Happy Chinese New Year! I wish I could also add the good news that our plans were approved by council but unfortunately they are still in submission. It has been over 3 months in council now and although there were a few weeks during xmas/new year where council was closed, I would have expected it to be done by now. We had to correct the size of our downstairs windows at one point with council claiming they were too big for privacy issues or something (ridiculous!) but it only took an extra week or so to fix the plans and resubmit.
I am sure I am echoing the frustration of many others who have embarked on the journey of building your own home and it really is frustrating.
But on a happier note (got to stay positive ey?), I am pregnant and expecting baby number two in late June. I was not expecting the house to be done by then, but would have thought it would be close. We are now expecting or rather hoping! that it will be done by August which would mean it has taken a full year to complete.
Anyway, fingers crossed, I haven't dropped off the blogsphere, just that there has been nothing noteworthy to report since the last entry.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Publicly exposed
Hank is now out to the public for viewing and lodging of complaints against his proposal for being built. It is a two week window and we have already met the neighbours directly behind us who seem pretty nice and we know the house next to us should be vacant now so that only really leaves the house on the other side. It is looking good and hopefully this step means that the council has no more objections to our plans.
It would be amazing if we actually started building before xmas as I have been telling our friends that I didn't expect to start building til Jan next year.
Onward and upward!
It would be amazing if we actually started building before xmas as I have been telling our friends that I didn't expect to start building til Jan next year.
Onward and upward!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Scouts motto, be prepared!
About two weeks ago we decided to get ahead of the time to choose lighting placement and power points by visiting the display home and marking it down on the plans. Unfortunately while we thought we were getting ready early, we realised we should have done this before plans were finalised.
Upon looking at the layout on the 1st floor which had a large wall area between two doors that a flat screen tv was hanging on, we realised that the door placement was different from our original plans to maximise this area to enable a large screen to be handily placed between the doors. This allowed a lounge area to be placed opposite making the configuration nice. But we didn't notice this until now and our plans were already submitted. We were told it would be a few hundred dollars for amendments to plans once submitted.
Additionally downstairs in the great room, we were trying to plan out where the dining area and lounge, tv etc would be situated that made best use of the alfresco position and view. Again, if we had gone through this exercise before plans were finalised we would have positioned windows and doors in different places to maximise the layout of furniture. This was another change, would this mean another few hundred dollars? We weren't too sure but the change we wanted downstairs was not just a simple interior door placement, it would have meant change to council plans and more delays costing us money. So we would have to live with it.
Not entirely ruined but could have been better planned. Its one of those things you know, when you know Hank could have been a perfectly planned specimen but now we know he has some flaws that we overlooked. Still, one for the experience books.
Advice, plan as much ahead as possible before final plans.
Upon looking at the layout on the 1st floor which had a large wall area between two doors that a flat screen tv was hanging on, we realised that the door placement was different from our original plans to maximise this area to enable a large screen to be handily placed between the doors. This allowed a lounge area to be placed opposite making the configuration nice. But we didn't notice this until now and our plans were already submitted. We were told it would be a few hundred dollars for amendments to plans once submitted.
Additionally downstairs in the great room, we were trying to plan out where the dining area and lounge, tv etc would be situated that made best use of the alfresco position and view. Again, if we had gone through this exercise before plans were finalised we would have positioned windows and doors in different places to maximise the layout of furniture. This was another change, would this mean another few hundred dollars? We weren't too sure but the change we wanted downstairs was not just a simple interior door placement, it would have meant change to council plans and more delays costing us money. So we would have to live with it.
Not entirely ruined but could have been better planned. Its one of those things you know, when you know Hank could have been a perfectly planned specimen but now we know he has some flaws that we overlooked. Still, one for the experience books.
Advice, plan as much ahead as possible before final plans.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Meeting the neighbours
Well council came back with a request that we show that an attempt was made to run the sewer down stream through the neighbours yard rather than pump it back up to the street towards the front of the house. Luckily it is mostly a formality as most people do not want you to dig up their yards and disrupt them.
