Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA- Solar Energy Pays 363May 13, 2014 8:55 pm KEL6 Grass Industrial Co.,LtdKEL6 Grass Industrial Co.,Ltd is a factory which is special for Manufacturing and Marketing on all kinds of artificial turf ,artificial grass and landscaping grass. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 366May 14, 2014 1:59 pm 2-cupcakes-pls thanks for your post. I have taken a lot of good info from your post. Thanks cupcakes, I am really happy that someone can benefit from my journey. I see yours is about to start so Good Luck and I hope that everything goes according to plan. As I mentioned, home building stirs many emotions, good and bad but in the end most bad memories are forgotten once you are in and settled in the house. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 367May 14, 2014 5:55 pm Thanks for sharing, that was a great read. My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 368May 14, 2014 6:24 pm Ahh the benefit of hindsight hey. Good to see more positives than negatives though. We are also going the open plan no theatre thing, I hope we love it as much as you. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64434 Building our own custom design based on the Elwood by Dale Alcock Land settled - November Plans submitted to council - January Prestart - March Slab - 18 September Brickies - 23 October Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 369May 14, 2014 6:26 pm Burnsfirsttime Thanks for sharing, that was a great read. Thanks, I sincerely appreciate the feedback. Good luck with your build, my comments to cupcake remain relevant. I know Burns Beach well and it looks like you have a great position in a really great suburb. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 370May 14, 2014 6:31 pm navs Ahh the benefit of hindsight hey. Good to see more positives than negatives though. We are also going the open plan no theatre thing, I hope we love it as much as you. No doubt about it, with hindsight you have 20/20 vision. Open plan makes the whole house seem much bigger and is perfect for a smaller house although for families with large houses and a family a theatre room makes a lot of sense. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 371Jun 13, 2014 12:18 pm Totally agree with your last point about cost savings sometimes not being worth the effort and involvement and risk of outside tradesmen or tools and planning etc. Wishing I had just paid for landscaping as soon as I moved in. Dealing with sand getting everywhere and my beautiful liquid limestone getting so badly stained from the dirt was not worth the terrible DIY that still isn't finished a year later. GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 372Jun 13, 2014 12:56 pm turtleschell Totally agree with your last point about cost savings sometimes not being worth the effort and involvement and risk of outside tradesmen or tools and planning etc. Wishing I had just paid for landscaping as soon as I moved in. Dealing with sand getting everywhere and my beautiful liquid limestone getting so badly stained from the dirt was not worth the terrible DIY that still isn't finished a year later. Hi turtleschell, I found the hardest thing about "after handover" finishing off is the coordination of the tradies to do the flooring, tiling, painting etc given the inability of most building companies to give a firm date for handover. Everyone that I have spoken to about this aspect agrees that the first problem is getting the PCI date and then a firm handover date, builders nearly always fall back on the 10 working day handover clause after PCI but often there is not much to do so this could be only 5 working days until you get your hands on the keys. Obviously the sooner you are in your new home the cheaper it will be in terms of rent saved. In the meantime most people have to give notice to their landlords, book the tradies and hope that the estimated dates materialise. A friend of mine was given a provisional date for the handover, booked the flooring guys for the next day only to be told by the builders that the handover will only take place the following week. The flooring guys could only return two weeks later which put the whole process back and ended costing a lot of money in extra rent plus having to reschedule the painters and tilers. Did the builders care??? Not a bit, once they have your money they don't give a stuff. I definitely agree about getting the garden done asap, sand stains are a pain and they can ruin carpets and especially, as you have experienced, liquid limestone leaving marks which can last for years. I am glad that all this stress about the building and landscaping is in the past for me although it was fun at the time. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA-1 year- Hits & Mis 373Jun 13, 2014 6:39 pm We had our tentative PCI date pushed back 6 weeks and it's been a nightmare, we've finally had it today though, the only saving grace being we did everything through the builder so we didn't have as much to organise but still a pain the bum as we've been packing for the last 2 months. We can't really save on rent though as we are only giving our landlord the 4 week notice today but after all the previous delays we were too nervous to give our notice any earlier in case we got stuck. