Hi there,
Long time lurker first time poster!
Have been stealing your ideas and tips for a few months so thought it best to come out in the open and say "Thanks!" for that!
Here's our story so far...
We started to outgrow our townhouse after our daughter was born and started moving around so we started looking around our area (Cloverdale). We decided we want to build so we'd have what we want but all the older blocks were being subdivided into 3 and were costing a mint for less than 300m2! We really didn't want double story again and we wanted a little bit of yard for our kid and two crazy Westies so we had to start looking outside that area. We still wanted to remain within decent proximity to the city and away from the awful freeway!
We purchased a rear battleaxe block in Queens Park in august/sept 2013. It's over 500m2 but 100 of that is driveway but we were happy with the decent 20x20 building area even if we are under the landing flight plan for Perth! We had no idea what we were in for! Cost of site works have been significantly higher than what we had planned (we knew they'd be higher for a rear block but seriously), and the cost of building (those all inclusive for $200k packages are a rort!) just was higher than we had envisaged. Being a rear block we needed an individual design and found it difficult not having a display home option I'll tell you! But we took our wish list to 4 or 5 builders in the end and were happy with the design & price provided by 101 Residential so signed up with them early November 2013.
We were told 6months planning, 6months building so we were excited that we'd be in our new home by Christmas 2014, but the planning period took more like 8 months and the slab only went down on 1st July, so I think that will push us well into January now. We were very frustrated with how long it took to proceed to construction (although our prestart consultant was fantastic) as we made very few changes and had no finance or titles delays. But still we are so excited to finally have movement on the block! And we know, once the house is complete it will be amazeballs.
I'll try to work out how to post pics on here and put the design up later. (Edit- worked it out!) We kept it small so we'd have a little bit of backyard, but we wanted a decent sized kitchen, living, dining as the townhouse was SMALL, like seriously tiny. We've gone with a 3x2 plus study nook & theatre (to be used as an activity room). We were lucky enough to have a interior design consultation included in our package so as a result the husby and I didn't get divorced which is a good start!
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Looking forward to sharing our build with you and asking about a billion questions along the way!
Em
Timeline:
Signed up - 1/11/13
Prestart - 13/3/14
Final contract signed - 9/4/14
Building permit - 1/5/14
Site Works - 17/6/14
Plumbing - 27/6/14
Footings - 30/6/14
Slab down - 1/7/14
Soakwells installed - 9/7/14
Shed, lintells arrived - 17/7/14
Site cleared & Bricks arrived - 22/7/14
Brickwork begins - 28/7/14
Brickwork finished 24/9/14
Roof started 25/9/14
Electrical and plumbing done
Garage and alfresco ceiling done
Roof finished 13/10/14
Grey float started 25/10/14
Grey float complete 28/10/14
Ceilings in 1/11/14
White set started 5/11/14
Doors arrived 6/11/14
LOCKUP! 7/11/14 (WEEK 19 after slab)
Internal doors, wardrobes installed & bricks cleaned 11/11/14
Internal doors, frames and ceilings painted 14/11/14
Manhole & window splashback fixed 14/11/14
Site Clean 17/11/14
Trenching & Services run in 18/11/14
Sanitary plumbing 20/11/14
Cabinets started 24/11/14
Garage grano 26/11/14
Waterproofing & screeding 26/11/14
Tiling Meeting 1/12/14
Garage door measured 1/12/14
Tiling started 4/12/14
Stone Benchtops & sinks 5/12/14
Tap wear and toilets installed 10/12/14
Aircon installed 12/12/14
Lighting and electrical 15/12/14
Solar HWS 16/12/14
Floor tiling started 16/12/14
Main floor tiling finished 19/12/14
Exhaust fans & gloss painting on doors & frames 22/12/14
Mirrors & Shower screens 23/12/14
Internal & External painting completed 2/1/15
Pavers arrived 8/1/15
More electrical done 9/1/14
Insulation done 12/1/15
Towel rails & Toilet roll holders 14/1/15
Flyscreens, stove top installed 20/1/15
Blinds installed 23/1/15
Wardrobes, front door handle, laundry tiling 31/1/1
Horizontal bore electrical run in 2/2/15
Paving started 9/2/15
front downpipes, external lighting completed 9/2/15
Paving completed 11/2/15
Carpets installed 12/2/15
PCI 16/2/15
Driveway finished 17/2/15
Electrical finished 17/2/15
Final Inspection & Handover booked for 27/2/14
Moved in 28/2/14!