Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 31, 2014 7:50 pm hi all
new to this forum so see how we go me and my girlfriend trish (& kids) currently live in Lara, and recently bought a block in bannockburn, and today we had our site cut i'm looking to hopefully make some new friends in the area, and share my experience with fellow home owners. also, i'd like to offer some help to anyone having their first experience building as it is really daunting and everything is so secretive when it comes to costs, i know a bit about the costs now for most builders so any questions, feel free to ask. this is our block the day it was listed SOLD Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ and here is our site after the cut and fill Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ we will be building the Metricon Fortitude 32, with the Pagoda Facade Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ original floor plan Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ altered floor plan i did on photoshop to show the builder what i wanted, as well as help me visualize Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ External colour selections - Brickwork: Boral Glenfern (cat 3) standard mortar. Colourbond roof: Night Sky Downpipes: Night Sky Fascia: Shale Grey Guttering: Night Sky Windows: Night Sky Garage Door: Night Sky - Slimline Sectional Overhead Render to font pillars: Dulux Malay Grey PG2C6 General Colour/Feature Colour: Dulux NZ Range Blackball it will look something like this Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Interior Colour Selections - Kitchen/Pantry Benchtops: Caesarstone Osprey 3141 Kitchen/Pantry Cupboard Doors: Laminex Silk Finish Polar White Bathroom/Ensuite/Laundry Cupboard Doors: Formica Velour Finish Snowdrift Bathroom/Ensuite/Laundry Benchtops: Formica Velour Finish Metropolitan Concrete Laundry Overhead Cupboard Doors: Laminex Natural Finish Chalky Teak Walls/Ceilings/Trims etc: Dulux Vivid White Laminate Flooring: Parador Trendtime 6 Oak Silver Grey (cat. 2) Carpet: Brand - Indulgence. Style - California Twist. Colour - Central Valley (cat. 2) a few interior selections pics carpet&laminate Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ interiors Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ everything can look completely different in photo's, and can vary dramatically with angle of light etc, its always best to go and see for yourself rather than trust a photo. we are yet to do our tile selection, but we have been to beaumont tiles and picked a tile we were happy with out of the standard range and took that to studio m as they do not have tiles there, i suggest you do this. i will create another post with some upgrades and costs. happy housing andy & trish Re: Upgrades & Costs 2Jul 31, 2014 9:53 pm i have sat down with a few builders and got prices on various things and some upgrades, mainly Carlisle, Burbank, 8Homes and of course Metricon i will list a few things i know about metricon's costs and you can pretty much bet that the other builders are roughly this same + or - 10% first things first, take the base price of a home, add $10,000 if you want a facade, and add at least another $20,000 for site costs and the like (bushfire, termite protection, wind, flood etc) almost without a doubt nowaday site costs are well over the standard inclusion. we had M class soil and reasonably good block, site costs above and beyond inclusions were: upgraded M-Class slab - $2,654 Provide Cut & Fill in lieu of Standard Scrape - $3,944 (due to more fall than included) additional drainage as per engineers design - $880 Temporary Fencing - $1,552 (our block is 20m x 40m and currently no fencing) Termite Protection - $1,758 Additional Stormwater distance - $220 Additional Electrical distance - $270 and also (recently amended) we originally had bushfire BAL 12.5 which racked up costs of around $6,000 (luckily enough my area was downgraded to BAL low a couple of days before signing. so thats $11,328 (not including Bushfire) 17,328 (including bushfire) so as you can see its easy to rack up costs even before you really pick your layout, these costs will vary with house size, block slope, soil class etc. when we bought our block it was subject to soil tests, and i swear by it now, P-class slabs can be in excess of $50,000 your site costs may not be above and beyond this standard inclusion, but i think it is important to automatically add that to your base price. if your anything like me, you like to know the cost of something before you commit to it, it seems builders expect you just to pick everything you want and get a loan for that amount, its hard to budget when you dont know the costs. our facade, i believe was around $13,000 this was with already included render from a 'Premium Specifications' Package which we selected, i think it was around $18,000 to get the Premium Spec which gave you things like tiled shower bases, stone benchtops, higher ceilings, brick infills, kitchen overheads etc. and we got a nasty surprise when we got to the colour appointment and found out the wood feature on our facade was to be painted unlike the display (stained) if we wanted to stain it, it was going to cost a further $1,300. in other words, be sure to know everything you are getting for your money. we altered the roof pitch from 22.5 to 25 degrees - $353 removing the Walk-in Linen and Powder Room and creating the Storage (this will be our study) Credited us $2240 (if you call it a study, it is considered a living area, therefore needs natural light and we would have been forced to install a