A different kind of build thread …

[Artful69]

Yesterday afternoon (when I woke up - because I’m on night shift presently!!) the final preliminary sketch plans arrived for the house I intend to build …

 

To date I have selected the block of land - which was a mission!! … and FINALLY engaged a builder who was willing to provide the closest possible outcome to what I wanted. After several sketches and a bit of back and forth, this is where we are up to!

Rog

 

[ScottsGT]

Rog, I fail to see anything listed as “model building suite” or “Man cave” or “Hobby room”?   
Back to the drawing board??  
 

Looks good!  Good luck with everything and I hope it transitions smoothly.  

[ScottsGT]

And who is Al Fresco and why does he get his own area?  
 

[Jeff]

Right on Rog !!!  NOW the fun begins.......... I just went through the permit processes etc, and as they were somewhat painful, the final results were spectacular..... now that you have a 'build thread' started, I hope for regular updates... so exciting for you.....

[Artful69]

8 hours ago, ScottsGT said:

Rog, I fail to see anything listed as “model building suite” or “Man cave” or “Hobby room”?   
Back to the drawing board??  
 

Looks good!  Good luck with everything and I hope it transitions smoothly.  

 

8 hours ago, ScottsGT said:

And who is Al Fresco and why does he get his own area?  
 

There’s always a smart arse or two in the room!  …

To answer Scotts questions on my priorities … there are a couple of things to be considered here - bank valuation is one of them. Regardless of fit out and inclusions (detailing and AM In modeling parlance!) the bank wants to know how many bedrooms, bathrooms, square metre-age of living space etc etc an so forth before agreeing to finance the damn thing!! … Airbrushing (and anything creating fumes) will be conducted in the oversized garage - There is enough space for shelving and a VERY generous workbench! … primary assemblies will be conducted in what is now titled “Living Room” (the Theatre being the lounge room with TV) … you will note the high window on the RHS wall - allowing for me to build a lovely sized display cabinet there …

so build, paint, display ✅ 

Al fresco is an old friend of mine … we've shared many a cappuccino, pasta, dolcetto or bourbon together … holds a special place in my heart and so is allocated an appropriate outdoor area to share a sunset and muse over the days.

8 hours ago, Jeff said:

Right on Rog !!!  NOW the fun begins.......... I just went through the permit processes etc, and as they were somewhat painful, the final results were spectacular..... now that you have a 'build thread' started, I hope for regular updates... so exciting for you.....

Engineering reports just about done … awaiting on some documentation so I can apply for finance (which is a “slam dunk” I believe!) … as soon as that’s approved we’ll be moving to pre-start where all the colours and styles are picked out.

There is a lot I have elected to do in parallel with the builder but will save me money doing separately … more on that later … and yes this will be the build thread, so I will provide plenty of updates and photos as they happen.

Rog

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Rog, that looks great. 

A house like that in my part of Canada would be well over $1Million, closer to $1.4 I suspect. 

Can't wait to see the in progress shots. 

Carl

[Artful69]

11 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Rog, that looks great. 

A house like that in my part of Canada would be well over $1Million, closer to $1.4 I suspect. 

Can't wait to see the in progress shots. 

Carl

Had to move out of even the outer-burbs to get this sized block - 17m wide and 25m deep … $148K AUD about an hour south of Perth City and 10 mins from Mandurah … the build will cost about the $305K mark and has a few inclusions besides the slab, bricks, windows and roof. More to come buddy!

Rog

[GusMac]

We built our own house about 15 years back with a local builder and it's by far the best way to get exactly what you want. BUT there's so many damn things to choose! I forget who many hours of our lives we spent traipsing round showrooms and builder's merchants looking at everything. Worth it in the end though

[Bomber_County]

Dare I say, where is the stash located, is that on an adjacent double plot…….remember with interiors and lighting the devil is in the detail, one good example is indirect lighting, are floor boxes required etc etc…….

[Artful69]

1 hour ago, Bomber_County said:

Dare I say, where is the stash located, is that on an adjacent double plot…….remember with interiors and lighting the devil is in the detail, one good example is indirect lighting, are floor boxes required etc etc…….

Good question!

Firstly … I currently rent a 3x2 unit. There is a master bedroom with an ensuite, a second bedroom that is almost the same size as the master … and a third bedroom that is smaller.

currently I use the master bedroom as my bedroom, the second bedroom as the stash room and the third bedroom as my study / office.

in the new place the bedroom without robes or doors is the office (bedroom 4) and one of the rear bedrooms will become the stash room - leaving the other as a “guest room” 

Later, I will install a drop stair ladder and some MDF boards into the roof space and some insulated cladding for a storage space where I can probably leave the stash.

the front of the house faces ESE … so the RHS of the building will catch most of the sun.

Rog

[HubertB]

Cool project Rog.

