Looking to build my first home. After advice, references, info.

[mitchy]

sorry i wasn't clear. it's still a third despite the fact the front property doesn't use the driveway, the common property is divided equally amongst all the blocks.

[cplagz]

Looking at the size I'd say its R20 because minimum block size is 350sqm. R20 is 50% coverage

[Trolley]

My slab went down last week after sooooo many months of administrative shit and fuckups due to an incompetent (or perhaps just overworked) pre-start girl. Floor plan below. Corner block, 395sqm in the Swan Valley. (Please save the "should have done this, should have done that". It's a first home and will always have its drawbacks and mistakes that have been realised/will be realised :p). The main one being it's going to be a fucking hot house, lol.

edit: I has eaves.

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/220800_10151039001393803_1074511721_o.jpg

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/920889_10151465473078803_25895587_o.jpg

[mitchy]

Looking at the size I'd say its R20 because minimum block size is 350sqm. R20 is 50% coverage

R20 is 440 min, 500 ave.
R25 is 320 min, 350 ave. that is why i asked, as it looks to be R25 to me which is 50% coverage as well. with the common property it should still net something like 200m² though

[cplagz]

R20 is 440 min, 500 ave.
R25 is 320 min, 350 ave. that is why i asked, as it looks to be R25 to me which is 50% coverage as well. with the common property it should still net something like 200m² though

Dickface, check new RCodes that come in 2nd August kek

[mitchy]

Dickface, check new RCodes that come in 2nd August kek

pah, it's june.. stick your kitchen up your ass! :p

[DBLDOSE]

Mind me asking for a ballpark figure and what area for that block?

Reason I ask is have been looking around and a 2000sqm block in Lesmurdie is ~$450k. 40 minutes from from the City, 20 minutes from Cannington, plenty of childcare in the hills, 3 IGAs, Woolies and Coles all 5 minutes away. Only thing we are missing is decent public transport...

[Trolley]

240k in Caversham (395sqm)

[mr_rotary]

Australia has some of the largest open expanses in the world, but there's no room to build a house suited to the climate.Bollocks. Just looking at WA alone and our climate zones. Built from Broome, Kalbarri, Geraldton, Perth & Hills, Bunbury to Albany. So many different ranges of temperatures and conditions let alone soil classifications!

Biggest issue is client education as to what is suitable to build in their climate. Other dilemma is the majority of builders have the mentality of one does all designs with inexperienced sales staff = shit design.

You guys need to start looking outside the box as it's rather embarrassing reading some comments here.

[cplagz]

Mind me asking for a ballpark figure and what area for that block?

Reason I ask is have been looking around and a 2000sqm block in Lesmurdie is ~$450k. 40 minutes from from the City, 20 minutes from Cannington, plenty of childcare in the hills, 3 IGAs, Woolies and Coles all 5 minutes away. Only thing we are missing is decent public transport...

Buy in North Perth, same same... shit public transport everywhere haha

[cplagz]

Bollocks. Just looking at WA alone and our climate zones. Built from Broome, Kalbarri, Geraldton, Perth & Hills, Bunbury to Albany. So many different ranges of temperatures and conditions let alone soil classifications!

Biggest issue is client education as to what is suitable to build in their climate. Other dilemma is the majority of builders have the mentality of one does all designs with inexperienced sales staff = shit design.

You guys need to start looking outside the box as it's rather embarrassing reading some comments here.

Was chatting with my sister about this today (ex-valuer) and she said they valued a development down freo way that used pre-fab and apparently it got hammered in the val simply because it wasn't "the norm" and basically valuers were ass covering.... fucking shithouse form! But unfortunately they have to follow the leader

[Evman]

Bollocks. Just looking at WA alone and our climate zones. Built from Broome, Kalbarri, Geraldton, Perth & Hills, Bunbury to Albany. So many different ranges of temperatures and conditions let alone soil classifications!

Biggest issue is client education as to what is suitable to build in their climate. Other dilemma is the majority of builders have the mentality of one does all designs with inexperienced sales staff = shit design.

You guys need to start looking outside the box as it's rather embarrassing reading some comments here.

What comments are embarrassing? You do know what what you quoted me as saying was entirely tongue in cheek right? Maybe the blatant contradiction of huge spaces but no room to build wasn't clear enough?

[Trolley]

Only thing we are missing is decent public transport...

Pretty normal for most parts of Perth let alone going out further. My fiancee will just drive into Midland, park and ride so that's not too bad (she works in the city).

[d1mitch]

of course, but they would presumably have a copy of their detailed area plans with stipulate the areas restrictions.
i hate DAP's.

they must have some different reg's in the estate becasue there is one house being built and i swear the corner of the gutter is over the boundary line.
here is a plan with variations to the R codes for the release i bought in, it talks about no setbacks to boundary walls on either side, does this mean there is no minimuw steback for the eaves? and what is classified as a major opening?


http://i.imgur.com/noB430u.png

[cplagz]

What stage did you buy in ?

http://www.satterley.com.au/go/residential-estates/catalina/purchaser-information

[mitchy]

they must have some different reg's in the estate becasue there is one house being built and i swear the corner of the gutter is over the boundary line.
here is a plan with variations to the R codes for the release i bought in, it talks about no setbacks to boundary walls on either side, does this mean there is no minimuw steback for the eaves? and what is classified as a major opening?


generally speaking you can't build anything outside the property boundary... that said i've seen drawings that have passed through council etc, of a house with an awning that stuck over a footpath, at about eye level.... lol

i cant read that image, but it's probably to do with being able to run the house boundary to boundary like some townhouse. some councils frown upon it, some are fine if the development is intended that way (narrow frontages, etc)

a major opening is a window/door, unless the window sill is higher than 1600 from ground level.

[d1mitch]

cplagz
What stage did you buy in ?

http://www.satterley.com.au/go/resid...er-information

stage 7


mitchy
generally speaking you can't build anything outside the property boundary... that said i've seen drawings that have passed through council etc, of a house with an awning that stuck over a footpath, at about eye level.... lol

i cant read that image, but it's probably to do with being able to run the house boundary to boundary like some townhouse. some councils frown upon it, some are fine if the development is intended that way (narrow frontages, etc)

a major opening is a window/door, unless the window sill is higher than 1600 from ground level.

sorry the image was a bit shit, here is the link to it

http://www.satterley.com.au/digital/catalina/Purchaser%20Information/Stage7-8/Contract%20of%20Sale%20-%20Annexure%207%20-%20DAP%202%20approved.pdf

[mitchy]

stage 7



sorry the image was a bit shit, here is the link to it

http://www.satterley.com.au/digital/catalina/Purchaser%20Information/Stage7-8/Contract%20of%20Sale%20-%20Annexure%207%20-%20DAP%202%20approved.pdf

yep as i thought, all blocks under 13m frontage can build boundary to boundary. keep in mind, that means no doors/windows though.
it's pretty mch for running one side of the house hard up against the boundary, where you might have the garage, theatre, bathroom and kitchen.
bedrooms need to have windows, so they'll likely be on the other side, set back from the boundary (1500mm means you can have full height windows, and an eave with no issues)
make sure they pay attention to the garage needing to be 1000 behind the main house setback line too (porch not included)... a lot of designs have the garage in front, i've been caught out having to recess the garage back into the house.

[d1mitch]

yep as i thought, all blocks under 13m frontage can build boundary to boundary. keep in mind, that means no doors/windows though.
it's pretty mch for running one side of the house hard up against the boundary, where you might have the garage, theatre, bathroom and kitchen.
bedrooms need to have windows, so they'll likely be on the other side, set back from the boundary (1500mm means you can have full height windows, and an eave with no issues)
make sure they pay attention to the garage needing to be 1000 behind the main house setback line too (porch not included)... a lot of designs have the garage in front, i've been caught out having to recess the garage back into the house.

ok cool so if i have the main rooms 1.5m off the boundary i can have whatever windows and an eave?

the way i read the garage thing was that being no less than 1 metre behind the front of the house only applied if you were in front of the 4.5m minimum setback.
so if you had the garage in front or less than 1m behind then it has to be a minimum of 4.5m from the street.

[mitchy]

yep.

they're saying it needs to be at least 4.5m from the front boundary and also 1m behind the front of house (some of those blocks you can squeeze a small room in the front setback area, so your minimum front setback is going to be 3.5m for the house)

this is one i've done for a similar DAP.
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b488/68dbm/house_zpsfeac6c6e.jpg~original

[duste]

^ That's an AWESOME design. Wish more people added stores to garages...

Will be in contact in a couple years for a similar design. :p

[cplagz]

Stores in garages are a design requirement as per RCodes AFAIK

[Joe]

Does it have to be in the garage, or can it be somewhere else in the house?

[Evman]

What's the reason for allowing the house to extend further than the garage? Seems odd to me? Having said that, the 20-30 year old unit I'm in does the same

[Joe]

Some councils won't let you have the garage in front of the main line of the house as outlined by their own individual design guidelines.

By setting it back, it reduces bulk and impact on the streetscape, which in laymans terms, is a bunch of wank that the local council bureaucrats use to justify their jobs.

[mitchy]

houses are beginning to look like huge garages with a small house attached to them, makes for less attractive streetscapes.

hell, on my street there is quite a few triple and quad garages.. how the fuck they got 4 garages on the streetscape through council i don't know.

[Joe]

See that's just ridiculous, and probably the reason why the design guideline is in place..

But on the flipside, I had to redesign my whole entire house because of it, and it didn't make a dick of difference to the streetscape, considering my house is already 12m wide and 7m high. I'm not complaining too much however, because the new design is a million times better than the old one.

[Scaf]

Garages cannot take up more than 50% of the front boundry width.

[mitchy]

Garages cannot take up more than 50% of the front boundry width.

indeed. this one is about 2/3rd's though.

http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b488/68dbm/quadgarage_zps67cd418f.jpg

[duste]

Are you sure that's not an "attached duplex", if that's even possible? There's a letter box either side...