So our builder drafted a letter of refusal for them to sign and asked that we get their signature. So hubby went over and explained to them what the council was asking. It turned out that they were quite lovely and said they wouldn't mind us doing this if we returned the state of their house back to what it was! Hubby quickly explained it was just a formality and that we wanted them to refuse which they obligingly did. How accomodating!
So it was back to the builder with the signed letter and back to council.
So our builder drafted a letter of refusal for them to sign and asked that we get their signature. So hubby went over and explained to them what the council was asking. It turned out that they were quite lovely and said they wouldn't mind us doing this if we returned the state of their house back to what it was! Hubby quickly explained it was just a formality and that we wanted them to refuse which they obligingly did. How accomodating!
So it was back to the builder with the signed letter and back to council.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Hank has gone to council!
Monumental step today, Hank has been submitted to council! Also, we asked for an update on the extra $2K issue for our change to bathroom layout back to standard and our sales consultant confirmed that she believed we had been charged twice for the shower option on the ground floor. We will have to remind her to amend our tender.
The day of colour selection - watch the upgrades!
Well the day had come for Hank's interior colour selections and whatnot. We had to take a day off work for this as the showroom was not open on weekends.
Firstly I will say that it is best to know what you want prior to this day. If you do not know want you want, then its good to at least have a general idea of what you are looking for. Most of the 'consultants' are primarily there to fill in the forms that you will sign locking you in to your selections and secondarily they answer your questions and make some superficial comments about the design and colours. If you expect them to give you options and expert recommendations then don't hold out for this. They have a set number of clients to get through per day and there is really little time to spend going through all the variations you could get.
Firstly, we picked interior colours, which we sort of knew what we wanted based on what we saw in the display homes and we confirmed outdoor colour selections as well. Then it was choosing from a limited number of options for interior doors, handles, bathtubs and basins. We upgraded to larger tubs and upgraded all taps (vanity, shower and tub) to mixer style which was quite costly when considering the number of taps there were across the three bathrooms.
Next it was choosing bathroom vanity tops and cupboards. Our standard design was laminate tops and cupboards. To upgrade to poly cupboards was around $800 but it was limited to a number of colours only, not any colour we wanted. We picked a light colour vanity (i had originally thought to have a coffee coloured cupboard with white top) as the only dark poly colour was a rich chocolate which was too dark for our liking. The top we asked for rounded edged laminate and we chose a gloss white marble style top. We spent some time deliberating and finally moved onto the next stage but I was not convinced. (sorry no photos, too lazy)
Kitchen was next and we had several poly colours to choose from as well as several cultured stone benchtops. I had originally thought to go with coffee cupboards again and white top, but hubby picked a grey stone benchtop and light grey cupboard. I had baulked at the grey but when they were put together, the combination was quite unique and went with our cool coloured interior wall paint. Hubby also said it would match the steel appliances. We increased the size of the fridge area to accomodate our double door fridge. Lucky I asked about the size as the 'consultant' did not even bring up the subject of fridge size. Hubby upgraded the rangehood to a canopy style and also asked for soft close drawers which were reasonably priced. The location of the microwave which was part of the upper cupboards was moved up in line with the upper cupboards. We were not too sure if this was too high and would prove a hazard but the only option given was to move it lower but then it would not align with the upper cupboards.
Then we moved to airconditioning and was most impressed by this consultant, a more experienced gentleman with a wonderful manner. He seemed to really know his stuff and gave reasons for his placement of the vents. We opted for an additional remote so we would have one remote on the top and bottom as the remotes which sit on the wall act as the thermostat.
Security, phone, tv and data points were next. This was out of my area of knowledge (and interest). I left this to hubby who added another tv point, phone point, 5 cat 6 data points! and another alarm sensor (we got 3 as standard so added another). All these upgrades were starting to add up! I only just managed to convince the hubby not to get a sound system installed as well.
By this time I was hungry and it was past 12.30 pm already. They give you lunch vouchers at the cafe but you aren't really encouraged to eat until you finish all the selections.
We had staircase next and did not upgrade anything, thank god. We got a standard round stained balustrade to match our stained 1200 mm wide front door which sits on top of the wall which gives it a nice modern look instead of the entire staircase being posts.