I went through this process during the Covid, in 2020. 
Then we decided the area was too much  exposed to humid and fresh oceanic winds …

After one year, we put up the house for sale, sold it in less than 6 months, with a VERY good profit - which explains why I now have a nice car, but not the garage to park it into 😉.

The idea was to start a new building project 120 Kim’s South-East of the first house. 
We bought a nice plot … but then « small details » like a war in the Eastern confines of Europe, an inflation shock, the lack of building materials in Portugal, manpower shortages in the construction sector, and the protracted authorization process in the new area had us change our mind this summer…

So now we are buying a ready-built house, albeit with transformation works which will last a few months. 10 kms from where the plot was…The good news is we have resold the plot very well.

Wishing you the best on this one Rog.

Hubert

[Artful69]

4 hours ago, HubertB said:

Cool project Rog.

I went through this process during the Covid, in 2020. 
Then we decided the area was too much  exposed to humid and fresh oceanic winds …

After one year, we put up the house for sale, sold it in less than 6 months, with a VERY good profit - which explains why I now have a nice car, but not the garage to park it into 😉.

The idea was to start a new building project 120 Kim’s South-East of the first house. 
We bought a nice plot … but then « small details » like a war in the Eastern confines of Europe, an inflation shock, the lack of building materials in Portugal, manpower shortages in the construction sector, and the protracted authorization process in the new area had us change our mind this summer…

So now we are buying a ready-built house, albeit with transformation works which will last a few months. 10 kms from where the plot was…The good news is we have resold the plot very well.

Wishing you the best on this one Rog.

Hubert

It seems like fairly complex story! At least you made some money along the way ...

The mining construction boom in Western Australia lasted a fair few years ... beginning to thin out around mid 2015 ... In the 15 years or so of growth (early 2000's onwards) property values skyrocketed!! I was basically priced out of the market.

The property market went into a period of recession from about 2016 onward. It was JUST getting to the point where a house and land was within my affordability while working a Pest Technician, when the Federal and State Governments decided to "Stimulate" the economy during the early stages of the COVID debacle. Throwing taxpayers money at the housing market, without any real thought as to how to apply the funding in a fiduciary manner, meant builders took the absolute mick' and prices skyrocketed again overnight. Furthermore there wasn't enough land to feed the instant demand growth and ... the end result was that I was priced out of the market again - and I was not happy. I was almost at the point of getting some building contracts made up too.

I gave it about another 6-12 months and then decided that I just needed to go find more income - which I did - in my current FIFO role! Banks look at 12 months in FIFO roles as being the minimum acceptable ... so that hurdle is overcome. Because of the size of the income increase I can fund something better than I was originally getting too - despite recent rate rises.

It seems things worked out decently for both of us!

Rog

 

 

[GazzaS]

Nice looking blueprints, Rog.  A/C in the Garage, i hope?

[Artful69]

Ok so … an update … nothing pictorial yet, but an update to the preliminaries … I just signed off on the Brokers application forms and the Stat Dec for the Government Guarantee …

This little piece of COVID stimulation saves me having to pay LMI (Lenders Mortgage Insurance) … it’s an amount you pay to the bank (drawn from loan proceeds) to insure THEM against default - if your loan constitutes more than 80% of the property value. On the size of this deal - it would amount to $15K+.

Anyways … this lot will get me “pre-approval” in principal from the bank … next steps are:

* Building Contracts (needed by the bank for formal approval) - before Christmas

* Debt consolidation and satellite account closures - As soon as building contracts are signed

* Formal loan approval and contract signing - approximately 2 weeks after all documents submitted.

* Settlement (on the land) - approximately 2 weeks after home loan docs signed.

* Slab down - approximately 3 weeks after settlement.

Im hoping to get a photo next to the “sold” sticker on the lot number sign once the settlement happens.

Rog

[Artful69]

Arrived home on Wednesday afternoon ...

Completely knackered after a 2 week night shift. I have, now, to hand ... my first copy of the working drawings ... along with ticking off on the consolidation process during the last couple of weeks, for the small outstanding debts I had. I'm just waiting on building contracts now ... which apparently are taking a while due to technical problems within a government department. Hopefully they come through soon because I cannot attend pre-start, until they are signed - and currently, my pre-start is booked for Tuesday!!

Rog

 

 

[Artful69]

Ok ...

So ... build contracts arrived yesterday lunchtime ... via email, for DocuSign.

I only got a quick glance at them this morning ... 91 pages ... a witness is required, which I wasn't notified about.

Can't be bothered with it all this morning ... probably look at them later today and work out what to do ...

Rog

[GusMac]

Hi Rog

Sorry to hear about the hassles. We went through this process quite a few years ago and as you say it's this assumption that you know how it'll happen that grates. Just explain stuff clearly as you go along and life would be so much less stressful....

[Bomber_County]

Rog, with the recently arrived stash additions, I’d suggest add an extra annex now…………….what with planning and building control departments it’s a wonder anything gets built…….

