Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Boutique Homes 2963Dec 09, 2016 6:13 am --------------------------------------------- Building a St. Tropez 25 - Boutique Homes Aurora Estate Wollert - Victoria Re: Boutique Homes 2965Dec 09, 2016 8:38 am --------------------------------------------- Building a St. Tropez 25 - Boutique Homes Aurora Estate Wollert - Victoria Re: Boutique Homes 2966Dec 09, 2016 9:29 pm Building the Barcelona with Boutique Homes - construction due to commence approx. February 2017 My building blog: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Re: Boutique Homes 2968Dec 10, 2016 8:17 am Building the Barcelona with Boutique Homes - construction due to commence approx. February 2017 My building blog: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Re: Boutique Homes 2969Dec 10, 2016 8:56 am Building the Barcelona with Boutique Homes - construction due to commence approx. February 2017 My building blog: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Re: Boutique Homes 2972Dec 10, 2016 11:18 am --------------------------------------------- Building a St. Tropez 25 - Boutique Homes Aurora Estate Wollert - Victoria Re: Boutique Homes 2973Dec 10, 2016 1:09 pm Building the Barcelona with Boutique Homes - construction due to commence approx. February 2017 My building blog: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Re: Boutique Homes 2974Dec 10, 2016 1:33 pm Building the Barcelona with Boutique Homes - construction due to commence approx. February 2017 My building blog: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Boutique Homes 2975Dec 10, 2016 7:28 pm PWCC our_new_digs PWCC [quote="our_new_digs"]Hi guys In case anyone is interested I have started my own blog to track our build/give tips and chat about lessons learned. We're building the Barcelona 32. http://www.firstbornhome.wordpress.com Happy reading. Did you start your blog? as wordpress saying it doesnt exist and the URL is available Oh whoops! The correct URL is: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Thanks for the correction... Nice start to your Blog, not too many Boutiqiu building blogs, so nice to see a new one being started. Once we get closer to signing I might have to also blog it. I as at the moment very interested in how people have found the Colour \ Electrical appointment, this is one area I am very scared of, we are pretty much settled on the Riva 29 and happy with the base product seeing as Boutique standards are pretty much every other builders upgrades. We added a large front door, and some cabinets in the Laundry and made the Kitchen Island Bench top wider, upgrade heater to 5 stars with zoning capabilties and with provisons for owner install Refrig Cooling. So we have managed to keep a base structure cost under control, but I am concerned that we are not going to be happy with the Cat 1 colour etc and blowing budget in this area... If you dont mind sharing, I like to know what the $14k for you electrical went too? guessing some to getting rid of the batten light fixtures and putting in downlights ... what other changes upgrades did you do to the electrical... I am wanting to put Alarm and network cablining in and concern they are going to charge a futune for this addition wiring... (and agree with your comment, why are they not putting in downlights as standard as I would pretty much guess that most people would upgrade them, except for where they are going to install there aftermarket lights or pendants etc) My SC as assurred me to worry as Boutique is fixed price, where other builds use quote or tendering process and the cost can change and signing, and that I dont have to sign anything or deposit money till I am happy with the final cost.[/quote] What I did before my colour appointment was order samples from Caesarstone and polytec. Also got Solver and Wattyl paint samples from hardware store and went to see display homes and building supply stores to see brick and window colours. The only thing that really did my head in was the carpet and tiling because I didn't know where to view them without going to the Boutique showroom. All my choices were from Cat 1 except the carpet because the Cat 1 carpet looked cheap and nasty so upgraded to Cat 2. Re: Boutique Homes 2977Dec 10, 2016 10:41 pm our_new_digs PWCC Thanks for the correction... Nice start to your Blog, not too many Boutiqiu building blogs, so nice to see a new one being started. Once we get closer to signing I might have to also blog it. I as at the moment very interested in how people have found the Colour \ Electrical appointment, this is one area I am very scared of, we are pretty much settled on the Riva 29 and happy with the base product seeing as Boutique standards are pretty much every other builders upgrades. We added a large front door, and some cabinets in the Laundry and made the Kitchen Island Bench top wider, upgrade heater to 5 stars with zoning capabilties and with provisons for owner install Refrig Cooling. So we have managed to keep a base structure cost under control, but I am concerned that we are not going to be happy with the Cat 1 colour etc and blowing budget in this area... If you