Lastly we had flooring. We always intended to do the flooring ourselves believing we could save a few thousand dollars this way. We also wanted tiles on the ground floor which the builder does not do, only carpet and timber flooring. We selected a carpet and flooring and got quotes for these anyway.
Finally we were then given half and hour for lunch before seeing our main consultant to confirm all our selections. Lunch was not the greatest but hey, it was free and satisfied the hunger.
Before making our way back to the main consultant, I dragged hubby back to the bathroom vanity and top selection to rethink our previous choice. We decided to forego the poly upgrade to the vanities and chose a dark grey with gloss white marble top for the ensuite and stringybark with gloss white marble top for the other bathrooms. I quite liked the stringybark laminate for a bit of texture and detail but hopefully it does not clash and look cheap once installed!
We confirmed our selections and were done by about 3pm after starting at 9am! It is a full day and an important one and you are really not given much time.
Once we left, we realised we had wanted the microwave in the island rather than above in the upper cupboards. We rang back and asked if this could be moved to the island instead but were told we had already signed our selections and decisions. Ripped! So beware, make sure you come prepared. We also told them we would not go with their flooring as we shopped around and decided we could get a better deal outside which could save a few thousand.
Also, we found all our upgrades amounted to several thousands of dollars. We were generally happy but didn't take the cost of all the little increments into consideration.
Firstly I will say that it is best to know what you want prior to this day. If you do not know want you want, then its good to at least have a general idea of what you are looking for. Most of the 'consultants' are primarily there to fill in the forms that you will sign locking you in to your selections and secondarily they answer your questions and make some superficial comments about the design and colours. If you expect them to give you options and expert recommendations then don't hold out for this. They have a set number of clients to get through per day and there is really little time to spend going through all the variations you could get.
Firstly, we picked interior colours, which we sort of knew what we wanted based on what we saw in the display homes and we confirmed outdoor colour selections as well. Then it was choosing from a limited number of options for interior doors, handles, bathtubs and basins. We upgraded to larger tubs and upgraded all taps (vanity, shower and tub) to mixer style which was quite costly when considering the number of taps there were across the three bathrooms.
Next it was choosing bathroom vanity tops and cupboards. Our standard design was laminate tops and cupboards. To upgrade to poly cupboards was around $800 but it was limited to a number of colours only, not any colour we wanted. We picked a light colour vanity (i had originally thought to have a coffee coloured cupboard with white top) as the only dark poly colour was a rich chocolate which was too dark for our liking. The top we asked for rounded edged laminate and we chose a gloss white marble style top. We spent some time deliberating and finally moved onto the next stage but I was not convinced. (sorry no photos, too lazy)
Kitchen was next and we had several poly colours to choose from as well as several cultured stone benchtops. I had originally thought to go with coffee cupboards again and white top, but hubby picked a grey stone benchtop and light grey cupboard. I had baulked at the grey but when they were put together, the combination was quite unique and went with our cool coloured interior wall paint. Hubby also said it would match the steel appliances. We increased the size of the fridge area to accomodate our double door fridge. Lucky I asked about the size as the 'consultant' did not even bring up the subject of fridge size. Hubby upgraded the rangehood to a canopy style and also asked for soft close drawers which were reasonably priced. The location of the microwave which was part of the upper cupboards was moved up in line with the upper cupboards. We were not too sure if this was too high and would prove a hazard but the only option given was to move it lower but then it would not align with the upper cupboards.
Then we moved to airconditioning and was most impressed by this consultant, a more experienced gentleman with a wonderful manner. He seemed to really know his stuff and gave reasons for his placement of the vents. We opted for an additional remote so we would have one remote on the top and bottom as the remotes which sit on the wall act as the thermostat.
Security, phone, tv and data points were next. This was out of my area of knowledge (and interest). I left this to hubby who added another tv point, phone point, 5 cat 6 data points! and another alarm sensor (we got 3 as standard so added another). All these upgrades were starting to add up! I only just managed to convince the hubby not to get a sound system installed as well.