[Scaf]

Does look like it could be a duplex.

Anyway its 50% of boundary width not house width, by the looks of it thats quite a wide block.

[mitchy]

nfi why there is 2. is only an entry door on the left, the right side is a boundary wall onto council land.

[Joe]

Maybe to trick people into thinking its an attached duplex, so no one complains about the 4 car garage :P

[Scaf]

Must be Italian.

[mitchy]

pretty sure they have 7 EF - AU falcons. that means at least 70 boongs live there.

[[Jacek]]

Sorry just a quick question going back to that block I posted - do you think it's at risk of being devalued due to being the "middle" house on the block? Someone mentioned to me that middle houses in triplex configurations are not as sought after as the front or rear...i can see their point but would it affect the value you think, or perhaps just be a little harder to sell down the track?

[mr_rotary]

yep.

they're saying it needs to be at least 4.5m from the front boundary and also 1m behind the front of house (some of those blocks you can squeeze a small room in the front setback area, so your minimum front setback is going to be 3.5m for the house)

this is one i've done for a similar DAP.
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b488/68dbm/house_zpsfeac6c6e.jpg~original


^ That's an AWESOME design. Wish more people added stores to garages...

Will be in contact in a couple years for a similar design. :p

You will not fit anything in the store other than a couple of shelves there on the wall.

Door to the garage should open into the entry, unless you like dents.

[mitchy]

You will not fit anything in the store other than a couple of shelves there on the wall.

Door to the garage should open into the entry, unless you like dents.

technically it's not actually a store because of the door, but the client wanted one there.

dents in what? it's no where near where the cars will be.

[Turbo2.6L]

I think he means the entry from hallway Mitchum. Opens inward to where cars would be parked

[mitchy]

i know what he is talking about, it wont come near the cars. :)

should probably note most houses i draw aren't small, so the garages aren't the 5.4x5.4 bare minimum.

[SimonR32]

You will not fit anything in the store other than a couple of shelves there on the wall.

Door to the garage should open into the entry, unless you like dents.

Store door may be a bit handier opening outwards.

Door will be nowhere near cars, my current garage is like that

[racegtst]

I am currently building and have a 4 car garage (6x6). I was only having 3 openings from the front. Council made me move a wall out 500mm in front in the section with no roller door and put a window in to make it look like a room instead of a garage due to streetscape. The other issue was the 50% rule which I was over, after making it look like a room, it was approved and all is good.

The block has a 20m frontage

It will look ok when done but I will need to do something like block out on the window as I don't want the world seeing into my garage. Security is hooked up but I will more than likely block the window from access.

This pic was taken a month or so ago.

http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/racegtst/971098_10151430823716818_1110933957_n_zps50fe08aa. jpg

[Evman]

It will look ok when done but I will need to do something like block out on the window as I don't want the world seeing into my garage. Security is hooked up but I will more than likely block the window from access.


Dark tint + metal mesh security screen does a good job. Lets ok amounts of light in, but you really need to get up close to see inside

[racegtst]

Dark tint + metal mesh security screen does a good job. Lets ok amounts of light in, but you really need to get up close to see inside


That is exactly what I am thinking.

[Sensible]

Dark tint + metal mesh security screen does a good job. Lets ok amounts of light in, but you really need to get up close to see inside

I have the darkest tint on the front windows of my place, unless there is a light on inside the room you cannot see through it
What I have seen some builders do when it is required to do the same thing is, put window in with blacked out glass and then brick up behind the window

[volt_bite]

Quick question: My hand over is soon, is it worth paying for a building inspector or the like?

I do have some common sense, but other than that, what should I look out for?

[MadDocker]

Everything. Check all the taps work, hot & cold. Listen for water hammer in the roof. Toilets flush & half flush. Check all power points work. Check oven, gas tops. Windows, sliding door tracks, locks. Paint finish, especially on the top of the door frames which is left bare by shitty painters. Finishing/paint on gutters, small bits missing on corners of gutters is common, hardiflex not double nailed. Paint/render not low enough out the front is common. Check there are no/minimal gaps between external brickwork & hardiflex. Tiling is straight and any patterns line up properly. Garage door is set and goes up & down properly. Termite sticker/notice is in the meter box.

If the supervisor tells you "that's industry standard" it doesn't always mean that's what you should settle for or what you have paid for...

Taking your time and being a pain in the arse checking everything at your inspection might seem awkward with a supervisor trying to get you out the door but anything you pick up at inspection saves you. Don't be scared to wait an extra week to get things fixed up.

[volt_bite]

Thanks buddy.

Did you do your own inspection or get someone else to do it?

[MadDocker]

I've done my own when building and buying. Had a few arguments to get things sorted in December 2007 when things were booming a bit more then they are now but that's the only time I've ever had an issue.

A mate is building a house at the moment and is picking the most ridiculous shit. Tiny black dots on the window frames and things like that. I've never gone that far but the builder is fixing them begrudgingly so anything you're not 100% happy with is worth taking up with them before signing off.

[cplagz]

I've done my own when building and buying. Had a few arguments to get things sorted in December 2007 when things were booming a bit more then they are now but that's the only time I've ever had an issue.

A mate is building a house at the moment and is picking the most ridiculous shit. Tiny black dots on the window frames and things like that. I've never gone that far but the builder is fixing them begrudgingly so anything you're not 100% happy with is worth taking up with them before signing off.

If you read the BCA's theres a "standardised method" that you can actually inspect things... ie, 1m from a wall, directly facing it, no external light sources rah rah ... so builders can be pingpingpingpings if they want to be.

[YOUR MATE]

I used houspect and it paid for itself to be honest. Door frames reprinted, doors too, crack in cistern we didn't notice, chipped roof tiles, some debris from render on gutter. Little things that might not of been noticeable to us that are now all being fixed. Can recommend. Lucky there is nothing major wrong though. Keys as soon as its done.

[DBLDOSE]

Quick question about the first home buyers grant if anyone know it. Are you able to get pre-appoval for the grant then take that to the bank when applying for a loan to add to your deposit? Or do banks take the grant into account when people are applying?

[RELEASE]

Can't get pre approval.
To get fhog approval you need a executed building contract and first payment (contract deposit or slab down payment)
They can't count it as deposit because they can't legally force you to put it towards your loan

[Lonewolf]

another reason why i bought an already built place (but brand new), counted towards my deposit

[DBLDOSE]

Can't get pre approval.
To get fhog approval you need a executed building contract and first payment (contract deposit or slab down payment)
They can't count it as deposit because they can't legally force you to put it towards your loan

Yeh sorry was meant to say when buying established. Thanks Lonewolf.

Only looking at the moment, still need to sell a few toys before I have loan together but I want something Kalamunda/Walliston/Lesmurdie/back of Gooseberry Hill. Can't really afford land + build out this way on my budget.

[d1mitch]

ok can i get your opinions guys, here is my initial draft for my house. the picture is not in scale but the dimensions are

http://i.imgur.com/oNKxC8b.jpg

there are a few things i want to change

-to make the vanity in the ensuite wider, can this be done by bringing the wall of the master bed, WIR and ensuite to the right by 500mm.
-to move the window in the rear bedroom to the rear of the house not facing the alfresco as that would be where my bbq will be
-make a small store to the rear left of the garage (up the side of the theatre) as mitch had in his design he posted, obviously the window would have to move along the wall to suit.

give me your opinions on anything else

[mr_rotary]

- Garage could do with widening. You have 500mm spare to the RHS. Plot ratio needs to be calculated to see if it will work. I would add 200mm to the garage and the remainder the ensuite/master suite/robes.
- I would straighten the entry passage widening the home theatre. Delete that nib at the end from the entry to the living. Should be a 'no charge' with the result a larger room.
- Add a door to the home theatre.
- I would have the dining slider open from the left, not the middle.
- Not sure how you would use the WC in the laundry without closing the laundry door first. Personally I would move the laundry door to the home theatre = no charge. Or move it to the passage/dining opening against the fridge recess nib wall if you are concerned about noise.
- At pre-start, add a GPO to the side of the island bench in the kitchen.
- I hate poxy high light windows in ensuites. I would swap positions of the WC and shower. Delete the enclosed toilet and move the door to close off the ensuite. It would also appear to make the ensuite larger.

[SimonR32]

ok can i get your opinions guys, here is my initial draft for my house. the picture is not in scale but the dimensions are


After a quick look here are my suggestions.

-Door from back of Garage to dead side of house
-Rearrange Ensuite, it doesn't work (especially with the dual basins so close together)
-Widen Master bedroom, 3.2m is very small
-Remove the wall that at the end of the entry
-Widen the theatre
-Door conflict in the Laundry to the W/C will be a pain in the ass
-Garage door to open into garage not entry

[shifted]

Push the wall out of Laundry & Bed 2 by that extra 500mm - they are tiny at the moment. In addition to everything mentioned above.

[mitchy]

what's your zoning/site cover? looks to be back on 45% open space as it is, so pushing out walls might no worky.

widen theatre in line with garage, door on theatre, remove nib from hallway
door on ensuite. do you need double basins? i find it gimmicky unless you have a huge room.
rearrange the ensuite so toilet and shower are flipped, but no wall separating. no window in the toilet means the exhaust fan HAS to be wired to the light switch.. annoying when you wake up at 3am to piss and wake up everyone.
flip bath/shower to bathroom? door swinging into shower screen will be annoying
move kitchen to L shape in the bottom right where the lounges are, gives a bigger living/dining
doors/sliders to bed 2/3 robes
sliders to linen
move window to bed 3 from alfresco to rear wall
find out the type of the sliders to the alfresco and perhaps go play with some. i'm not sure if it's just the ones i've seen but the 2 sliders that meet in the middle always seem like a pingpingpingping to lock to me. mum's place has 4 of them and my place has a couple of a different brand, and they all need to be wrestled to actually lock together.
are windows to bed 1 highlight? everyone who stands at the front door will see your dildo collection otherwise. make them highlights, and add a highlight to the RHS wall?
move laundry door to passage between living and bedrooms. will stop toilet door being blocked, and improve energy efficiency rating

[mitchy]

Push the wall out of Laundry & Bed 2 by that extra 500mm - they are tiny at the moment. In addition to everything mentioned above.

can push out laundry, but not bed 2. can't have an external wall over 9m less than 1500 from the boundary.

