Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 28, 2020 3:48 am Hi All, We began our journey well over 12 months ago, looking at houses and suitable land, and decided that the one we wanted was the Doulton, because of the curved staircase, which presents an awesome background for photoshoots! I just spent half an hour typing up a long description here, and then I clicked the Full editor to make it easier to see all the text, and lost all but the first two lines! At this time of the morning, I don't want to start over, so here is a few block photos to begin with. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ 1 comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 2Mar 28, 2020 7:58 pm Subbed. Looks like there's a bit of fall on your land. What's the plan? Just a big cut and fill? Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 3Mar 29, 2020 7:44 pm Yes, we wanted to build a Doulton 56, with a balcony over the outdoor room, but it was too close to the rear easement (our block has easement down the RH side, and then across the back), and even if they could, then the balcony would require a 1.7M screen around it (to prevent overlooking the neighbours) so there would be no view for the "vertically challenged" members of our family and friends! With a lot of negotiation with sales and design team (who had suggested the Hampshire 54 as an alternative, as it was shorter and had balcony option, but we really wanted to have that Doulton staircase!), I checked the measurements and suggested the Doulton 50 with the Mode facade was pretty close to fitting and still far enough away from the back fence to not have overlooking issues! Although there was a Mode Doulton plan with balcony already, it had the master bedroom at the back, and we didn't want visitors walking through the bedroom to get to the balcony when entertaining! With some tweaking of the plan, we sort of copied the Doulton 56 layout with rear balcony (with the leisure room to the rear), and minor changes to the bedroom layouts. They didn't copy the whole thing, so we have a balcony with a 180 degree view, not just out the back (due to extra retaining walls and fences added at the sides). Originally we would have had to have railing around the outdoor room, due to the fall (1.7M at the back corner), but they changed it on a later plan to have a large area beyond the outdoor room (level with outdoor room) and a 1.7M retaining wall about 3M from the fence. Still finalising the plans at this stage, but should be OK with no overlooking, although we also opted for the higher ceilings. So yes, lots of cut and fill. The garage is going to be on the left (unfortunately the flyover is on the right, so need council approval to get another one done). We were looking at doing a 3 car garage, but that would be too restrictive for accessing the rear of the house during construction! Maybe we can make a carport beside the garage later, as we are a 4 car family at this stage (until the "kids" move out)! They have done a 1M extension to the garage, so we will have some more storage space there. Also with the upstairs changes, we ended up with an additional WIL (Bed 2 has a "normal" robe, rather than WIR) - can't have everything, but then we have 5 bedrooms all with en-suites, so can't complain. The only thing is also that there are no Doultons in Australia with a Mode facade, so we don't have anything to compare with, only computer pics or other plans with that facade. We are still more than a month away from our electrical and colour appointment, waiting for preliminary contract at this stage. Will post updates as we go! Looking for something like this: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 4Mar 30, 2020 11:57 am Mode facade is beautiful! Will look brilliant. Good luck with your up coming appointments. Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 5Mar 30, 2020 1:34 pm Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 6Mar 30, 2020 2:22 pm You might be interested in checking out one of the Doulton Build threads from one of the members if you haven't already done so. Link should take to directly to the their stair pic =) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?p=1847075#p1847075 Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 7Mar 30, 2020 4:02 pm Interesting options, I see they copied the same pendant and balustrade as the display house! The D56 standard upstairs is shorter than the downstairs. This allows options such as the one here, by swapping bedrooms and leisure, and adding a balcony, you get a few larger bedrooms, and a "public" balcony (not via the master bedroom). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Standard Doulton 56. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Rear leisure and balcony option. The curved staircase is standard on the D56, and optional on the 46 and 50. There is a narrow path between the balustrade and Bed3 so it doesn't appear as spacious as when the leisure room is there, but that's only the path to the master bedroom. This is not our plan, as ours is the D50, but still being finalised. Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 8Mar 30, 2020 7:12 pm We wanted to have a balcony at the front also, but that would push the house back 1M more, and we would have to screen the balcony (and probably the outdoor room also) to avoid the overlooking! It's nice to put Christmas deco at the balcony at the front, space for tree and lights! Reading from posts by others, we are copying and having 2.7M ceilings downstairs and 2.55M upstairs (sort of compensates for not being able to build the 56sq)! Of course this also means some additional changes with window and door heights to match! M did some Geosite 3D modelling to show the fall and problems. The first screen dumps here are front and RH side views. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And the rear view: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Although these are for the 56sq, not the 50, but you can see the problem of falling off the outdoor room! Originally they said we would need a balustrade around it, or steps down to the ground level, but now they have extended the ground and moved the retaining wall out away from the house so the ground is nearly level with the floor: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 9Mar 31, 2020 12:26 pm The only other problem with having the Mode facade is that you lose about 1M from the master bedroom width, but it was either that or lose the view from the rear balcony! And I didn't see the point of an "upstairs" outdoor room with no view. The portico and upstairs area protrudes out from the front of the house, and this is what has to be at least 4M from the front boundary (for our council anyway). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We did look around at other blocks recently, to see if there was something with a view, large size, and reasonably flat, but when you buy a block in an empty area, you can never be sure if someone will build a big house and block your view in the future! The only advantage of being first build in an area is that you can go as close to the boundaries as council permits, as there is no overlooking or overshadowing issues onto vacant land! Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 10Mar 31, 2020 4:28 pm Just had an email that final contract signing will be from June 24th. Our electrical and colours appointments are the end of May! Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 11Apr 08, 2020 9:20 pm Hi, I was just going through your posts and was happy to see that someone else is also building Doulton in Geelong. We are building in Highton. Where are you building? Our studio appointments are on 19th and 20th May. I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers Tanya Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 12Apr 21, 2020 4:32 am I ended up having to take leave from work as I had excess, and they wanted me to take it before June 30. I tried to get studio appointments in that same week in May that we had before I changed it, but they are all booked out! Building business must be booming! Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 14Jun 13, 2020 1:05 am Well, after much back and forward emails, questions, and last minute changes, we finally got our electrical quote docusigned, so that's out of the way now. Just waiting on the final colours and plans, then they can start preparing the contract! It's been a long and hectic two months so far! Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 15Jun 13, 2020 3:59 pm Thats great to hear, we haven't yet finished electricals as we are still waiting on prices of some hanging lights. With colors and plans, we are still working on our bathrooms. I must say we are finding it very hectic. Hope to navigate through this well. Best Tanya Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 16Jun 13, 2020 10:15 pm We are having battens put in for the dining and kitchen, and adding additional pendants after handover. And a junction box at the ceiling above the stairs for a chandelier installation later also. We were almost going to go ahead with the same as the Doulton display, but we wanted something more contemporary and unique! We found some great ones on eBay, just waiting for a reply from seller with the weight, to advise M so that the appropriate support structure will be there. It's always a problem when you want your own lights, not the standard ones! Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 17Jun 13, 2020 10:44 pm TanyaK Thats great to hear, we haven't yet finished electricals as we are still waiting on prices of some hanging lights. With colors and plans, we are still working on our bathrooms. I must say we are finding it very hectic. Hope to navigate through this well. Best Tanya And just when you think you have it all worked out, then they tell you there is more to select! Especially the bathrooms, with tiles, vanity sinks, taps, power points, lights, fans, shower frames, shower head type, exhaust fans, toilet types, standard single or double towel rails or heated towel rails, toilet roll holders, cupboard doors & handles, kickboards or suspended cupboards, drawers or shelves, LED light mirrors or standard, standard tiling, 2.1 metre or floor to ceiling tiles, entry door handles, paint colours, heating options, I've even seen LED lights in the shower niche on others! You have to think about the needs in the minor bathrooms also, little girls grow up and become teens, and need good lighting for doing makeup too! We had 6 versions of the final electrical quote before we got it exactly the way we wanted, but it had to be finalised and signed by 5pm yesterday, and even the final version had a few mistakes, I wanted sensors on the front outside lights, and remove the dimmers! So it got submitted about 5:30pm being all correct, and about 7:30pm we got an email from Kellie that the CCTV supplier quote had come in higher than the original quote (due to camera upgrades, 2 extra required power points and remote view option), so they had to fix the prices again, and cancel and resubmit the revised quote! Needless to say we are already $30K over our original top price. If we had been able to get the government grant, then we would have taken out a few more things, but as it is for house AND land value less than $750K, not just house, then there wasn't any point! Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 19Jun 15, 2020 1:41 pm We'll have about 6M to the retaining wall, which is 1.7M above the ground below and 3M from the back fence. We are hoping we can put in another retaining wall along the fence and put decking over the "pit" that is going to be there, and then maybe put some decorations and a wall there, plants or something, so we can use that area. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ There are limitations and restrictions on what you can build over and nearby to easements, and the sewer is 1M from the back fence, and stormwater is 2M, hence the 3M "exclusion zone". Re: Building a Doulton in Geelong 20Jun 18, 2020 10:11 am We have only now finalised our electrical quote, I guess being busy with the work gives us very little time to spend on this. Anyways, we have also now decided to not go with the staircase pendant as in display but have ask M to put provision in place for pendant to be put later on. We are actually kind of tired seeing it in the display all the time and it doesn't excite us anymore. Yes, we certainly have less backyard but will have some space in the front of the house which will compensate for it. I see you have a nice big backyard, may be we will come to yours for bbq once we are neighbours!!!! Cheers Tanya 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 10749 go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110570 |