dont mind sharing, I like to know what the $14k for you electrical went too? guessing some to getting rid of the batten light fixtures and putting in downlights ... what other changes upgrades did you do to the electrical... I am wanting to put Alarm and network cablining in and concern they are going to charge a futune for this addition wiring... (and agree with your comment, why are they not putting in downlights as standard as I would pretty much guess that most people would upgrade them, except for where they are going to install there aftermarket lights or pendants etc) My SC as assurred me to worry as Boutique is fixed price, where other builds use quote or tendering process and the cost can change and signing, and that I dont have to sign anything or deposit money till I am happy with the final cost. Hi PWCC, glad you are enjoying my blog so far. Early days but I have so much content in my head - it is simply just finding the time to write it all down. Re: refrigerated cooling, have you received a quote from Boutique for their refrigerated cooling to compare with DIY? I only ask because my hubby looked into this for us and in the end he felt the refrigerated unit supplied was of pretty good quality and there was very little money to be saved by DIY. Cat 1 colours are limited and I think you are right to be concerned about blowing your budget in this area IF you are picky and quite opinionated when it comes to your selections. I cannot recommend a visit to the Boutique showroom (prior to your actual Colours Appointment) enough. You can arrange this with your Pre-Start Consultant. Even if I lived 5 hours away I would still make the trek there for a look around beforehand. This will enable you to see what category 1 options you have and you will start to form a much more educated understanding of whether you are going to be satisfied or not. If you see higher category selections you prefer then this also gives you the chance to have them costed for you. I will be writing a LOT more about colours and electrical in the coming weeks but I am STRONGLY of the view that you should have all of your selections made before you even step foot in the showroom on the day of your Colours Appointment. In relation to signing your build contract - you sign your contract on the morning of your Colours Appointment. There is a cooling off period though, which might be what your SC is referring to. It is 5 days from memory. So, our electrical spend paid for down lights, exterior floodlights, garage light, under cupboard lights in kitchen overheads, dimmers in bedrooms, several two-way and three-way switches, extra powerpoints, external weatherproof powerpoints, sensored entry light, junction boxes (for future electrical), three phase power and surge protection, upgraded smoke detectors, heat lamps in bathrooms, upgrade to slimline power points and switches, TV aerial. I think that's pretty much it. Nothing too crazy huh? We have an induction cook top and that combined with our heating/cooling system would put quite a bit of stress on a single phase power set up. We were only borderline needing three phase power, but given it would be difficult to upgrade this ourselves (if we found single phase was insufficient) it was something we decided to upgrade. Thanks for all that info... I dont have cooling cost on the Riva 29 yet, as we started with the Riva 26 and only just changed our mind to upsize assuming our budget can handle it. On the 26 we where told that the Single phase 12.5KW Aircon with the upgraded heating unit was $12k.. we have descided to go with the owner install option... this gives us the 5 Star heater unit, all the ducting upgrade to allow for refrig cooling, GPO's etc for the compressor etc... so we are going to go down this path, gives us the better heater unit with zoning and then we just need to purchase a compressor and coil in the roof... I have a friend that sells heating and cooling system to residential builders in Victoria and he also agreed that Boutique pricing on their cooling is very well priced as a lot of builders put a big margin onto these system. So I think you safe with Boutiques systems and pricing for the heating and cooling. Re: Boutique Homes 2979Dec 11, 2016 7:18 am Keep in mind you can DIY your own flooring/carpets, perhaps look at getting some quotes for comparison. The credit amount we received was ~$5,500 for a Barcelona 32 floor plan. Building the Barcelona with Boutique Homes - construction due to commence approx. February 2017 My building blog: http://www.firstbornhouse.wordpress.com Re: Boutique Homes 2980Dec 11, 2016 7:41 am our_new_digs Keep in mind you can DIY your own flooring/carpets, perhaps look at getting some quotes for comparison. The credit amount we received was ~$5,500 for a Barcelona 32 floor plan. However you can't do your own wet areas. For us, we extended tiles through the passageway so it meant that our own tiles would be hard up against the Boutique required tiles in the bathroom and powder room. We didn't want different tiles side by side so just searched for a tile we were happy with. 10 16475 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 110749 |