[Artful69]

Well ... there's a slight delay in this post ...

Largely because I was a VERY unhappy chappy for a few days. I went to the Pre-start meeting as planned ... and made a few fine tuning suggestions as planned. And then we got to the electrical schematic ... single bayonet light fittings. I had specifically asked for LED down-lights to be installed during the quote process ... end result is that no lights will be fitted to most rooms ... instead there will be a junction box fitted inside the roof cavity in each of those particular rooms so that I can pay an electrician to come and install down-lights for me ... great.

Let's just say that my attitude throughout the next 5 hours (during which I was not offered coffee or tea, a snack ... or even water!) probably sucked. As a result - I might be changing a few of these selections around ... I wasn't really focused.

External selection for the front facia of the building.

Dark grey window treatments (a good contrast - yet not as harsh as a outright black!) ... Single course red brick for the bottom 7 courses, with a light grey render from the top of those to the roofline ... a medium blue/grey (more grey really) corrugated roof, guttering and downpipes ... The steel verandah posts, front door and garage sectional door will also be this colour ... (no blues available in the range though).

The rest of the external walls (rear and sides) will be in this limestone coloured double course brick ...

Paving will be in this light grey (silver) ... 

Internal fittings ...

The stone bench tops (not pictured) is a white colour with a grey marbled effect ... while the cabinets will have a white / grey woodgrain ... Main area tiling will be the bigger 600 x 600 medium grey ... with the lighter mottled 300 x 300 tile installed to the wet areas ... I am taking the premium underlay for the carpeted areas ... with a grey carpet.

I explained that I wanted to work with grey's and blues ... not much around in the blue department (but that makes wall paint selection easy!).

There was, however, this tile 200 x 400 (which will be the wall tile in the wet areas) and it has very light blue/grey lines running through it - so a good transition.

All tapware and fittings will be brushed nickel ...

And this is the vertical blind selection

Waiting on formal bank approval (probably another week) - and then settlement on the land.

Rog

[BlrwestSiR]

Sounds like you're making some progress there Rog. 

Sorry to hear about the lighting mixup. Hopefully it's not too much to have it done. I've been swapping out a bunch of incandescent pot lights ( I think that's what they call your down lights here) for low profile LED ones lately at work.  They really do make quite a difference.

Carl

[CANicoll]

Rog, That just sucks, but once all is said and done, well, you'll still be pissed at the builder, but you will have a really nice home!!

[Bomber_County]

Rog, if the LED down lights were specified in writing and subsequently quoted on, the contractor cannot then change the spec. There can be no variation without reduction of monies or negotiated compromise. Also to retro fit ceiling mounted elements will impact completed ceiling finishes. Just a thought……

[Artful69]

14 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Sounds like you're making some progress there Rog. 

Sorry to hear about the lighting mixup. Hopefully it's not too much to have it done. I've been swapping out a bunch of incandescent pot lights ( I think that's what they call your down lights here) for low profile LED ones lately at work.  They really do make quite a difference.

Carl

Carl …

Downlights are simply lights that are recessed into the ceiling so that they sit close to flush with it as opposed to hanging. They used to be predominantly, Halogen … but since LEDs have become widespread, use less power and generate less heat, they are the go-to mostly now.

12 hours ago, CANicoll said:

Rog, That just sucks, but once all is said and done, well, you'll still be pissed at the builder, but you will have a really nice home!!

Yes … it took me a couple of days to get over it … but I’m just going to move on now.

4 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Rog, if the LED down lights were specified in writing and subsequently quoted on, the contractor cannot then change the spec. There can be no variation without reduction of monies or negotiated compromise. Also to retro fit ceiling mounted elements will impact completed ceiling finishes. Just a thought……

Well there’s the rub … I started the whole conversation about buying months ago … at which point recessed LED’s were mentioned as a required inclusion amongst a host of other things. I must admit, I dropped the ball here - I probably should have scrutinised everything against a check list at every stage … but when I get to drawing version number 20, it all gets a bit muddlesome. TBH most people get downlights fitted after the fact here … it’s much cheaper to go to the electrician directly anyway.

Rog

[Artful69]

An Update ...

I flew home on Wednesday last week after my usual 2 weeks away at work ... and thanks to a set of botched home loan documents, a hefty PreStart cost estimate quote, some documentation to complete - which had to be posted ... and some settlement issues, I had my R&R mapped out to do some significant sorting work. Then came the call from my manager about 3 hours after arriving home - Please cut your R&R short and come back on the Monday ...

So I had to fly back to work early! .. Even so ... I Posted the important documents off on Friday ✅ ... Got the corrected Home Loan documents on the Monday a couple of hours after I arrived back on site - signed and sent off ✅. Settlement is arranged for the 8th of Feb ✅ ... which gives me about a week or so to go through the PreStart quote and mark questions etc ✅ ...

Next stop ... Land Settlement!

Rog

[CANicoll]

Good luck!!!