and our blind saga is finally resolved!!!

dravenjjc · May 31, 2013 5:02 pm

Hello Butterbing,

Are you building on Sisinghurst? If you are at the corner block, our block is only 2 blocks away from yours.

Oh yeah, we are building the kitchen that inspires yours

butterbing · May 31, 2013 11:44 pm

Dravenjjc

No we very lucky we picked up a 608sqm resale block

The Stoneleigh..We have been in the display so many times!!!!
We fell in love with the kitchen so designed a whole house around it lol

We also loved the bifold windows to the alfresco which the Stoneleigh the Aurora the Manhatten and the Archipelago all have...but this was one thing that didn't make it to our final plan....

We almost signed up with Dale Alcock but couldnt find a floor plan that suited us..and as soon as we wanted to make major changes the variations kept pushing us out of our price range...

So we took what we liked about each house and created our masterpiece..
Complete with the yes you picked it the...Stoneleigh kitchen...

butterbing · Jun 01, 2013 12:05 am

I loved the Manhatten and DH had his heart set on the Aurora....but neither were quite what we wanted

Our plan has turned out amazing though ticks all the boxes.....couldn't of turned out any better if we designed it ourselves lol oh that's right we did...

+Tbrown2012 · Jun 01, 2013 12:17 am

Posting to follow

we are building combination of the Stoneleigh and Archipelago. I love your plan and look forward to following your build

butterbing · Jun 01, 2013 12:22 am

Both are amazing homes the Archipelago kitchen and alfresco is amazing.... And would love to know how much they paid for their basketball court..funny how some things stick in your mind..

butterbing · Jun 01, 2013 12:28 am

We only went out to the Archipeligo once I loved it but we were looking at open plan for the living with a games room...we looked at removing the wall to the activity/games and opening it all up but couldn't picture the furniture placement working...so we crossed it off our list

The Stoneleigh was very close but we really wanted a games room and the Stoneleigh was more of an activity room...closing it in would of helped but then it would of been a lot smaller

+Tbrown2012 · Jun 01, 2013 12:43 am

Loved the Aurora too and was our number one choice but just couldn't get it to fit on our block and a pool

We loved Stoneleigh but wasn't sure about front elevation and we wanted a theatre room and office so we decided to have the front part of archipelago with verandah, sunken theatre and main bedroom to front and then rest of the house Stoneleigh. Particularly loved the office with shutters and the bifold shutters between games / dining. We have the Stoneleigh kitchen with some modifications. We have extended the kitchen bifold to a 5 panel bifold like archipelago doing this we opened out the larder/pantry area. We also have the garage leading into kitchen. We have since posting our floor plan made more changes to kitchen so will post update once final drawings are received. Where did you find Premier homes - don't think I have heard of them? Looks like you have come up with an amazing floor plan

butterbing · Jun 01, 2013 2:25 am

They are only a small builder they only have one display home in Baldivis opened in feb. We actually saw an advertisement initially in the Sunday Times for a similar floorplan which was advertised by Greater Concept it was a reasonable price so we had a money available to spec the house how we wanted and make some changes.

We made initial contact with Greater Concept and found exactly what we we were looking for someone who would work with us to finalise a plan and then price the plan based on the new plan and specifications. Once we started the process we found Greater Concept didnt actually build the house and were linked to Premiere Homes.

Greater Concept worked with us to design the house including the majority of our upgrades and then priced it all up for us but once we agreed on a price and the floor plan we then signed our initial contracts and were passed onto Premiere Homes who are completing the build. All our paperwork is from Premiere Homes though and always has been... I know sounds confusing took us a while to get our head around it. But so far everything has been fantastic...

I guess it's no different than going to a display home and working with the sales person...to choose a plan and get the house priced up.

we worked 1:1 mostly via email with the designer and he came out to our house to see us with our prestart file and to sign initial contracts.

Since we signed our initial contract we have been dealing direct with Premiere homes and have completed prestart with them and final plans are now complete. Our dealings with both greater concept and Premiere homes has been fantastic. Price customer service etc all great....

butterbing · Jun 01, 2013 6:55 pm

TBrown.

I love your plan very similar to what we wanted to achieve with Dale's unfortunately it didn't take us too long to work out that we were in way over our head and our price range...

+Tbrown2012 · Jun 01, 2013 10:46 pm

Hi butterbing, your builder sounds great and really flexible in giving you the home you want. Looking forward to watching your home grow.
Thanks for comments on our plan - cant wait to get going now !

dravenjjc · Jun 06, 2013 5:35 pm

Yes we wee not sure about the front elevation of the Stoneleigh so we changed it to something more soild.

Can't wait to see how you progress...!

butterbing · Jun 06, 2013 11:42 pm

Final plans on the way back from builder yeah!!!

First hiccup with the plans getting knocked back by the shire...we need to reduce alfresco area by 140mm or apply to get approval to go closer to the back fence..

(I originally wrote 1400mm lol should of been 140mm.... Or 14cm oops)

Nicci · Jun 07, 2013 11:16 am

Thats a pity.. the couple next to us had a similar council issue but theres was they put the house a bit closer to boundry and decided to cop the fine.. they were happy it was only $600 but they have backyard now and there neighbour has none so was a good decision.

butterbing · Jun 07, 2013 7:52 pm

140mm is okay hardly worth the extra paperwork..our alfresco is 5.2m wide x 12.7m so 14cm isn't the end of the world..our builder tried to go less than 1.5 m between the alfresco pier and the back fence but the shire has picked it up and it needs to be 1.5m minimum which is fair enough..

We always knew we could apply to go closer with the back neighbours permission but we were always happy to stay within the regulations...we want to fit in planters and a water feature etc so 1.5m is perfect

Builder should of known not to go closer than 1.5m..

Final plans in my hands yeahh although our plans still have to pass shire...off to scheduling soon stay tuned!!!

janicec · Jun 09, 2013 5:47 pm

yeah 140mm is nothing, your alfresco is huge! hope no delays from now on

dravenjjc · Jun 12, 2013 6:48 pm

We had some issue with the front setback as well, were asked to move back by 600mm. But has since all been sorted out.

butterbing · Jun 13, 2013 12:00 am

Edited

butterbing · Jun 13, 2013 12:01 am

dravenjjc

We had some issue with the front setback as well, were asked to move back by 600mm. But has since all been sorted out.

guess I should be happy it was only 14cm...I guess the shire has rules that must be followed

dravenjjc · Jun 13, 2013 1:45 pm

It says it requires min. of 3m setback from the front of your block boundary. But the line blurs a bit when you have a verandah, then it says it could be as close as ~2m. Ours is @2.4m but the building itself is 3.4m+

Weird I know, and it is up to some odd interpretation too. We ended up submit variation design code change application and got approved. It came back to us less than 2 weeks, much less than the builder anticipated.

butterbing · Jun 25, 2013 8:45 pm

Our plans are still in shire!!! Not happy

Last communication from the builder was that they can't get hold of the person from shire who is doing our approval....so frustrating

They went to the shire around the 6th June and a couple of minor things were flagged the builder has sort these issues out yet we are still waiting so frustrating!!!!

::sad::