[d1mitch]

thankyou so much for your feedback i really appreciate the help, my responses/questions in red


what's your zoning/site cover? looks to be back on 45% open space as it is, so pushing out walls might no worky. -zoning/site cover is 70% so 30% open space, so i have a little bit of space to play with
widen theatre in line with garage, door on theatre, remove nib from hallway -thats bad feng shui (to be able to see the right through the house from front door to rear door) lol, i dont know i will have a look
door on ensuite. do you need double basins? i find it gimmicky unless you have a huge room. -nope dont need double basins at all was just an initial thought may just end up going one anyway
rearrange the ensuite so toilet and shower are flipped, but no wall separating. no window in the toilet means the exhaust fan HAS to be wired to the light switch.. annoying when you wake up at 3am to piss and wake up everyone. -i honestly would more prefer the shower to have the window than the toilet because with a frameless or semi frameless shower it would allow more natural light and give the bathroom a more open feel. whats the reasoning for the exhaust fan light switch deal?
flip bath/shower to bathroom? door swinging into shower screen will be annoying -okay thats potentially a goer, i also had the thought of having a combined shower/bath where the shower is and using the space that the bath was in to move the laundry and bed 2 up thus making bed 2 bigger. whats your thoughts on that?
move kitchen to L shape in the bottom right where the lounges are, gives a bigger living/dining -no a big fan of L kitchens, i much prefer the galley kitchen style, but i will have alook tonight when i can sit down properly.
doors/sliders to bed 2/3 robes -yep definitley, including the WIR for bed 3?
sliders to linen -yes definitely that was the plan they just arent drawn in
move window to bed 3 from alfresco to rear wall -yep agreed
find out the type of the sliders to the alfresco and perhaps go play with some. i'm not sure if it's just the ones i've seen but the 2 sliders that meet in the middle always seem like a pingpingpingping to lock to me. mum's place has 4 of them and my place has a couple of a different brand, and they all need to be wrestled to actually lock together. -i really would like stackable sliders opening from the left to right but my budget may not allow, thanks for the heads up i will have a look at some
are windows to bed 1 highlight? everyone who stands at the front door will see your dildo collection otherwise. make them highlights, and add a highlight to the RHS wall? -i envision a combination full height plus highline over protruding sill course see my sketch below
move laundry door to passage between living and bedrooms. will stop toilet door being blocked, and improve energy efficiency rating -really that will improve the rating? ok ill do that



here is my sketch i did of the master bed front window/corner window
http://i.imgur.com/bQVzyCJ.jpg

[mitchy]

ah that was you i was talking to before, i forget...


i agree about being able to see straight through the house, but the passage is dead space.
fair enough with the kitchen, i wasnt sure if that was just a generic design given to you, or a request.
a standard door to the bed 3 robe would be fine.
on top of your bathroom idea... put hte wc where the shower is, shower/bath where bath is. move linen to where the wc is, gives you some room to move it around a bit and make bed 2 bigger. hard to visualise but i can quickly sketch it up for you later tonight when i've got some free time (i should *really* be working now...)
bathroom/wc exhaust fans need to be switched on with the light if the room has no window... you can usually get your sparky to do it separately, but it is a council requirement.
the passage door will give you a small improvement. sometimes its enough to stop having the entire house needing costly wall insulation to meet 6 star ratings.
with the bathroom i meant flipping the wc and shower, but removing the wall. ie like this, but obviously to suit your house (just the job i'm working on right now)
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b488/68dbm/bath_zpsea941962.jpg

ps. nice sketch! just make sure you have blinds or something on those windows. or maybe it's just me who doesn't want people standing at the door looking into the master room.

[XsQuiZiT]

ps. nice sketch! just make sure you have blinds or something on those windows. or maybe it's just me who doesn't want people standing at the door looking into the master room.

Agreed - problem you may encounter with a corner window like that is getting good coverage from prying eyes.

[Joe]

the passage door will give you a small improvement. sometimes its enough to stop having the entire house needing costly wall insulation to meet 6 star ratings.

This.

With our place, because we wanted everything really open (ie. No doors closing off hallways etc) , and many of our doors are 2340mm high, we had to put polyair insulation in every cavity wall to help achieve a 6 star rating.

I've found that much of energy efficiency is about ensuring hot and cold air is isolated well so you don't have to use a lot of heating and cooling.

[Rich]

agree with widening where you can. make the most of the block... if you can. obviously more sqm adds more $$ but narrow spaces down the side of the block are wasted. Most residential zoning requires min 1m set back (cant remember the max wall length) or 1.5m for habitable rooms (if you have a window on that wall). So your master could go half a metre to the right along with the WIR and ensuite although you would be pushing the max wall length at 1m from the boundary. usually just requires council approval. means you wont trip over the end of the bed walking around to the other side with a slightly wider room

straightening the hall makes the most of the space through the centre of the house and allows you to widen the theatre. is feng shui improved if you add a couple of doors down the end of the hall. A couple of nice feature doors would work well there and also help with heating/cooling by closing off sections of the house. as previously said moving the theatre wall to the right costs nothing. larger room for free :)

definately add doors to the theatre. I like to watch my movies loud!

another option for the sliding glass doors out to the alfresco are triple section stacking doors. one section is fixed with two sliding doors. So over the total width you have 1/3 fixed and 2/3 that can open or just open one door leaving 2/3 closed and 1/3 open. Something like that opening from the left would also mean you dont need to walk around the dining table as much to exit.

another idea for the laundry/wc door issue. decrease the laundry door size to a 720. will give you a little more clearance and you wont even notice the difference.

an external door at the rear of the garage is a great idea. consider putting a tap and possibly drainage there when you do prestart so you can put in a small outdoor sink. save you going inside to clean your hands.

I disagree with the garage door opening into the garage rather than the entry. with a smallish garage you need enough clearance to swing the door open. All it takes is someone to park the car to close and then the next person swings the door into it. Very rarely are you going to have people pouring in through the front door and the garage door at the same time. enter through the garage and close the door then its out of the way.

bathroom, I would also swap the shower and bath. If you want a big mirror then you have no choice but to put the window over the bath. A cool idea I have seen is having a mirror central to the vanity in line with the basin and have an awning window either side of the mirror. most of the time you will be standing over the basin when doing stuff in the mirror and the awning windows will let in heaps of light.

I would also put a door in the WIR in bed 3 and sliding doors in bed 2 and linen.


move window to bed 3 from alfresco to rear wall agree


are windows to bed 1 highlight? everyone who stands at the front door will see your dildo collection otherwise. make them highlights, and add a highlight to the RHS wall? - I have huge corner windows on the front of my house. stole the idea from a display home and had TKO tint the shit out of them. I can have all the blinds open during the day and you cannot see in! Thanks Trent :) and it looks awesome. elevation makes or breaks the look of the house so put a lot of consideration into it.


move laundry door to passage between living and bedrooms. will stop toilet door being blocked, and improve energy efficiency rating - never been a fan of having a door there. which way would you have it swing. not really practical for a swinging door there. A slider inside a cavity wall would be a better solution but far more expensive.

toilet with no external walls is not a problem. I did that with mine because otherwise I wouldnt have had a window in my ensuite. with a door on the toilet the fan coming on with the light isnt a problem. you can hardly hear it. if you are that anal you can get it rewired after you move in. Just run conduit if its a single brick wall so the sparky can run a separate switch.

you could shuffle the toilet, ensuite and WIR around to achieve the same result with the toilet on an external wall and a similar idea to the bathroom for your window so you dont have a window in the shower. not so good with drawings so I will try and describe it. leave the opening from the bedroom where it is. run the WIR all the way up the left side from where it is and include the current toilet. have the opening into the WIR roughly in the middle. Toilet rotates 90 degrees clock wise and position it in the top right corner with the toilet door opposite the opening from the bedroom. shower immediately on your right when you walk into the ensuite and vanity on the right wall between shower and and toilet wall. You could put a door on the ensuite opening to the left against the WIR wall. only question is the door for the shower depending on your dimensions and depth of the vanity. always have the toilet enclosed from the ensuite. I hate having the shitter right next to where I brush my teeth. I refused to buy places based purely on that.

[mitchy]

another idea for the laundry/wc door issue. decrease the laundry door size to a 720. will give you a little more clearance and you wont even notice the difference.

except when your move in and your washing machine doesn't fit. the opening on a 1510 sliding door is even smaller.

[Rich]

door way opening is 700 wide. just measured my washing machine. its 600 wide. Im sure there are bigger washing machines out there but ours is average size so no problem getting it through a 720 door ;)

[DRKWRX]

not hard to take sliding door panels out anyways if its a one off, 5 min job.

[YOUR MATE]

Fucking get my fucking keys today!

[shifted]

can push out laundry, but not bed 2. can't have an external wall over 9m less than 1500 from the boundary.

Is that part of zoning regs? How come? Keen to learn! :)

[cplagz]

Fucking get my fucking keys today!

Got mine last Monday ... I win :p

[mitchy]

Is that part of zoning regs? How come? Keen to learn! :)

brain fade, can't push the laundry out either.
r-codes state you can't have a wall over 9 metres long (or any wall with a major opening) less than 1500 from the boundary.

