Coral Homes' Daydream 32 in Kurri Kurri NSW

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 13, 2014 6:41 pm

Hi guys,

I thought we better start our own one of these for our build for any hints/tips/guidance you have to offer us. These is where we are currently at:

We exchanged contracts for a lovely 1610m2 block of land in Kurri Kurri in mid August. We were supposed to settle at the end of September, but due to the vendor not organising his mortgage to be released and public holidays and things we are FINALLY settling tomorrow (fingers crossed).

We are building the Daydream 32 (with a few changes) with coral. The layout and extra rooms (study, activity room and games room on top of the normal rooms) really appealed to us. We have made a few changes (extending the island bench to twice the width, widened the fridge space, added sound proofing batts to the media room and a theatre like step into that room and completely redesigned the ensuite so it was more like the noosa 29). If I ever work out how to upload pics, I will put our plans up.

We have had the soil tests done (and it didn't take nearly as long as I had feared, only two weeks) and our fixed price tender has come back and been adjusted with any faults they made to it. We have had some issues with stormwater drainage but the coral head office and our wonderful sales consultant Anthony Hawthorne from Chisholm have been really great at designing drainage solutions so hopefully council will approve the build.

If all goes well with settlement tomorrow we will be paying the 5% and moving onto council approval, then the fun stuff- colour and electrical!!

We have had no problems to date with Coral Homes at all. We have found the sales consultant(s) fantastic. They are efficient and helpful and as honest and upfront about costs for us. Even the soil testing and waiting for tenders we have found to be fairly quick.

This is all new to us and we know absolutely nothing about building (or owning anything substantial for that matter) so its all daunting and very exciting. Please follow our build and help/advise us in any way you can

KateTodd · Oct 13, 2014 7:13 pm

Congratulations!

Sounds like things are really going well for you. Wishing you a happy and pain free building experience!

We are building in Gillieston Heights with Sekisui. Currently waiting for registration of our land then we are ready to start construction.

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 13, 2014 7:52 pm

Thanks KateTodd. It is really exciting isn't it

when do you think registration will happen? We are hoping to get our slab laid in January

KateTodd · Oct 13, 2014 8:22 pm

Hopefully November so not far off at all!

Once the slab is down things will fly

Great size block you've got!

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 13, 2014 9:11 pm

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These are our altered plans. I have a giant crush on my extended island bench

November would be good to register... Have they given a time frame for when you might start your build after that?

jwbear · Oct 13, 2014 9:50 pm

Hey guys welcome to the site.
Awesome block of dirt you have, house should look great on it, looking forward to the photos of the build, hope it all goes smoothly for you.
Any pics of the land?

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 14, 2014 12:15 am

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Looks a little overgrown and rough but there's our block

Mellywil · Oct 14, 2014 9:29 am

Welcome! Your land is massive - I'm jealous

I can't quite see the layout of your ensuite - is there a bath in there or is it just an oversized shower?

We're building the Daydream 28 in a KDR (eventually). We're waiting for the plans and contract which are due next Monday.

Looking forward to following your build.

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 14, 2014 7:13 pm

Hey Mellywil,
I've been following your process for a while

must be hard seeing everyone's development when yours has to take so much longer with the KDR.

My ensuite is a massive double shower without a bath. The standard had the bath, but it was wasted on us. I don't like baths and we can turn the main bath into a spa if we have the $$ at selection time

jwbear · Oct 14, 2014 9:02 pm

Cristyandpercy1

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Looks a little overgrown and rough but there's our block

Block looks good, little overgrown as you said.
Location looks great.

Mellywil · Oct 15, 2014 9:47 am

Cristyandpercy1

Hey Mellywil,
I've been following your process for a while

must be hard seeing everyone's development when yours has to take so much longer with the KDR.

My ensuite is a massive double shower without a bath. The standard had the bath, but it was wasted on us. I don't like baths and we can turn the main bath into a spa if we have the $$ at selection time

It's not too bad because I always planned - mentally - to start the build in March next year. It does get a little frustrating when I can see no reason for things to take SO long though, but I try to take a deep breath and get over it

I just have to remember that the longer it takes, the smaller our current mortgage will be (and the larger the redraw) before we pile on the cost of the new house.

Oooh, I LOVE baths. We have a dinky little ensuite with no room for a bath (the husband would not compromise on shortening the al fresco to allow a bigger ensuite and WIR

). So, I've asked for a longer and deeper bath in the boy's bathroom that I plan on using quite frequently.

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 16, 2014 8:33 am

Yeah I'm surprised each step takes as long as it does (and we've had a pretty smooth run!). Did coral need to do soil tests etc or were they happy to accept the class it was when your current place was built?

Building our first dream home in NSW

Mellywil · Oct 16, 2014 9:08 am

We had to have the soil tests taken as normal and then we will have to have more once the house is gone. The classification was the same as it was 30-odd years ago though so I don't see it changing in the next few months. Guess they have to be sure.

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 16, 2014 12:36 pm

So frustrating! How long have your quoters said demo will take once you get underway?

Building our first dream home in NSW

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 16, 2014 12:52 pm

These are the changes (and prices for those interested) we made to our place:

*bramston facade (I loved the feature bricks) $3,790
*steel frames instead of timber framing $5,379
*extension to ensuite $1,488
*double stacker doors in games room as well as in the family room (so when open, the whole alfresco is open to the house) $2,470
*acustic batts (sound proofing) to media room $495
*extra linen cupboard with three sliding doors the length of the study $958
*two 180o swinging doors (one to shut off the toilet/bathroom/laundry, and one for the media room) $830 (way more than we thought but apparently the hinges are very expensive)
*double shower to ensuite $431
*extra hot/cold taps in garage for another washing machine (stinky partner's work clothes) $381
*extension to kitchen island Bench so it's 1500mm deep with extra cupboard space on the outside (if anyone has seen the Bronte kitchen island at Thornton Display homes, it's that island) $4177 (so expensive, but I fell in love with it)

Eek, we wound up with a lot of extras, but we are hoping with the inspirations package, we won't have to pay for many upgrades at the colour selection time (or my partner is hoping anyway).

Building our first dream home in NSW

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 30, 2014 1:48 pm

We had our tile appointment this morning... We have pretty simple tastes so we didn't upgrade to much. Here our our selections if anyone is interested:

Main bathroom:
*Floor tiles, shower tiles and front and top of bath tiles- essential black 300x300 (STD). I tried to upgrade to white grout for the floor but they won't do it

*Wall tiles up to 2100mm on all four walls (standard as part of the inspirations package) - classic Carrara white 200x400 (STD) laid vertically.

Ensuite
*floor and shower tiles- Rhodes Carrara grey satin rectified tile 300x300 (upgrade only ~$300 extra)
*wall tiles- Rhodes Carrara grey gloss rectified 300x600 (upgrade only ~$800) laid vertically to 2100mm as per inspiration package
*feature vanity wall- essential black 300x300 (STD)

The white tile with the darker fleck through it is the upgrade and the other whitish tile is a standard one

Building our first dream home in NSW

jwbear · Oct 30, 2014 9:35 pm

Tiles look good, how fun is the tile selection, really enjoyed ours.

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 31, 2014 5:34 am

So fun!! It's all starting to (finally) feel real

Building our first dream home in NSW

daydream_build · Oct 31, 2014 6:44 am

The tiles you have chosen are lovely

Cristyandpercy1 · Oct 31, 2014 7:51 am

Thanks

we like them. Have you done yours yet?

Building our first dream home in NSW