By this time I was hungry and it was past 12.30 pm already. They give you lunch vouchers at the cafe but you aren't really encouraged to eat until you finish all the selections.
We had staircase next and did not upgrade anything, thank god. We got a standard round stained balustrade to match our stained 1200 mm wide front door which sits on top of the wall which gives it a nice modern look instead of the entire staircase being posts.
Lastly we had flooring. We always intended to do the flooring ourselves believing we could save a few thousand dollars this way. We also wanted tiles on the ground floor which the builder does not do, only carpet and timber flooring. We selected a carpet and flooring and got quotes for these anyway.
Finally we were then given half and hour for lunch before seeing our main consultant to confirm all our selections. Lunch was not the greatest but hey, it was free and satisfied the hunger.
Before making our way back to the main consultant, I dragged hubby back to the bathroom vanity and top selection to rethink our previous choice. We decided to forego the poly upgrade to the vanities and chose a dark grey with gloss white marble top for the ensuite and stringybark with gloss white marble top for the other bathrooms. I quite liked the stringybark laminate for a bit of texture and detail but hopefully it does not clash and look cheap once installed!
We confirmed our selections and were done by about 3pm after starting at 9am! It is a full day and an important one and you are really not given much time.
Once we left, we realised we had wanted the microwave in the island rather than above in the upper cupboards. We rang back and asked if this could be moved to the island instead but were told we had already signed our selections and decisions. Ripped! So beware, make sure you come prepared. We also told them we would not go with their flooring as we shopped around and decided we could get a better deal outside which could save a few thousand.
Also, we found all our upgrades amounted to several thousands of dollars. We were generally happy but didn't take the cost of all the little increments into consideration.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Final tender? but wait a minute ...
Well we are still waiting for plans to be submitted to council but were given the latest version of our tender with final items added etc. A couple of wins were had, we had originally asked for skinny windows of the double hung variety which were priced around $200-300 per window but changed this to awning style and now these apparently do not incur any cost which should save over $1000... additionally we substituted a larger door 1200mm for the standard door with sidelight (so no sidelight now) and we have been given credit back for this change which was unexpected. However, a big difference was that now we were being charged over $2K for the downstairs bathroom and shower!! We had asked for the shower option in the downstairs bathroom from the start and have been charged previously less than $1000 for changing the configuration and layout of the bathroom from the standard layout, so we thought we'd save that cost by reverting back to the standard layout and were given the impression that this cost would be removed. Now we see that having the standard layout is costing more!
Hubby has raised this with the sales rep who has tried to justify but in the end will ask the draftspeople about this. I have no idea how she can justify it and if they insist on charging us, we will revert back to our cheaper, non standard design! i only hope that if we revert back they do not charge us for changing the plans again as we have already finalised the plans. But we were not given warning that changing back to the standard would cost us even more than how we originally had it!!
Anyway, we'll wait and see what happens, but most unfair if we end up paying more.
Oh we also got charged over $3K for a hydraulic charge system for the sewer which is a new cost but was indicated on previous tender so I guess we will have to wear it.
(Sarcastic) I love how you sign on with builders and then all the little costs come out of the woodwork. By that time you have spent so much time and effort with them that you are compelled to keep going rather than start all over again with a new builder. I'm sure everyone knows its a bit of a rort and that there should be more governance on this.
Hubby has raised this with the sales rep who has tried to justify but in the end will ask the draftspeople about this. I have no idea how she can justify it and if they insist on charging us, we will revert back to our cheaper, non standard design! i only hope that if we revert back they do not charge us for changing the plans again as we have already finalised the plans. But we were not given warning that changing back to the standard would cost us even more than how we originally had it!!
Anyway, we'll wait and see what happens, but most unfair if we end up paying more.
Oh we also got charged over $3K for a hydraulic charge system for the sewer which is a new cost but was indicated on previous tender so I guess we will have to wear it.
(Sarcastic) I love how you sign on with builders and then all the little costs come out of the woodwork. By that time you have spent so much time and effort with them that you are compelled to keep going rather than start all over again with a new builder. I'm sure everyone knows its a bit of a rort and that there should be more governance on this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