[Joe]

Fair enough too.. parapet walls are fairly fuckin ugly and intrusive as they are (unless your own parapet abutts the neighbours, then its fine).

[SimonR32]

So I got the names and addys of the neighbours off the council... They wouldn't give me their plans until there had been an approval granted.

I just want to see if there is parapet walls and their plans for fencing, should I write a letter trying to find it all out or just sit tight and wait?

[shifted]

r-codes state you can't have a wall over 9 metres long (or any wall with a major opening) less than 1500 from the boundary.

I meant more of why, as in is it a safety thing or to do with window openings and visibility? Just seems like wasted space really. Again, keen to learn - I'm in no way an architectural draftee but I like to draw up ideas for my own house I hope to build so this type of stuff is good to understand/grasp. :)

[mitchy]

So I got the names and addys of the neighbours off the council... They wouldn't give me their plans until there had been an approval granted.

I just want to see if there is parapet walls and their plans for fencing, should I write a letter trying to find it all out or just sit tight and wait?

what exactly are you wanting to know? is someone building beside you, and you want to see the plans?
they don't *have* to discuss anything with you, unless they want a code variation.


I meant more of why, as in is it a safety thing or to do with window openings and visibility? Just seems like wasted space really. Again, keen to learn - I'm in no way an architectural draftee but I like to draw up ideas for my own house I hope to build so this type of stuff is good to understand/grasp. :)

oh right. presumably for neighbouring aesthetics, as it also applies to wall heights as well as lengths.

[cplagz]

what exactly are you wanting to know? is someone building beside you, and you want to see the plans?
they don't *have* to discuss anything with you, unless they want a code variation.



oh right. presumably for neighbouring aesthetics, as it also applies to wall heights as well as lengths.

Dpeends on council ... South Perth required written consent from neighbour in relation to finish and colour (acrylic render) on the parapet I'm building before they would approve.

[mitchy]

the finish of any boundary walls, yes. nothing about the actual wall itself though.
and even if the owner/neighbour don't agree, the council just decides.

[SimonR32]

what exactly are you wanting to know? is someone building beside you, and you want to see the plans?
they don't *have* to discuss anything with you, unless they want a code variation.

Vacant blocks both sides in new development so two builds, one either side. I'm just curious on their plans for the house (to see if it's single or two storey) and for fences (or if they are planning on building walls) and if they have any Parapet walls on their house that I may want to render on my side etc

I'm not at all looking for a fight or a bitch, just want to plan ahead :)

[mitchy]

Vacant blocks both sides in new development so two builds, one either side. I'm just curious on their plans for the house (to see if it's single or two storey) and for fences (or if they are planning on building walls) and if they have any Parapet walls on their house that I may want to render on my side etc

I'm not at all looking for a fight or a bitch, just want to plan ahead :)

wasn't implying so, but i'm pretty sure they dont 'have' to tell you anything.
writing a letter asking wouldn't hurt though; if anything it could help you plan you build, ie garage parapets butting up to each other.

[SimonR32]

wasn't implying so, but i'm pretty sure they dont 'have' to tell you anything.
writing a letter asking wouldn't hurt though; if anything it could help you plan you build, ie garage parapets butting up to each other.

Exactly my thoughts (although mine plans are fairly much done and dusted and already in council)

[INSINR8R]

Got mine last Monday ... I win :p

I bet your house is finished too.

[YOUR MATE]

I bet your house is finished too.

Says the guy who had garbage bags and cardboard boxes as curtains until yesterday? Fgt.

Keys in hand. They actually gave me some online thing to do that had comments sections and grading. Went to town lol. All in all the finished work is good, it just took ages to get there. I hope everyone else posting here has a better experience but mine was hardly the worst build in history.

[INSINR8R]

No broken tiles, no broken toilet, all my house actually finished :)

[YOUR MATE]

No broken tiles, no broken toilet, all my house actually finished :)

Your ensuite begs to differ ;) and I am jealous of your feature ceiling.

Let's not make a pissing contest, shall we?

[INSINR8R]

At least I'm not gonna go through a mountain of hassles to get them fixed. On time. The first time.

:D

[d1mitch]

so i cant have the laundry out that extra 500mm? damn that little extra would have really helped.

in the variations to the r codes it says that i can have boundary walls to both sides of the block with no maximum length, does that change anything?

[DRKWRX]

misses and I just signed our contracts for our block in Byford last night! 785sq metres up on the scarp! anyone else here building in Byford?

[MadDocker]

I'm in the scarp at the moment. You in the new stage just being cleared?? Think stage 6 & 7 are on the go at the moment... Going to take away some of my bush view.

[DRKWRX]

where abouts are you? our block is being done at the moment think its stage 6b.

[Lmx]

Sorry but where is the appeal in byford? It's just a newer version of Armadale?

[MadDocker]

Whats the appeal of Australia? It's just a newer version of Great Brittan...

[Trolley]

jamiev90 - I would assume the appeal would be:
1) large blocks (500-900sqm) for 40-70k less than a small cottage sized block in the metro area.
2) not having neighbours 3m away
3) you get what/where you can afford. Despite the market settling, Perth housing is still fairly expensive to buy and land prices are ridiculous in my opinion. For all you know these guys could be building on one income, not dual and getting what they can afford.

[SimonR32]

Sorry but where is the appeal in byford? It's just a newer version of Armadale?

E85 close by

[DRKWRX]

I think prices in Piara waters etc are crack price at the moment, I wasnt going to pay 365k for 660sq metres when 10 min down the road I could get 785sq metres for 250k, no neighbours in front and to one side just bush... which I prefer :) heaps of space for a 3rd garage and big shed too! personally I think people paying 300k for 500sq metres in Piara waters etc will be regretting it in the long run.

[Trolley]

All these nice estates will end up turning to shit in 15 years time anyhow when everyone's little sprog-monsters grow up. Hopefully before that happens I'll be in a position to buy/build my second home (even further from the city too no doubt!)

[DRKWRX]

yeah next place will be in Margs/dunsborough hopefully haha

[Trolley]

I'd love it down that way, but unlikely to find work for both myself and the fiancee down there.

[DRKWRX]

Yeah thats my problem otherwise would have moved down already!

[volt_bite]

My house is almost finished, baldivis :D

Keys in the next few days :p

I was looking at insurance and apparently Comminsure is highly rated. Might be overkill for what I want though.

[suburban]

Keys in hand. They actually gave me some online thing to do that had comments sections and grading. Went to town lol. All in all the finished work is good, it just took ages to get there. I hope everyone else posting here has a better experience but mine was hardly the worst build in history.

hope you put a good word in for me ;0 :P

[cplagz]

Says the guy who had garbage bags and cardboard boxes as curtains until yesterday? Fgt.

Keys in hand. They actually gave me some online thing to do that had comments sections and grading. Went to town lol. All in all the finished work is good, it just took ages to get there. I hope everyone else posting here has a better experience but mine was hardly the worst build in history.

Hey, I just had a builder quit on me after getting to contracts and having building permit issued last week.... fuckin` yay?

[volt_bite]

Home insulation, any tips on who to go through and whats good?

[waxdass]

just finished installing mine.

Bradfords Gold R4.1 ceiling insulation.

Amazed at the difference its made inside!

[180SXTCY]

didn't they put any insulation in when you built?

[VRX]

Home insulation, any tips on who to go through and whats good?

http://ministers.deewr.gov.au/sites/ministers.deewr.gov.au/files/styles/profile-photo/public/garrett_1.jpg?itok=_15cxVAp

[waxdass]

didn't they put any insulation in when you built?
nah, i'm an owner-builder.

[180SXTCY]

Ok, so my settlement now is my than 3 days later due to the sellers not getting their shit together. My settlement agency has advised I charge the penalty interest. Is this a good idea? I know its money in my pocket but do you think it'll cause any other hassles? Also does anyone know how much this interest rate is?

[regi]

do it

settlements is srs bzns

[Onijin]

just finished installing mine.

Bradfords Gold R4.1 ceiling insulation.

Amazed at the difference its made inside!

Yep, 4.1 is roughly what's recommended for ceiling insulation in Perth, though doesn't hurt to go a bit higher. Planning to see about upgrading the ceiling insulation in my olds place from the existing 2.0 batts to higher-rated ones, but will want to get a thermal imaging camera first to analyse the entire roofspace before that goes ahead.

[Lump]

Ok, so my settlement now is my than 3 days later due to the sellers not getting their shit together. My settlement agency has advised I charge the penalty interest. Is this a good idea? I know its money in my pocket but do you think it'll cause any other hassles? Also does anyone know how much this interest rate is?
didnt cause me any hassels 3 months ago for my rental & i got an extra 2 grand in my pocket.

[GA70TT]

New R-codes come into effect August 2nd

Should be available online to check out for those planning to build

Or for those struggling to get to sleep at night

[mr_rotary]

Yep, 4.1 is roughly what's recommended for ceiling insulation in Perth, though doesn't hurt to go a bit higher. Planning to see about upgrading the ceiling insulation in my olds place from the existing 2.0 batts to higher-rated ones, but will want to get a thermal imaging camera first to analyse the entire roofspace before that goes ahead.No point going higher than 4.1. Also adds more weight to your ceiling. Esky effect is a bitch in Perth.

[DRKWRX]

Thinking of going Gyprock walls instead of render in our build, I work in the building trade and I am on a different site pretty much everyday and have only really seen it done on a few walls not a whole house, mainly want gyprock so I get less cracks especially where normally you would have render meeting cornices and I think it will be a much nicer finish on our long hallway and all corners will be square, just wondering if any ceiling fixers can think of any downfalls in doing this?

[Brute]

Thinking of going Gyprock walls instead of render in our build, I work in the building trade and I am on a different site pretty much everyday and have only really seen it done on a few walls not a whole house, mainly want gyprock so I get less cracks especially where normally you would have render meeting cornices and I think it will be a much nicer finish on our long hallway and all corners will be square, just wondering if any ceiling fixers can think of any downfalls in doing this?

