Demo Meeting

Met with the demolishing company boss from plantation today onsite to review works required to clear site. Asbestos found through 80% of the house and garage. We received a quote from another company not associated with plantation which came in at $12,700 it will be interesting to see what plantation will put in front of us Tuesday at our home proposal, contract signing appointment. Watch this space...

Choices

 

Today was a long 3 1/2 hours of colour selection decisions, but I'm so glad that I did attend the information session. Some of the items I had chosen pre visit have now been discontinued. Below are some of the items selected. Most are upgrades from the standard inclusions. TIP/NOTE Be prepared for the costs when selecting items if they are above the standard range, this can add up very quickly. e.g. replace existing sink, with under mount sink $800, Laying fees for upgrade tiles $38sqm.Tomorrow I will visit Beaumont Tiles again to be sure on colour of high gloss tiles and feature tiles.



 

 

 

 

Welcome Pack in the mail

Today we received in the mail our welcome pack  to the administration portion of building a home. The letter of introduction outlines what to bring when we visit head office for two important appointment dates.

The first appointment will be to review the authorised tender and sign our building contract. Three hours has been assigned for this appointment. We need to bring the letter from the lender, land rates for proof of ownership, the sewer location plan (Ascon).

The 2nd appointment will take place two days later and this will be for colour selection. Three hours has been assigned for this appointment. Hubby is leaving that appointment for me to do on my own (which I'm totally fine with) I'm now at 85% complete with selections and will have it finished by tomorrow.

The pack also includes the electrical plan and price list for additional power and light points, now I just need to transfer what I have worked on so far to the plan to take with us. Also in the pack are examples of HIA building contract; QBCC Termite management system information; Swimming pool installation policy; Owner supply items policy; 50 year structural guarantee; 12 month warranty document and house build specifications. TIP/NOTE Lots of pre reading before you attend the contract signing appointment is essential.

Tomorrow I will be going to an information session at the Cosham design studio to prepare for the colour selection process, just in case the process has changed since I was last there,10 years ago. Last of the decisions tomorrow after the session will be to choose carpet; stone bench tops; wood stain; taps and basins.

1st Site Survey

The block has been surveyed indicating where the building pad will sit on the land. It shows where the drott will cut into the block and and bring the soil to the fill area, hence the term cut and fill for a slab foundation. Orange marks are survey points at the front of the land. Pink ribbon is in the back yard.

 

 

Colour to brick or bag? this is the question...

The hardest decision to make as a couple is the choice of colour and the overall look. In the early days my husband would have lots to say about colour schemes, 10 builds later he leaves that to me. I have the good fortune to be able to visualise the build, colours, placement of furniture, placement of power points, overall look and feel for trends now and the future in my mind. Hubby on the other hand is 2 dimensional so he excels in the dollar department and leaves the colour decisions to me, I share my thoughts and generally he agrees. TIP/NOTE: The first thing to think about external colour is the tone of the home i.e. light, medium or dark. 1st step - What façade are you choosing? this will assist determine your colour scheme wether you will have render, bagging, face brick or a bit of both. I generally on each build have started with the exterior walls as for most of us that's at eye level, the largest area you generally see on a regular basis.

We spent Saturday visiting PGH brick yard display to commence the search for the basic brick - for no extra cost. We have the front rendered as part of the façade we have chosen ($11.5K) but the remainder of the house is in face brick. Of course with my champagne taste, none of the bricks I liked are in the standard no cost range...possibly one at a push. To upgrade to dark brick of choice was a further $10K. We had put in our build price off white mortar TIP/NOTE: Natural mortar can make the brick colour darker and sometimes dirty looking if you are looking for light colours. Off white mortar is brighter. Generally the brick colour will determine your accent colours like gutters; facia; windows; down pipes etc. Be sure to visit a display yard to see the bricks in a wall. 

After much discussion in the end we decided to go with bag and paint, we will take off the build price the cost of the off white mortar colour $2.5K and upgrade the façade to incorporate bag and paint the whole house for $5K in the end it will cost us the same but we will have the correct colour tones in my mind. Off to Bunning's now to get Dulux colour charts.

Soil Test



Soil Test  in front yard and side yard towards the back prior to demolition. Results will take 7 -10 days and be sent to Plantation Homes to be included in the building contract. TIP/NOTE: These results will determine what type of soil, rock etc. is on the site which will establish the type of slab required for the home and ultimately the price a builder will charge for site costs. Plantation Homes will complete a site survey of the boundaries and a second soil test in the centre of the block after the demolition of the house.

 

 

2nd Deposit Installment

Confirmed with Plantation several items listed on the quote, i.e. moving main bedroom sliding glass door to Elevation D (northerly aspect) and by placing cavity sliding doors on the theatre room that the current wall cut out will be filled to enclose the room. Asked to include connection to town gas not on the original quotation. Quick response from plantation about our queries. Paid the 2nd deposit for building contract and plans to be prepared.
TIP/NOTE: The bank requires both documents before they will order a valuation. The deposits (total $3K) are not refundable. Banks will not approve knock down and construct mortgage if they cant see what the final product will look like. They will give you a preapproval conditional of valuation.
What's Next: We wait for introduction phone call to come from our Plantation Homes Administrator to organise an appointment at their head office to review full working drawings and a fixed price building contract. This part of the process takes approximately 3-4weeks. Patience is a virtue!

House Plan

The House Plan. No stairs. Single Level with high ceiling. We hope to Demo before Christmas.  Before and after photos to come at the time of Demo.

Deposit to Lock in Price

Travelled to North Lakes display and placed a deposit to lock in the price. This is when we added things to the quote that are not included in the base price, mostly personal choices but some things you have to have which are not included in the base price. These are: Site costs, which we know will be H+ slab(core sample already conducted) base price allowance is for S class. TIP/NOTE: H+ = Highly reactive clay and is at the highest end of site costs. We usually allow $10K, we weren't far off. Moved sliding door in main bedroom to alfresco wall (ensuring it will be a wooden slider to match theatre room slider for cohesive look to this area - this is an extra as aluminium is standard to the main bedroom). TIP/NOTE: Qld morning sun can be as hot as westerly afternoon sun, we know from our last home, I misplaced the position of a window in our bedroom on the east to overlook the pool - bad move for Sunday sleep ins! The sliding door will now be located facing North. Added a window in dining area and one in the butlers pantry to capture Northerly aspect. Added under bench kitchen sink. Added High gloss Createc to overhead cupboards in kitchen. Added 3 overhead and 3 under bench cupboards to the Laundry. Upgrade Front Façade to Harper with Render to front and face brick to remainder of the house. Colourbond roof. Ducted Air-conditioning. Floor tiles with extra allowance for high gloss; Carpets; Electrical upgrade allowance; driveway and concrete to alfresco.  Next step Plantation Quote will go to the Bank for valuation.

Visit Display

Reviewed many plans and decided on Geneva Q1 would best suit our needs. Visited the display home at Bells Reach Caloundra West. The house on display is the correct orientation that we want our home to be built.  This orientation will suit the northerly aspect of all living areas.