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64434 Building our own custom design based on the Elwood by Dale Alcock Land settled - November Plans submitted to council - January Prestart - March Slab - 18 September Brickies - 23 October Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA- 2 year Review 374May 15, 2015 2:16 pm Well, here we are two years and a couple of months since we moved into our new home and while we are happy with the end result, hindsight obviously provides us with some areas where we could have improved upon. Firstly a couple of comments:- Essastone is far more rugged than we first believed, we were made to believe that it needed to be treated with "kid gloves", this is far from the truth. We opted for the French Nougat Essa-stone for our bench-tops, these being kitchen bench and both bathroom vanities. So far we have spilled, to name a few, coffee, curry, red wine, tomato sauce, tea and a myriad of other things that stain badly, none of these have marked the surface which we clean with Spray 'n Wipe and a damp cloth, the top still looks new. I have put hot pots on it a couple of times without damaging it although I don't make a habit of this and use one of those racks we bought from Ikea for all the really hot stuff. I was paranoid about the durability of the Quik-Step laminate we installed, not from wear and tear but from water damage. So far my fears have been groundless, while we haven't had a major water leak yet, we have had numerous water splashes and "liquid" accidents courtesy of my two year old grandson. These were wiped up quickly and there was no damage at all. I wish we had:- a) Spent the $2k extra for a Colourbond roof or alternatively insisted on a layer of plastic sheeting under the tiles as they do in other countries. The dust in the ceiling is hectic and if, like us, you use your ceiling void for extra storage, expect everything to end up under a thick layer of dust. b) Installed solar panels from Day 1, we have a 2.1 kw system and it has cut our electricity bill in half. I should however have put in a bigger system, maybe 3kw or more. c) With the solar energy sorted, I would have installed an electric cook top, gas is great but it is getting expensive. d) I would have gone with a solar hot water system from the outset and eliminated our need for a gas connection. Our gas bill now is almost twice as much as our electricity bill. e) I would have extended the "smart wiring" to include TV points in the spare bedrooms and maybe even one in the alfresco area. If you have a couple of people over to watch a game and you also want to BBQ, its nice to have a TV out there so you don't miss any of the action. f) If you have an option DON'T plant stuff on your verge, unless you are an avid gardener (vast minority) weeding the verge is not going to happen too often, its a major hassle and the weeds look ugly and untidy. In our area this is Shire property, they prepare and plant the verge but we foot the water bill and we have to maintain it. We actually had the option of natural grass, plants or artificial grass, every "weed season" I mentally kick myself for not going the artificial grass route. If the verge strip can be paved, so much the better. g) If any bathroom backs onto a bedroom, especially your en suite, look at getting an extra course of bricks laid on the dividing wall. Sound carries through the paper thin walls which can be annoying. You can hear the shower going, opening and closing of the vanity cupboards and flushing the toilet all carries through to the bedroom. A double course wall in this instance is an important addition in my mind. When I was investigating solar systems, I was constantly told that the return on assets (ROI) was not too good and that it would take 5 or 6 years to break-even with this investment. Sound reasoning if you don't plan to stay in the house for more than a year or so or if you are disciplined enough to put extra money aside for your electricity bill. In my experience, most people will blow the money and struggle to pay the electricity bills every couple of months. We are here for the long haul and I thought that while I had the money, install the system as who knows how high the electricity tariff are going to go. So far my decision has been justified. Apart from the usual "feathering" under the ceiling barge boards we are very happy with the Aussie living built house and we have had no structural or quality issues at all.So far, so good.. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA- 2 Year Review &Ti 375May 15, 2015 2:47 pm I really find your reviews and comments valuable JohnD...we are in the process of building our house now (bricks stage) and some of the points you have made are in our minds but we are not sure how to address them yet...but now we have your hindsight so that's great. Will be going back to read the rest of your thread... Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA- 2 Year Review &Ti 376May 15, 2015 3:01 pm Hootie I really find your reviews and comments valuable JohnD...we are in the process of building our house now (bricks stage) and some of the points you have made are in our minds but we are not sure how to address them yet...but now we have your hindsight so that's great. Will be going back to read the rest of your thread... Thanks Hootie, I don't profess to know or be able to answer everything but I now have the benefit of experience. If there is anything you want to discuss in my thread or anything else you think I may be able to assist you, please don't hesitate to contact me. I did hours of research on some things and one of the objectives of my thread is to pass this on to anyone who is interested. Glad to be able to help in anyway. Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA- 2 Year Review &Ti 377May 15, 2015 4:32 pm great stuff John. I don't know how you do this every year to the exact date! Re: Our Cottage Block Build NOR, Perth WA- 2 Year Review &Ti 380May 15, 2015 7:14 pm Glad to hear you are still enjoying your house John!! Much like you we are in a similar position, very happy with the house and many of our decisions but a few 'little' things we would do differently next time Like you we have found even our almost white essay stone is pretty tough. We got rust on it, with some elbow grease I got it off with no damage! Our verge wasn't done by the shire/developer so 18 months later it is still sand and weeds! So many other things to spend that money on. Solar and a wood burner are next two big purchases. Hi All New to the forum and looking for some advice, has anyone else renovated an old miners cottage in or around Ballarat and been able to identify the flooring? We… 0 8757 Your house roof does not show rusting other than some surface rust on the flashings. In my opinion you dont need to replace or paint the roof other than treat surface rust… 1 10105 i thought the flipped plan initially but bec i want narrow pathway from entry to dining (dont like bend), also cannot fit the… 7 17167 |