Depending on how long your hallway is, and how much natural light it is exposed to, it will look like shit. Once painted, you will see every join in the gyprock.

[DRKWRX]

hmm thought if the guys were good you wouldnt, normal Rendered walls tend to look pretty shit aswell in hallways when lit with natural light, don't think there will be too much natural light.

[RGVFAST]

Originally Posted by 180SXTCY
Ok, so my settlement now is my than 3 days later due to the sellers not getting their shit together. My settlement agency has advised I charge the penalty interest. Is this a good idea? I know its money in my pocket but do you think it'll cause any other hassles? Also does anyone know how much this interest rate is?



didnt cause me any hassels 3 months ago for my rental & i got an extra 2 grand in my pocket.

I would sting them for it, otherwise you are paying money out of your pocket for their mistakes.

[luke20t]

hmm thought if the guys were good you wouldnt, normal Rendered walls tend to look pretty shit aswell in hallways when lit with natural light, don't think there will be too much natural light.

It's hard to get any wall looking good if you got that kind of light shining on it, it shows up everything! Main reason for cornice cracking off the wall is if the timbers aren't dry enough and they move causing the cornices to pull off the walls also if the render is too sandy it won't stick to it well.

If you're a chippy it may be worth doing?

[180SXTCY]

yeah I'm now the settlement agency is now charging thr other party penalty rates.

[Joe]

Thinking of going Gyprock walls instead of render in our build, I work in the building trade and I am on a different site pretty much everyday and have only really seen it done on a few walls not a whole house, mainly want gyprock so I get less cracks especially where normally you would have render meeting cornices and I think it will be a much nicer finish on our long hallway and all corners will be square, just wondering if any ceiling fixers can think of any downfalls in doing this?

Get a better plasterer!

[DRKWRX]

It's hard to get any wall looking good if you got that kind of light shining on it, it shows up everything! Main reason for cornice cracking off the wall is if the timbers aren't dry enough and they move causing the cornices to pull off the walls also if the render is too sandy it won't stick to it well.

If you're a chippy it may be worth doing?

not a chippy, I meant keeping the walls double brick just use Gyrock if possible, will have to think about it, just think gyprock will be a nicer finish overall.... thats if they do a good job but I guess the same goes for plasterers.


Get a better plasterer!

that might be the best and easiest way to go!

[Joe]

Come and check mine out when it's done if you like.

I saw some plaster work on another house being done by my builder that was absolutely stunning, and ended up working with the builder to get him on my job.

He costs more, but that's expected.

It also helps if your brickies are nice and accurate. Less headaches for the plasterer to get everything smooth.

[DRKWRX]

cheers Joe! will have to check it out, ours wont be starting probably till the start of next year so plenty of time! good trades make all the difference!

[Sensible]

Thinking of going Gyprock walls instead of render in our build, I work in the building trade and I am on a different site pretty much everyday and have only really seen it done on a few walls not a whole house, mainly want gyprock so I get less cracks especially where normally you would have render meeting cornices and I think it will be a much nicer finish on our long hallway and all corners will be square, just wondering if any ceiling fixers can think of any downfalls in doing this?

If your brick work is crap then gyprock is alot harder to get right
10mm sheet is going to follow what ever the brick work is doing, Plasterers can render to about 15mm max so it can straighten alot of brickwork
Getting a good ceiling fixer is also very hard now, Most have got out of the trade due to being under cut by the import labor
Cost wise if you are going to still used bricks for the internal walls and put gyprock ontop the final amount will be huge
You would be better off doing stud frame
I am a plasterer and have very little cracking around the cornice line in any of my job as we use the correct amount of cement in each mix and also cut in the wall plate after it has been rendered, Another couple of reasons why you get cracking at the cornice line is that the ceiling flushers do not use enough glue to hold the cornice up and they also mix in retarder to slow the glue down and minimise waste

[DRKWRX]

Cheers for the input! yeah sounds like a good plasterer will be the way to go, I fit Alu frames so see quite a lot, can see now how it would be hard to get gyprock on a long brick wall straight, some plasterers/builders seem to think 20mm is normal haha just hope I don't get one of these import ceiling teams lol

[mr_rotary]

Thinking of going Gyprock walls instead of render in our build, I work in the building trade and I am on a different site pretty much everyday and have only really seen it done on a few walls not a whole house, mainly want gyprock so I get less cracks especially where normally you would have render meeting cornices and I think it will be a much nicer finish on our long hallway and all corners will be square, just wondering if any ceiling fixers can think of any downfalls in doing this?You are going to get cracking in ANY brick house as it's all part of the house settling. That's also why it's advised not to paint your house for the first year until the house settles. If you want to minimise cracking further you can add additional reinforcement in the slab and brick walls but that costs $$$. Alternatively just build a brick veneer house.

[SimonR32]

You are going to get cracking in ANY brick house as it's all part of the house settling. That's also why it's advised not to paint your house for the first year until the house settles. If you want to minimise cracking further you can add additional reinforcement in the slab and brick walls but that costs $$$. Alternatively just build a brick veneer house.

Personally I think that's a retarded suggestion, hey build a nice new home but leave it looking like shit for a year and then move/remove all your furniture and paint it.

With all the technology and skills/knowledge we now have it really shouldn't be an issue... I put it to you there is almost no other trade/industry etc that would put up with such a obvious fault.

[magic1]

impractical yes

retarded no.

[DRKWRX]

yeah id rather just paint it and repair it a year down the track, main worry is building up in byford think the risk of cracks may be higher, mates house in Bedfordale had a massive crack in the kitchen.

[Bomber]

I put it to you there is almost no other trade/industry etc that would put up with such a obvious fault.
LOL, try the field fitters on any mine. Couple of cable ties and she's good to go haha

[Joe]

Just put 27 cubic metres of concrete in the footings.. should hold the house up nicely with minimal cracking.

[huggy_b]

Just put 27 cubic metres of concrete in the footings.. should hold the house up nicely with minimal cracking.

Yeah.......nah. You'll get it regardless.

[[Jacek]]

^ Never one to do things by halves

[mr_rotary]

yeah id rather just paint it and repair it a year down the track, main worry is building up in byford think the risk of cracks may be higher, mates house in Bedfordale had a massive crack in the kitchen.Bedfordale is a different story with a significant amount of earthworks and rock breaking involved. Your adding a sand pad (800mm approx.), compacting it and then whacking a brick house straight onto it. You will definitely get cracking there and suggest if you want to minimise it add additional reinforcement to what is already there specified by the engineer. Brick houses and clay sites do not really go together hence why eastern states are all framed on waffle slabs to allow for movement.

Structerre (engineers) have a guide to what is acceptable cracking for different class sites and he should of gotten a copy of this from his builder?

[Lasoya]

Ive already got a crack in the hallway running horizontal in the middle of wall. Also same crack location on other side of wall. mortar crack???

[DRKWRX]

got our version 1 plans back today, have made quite a few changes already but keen for some suggestions on things I might have missed, not sure if our back yard will be as big as I thought, I think its the third garage holding the house back a bit?

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/7826/e99.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/e99.png/)

[Joe]

Lintels across the garage openings, or just a pelmet?

[Sensible]

Step the 3rd garage back a little
Make sure it is lintel and brick work above garages otherwise you will not get a 4wd into them
I would change from a sliding door in the Laundry to a normal door and then run a benchtop from the sink so you can have under bench washer and dryer

[mitchy]

wir is a huge waste of space unless you have other shelves, etc planned?
make study bigger, massive hallway is a waste. doorway may clash with garage too.
vinyl sliders to robes
extend robe to bed 2? space between door and robe is wasted anyway
step 3rd garage back, can move the house forward, makes the building/roof look a little more interesting and less like a cube
tint bed 1 windows, will get nice and hot in there

[DRKWRX]

not sure about Lintels above garage doors, would that make much difference to the height? I just assumed I wouldn't get my 4x4 in the garage anyways, lifted with a roofrack I would have to make the garages quite high? could step the third garage back dont think that would look a little weird?? I think we have actually changed that to a benchtop the whole way along, can still keep the sliding door aslong as we stop it a bit short?

[mitchy]

make the front door bigger too, you have the room for it. double front doors are a godsend for moving furniture without having to go around the back.

[DRKWRX]

wir is a huge waste of space unless you have other shelves, etc planned?
make study bigger, massive hallway is a waste. doorway may clash with garage too.
vinyl sliders to robes
extend robe to bed 2? space between door and robe is wasted anyway
step 3rd garage back, can move the house forward, makes the building/roof look a little more interesting and less like a cube
tint bed 1 windows, will get nice and hot in there

good suggestions thanks! yeah WIR is bigger because I made the theatre room a meter longer, we havnt got heaps of storage inside the house so I guess we will use a bit of the WIR, we will put a door on it aswell.
could make the study bigger but really want to keep the garage door there as we moved it from the hallway because Id rather hang big prints there.
didnt even notice the robe in bed 2 will change!
sounds like ill step the third garage back and move the house forward, the front garden is too big really and would rather more room in the back, how far would you normally step it back? get away with another meter you reckon?
yeah cant do much about that will tint dark!

cheers again!

[mitchy]

either add some shelving to the wir, or perhaps cut it down, and add a linen cupboard backing onto it, opening from theatre passage?
just push the garage door to the corner, and move the study wall the ~600mm to meet it/the double doors. the passage is already a good 1800 wide, another 600mm is a waste!

usually i'll step them 360 or 600 just to give it a definite break and not have a shitty bit of roof to work with (roofies dont like the tiny roof section a small step makes) however you could probably get away with ~metre. just means your office window will be in the corner of the room.

[DRKWRX]

yeah think we will just add more shelves, dont really want to add another door there, will be making the changes you have mentioned! will give us more backyard and make it look more interesting, yeah I think we will just move that office window along a bit.

