Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 28, 2019 8:51 am A little while ago we realized the time has come to consider down sizing and when a vaguely suitable house came on the market on a lake near us on the Gold Coast we opportunistically purchased it with no clear plan as to when we would make the move, we just thought we were giving ourselves time to sort out the transition.
Shortly after the purchase and after the house had been tenanted we started considering the logistics of what we had done and realized we probably needed to start the ball rolling earlier rather than later. Our previous homes have always been in need of renovation when we purchased and we have also always been over optimistic and underestimated how much renovation would be required. When we started working out what we wanted to do to this latest home, we soon realized a renovation wasn't practical. Shortly after, we visited a display village looking for other ideas but soon found volume builders, understandably, are generally not designing for this type of lot. After fending off follow ups from eager sales people and trawling various Qld builder's websites we eventually found a floor plan that looked like it might just fit our lakefront block. Brighton Homes have neat 3D virtual walk throughs available of many display homes and after doing the virtual tour a few times we went for a 400km round trip to inspect the physical display of the Brighton Homes Jamieson 30. As we finally stood in the Display's actual kitchen we had a slightly surprising but dawning feeling of 'yes this fits' and ended up spending more than a few minutes walking in and out of every room and back again. When we came back through the sales office, the sales guy assured us that if something wasn't quite suitable for us then Brighton Homes were quite flexible on customizing plans. After thinking it over for a few weeks we got back to him with a heavily modified cut and paste sketch of a reimagined floor plan to suit us and it was with some surprise that he came back with a 'no problem' let me do a pre quote for you on that. Fast forward a few months and we are about to begin our build journey. The plans have been massaged and tweaked, the colours selected and the guesswork done on electricals etc. The demolition starts in 2 weeks time. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 5Jan 30, 2020 5:02 pm Demolition had a delayed start due to the rain event 2 weeks ago! The old house is however now coming down.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ A certifier has also been engaged by the Brighton for the new build and the house plans have been submitted for approval. An application to Council for setback relaxation is required as we have drawn up the new plan to build to the property line somewhat similarly to the existing house. The original developer of the precinct had a general relaxation for the area where houses could be built to the property line on the western side if there was at least a 3m setback on the eastern side. The original relaxations have been superceeded by subsequent updates to the town plan. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 6Mar 07, 2020 12:18 pm Well I hope we got all the rain delays over this early in the process. The demolition was finally completed two weeks ago. The excavator only got bogged once. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Meanwhile our plans have been approved and last week we had a new retaining wall built at the top of the batter slope to retain the house pad area. We changed mind on the alignment and how to build this wall several times. It'sobviously not visible from the house and in the end, budget and timeframe won so we went with concrete sleepers butting up to the existing concrete stairs that were kept from the original house. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ That's about it for the Owner responsible part of the knockdown rebuild. Time to hand over to the Brighton project manager to get the build rolling. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 7Apr 03, 2020 1:40 pm A few weeks later and wet weather delays now seem the least of anybody's worries! Nonetheless Brighton Homes are assuring us the building industry is managing to work within the new order of a Covid-19 affected world.
Post demolition soil tests and a new contour survey have been completed and we have been placed on the build schedule. Being a project home build with all the studio stuff having been completed, the schedule of materials will be known down to the last screw at this point in time. Orders are being placed for materials needed to complete the build. I can't see any reason for supply chain issues at least until lockup unless maybe suppliers run out of things like fasteners. Really most of the materials needed for a build like concrete, timber frames, bricks, colorbond and plasterboard should be locally sourced and manufactured and still be readily available. I'm hoping there will be no hold up with the supply of prime cost items such as tiles, basins, flooring, etc required for fitout that may be more likely to be sourced internationally. We should be seeing some action on site in just a couple of weeks now. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 9Apr 28, 2020 10:20 am Progressing at a good pace. The piers for the Class P slab went in last Thursday. The drainers were on site yesterday to prepare the under slab works and electricity has been scheduled for reconnection. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 10Apr 28, 2020 12:35 pm That is good progress We had site cut on the 22/4, resurveyed on the 24/4, piers started yesterday but will take 3 days., then inspection of piers prior to concrete, hoping plumber early next week, then pods and slab. We’ve been advised there is a delay in the steel for the slab, so will see if that holds us up. Like you hoping there won’t be too many delays due to Covid, however it will depend on the supply chain. We are lucky as we are using a small builder, so if there are delays in sourcing something, we can just look elsewhere, and will try to stay Aussie made where possible. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 11Apr 28, 2020 7:50 pm Progress continues. It's easy to see stuff happening in the first few weeks! The pods and reinforcing were laid out today. I think there is still more to be done to establish the brick step downs and the location of a couple of drop edge beams don't seem to be formed up yet. So maybe concrete pour might be Thursday or Friday.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The pad RL level has changed since the original plans used when we had the retaining wall built. The final pad level on the construction plans redrawn after the final survey increased the pad level by 150mm. Looking at the shuttering now I wouldn't be surprised if the actual level finished even a little higher than that. I wouldn't necessarily be concerned at having a higher FFL, but the edge of the alfresco slab is really quite close to the retaining wall and I'm now wondering how to landscape the drop off to the top of the retaining wall considering the edge of the slab has to remain protected. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 13May 08, 2020 8:30 pm As I observed earlier, according to the original plans drop edge beams were supposed to be formed along the zero setback walls. Apparently when the form work was being setup it was decided the levels didn't actually require drop beams, instead deeper concrete edges were formed along the slab edge and certified. An appropriate variation has been raised. Wondering how landscaping between the alfresco and the retaining wall will now work. I'm beginning to think it might be best to bolt posts to the fence brackets and run joists back to the edge of the slab then deck it. I doubt I can attach joist hangers to the slab edge so will have to work out some type of joist support there. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The frames have been delivered and the chippies are scheduled on site Monday for the raising. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 14May 13, 2020 4:47 pm Frame up. Apparently the frame doesn't get straightened until after the roof is on and windows are installed. This is sort of out of step with the stages suggested by the Independent Building Inspection comany, where they prefer to do a frame inspection after straightening but prior to the roof load being added. I doubt suggesting changing the build sequence is going to fly.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ My wife has always wanted a porch swing. Looking at the al fresco framing now I'm wondering what member could actually support a couple of hundred kg bottom load (Not big people, just the swing plus 2x people )? Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 15May 13, 2020 5:55 pm I'm not sure if it's due to supply chain issues popping up due to Covid19 lockdown but we are also getting a few variations being raised regarding items of fitout that have become available since the selections were made. Nothing really significant but it is happening. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 17May 21, 2020 3:35 pm Starting to wonder about the roof. There seem to be a lot of screws, more than I generally see on corrugated roofs, possibly because of our N4 wind rating, although I feel a bit more care could have been taken lining up the screws a bit better along a prominent sight line from the street. I'm also a bit concerned about the meeting of the ridges and valley. There is currently quite a void visible at the junction. Even if it is blocked off to the roof cavity, I'm wondering how tempting it might be to swallows or something else to nest there? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 18May 23, 2020 6:49 am There has been some discussion recently on other threads whether independent inspections are worth the money and question if they just do a review you can easily do yourself by buying a few gadgets and reading a book. We engaged Darbecca for our Frame and Slab inspection, done yesterday. Undoubtedly money well spent! I've done more than my fair share of renovation and DIY in the past and appreciate the time and detail that has gone into their report. It's not something I would have been able to do satisfactorily in the same timeframe on a build myself even though I already owned many of the suggested tools and had my own previous renovating experiences. Clearly the Site Supervisor should have allowed the frame inspection to be scheduled into the build prior to the roof fixing. Several frame defects have been identified for example with truss and top plate joints, speed bracing problems and others that will have been easier fixed prior to the roof going on. The Builder engaged a different private (well credentialed) certifier to carry out their building inspections for the build that should have included Foundation and Excavation, Slab and the Frame inspections so far. There is obviously some disparity between what their man is evaluating and the issues raised in our independent report. Re: KDR Customised Brighton Homes Jamieson 19May 28, 2020 5:15 pm The carpenters did their thing yesterday to straighten the frame and finish off things noted as outstanding in the frame inspection. Services rough in is complete, windows installed and bricks delivered to site. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I found it quite difficult choosing our bricks during the selections process and we actually changed our original choice later as a PCV. We are not rendering and didn't see a great value in upgrading from the included ranges. In the end we have gone with the Austral Everyday Engage. I couldn't find a good picture of a build using these as they seem to be an out of favour colour. Not long now until we find out what they really look like. Hi, I am looking into doing a KDR in Melbourne and am contemplating using Kialla Homes. I am looking for feedback on them from others who have built with them. 0 13444 We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 37143 |