Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 24, 2020 11:12 pm Hi All, Like others in this forum, I have learnt a lot from this forum and thought I would also document our house build journey. So welcome to our build. Our journey began last year Nov/Dec when we bought around 600sqm land with house which we intended to demolish and build our house. Choosing Thomas Archer Homes was kinda destiny. To cut to the chase, I had seen the owner of TA's house facade few years earlier on one of our many walks in the neighbourhood and was visually stunned with the facade. I told my wife that I really liked the facade and wished one day we will have something similar. Fast forward few years and when I started to look at builders, the choices were Carter Grange, Hallbury and Thomas Archer. When I came to know the house that I had initially liked was from TA, I was biased towards TA but I did engage CG and Hallbury and got initial Pre-sales quotation. Speaking to few members of this forum and my initial bias towards TA was enough to convince us to sign up with TA for our build. Design of the house: Our block faces east and we wanted to maximise our northern side and also had few other requirements. We looked at TA's Hive design and customised it to suit our requirements. To TA's credit they didn't charge any fee for the changes. Original Hive Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our Customised Hive Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The facade which won me over. Our house facade is exact replica except for the timber colour which is Licquorice if I am not mistaken. The concrete is a smooth finish render (upgrade) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is our staircase Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Our Inclusions/Upgrades 1. 2.74m ceiling to ground and first floor 2. Straight run staircase with glass balustrade to staircase and void area 3. Recessed corner stacker door 4. R3.1 sound screen insulation between bedrooms 5. Velux fixed skylight to ensuite 6. Square set cornice to ground floor and cove cornice to upstairs except for bathrooms which are square set 7. Additional frameless shower to powder room 8. Bosch ovens, fully integrated dishwasher, 80cm Flex induction and Schweigen undercount range hood 9. Evolution 200 insinkerator 10. Supernatural range (Primordia) kitchen island bench 11. Daikin reverse cycle ducted air conditioning 12. fully tiled bathrooms. Master bathroom tile is Marmi classic Pulpis grey. Powder room feature wall is terrazzo. 13. In-wall cistern toilet suite 14. Timber flooring glued from Made by Storey (Truffle) for ground floor except Bed 5 15. Jetmaster 6X fireplace with custom joinery (will be doing marble to fireplace post hand over) 16. Joinery to study 17. All black hardware some of our colours/products Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Few tips for others:- tip1:- I had asked for 4 months settlement so that I could finalise and get the plans ready as much early as possible tip2:- Get abolishment of utilities done if property is vacant before the settlement and also to install underground electrical pit irrespective of if current owners live there or not. tip3:- Get quite a few demolishers quote since they vary quite a bit. we found Dig Dig demolition to be best bang for buck. Timelines so far: Nov 19 - Bought property in auction Jan 20 - Signed Thomas Archer Mar - style appointment. Signed In the swim for concrete pool build Mid March - Receive Tender End March - Settle on house May - Demo complete. Contract signed with TA Early June - construction of swimming pool was supposed to start but had to postpone to summer months due to water and silty soil around 1mtr depth during digging Mid June - Site started Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 3Jun 26, 2020 3:36 pm Same staircase as ours. S6 https://thomasarcherbuild.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html - Thomas Archer Homes - Custom Nouveau 41 Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 7Jun 28, 2020 8:42 pm sifntdaz congratulations on your new home. hopefully everything goes to plan and your feature staircase with the windows looking out to a mini courtyard looks good Thanks, fingers crossed 😀 Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 10Jul 01, 2020 11:12 pm That's the exciting part, you can see how big your house is! Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 11Jul 02, 2020 9:42 pm Ahhhh this is in Bentleigh right? If it's the one I'm thinking on T Road, I've been surprised at how quickly this is progressing each time I drive past! Great stuff. We start on site in a couple of months. Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 12Jul 04, 2020 10:42 pm Wellbuild Ahhhh this is in Bentleigh right? If it's the one I'm thinking on T Road, I've been surprised at how quickly this is progressing each time I drive past! Great stuff. We start on site in a couple of months. 😀 you guessed it right. Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 13Jul 05, 2020 9:01 pm Great to see your build on this forum also - looks like you have some very high end finishes and can’t wait to see it come to life! Funnily enough I was walking to good times milkbar this morning and we walked past this site and I was Wondering whether this was your build and .... my guess was right ! We live super close to here so will definetly be having lots of nosies ! Looks like a very impressive site! Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 14Jul 30, 2020 6:46 pm Sorry for not posting earlier. We had our frame completed and inspected. The inspector found 10 issues and TA had a look at the report and emailed saying they will fix 8 issues and out of the remaining 2, one is under review and they are quoting contract specification and the other one they are washing their hands off saying it is as per engineering drawings and any corrections will be via building variation. I have asked them to confirm in writing from the Building surveyor or the engineer that the defect found will not be an issue. They have yet to respond. The funny thing is the inspector was surprised that TA were acting like this and the fix should cost few hundred dollars maybe. I will keep you posted as to the outcome. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 15Jul 30, 2020 7:00 pm Interesting.... You and I have the same Ss, who replaced the old SS we both had too. Pm me the details. From my "laymans" eye- all looks OK. Friends have driven down Tucker Rd and said "it's massive"!. Hope all ok. https://thomasarcherbuild.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html - Thomas Archer Homes - Custom Nouveau 41 Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 16Jul 30, 2020 7:19 pm Blacktea2sugars Interesting.... You and I have the same Ss, who replaced the old SS we both had too. Pm me the details. From my "laymans" eye- all looks OK. Friends have driven down Tucker Rd and said "it's massive"!. Hope all ok. I am hoping it will get fixed. Will be calling up the SS tomorrow and find out where they stand. Up until now there has been no issues so fingers crossed. Will pm you the details later. Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 17Jul 31, 2020 3:18 pm BigDaddy Sorry for not posting earlier. We had our frame completed and inspected. The inspector found 10 issues and TA had a look at the report and emailed saying they will fix 8 issues and out of the remaining 2, one is under review and they are quoting contract specification and the other one they are washing their hands off saying it is as per engineering drawings and any corrections will be via building variation. I have asked them to confirm in writing from the Building surveyor or the engineer that the defect found will not be an issue. They have yet to respond. The funny thing is the inspector was surprised that TA were acting like this and the fix should cost few hundred dollars maybe. I will keep you posted as to the outcome. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Interesting. Would you recommend your building inspector? We are on the lookout for one at the moment for our own TA project around the corner from yours.... Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 18Aug 02, 2020 9:11 pm Wellbuild BigDaddy Sorry for not posting earlier. We had our frame completed and inspected. The inspector found 10 issues and TA had a look at the report and emailed saying they will fix 8 issues and out of the remaining 2, one is under review and they are quoting contract specification and the other one they are washing their hands off saying it is as per engineering drawings and any corrections will be via building variation. I have asked them to confirm in writing from the Building surveyor or the engineer that the defect found will not be an issue. They have yet to respond. The funny thing is the inspector was surprised that TA were acting like this and the fix should cost few hundred dollars maybe. I will keep you posted as to the outcome. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Interesting. Would you recommend your building inspector? We are on the lookout for one at the moment for our own TA project around the corner from yours.... I have engaged Darbecca for pre-pour, frame and pre-plaster. Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 19Aug 04, 2020 4:16 pm Hi Thanks for sharing your tips and all the upgrades! We just started researching for a builder and have spoken to countless builders - from Porter Davis, GJ Gardner, Carter Grange, to other smaller independent builders but found TA to be very aligned to what we like! We are in the process of talking to TA but would like to find out more about the pricing of the upgrades if you don't mind sharing. Appreciate your help. Thank you so much and good luck on your build! =) Re: Thomas Archer Hive 46 (customised) Build 2020-21 20Aug 05, 2020 12:54 am kathz Hi Thanks for sharing your tips and all the upgrades! We just started researching for a builder and have spoken to countless builders - from Porter Davis, GJ Gardner, Carter Grange, to other smaller independent builders but found TA to be very aligned to what we like! We are in the process of talking to TA but would like to find out more about the pricing of the upgrades if you don't mind sharing. Appreciate your help. Thank you so much and good luck on your build! =) Hi Kathz, pm me what you want to know and I will help wherever I can. We spent close to 2 years in a process with TA. It was horrible..... we got to tender, and the first cut was 50% over our budget which "they care such about meeting ". We… 18 27268 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17588 Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9565 |