[mitchy]

no worries!

nice house by the way! i like the kitchen and large pantry. i hate single cupboard door sized pantries immensely.

[Joe]

As Mitchy said, bugger off that narrow front door is and put something nice and wide in.. either doubles, or 1.2m pivot.

You can also go commercial profile aluminium frame... and with your line of business, I can't see why you couldn't do a really amazing looking one on your own house ;)

[DRKWRX]

yeah would like a nice big pivot door! aluminium would be nice..... might have to get one priced up :P

[180SXTCY]

what would your choice be out of bristle roof tiles and shingle roof tiles? Can anyone tell me the difference?

[MadDocker]

Fuck shingles. Had them on my last house and never, ever again. Might have just had a bad batch or bad tiler but they cracked easily, slipped out of position easily and were generally a pain in my arse for 3 years.

Do not recommend.

[sensei_]

+1 for bristile tiles. clay tiles stand the test of time better than cement tiles.

[180SXTCY]

cool thought bristile was the way to go! thanks for clearing that up

[Onijin]

No point going higher than 4.1. Also adds more weight to your ceiling. Esky effect is a bitch in Perth.

I wouldn't actively encourage it, but it is a case of diminishing returns above that level for an area like Perth, along with added weight in the ceiling like you stated. I.e. 4.5 rated batts would be fine, but 5.0 and above would be excessive and more suited to a place in Pemberton or Albany. Should've been clearer, my apologies.

Should get my ABSA accreditation sorted out at some stage, been putting it off due to other shit that has been a higher priority.

[Lasoya]

Ive already got a crack in the hallway running horizontal in the middle of wall. Also same crack location on other side of wall. mortar crack???
Anyone shed some light on this please?

[benjamino]

Has anyone been following the price of land down near Riva/Piara Waters etc lately?

Mrs and myself were having a gander around Feb, where a ~450sqm lot was ~$255,000. Had a look yesterday and the next realease is selling 450sqm lots for $312,500! In almost the same location, just 6 months later. Shit is getting out of hand.

[DRKWRX]

yeah land around there and other places is way overpriced imo, we entered a ballot in Aspiri(back of piara waters off armadale rd) a few months back for a 640m2 block that was 300k we missed out and the next month they sent us an email to enter and the few blocks the same size were 50k more haha in one month! the land didn't go up 50k in a month so thought fuck that and bought 785m2 for 250k in Byford.

[MadDocker]

Did you go past your block yesterday morning? Think I saw you drive past while I was gardening out the front with the little fella.

[DRKWRX]

yeah, think I saw you guy with a beard? nice house, we park near cahuna entrance and walk through the alleyway to our block, we have retaining walls but thats about it atm!

[MadDocker]

Yeah that's me. Changing a bunch of the plants out the front at the moment to Australian natives. Original owners had some strange plant & colour selections.

I'm sure it will go quick. There's trucks in and out of there every morning now.

[YOUR MATE]

Not just there that land prices are a bit nuts. I bought my block at $250k. Blocks 4 houses up on my street going for $305k now. And thats an odd shaped corner block that would be a headfuck to plan around.

[benjamino]

Yeah it's amazing how expensive the land has gotten over just 6 months. We have a block on hold that we've given the go ahead to, 497sqm for $288,000 in Aspiri, just off Rossiter Ave in Stg6.

Probably going to go with Smart Homes as the builder.

[morgazmatron]

Geez thats crazy.. I'm glad I bought when I did in Dunsborough. $220K for 545m backing onto the 15th fairway.. FORE! :D

Even down there in the 5 months since I bought, prices have gone up a reasonable amount.

[180SXTCY]

can anyone recommend me some tiling places?

[DRKWRX]

had plans revised couple times now, any experts still spot anything I could change? could only move the house 20cm further forward apparently, well at least I have more storage with the third one stepped back.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4329/e68.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/11/e68.png/)

[MadDocker]

Looks good! You probably answer this previously but there is a fair bit of space in your main WIR you could use for shelf, rail, etc. if you wanted it.

[DRKWRX]

cheers! yeah thats because I added a metre to the audio/visual room, at least it keeps the misses happy haha will be putting a big safe in there and running conduit from back of audio/visual room to store server etc If I need too.

[SimonR32]

That door conflict from the garage to the study would shit me to tears.

Also I would consider a single front door (hinge on the right) as there is ample rear access to the whole house for furniture and the double door only makes a conflict with the master suite entry

[DRKWRX]

I figure you don't walk through the garage door very often so wont cause too many problems, rather have the nice straight wall in the hall to hang big prints, I agree with the front door, I asked for a larger front door and they just put in double doors... will get them to change that, double doors are kind of pointless considering you have one active door....

*edit maybe making the garage door swing the other way would be better?

[Sensible]

Also I would consider a single front door (hinge on the right)

One of the oversize single doors with glass panels eitherside

The front evlevation has alot more definition now that you moved the third door back

[SimonR32]

Here is how mine ended up, in at council at the moment so hopefully slab down this month.

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy15/SimonR32GTR/gwelup_zpse4c0f397.jpg (http://s773.photobucket.com/user/SimonR32GTR/media/gwelup_zpse4c0f397.jpg.html)

[180SXTCY]

drkwrx, dam I like your design! haha

[DBLDOSE]

*edit maybe making the garage door swing the other way would be better?

Yep make it swing in and towards the left wall.

[DRKWRX]

Nice house Simon, would have liked a bigger Alfresco yours is massive! Cheers 180SXTCY! you mean make it swing into the garage? I was just thinking of making it swing into the house but the other way because If I put a work bench along that wall it will work out better.

[volt_bite]

I'm jelly. My house is heaps small in comparison haha.

[mitchy]

both looking good! not much i would change.

front elevation looks much nicer now drkwrx. cant remember if i asked before but are you going face brick like the ele, or render?

[volt_bite]

I'm curious to know how you will fit a workshop and a hoist.

[DRKWRX]

going facebrick Mitch! we are planning vintage red tumbled bricks for something different, hah! not that balla!

[YOUR MATE]

You don't use the garage door often? Other than every time you leave or return home? It's the front door that's never really used. I'd put the door to the study in the middle. Big desk in the middle of the room. Like a fucking bawse.

[thrtytwo]

Has anyone been following the price of land down near Riva/Piara Waters etc lately?

Mrs and myself were having a gander around Feb, where a ~450sqm lot was ~$255,000. Had a look yesterday and the next realease is selling 450sqm lots for $312,500! In almost the same location, just 6 months later. Shit is getting out of hand.

that makes me fuckin happy! mine is 458sqm and I payed $255k in late 2011/early 2012. Haven't been following prices since. I'm in the new part of New Haven.

[DRKWRX]

You don't use the garage door often? Other than every time you leave or return home? It's the front door that's never really used. I'd put the door to the study in the middle. Big desk in the middle of the room. Like a fucking bawse.

yeah but Ill be the only one using the study so wont be walking through both rooms at the same time!

[nang3]

going facebrick Mitch! we are planning vintage red tumbled bricks for something different, hah! not that balla!

are you getting any mouldings done on the front elevation - ive done a gazzilion old red brick house reno/updates and white/cream mouldings can make a massive difference

[Joe]

yeah but Ill be the only one using the study so wont be walking through both rooms at the same time!

If the plan is correct and your doors are indeed that close together, your only problem is that the garage entry door knob is probably going to hit the study door.

I had a similar situation at my place where the guest suite door is to the right of my front pivot door. I have a cavity wall on the guest suite, so I got the brickies to put the frame on the inner leaf, effectively creating a "niche".

Looking at your plan again, you've got the same thing going on at your front door.. and as you can see, they've pushed the frame onto the inner leaf.

[180SXTCY]

bedrooms in simons are small.. 2.8 x 3m... wow.

[SimonR32]

2.8 x 3.7m (and the room size doesn't include the robe at 600mm)...

That's big enough for a Queen bed, 2 bedside tables and a tall boy or small desk, how big should they be?

[cplagz]

2.8 x 3.7m (and the room size doesn't include the robe at 600mm)...

That's big enough for a Queen bed, 2 bedside tables and a tall boy or small desk, how big should they be?

Its pretty small, if you want to see how small I can take you through one of my units thats exactly the same size

[180SXTCY]

that's tiny mate, I just looked at a house on the weekend in Ellenbrook that had rooms no small than 3.5 x 3 meters and I still think they're too small.

[SimonR32]

Its pretty small, if you want to see how small I can take you through one of my units thats exactly the same size

I've got rooms at my house that are the same size, they are moderate sized but not small for a kids room.

[volt_bite]

I have a question, my newly built house has what appears to be green patches on the external brick work (mold i guess?) and inside the carport too. I already have my keys, would it still be the responsible of the builder to fix this?

Or what can I do? I have been told acid can take it off and prevent this from happening again but I know it can also eat into the brickwork.

Also, what are people's recommendations on sealing carport concrete?

[SimonR32]

that's tiny mate, I just looked at a house on the weekend in Ellenbrook that had rooms no small than 3.5 x 3 meters and I still think they're too small.

Maybe have a look at some plans. Most Bed 2/3 in the market we are building are around 2.8-3.0m x 3.5x4m

We are on the skinnier side by right in the middle for length, I wanted them to be 3.0m wide but it was one of the things I had to compromise on.

I like your comment "wow" though, there are about 5 other sets of plans posted in this thread with very similar bedrooms.

[MadDocker]

I have a question, my newly built house has what appears to be green patches on the external brick work (mold i guess?) and inside the carport too. I already have my keys, would it still be the responsible of the builder to fix this?

Or what can I do? I have been told acid can take it off and prevent this from happening again but I know it can also eat into the brickwork.

Also, what are people's recommendations on sealing carport concrete?

Limestone type bricks?