sunlight, Storage it is) raising the ceilings above the included 2550 to 2700 - $4,480 we managed to get colourbond in lieu of tiles for free due to a promotion in our area Cat 2 Bricks - $453 Cat 3 Bricks a further - $900 Off White Mortar (we decided not to get this) - around $900 Natural grey concrete driveway - $3,150 Raise Ceiling Height in entry 2550 to 3000 - $1018 Square Set Cornice in Entry - $182 increase sliding doors to 24x27 - $1339 (we had 2 sets of sliding doors, this cost is per set) Benchtop Stone Waterfalls (bench to floor ends) - $1227 each end gloss kitchen cupboards - $780 inset double sink - $300 no handle overhang on overhead cupboards - $144 pantry fitout - $803 pantry stone - $646 gloss pantry cupboards - $333 pantry bulkhead - $214 relocating the fridge and adjusting shelving didnt incur any additional costs windows are fairly cheap, we added a 21-12 window - $493 and a 07-30 horizontal window - $551 920mm cavity slider in lieu of dual hinged - $127 metricon allowed us to increase the window sizes to 21 high and 27 wide (max) for free (of course double glazing incurred more costs) 24-15 French doors in lieu of standard window to ensuite - $1042 Tiled Shower niche - $320each (size doesn't matter i believe as the same amount of work is involved big or small) additional shower head - $478 tiled kick rail on vanity - $57 the next toilet up cost - $400 (4 to chose from, i think the 4th one was like $1,000) we rearranged bathroom which incurred costs of $1,300, due to increasing amount of tiles, different shower screen etc taps etc, upgrading to the next level can set you back as little as $200 per item (we didnt bother) extend laundry benchtop - $224 laundry overheads - $375 sliding door in lieu of hinged - $75 flooring costs were confusing, we had a floor promo, cat 1 carpet and tiles throughout for $5,000, we upgraded and stuffed around and it totalled $7,000 as a promo with cat 2 laminate and carpet throughout, but i believe, cat 1 tiles and laminate flooring can alone cost $7,000+ and cat 1 carpet $3500+ fibre optics pack (nbn wiring) - $1690 (confusing, message me if ya need help on this) powerpoints are between $60-80 downlights around around $110 2-way switching is $55 j-boxes are $60 exhaust fans - $140 we had to upgrade to 5-start heater to suit LPG - $1533 evap cooling originally $5,500, but i wanted the thermostat coupled with the heater so i upgraded to a bigger bonaire unit totalling $6,967 extra outlets are $220 upgrade door height - $80ish i think had to double glaze most windows due to poor solar orientation and window sizes, ceiling heights etc - $2,335 double glaze both of the large stacker doors $2,800 to have the grand alfresco it was going to cost around $9,000 and in the beginning we were looking at crediting the rumpus room which would have saved us $5,500 dishwasher was around $880 microwave was around $450 eves right around was looking to be around $4500 and there was an option to extend the family, WIR, Ensuite and Master out by .5m which was around the $5,000 mark nitty gritty things like door handles and stuff can vary depending on taste, from $10 to hundreds we spent about $7,000 in the colour appointment (really controlling ourselves) and $2,000 including evap upgrade in electrical appointment (i'm a sparky so couldnt justify the ridiculous prices) hope this helps people, i for 1 would have been happy to know all the ahead of picking floor plans and stuff, as once you pick something you rather get attached and feel as though you have to follow it through no matter the cost, so we sacrificed alot of things and lashed out on a lot of things, either way it was fun, and stressful if any one needs anything, feel free to ask me, i researched alot throught the contract process from soil classification to double glazing and energy rating effects. cheers andy Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 3Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm What a beautiful design Trindy. Good of you to share your costs, very helpful Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 4Aug 01, 2014 7:16 am thanks TomCat. Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 5Aug 01, 2014 12:24 pm Love your facade! If it wasn't for us being out on a rural acreage I would love something like that. Your selections look great, can't wait to see how they come up as your build goes on! Congratulations on the site cut. That is a huge milestone. Hell i'm doing happy dances over a sign, a site cut is a 100 times better than that! Our Blog: http://werelivingthedream2.tumblr.com Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 6Aug 01, 2014 4:39 pm I love how you modified your kitchen/laundry a and store area! All the best with your build, please keep us updated. Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 7Aug 01, 2014 5:51 pm K-and-T Love your facade! If it wasn't for us being out on a rural acreage I would love something like that. Your selections look great, can't wait to see how they come up as your build goes on! Congratulations on the site cut. That is a huge milestone. Hell i'm doing happy dances over a sign, a site cut is a 100 times better than that! thanks K-and-T, the facade is fantastic, lots of street appeal. we also liked the resort ($15,000) and the oak park ($8,000) but we just had to have the pagoda. the chateau facade is very nice anyways thank you very much, it is a very exciting milestone, but if it helps, we don't yet have a sign Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 8Aug 01, 2014 5:56 pm lincoln29 I love how you modified your kitchen/laundry a and store area! All the best with your build, please keep us updated. thanks lincoln29. it just made more sense to us, not needing the toilet or WIL, and we'll make use of the "Store" as a study and the "Study" will be the Parents Lounge/Theatre as the kids have the retreat, and we save a bit of money. cheers Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 9Aug 02, 2014 6:52 pm Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 10Aug 02, 2014 8:34 pm Looks great I look forward to following your build as I am also building with metricon! Great floor plan too My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70636&p=1161767#p1161767 Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 11Aug 02, 2014 8:38 pm Love the floorplan BLOG: http://www.ourphoenix38.blogspot.com.au H1 THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70454 Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 12Aug 02, 2014 10:52 pm thanks guys! keenly following both of yours. you're nearly there lila rose! Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 13Aug 03, 2014 3:38 pm another step closer! I'll trade you my sign for your progress if you like! We went back to our sales lady who kindly redid our entire plan for us and will be sending it through again on Monday. Lets hope they can get it right this time! Our Blog: http://werelivingthedream2.tumblr.com Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 14Aug 04, 2014 6:47 am K-and-T another step closer! I'll trade you my sign for your progress if you like! We went back to our sales lady who kindly redid our entire plan for us and will be sending it through again on Monday. Lets hope they can get it right this time! oh that must be so frustrating for you, our first run with metricon, felt like it took forever and everything came back wrong, and we weren't treated very well. i hope this time you get a better run, do you have to start the whole process again? how does your process go? we did pre-sale, wait (what felt like) ages for prelim contract, sign that off, wait ages, do studio M and electrical, then wait ages for final contract, a few things weren't 100%, but were noted for amendment, then applied for unconditional approval, got that, then jump through a few hoops, found missing boundary pegs, then they started, but we will probably be getting a call this week to have our tile appointment (which i thought was wierd, any spendings above and beyond inclusions are variations, out of our pocket at final payment). Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 15Aug 04, 2014 6:00 pm That does sound a bit odd. We've had our initial $1000 deposit and then nothing for ages. Then we got a call to say come to Studio M/Tiles/Electrical which we did a week ago today. This plan redraw will certainly set things back a bit but we don't have to start again. Basically at the moment we are waiting for Studio M selections to come back to us this week then it will be waiting for the final contract which I think will take a bit longer now that we've had to fix the plan. Our variations don't cost us anything until ordering takes place as we are home solutions. Our Blog: http://werelivingthedream2.tumblr.com Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 16Aug 04, 2014 7:11 pm K-and-T That does sound a bit odd. We've had our initial $1000 deposit and then nothing for ages. Then we got a call to say come to Studio M/Tiles/Electrical which we did a week ago today. This plan redraw will certainly set things back a bit but we don't have to start again. Basically at the moment we are waiting for Studio M selections to come back to us this week then it will be waiting for the final contract which I think will take a bit longer now that we've had to fix the plan. Our variations don't cost us anything until ordering takes place as we are home solutions. wow, how confusing, it's so different, we did studio M/electrical, i think the same afternoon i made a few changes over the phone and we had paperwork sent through via email to sign, i signed it, got it back in the next day and that was it for selections, then i think 2 weeks later we did final contract review and sign. Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 17Aug 05, 2014 9:32 pm this seems to be moving along quickly, I hope this pace keeps. today we visited the block to find all the underslab pipework done, a gas point (not sure where it goes as we're on LPG and it goes into the ground and cant see where it comes up), builders tap and a switchboard enclosure, a bit exciting. we also now have a sign Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 18Aug 12, 2014 10:07 pm well we went out today to have a looksy and look what we found Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ the concreters said the frame should be going up on saturday and trusses on monday, its flying along Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 19Aug 12, 2014 10:46 pm Congratulations! Can't wait to see it with the frames up Re: Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn 20Aug 12, 2014 11:15 pm lincoln29 Congratulations! Can't wait to see it with the frames up thanks lincoln, it will really translate then, it is still hard to picture room sizes etc, its kinda looking small Building the Metricon Fortitude 32 in Bannockburn http://tinyurl.com/oz79mm4 Coffee Stain - custom lighting, furniture & collectibles www.facebook.com/coffeestaincreations 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 10715 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 8152 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 17321 |