block is unusually wide, this means we have a nice big bedroom with bathroom downstairs for alll guests Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 14May 19, 2017 10:57 am Now for selections! We had our electrical and colour selection day prior to contracts, and then have our tile appointment around when constructions begins, although we’ve picked them already too by going to our local Beaumont Tiles store. All going smoothly construction should begin 4-5 weeks from now (fingers crossed!). We spent a lot of time researching house styles and colours, but we are both pretty decisive when it comes to our tastes so in the end picking what we wanted wasn’t too difficult as long as it wasn’t ridiculous for us for price. Our exterior is all Bordeaux-inspired but the interior we just went with our personal tastes. In terms of pricing we’ve actually found Metricon to be quite fair, there hasn’t been anything that came back that we were shocked about. Also our sales consultant had always been honest and open about any pricing questions from the beginning, which is something we didn’t find with any of the other volume builders we approached. EXTERNALS Hebel render: Evening haze Fascia/gutters: Evening haze Roof: Boral Striata tiles in Charcoal grey Window frames: Pearl white Garage door: Georgian profile in Evening haze Front entry doors: Double Lincoln XL10 in Charcoal stain Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ INTERNALS Wall paint: Ghosting Architraves/skirtings: Vivid white with colonial profile and increased size of 140mm to skirting boards Doors: Hume Ascot Flooring: Post-handover installation of Karndean Vinyl Looselay Longboard in Mountain Spotted Gum to entry and open plan living, Urban Living carpet in charcoal/blue colour everywhere else (can’t remember the name!) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ KITCHEN Benchtops: Piatra Grey Caesarstone with 40mm edge on island bench, increased size to island bench Cabinetry: Laminex Formwrap in Settler profile with satin finish in Ghostgum, also upgraded part of the pantry to have Butler’s style fitout to match kitchen and have continuous look, overhead cupboards in kitchen Splashback: Carrara marble herringbone pattern with dark grout, in Butler’s have added a window to splashback to increase natural light Appliances: 900mm underbench oven and built-in cooktop, built-in rangehood, white dishwasher Plumbing: Double bowl undermount sink and Bastow Georgian mixer with ceramic handle (Second photo not quite the colour scheme we picked with paint and cabinetry but pretty close!) ENSUITE/BATHROOM/POWDER Tiles: Cretement Ash White Textured finish (for floors and shower walls) Benchtops: Symphony Grey Caesarstone Cabinetry: Laminex Riven finish in Sublime Teak with horizontal grain, double vanity to ensuite, floating cabinetry Splashback: Infinity Brighton in Cotton Plumbing: Undermount sinks, tiled shower bases, double shower to ensuite, Posh Bristol lever style tapware for basins and showers, shower niches, freestanding bath LAUNDRY Tiles: Cretement Ash White Textured finish Benchtops: Laminex natural finish in Sublime Teak Cabinetry: Laminex natural finish in Sublime Teak, increased trough size, added broom cabinet and bench extension Splashback: Infinity Brighton in Cotton Plumbing: Bastow Georgian mixer with ceramic handle ELECTRICAL Upgraded to 5 star heating unit with 2 zones Air-con going in post-handover but have approval for our tradesmen to do rough-in during construction due to double storey Opticomm connection Downlights for open plan area and entry way, most other rooms and over island we will be installing fittings post-handover Pillar lights on façade – Dubrovnik downward facing Heater lamps/fan for bathrooms This post seems to go on forever! Anyway we are so excited to see how this all comes together! Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 15May 19, 2017 11:43 am Nice collection of selections! =) Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 16Jul 27, 2017 3:35 pm So we finally made it to construction stage a couple of weeks ago! Yay! I'm just uploading the geo and a pic of the site cut from the other week. Our slab is meant to go down today but we're in Queensland on a quick holiday for hubby's 30th birthday! We'll check it out once we're home but our weather back home in Victoria is not so great... I'd love to take some of the sunshine up here back with us. Haha. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 17Jul 27, 2017 4:14 pm Was there a particular reason why the garage had to be detached from the house? Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 18Jul 27, 2017 8:32 pm No, we probably didn't have to! As you can see our block is a funny shape as well as having easements and it has turned out very difficult to fit a house on! From memory though, the driveway position made positioning most houses with attached garages near impossible. We decided we liked the idea of the detached garage just for something a bit different to most contemporary homes and we think it will work well on the block. The site cut has placed the garage down low with the house set higher which should make it a bit interesting to the eye too. Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 19Jul 27, 2017 8:41 pm Is your balcony covered by the roof? We just realised ours is not covered at all, bit of an oversight on our part we should have extended the roof out but my better half has a plan to make some of it undercover. Re: Metricon Trentham Build - The Baby Bordeaux 20Jul 27, 2017 8:54 pm No ours isn't covered by roof but we are fine with that. Since we've gone for the manor facade and have added in parapets to our facade it would probably look silly on ours to have a roof extension I think. Would have looked fine to extende the roofline on your facade but I'm sure you'll enjoy the balcony anyway. Hi, First of all, thank you to this community for sharing your thoughts and opinions. We are in early days of our pre-contract stage for Metricon Doulton and we are… 0 10759 Hello All 🙂 We are planning to start our journey of construction our first home. We zeroed down on Metricon and henley homes based on design suitable for our lot and… 0 8206 We don’t live in VIC so want to know the exterior colours of Lumiere display so we can see it at the paint shop. Not building with Metricon so my request went… 0 17335 |