You can get sealer in a tub from Bunnings. Get a roller and put a few coats on your concrete and brick paving.

[cplagz]

I have a question, my newly built house has what appears to be green patches on the external brick work (mold i guess?) and inside the carport too. I already have my keys, would it still be the responsible of the builder to fix this?

Or what can I do? I have been told acid can take it off and prevent this from happening again but I know it can also eat into the brickwork.

Also, what are people's recommendations on sealing carport concrete?

It's moisture content coming out of the bricks and bringing mineral deposits with it from when they were processed, the builder should have acid washed them. All new bricks do it. You don't want to put a sealer on them as MadDocker suggested, it won't help. If the house is still under maintenance period, make the builder come out and fix it.

[180SXTCY]

yours is just the one I happened to see. Is that design from a builder or is that something you've come up with? Id personally not have any bed rooms under 3 meters.

[racegtst]

I am about 6 weeks away from practical completion with my build, it has been the longest 12 months ever. At the moment this house is form my wife & I and maybe a couple of sprogs. We picked a plan from a builder and made some modifications to suit our lifestyle.

Down Stairs
http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/racegtst/HouseGroundFloor_zps23133ce1.jpg

Upstairs
http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/racegtst/House1stFloor_zps5de7cf8d.jpg

[SimonR32]

yours is just the one I happened to see. Is that design from a builder or is that something you've come up with? Id personally not have any bed rooms under 3 meters.

I did the basic design and the builder drafted it from there, then we just came up with ideas and changes to make it all fit... Until you have designed one yourself you don't really understand the compromises you have to make. It's based very roughly on a Dale Alcock display home which has 2.9m wide rear rooms which were ample.

The bedrooms I wanted at least 3.0m wide, but if I did that it made the games room smaller (which means a pool table is out of the question) and also compromises the design of the linen cupboard in back hallway and the two openings either side of the TV recess wall in the living area. But realistically they are kids bedrooms, that can fit a queen size bed (both directions) plus other furniture.

[MadDocker]

It's moisture content coming out of the bricks and bringing mineral deposits with it from when they were processed, the builder should have acid washed them. All new bricks do it. You don't want to put a sealer on them as MadDocker suggested, it won't help. If the house is still under maintenance period, make the builder come out and fix it.

Sorry if it wasn't clear. Don't put sealer on the green house/wall bricks but if you are looking to seal your concrete in the carport, just by the tub from Bunnings and roll a few coats on with a paint roller. Can you the same to brick paving on your driveway, path, alfresco etc.

[volt_bite]

Yep ok cool got it! Thanks guys.

[Sensible]

The green mould is usually caused by the brick cleaner using too much acid to clean the bricks
The builder usually recifies this with some kind of chemical that the spray over the offending areas, Contact the builder and they will sort it out

[volt_bite]

Builder said that it isn't covered by them and just to spray it with exit mould, and/or chlorine/bleach. But apparently it should disappear with the sun anyway.

[Marti]

Hello kids. Anyone had any experience with blue print homes. Im considering using them now as my previous builder has hit me with a 10k price increase?

[Sebdullah]

yeah built mine through blueprint, didnt have any issues, house been up for over a year no problems other than just the house settling

[Marti]

Awsome. Thanks for that. Did you find them reasonably priced

[Sebdullah]

yeah, for everything I wanted it was very reasonable, but this was also when Rob (prototype) was working for them

[Marti]

Ok. A friend of mine is working for them now. Have a meeting set up next week.so see how it goes

[mitchy]

just FYI you wont be able to get the builder B to copy a design if there was one from builder A that you want.

[Sebdullah]

oh nice, yeah all I'm very happy with how everything went, there's a few little things that i wasnt happy with (like the position of one light switch) but that's my bad for not asking questions & for a first experience they made it a really pleasant one

[thrtytwo]

just FYI you wont be able to get the builder B to copy a design if there was one from builder A that you want.

When I was building I was told by a few different builders exactly the opposite. Of course you'd have to make minor changes so it wasn't EXACTLY the same. But a few of them said "If you've seen something you like elsewhere show me the plans and we can do the same thing!"

[Sensible]

When I was building I was told by a few different builders exactly the opposite. Of course you'd have to make minor changes so it wasn't EXACTLY the same. But a few of them said "If you've seen something you like elsewhere show me the plans and we can do the same thing!"

Most builders come under the umbrella of bigger builders, so even if the offices are in different locations they still belong to the Big 3
BGC, ABN Group or JWH
That said the percentage of changes is about 15% but that is very easy to achieve with moving windows and doors and slight room size changes
When I build my place I was working for Content Living, I asked my supervisor to bring in a book of the designs
Out of the maybe 50 designs they had it would have been possibibly been 3 different floor layouts

[Marti]

Not copying the plan blue print has a plan I like. I will only be making.minor changes.ill try to be as methodical as I can when it starts being built

[thrtytwo]

Most builders come under the umbrella of bigger builders, so even if the offices are in different locations they still belong to the Big 3
BGC, ABN Group or JWH
That said the percentage of changes is about 15% but that is very easy to achieve with moving windows and doors and slight room size changes
When I build my place I was working for Content Living, I asked my supervisor to bring in a book of the designs
Out of the maybe 50 designs they had it would have been possibibly been 3 different floor layouts

I built through content, would not recommend to anyone. < /ot >

[Sensible]

^^^ agree
I didn't and I was working for them at the time

[mitchy]

When I was building I was told by a few different builders exactly the opposite. Of course you'd have to make minor changes so it wasn't EXACTLY the same. But a few of them said "If you've seen something you like elsewhere show me the plans and we can do the same thing!"

as below, 15% change is required. how you determine 15% on a house i don't know, but usually a substantial elevation change and a few things internally is enough.


Most builders come under the umbrella of bigger builders, so even if the offices are in different locations they still belong to the Big 3
BGC, ABN Group or JWH
That said the percentage of changes is about 15% but that is very easy to achieve with moving windows and doors and slight room size changes
When I build my place I was working for Content Living, I asked my supervisor to bring in a book of the designs
Out of the maybe 50 designs they had it would have been possibibly been 3 different floor layouts

did you happen to know one of the draftee's there, named mark? not sure when/how long he was there for.

[Sensible]

did you happen to know one of the draftee's there, named mark? not sure when/how long he was there for.

Didn't have anything to do with the office staff
I am on site as a Plasterer

[mitchy]

Didn't have anything to do with the office staff
I am on site as a Plasterer

ah... lucky.

[RG]

I have a question, my newly built house has what appears to be green patches on the external brick work (mold i guess?) and inside the carport too. I already have my keys, would it still be the responsible of the builder to fix this?

Or what can I do? I have been told acid can take it off and prevent this from happening again but I know it can also eat into the brickwork.

Also, what are people's recommendations on sealing carport concrete?

Acid will make it much worse. Buy some pool chlorine and a brickies brush from bunnings and put that on the vanadium works a treat! The builder should remove it though but they always give you some bullshit story about it going away over time.

[MadDocker]

Plasterer hey?? Up for a cashy? Have some texture coat I want put on my blade wall out the front...

[Sensible]

Don't do texture sorry
To much hassle for the few times I have been asked
Texture needs a course and should actually be by someone with a painters registration as it is a paint based product
90% of the guys don't have this

[DRKWRX]

Marti we are building with blue print and so far happy but we are still working on plans, we went into a content living showhome and salesman told us to get our plans done and email them to him and he said he would be 20k cheaper.... But I think they will just have to cut corners to save that and if rather a quality house.

[Marti]

Yeah. Well I had everything sorted with my builder but they hiked the price up. So had a mate at blue print who designed the house the same. So far so good

[benjamino]

Anyone able to hit me with a couple of plan variations that they would consider to a pre existing design? I'm just looking at so much info here that it's hard for me to know what I should be changing to make the house a little better, etc, not really knowing where to start.

[mitchy]

have you got the plans?

i'm just about to head out of the office for the next day or so, but you can email/sms it to me and i can have a look for you. designsbymitch at gmail dot com

[Master D]

Pretty stoked, put a deposit down on a house and land package in Annie's landing in ellenbrook :-)

Only a small house, just for me and my little one.
Building with freelife homes.

It's a small 3x2 with rear garage on a 7.5x30m block.

Will post some plans once they are drawn up.

[180SXTCY]

I was going to build with content but after reading what you guys have said above its putting me off.. care to elaborate further?

[DRKWRX]

well my story is from someone my misses knows, lots of walls that were not straight, filled her bath up and it wouldn't drain the drain was blocked, guy comes to fix it and scratches shit out of the bath so they had to rip it out and put a new one in, just stories you here I guess but there seems to be a lot from Content, they must use cheap tradesman....

[Sensible]

Content dont have a regular trade base
Anyone that phones them gets given the next available job so they do not know who is doing the work
The last time I did work for them I had 3 houses with the first render coat on BEFORE I met the supervisor for the first time

No organization, I would turn upto jobs with no electrical and plumbing in them, Phone supervisor and he would say that was booked for last week ( so he hasn't been to the job in over a week )
They are on of the lowest paying builders in Wa and get trades that reflect that ( only reason I went back is that they had plenty of work )
Out of all the owners that I came across while working for them they all commented on how long they have been waiting for the house to be completed ( most take over a year, even a simple design )

[180SXTCY]

fuck that! content is looking like its going to be crossed off my list.. how about new generation homes ? I guess the end of the day I'm sure they have all fucked something up at one point or another, its just how they rectify it that matters...

[Sensible]

Your builder is only as good as your supervisor

New generation is a part of the Summit group, I do a bit for Summit and so far I have had no issues at all
They build to a longer schedule than I am use to working for BGC, But allowing everything to cure before the next trade starts is the best way to go about it

[volt_bite]

Yeah I built my home through new gen.

