Masterton Symphony

Hi Mrs Rose,

Thanks for that... these forums seem to be a blessing!

We're building the Symphony split level with the master bedroom to front at West Hoxton.

We took your advice and dropped the platinum package and just upgraded the benchtops to 40mm and soft close drawers. We got the 900mm oven with the weekender package so that worked out well...

We gave our $3000 deposit yesterday....

You can tell you have experience with these things!! lol

l would definitely like to get a different rangehood and we're waiting on a quote for the cavity doors.

The only major changes to the floorplan we've made are:

- 2.7m ceilings (this then makes the whole front of the house 3.0m ceilings due to the split.... )
- linen cupboard will be moved from the front hallway around to the side hallway where the master bedroom built in robe is.
- media room to have a horizontal window instead of 2 vertical

That's it at this stage.... I love the house as is!!

We wanted the Allure facade but were told a week later that we couldn't have it as it comes out an extra metre at the front and we don't have any metres left so we're going with the contemporary facade.

Other things at this stage we're changing are 40mm benchtops in kitchen, soft close draws and bulkhead. I'd like to upgrade and fully tile both bathrooms but hubby doesn't care so I'm not confident I'll win that argument but I'll try again later! so it seems we're stuck with the one tile from the ground - boo hoo!

I've had bricks on the brain this weekend. Just from looking at the brochures we liked:

Boral Graphite
Boral Sirius Cove
PGH Cement
PGH Sorbetto

We drove past a house with graphite and didn't really like it and I've seen some pics on the net of PGH cement and scratched that too so it looks like it's either sirius cove or sorbetto at the moment... but we'll see!! Going to look at a house tomorrow with Sirius Cove so see how that goes...also liking Barramundi or Caper roof tiles...

Too many big decisions to make and not enough time to make them!!

Hi Lucky,

Another Symphony builder - yay! I was starting to doubt if there were any out there....

I love the elite.... the extra width and length is great... I wish we had the room... lucky you (pardon the pun... ).Good choice on the Sorbetto. That's what we're likely going with.

You and me both first time builders... I have no idea of the process and I guess it's just going to be one big learning curve.

What area are you building?

Hi Green Dream, Lucky,

I'm building Masterton Cadence home with Ivy facade (inspired by the Symphony at Warwick Farm). Just paid my plan preparation deposit and waiting to review the final tender.

My floorplan is straight off the plan with no modofication, I got the 2740mm high ceiling for free as part of the weekend offer, along with afew free stuffs like double power point, additional TV points.

A friend advised me to keep a logbook for all communication, agreement and change request. So you can refers to it during disputes.

Another keynote is during the payment schedule, make sure you ask them this question before signing the contract - "what happens in the event of a dispute as to completeness of a stage, will I get penalised?" It is common for then to charge you interests in lieu of dispute. If you are not happy with the slap, framework or electrical they will have to fix it before moving to the next stage.

My dilemma at the moment is decision to go with solar for hotwater and natural or bottled LPG gas for cooking.

Regarding the cooktop, I paid extra for the canopy to suck the outside, otherwise it just recycle the air not good in the long run. It makes the kitchen paint goes yellow.

Cheers,
Scott.

Hey Sunshine T & All,

I have an address for Boral Sirius Cove in Sydney, just PM me and I'll give it to you. I don't have any for PGH Sorbetto (I haven't asked), but if anyone has any that would be great.

We went out to PGH on the weekend and we're going with the following externals (I hope this is final!):

Brick: PGH Sorbetto
Roof: Barramundi
Gutters/Downpipes: Monument
Fascia: Surfmist
Garage: Surfmist
Windows: Silver or Grey (haven't decided).

We originally picked woodland grey for our gutters/downpipes but the girl at PGH swayed us to monument by saying that woodland grey throws off a green tinge? I've done a bit of research and it goes 50/50 for and against! I have to go for a drive and have a look...

Hello Green Dream and Lucky (and everyone else on the Masterton homes threads)

I have been reading the posts avidly for the past week or so as we are also looking to build the Symphony MBTF Split Level in Sydney in the Inner West. We've been researching various builders for a while (studying floorplans etc) and fell in love with the Symphony and were just out in Warwick Farm on the weekend, met with a consultant and am about to get the ball rolling. We are very excited but very nervous at the same time because after much debate between hubby and I, we have decided to go down the knockdown and rebuild route. I was wondering how the symphony builders are going with it all?

Hi All,
We have signed with Masterton to build the Symphony MBTF with a few modifications. Our plans are with Council at the moment. We have our colour selections on 6.12.10. We have already chosen our tiles for the bathroom and splashback. A bit stressful but we got there in the end!

Hi Inner Westie. We widened the house so that it was the same width as the "Elite". As a result our bedroom is about a metre wider as is the living areas. We altered the side of the living areas so that it was identical to the "Elite", ie two door openings to the outside as shown in the "Elite" exhibition home at Oran Park. We changed to a triple garage but with only two garage doors so that the third garage is really for storage, exercise equipment etc.

Masterton were accomodating but we found it difficult trying to convey our wishes to a salesman who then had to pass it on to the draftsman. I think if I had of been able to spend one hour speaking directly with the draftsman it would have saved four weeks of going back and forward until it was right.

I'm sure they can alter the plan to suit you. Just have a clear idea of what you want.

Hi InnerWestie,

I think we're slowly building a small army of Symphony builders!

We're building the Symphony Split with MBTF and signed our building contract last Friday.

Our main modifications were:-

1. Linen cupboard same as warwick farm Symphony layout i.e. opposite breakout room and not in the hallway like the original Symphony MBTF plan.

2. We removed the sliding door and cavity from the back wall and now have 2 sliding doors on the side as we're having a pool and alfresco on the side. We added 2 x double hung windows to the back wall and straightened the wall so we can now use the whole back area next to the media room (instead of it being half a walkway due to the sliding door at the back). We also JUST fit the house on our block and had to take 600mm off the back so we made the back wall straight instead of having a cavity for extra room.

3. 4m x 4m Alfresco to the side.

4. Increased the ceiling height to 2.7m which automatically gives us 3m ceilings to the front due to the split. We also opted to make the roof line straight as apparently this was an extra $$ due to the split!

This weekend we were planning on going to Don's Tiles to look at the tile options and we also need to arrange an appointment for colour selection. Availability seems to be second week of December at the earliest or anytime in January.

Yikes.... colour picking.... nothing worse..!