[huggy_b]

I used Ross North and they might cost a little more, but they only build X amount of homes a year so they can do a good job and not over-book themselves and stretch their tradies. And IMO it reflects as a better quality building.

[mr_rotary]

I used Ross North and they might cost a little more, but they only build X amount of homes a year so they can do a good job and not over-book themselves and stretch their tradies. And IMO it reflects as a better quality building.Not only that but builders that over stretch themselves go bust.

[volt_bite]

My mate is building with Ross North. Nothing is included though, like blinds, tiling etc haha.

[Daisy]

I used Ross North and they might cost a little more, but they only build X amount of homes a year so they can do a good job and not over-book themselves and stretch their tradies. And IMO it reflects as a better quality building.

you actually believe that?

[180SXTCY]

volt_bite - that seems to be the norm with over half the house's I've looked out. They don't include internal painting, flooring, window coverings etc but can be added at an additional cost. Meeting a guy from New gen tomorrow about a design I like. See how it goes.

[thrtytwo]

fuck that! content is looking like its going to be crossed off my list.. how about new generation homes ? I guess the end of the day I'm sure they have all fucked something up at one point or another, its just how they rectify it that matters...

yeh all builders will do something wrong, If anyone is 100% happy with their builder, then lucky them! but content just had way too many stupid fuck ups for my liking, things they shouldn't have fucked up. At the end of the day It was mostly the people in the office, I was happy with most of the quality of the workmanship.

The only quality that was really lacking was the driveway, the bricks were layed like shit, I told the supervisor I wouldn't accept it and showed him why and he had them re-lay it all. It's still not acceptable from "tradesmen" but it's much better than it was.

Also a lot of walls not 100% square.

a lot of "that was meant to be done last week!" "I have this tradey booked in, he will be there" and shit not getting done


volt_bite - that seems to be the norm with over half the house's I've looked out. They don't include internal painting, flooring, window coverings etc but can be added at an additional cost. Meeting a guy from New gen tomorrow about a design I like. See how it goes.

only the budget builders include all of that, and they will give you cheap stuff. If you're going to live in the house and you want nice finishings, do it after building. If you're going to rent it out or you just don't care, then pick a builder who includes it.

builders that do it all are called "turn key" builders (because you only have to turn the key and walk in the door, it's all done) and are usually for investment homes. Although there are a lot of newer builders targeting young first home buyers who they know wont have as much money to spend, that include it all as well.

[180SXTCY]

So met with new generation homes today. Was very impressed with the salesmen and house I looked at. Volt bite where you happy with the finished product? Any advise you can give me if I choose them.

[benjamino]

Keen to hear about New Gen also, Smart Homes design is good, but definitely want to compare it against the rest, as no carpets, no ac, no window coverings, painting, etc is included with ours.

[volt_bite]

I think it was said before, that a lot of it depends on the quality of your Building Supervisor.

I'll tell you my experience so far, as it is. Keep in mind this is my first home too so I don't know what the 'norm' is meant to be, I will just tell it as I see it. I will be eventually renting it out too.

So far, it has been pretty good and straightforward experience. I didn't get a building inspector, but I would say it could be a good idea and definitely if you are going to live in it. But everything works and I haven't noticed any major issues.

The building supervisor kept me up to date during the whole process and let me know when things would be completed. Started in like Jan/Feb and ended June.

I didn't have a whole lot of contact with Summit homes. Only needed to go down to them twice. Once to do pick all the furnishings and again to collect the keys.

Plaster is mostly fine and straight forward. It still required a bit of patching here and there. For instances, there are some small holes and gashes in the plaster which I wouldn't expect. Albeit, not hard to fix but if you are anal you probably will have to go through everywhere carefully - I didn't include paint so I am doing this myself.

Brickwork - looks good, but yeah the builder told me I had to deal with the green crap coming of the bricks myself. He also said that it should die off eventually anyway. I've seen one of the other houses being built near me, and the garage has that green shit even worse than what I have. One whole back wall is pretty much from a neutral brick colour to dark green lol.

Tiling - looks all good. Met up with the tiler before he started to confirm with me what i wanted. I would have thought the plans were enough but evidently not. Although one tile looks like it has been damaged like something has dropped on it. I only noticed this after hand over too. Again, not too fussed

One of the contractors accidentally drilled into pipe work in the bathroom when installing a towel rack, but this was fixed before hand over.

What I would do: Comb over your electrical plans especially with regards to where you put your lights. Internal walls, harder to add light switches for instances. Think about where you would want a light switch when its dark, and what would be convenient when you cant see anything and you are fumbling around.

I would also think about adding data points and TV points in the main bedroom (this can get expensive though). Also consider this for the other bedrooms if you are living in it.

Other things I DID do though, was add extra double gpos in all the rooms. I also changed my study into a "bedroom" by adding carpet and a door. Also, say no to lino or other crap. Tiles all the way.

I also increased the course to I think 31 for the main living area. It definitely makes a big difference. Also consider looking at raising the carpet and making it wider as the standard is quite small and inconvenient.

Updated the laundry sink from a stand alone piece of shit to a nice one inbuilt into a cupboard.

[180SXTCY]

what house to you build mate from their range?

[volt_bite]

Haha, sorry, I was going to go with New gen as per the developer. But apologies, I ended up with EasyStart from the Summit Group. >.<

[180SXTCY]

ohhh.. yeah easy start is there entry level builder afaik? I looked at an easy start one the other day the quality of the display was still phenmonal compared to some others.

[volt_bite]

Correct. I built the "Tokyo" from easystart.

Even though its entry level, the furnishings etc it comes with is pretty decent.

I wouldnt expect most people to build their ideal homes the first time around anyway haha. My plan is probably to buy a few more investments until I can get enough equity to buy/build something I really want.

[RELEASE]

So met with new generation homes today. Was very impressed with the salesmen and house I looked at. Volt bite where you happy with the finished product? Any advise you can give me if I choose them.dont get sucked in by the sales people.

Currently have the roof tiles put on and so far the whole process with Gemmill as a first time builder with a project builder are:
Our sales guys at Gemmill was awesome. Re did plans many times as we wanted, helped me at all hours, etc

Pre-start lady was great but some changes she didnt carry through to drafting and scheduling which meant i had incorrect items installed that i picked up before it meant walls had to be knocked down etc
Admin side was slooooooooooooooooooow. Had to chase them up even though we had everything done as well as approvals and was supposed to be fast tracked but was talking longer than normal.

Building so far is great! issues/problems being picked up quickly and rectified, things are getting done a reasonable time frames with great quality. Tradies they have working seem to be doing quite well, happy with what i've seen.
Site supervisor is on the ball and switched on. Could have called him out on a small thing at our plate height meeting but let him bluff me on it. was a monday morning plate height meeting and he goes "bricklayer will be back tomorrow to build the piers to your portico as we didnt have the footings poured for them with the rest of the ones so we poured them on the weekend" Footings were actually poured when the rest of the footings and slab was (have photos) but its more likely the bricklayer forgot to do piers.

am contemplating getting a building inspector to look over to be sure purely because this is a house we will be living in not renting out but walking through house checking everything based on plans seems good so far.

[volt_bite]

As above, check everything when it comes to the paperwork side of things. Especially for the final drawings. They can and will make mistakes. Keep going back to them and getting them to fix it.

Even more important if your house is not standard (more so if you are living in it).

[Joe]

We had about 10 different versions of our "final" drawings. At the start of the build, a couple of the tradies had the old ones, and it almost cost the builder an extremely expensive mistake with the lower floor pre-lays.

Since then, our supervisor or architect meets each new trade on site prior to work starting and ensures they have the correct drawings.

[mys1]

So people on here I'm curious as to how much deposit you put into your first homes and who you got finance through? (building) I'm hearing alot of low deposit loans however curious as to the competitiveness of them

As much as Id like to buy established - it doesn't all ways work out that way and I'm trying to weigh up all my options.

[YOUR MATE]

The low deposit loans all sting you with high LMI I thought? Realistically if you can get 20% you're laughing but it isn't an easy task. I had 35k at sign up, but 50 before things got under way, so everything at pre start I paid for out of pocket and saved on the loan. Lived here for about 4 weeks now and in total over the two years have 80k of my money sitting in the house after paying for painting/electrics/fencing etc in cash not finance. My LMI was only going to drop a few k if I put another 10k or so into the deposit so really it wasn't worth it and was better to pay for things with it than put it up in the beginning.

LMI is the kicker. Speak to your bank and see what they will sting you at what percentage deposit. I went with Commonwealth and having Netbank is a godsend. Not only that but they are currently matching interest rates according to my broker, so find a cheaper rate than their advertised one and you should get it. Can't go wrong really.

[RELEASE]

5.28% variable, ANZ Breakfree package
deposit was approx 10% but with LMI would have probably meant its a touch less

as with YOUR MATE also have cash sitting around to pay to complete the house when handover is done because the cash wasn't going to take me past the threshold to remove the LMI part

[volt_bite]

I put in the minimum which is 5%. Some banks lets you borrow the LMI too.

My argument is that say 400k house, for no LMI you need 20% which is 80k deposit (not including stamp duty if you are first home owner). The LMI is about say 10-11k.

By the time you save up the 20%, the market has probably already moved more than 11k (which on a 400k property equates to 2.75% shift in value up). That said, if you have extra money, just leave it in the offset account and save on interest :D

[DRKWRX]

whats your guys opinions on Pivot doors? I like the look of them and dont like the idea of a 1200mm timber door on hinges but have been reading and quite a few people think they're dangerous for little kids getting their fingers/arms inbetween when they close.... also anyone know of a good Granite/Marble place? our builder can only do 20mm stone otherwise its to 20mm pieces stuck together... so think we will source it ourselves.

[siladee]

pivot doors are SHIT and expensive when shit goes wrong

[DRKWRX]

ive installed a lot of Alu ones but have no experience with timber ones, or what its like living with them.