Thursday, February 2, 2012

3 months in & would we do it again!





Hello everyone,

Can't believe we have been in our new home for 3 months already.

It will be a year in 2 weeks from when our site began.

Would I do it again or any regrets?

No regrets at all.
We absolutely love our house.
Of course some things I would have done differently, but you don't really know until you actually move in! And you need lots of $$$ to do absolutely everything! One example would be I wish I would have put bi fold doors on my study! That can still be done though. :-) Extra power points. I did add around 15 to std ones you get, but could still have used more. Lol

Would I build a big house again/ Dbl storey?

Yes I would. We love the space & cleaning it isn't to bad surprisingly. I found it takes me 2 hrs a wk. The same time as it took me to do a 24 square house! I find that with so much space everything can get put away. It's really only the floors that take time. And with the duct vac it makes it easy. Very good investment!

Would I build with PD again?

Yes I would. I had a few hiccups prior to starting my build with site costs being more than I budgeted (see previous blog posts) but the whole process was pretty smooth. Site manager, construction manager were fantastic.

House after handover/ 3 month maintenance!

House has been great. No real issues at all. We had our 3 month maintenance on Monday & very minor things. Some items on our list: paint touch ups, tile/grout clean up, sone carpet needs fixing. That was pretty much it. As when we moved in we had some minor things that needed fixing & PD were onto it straight away. People had told me that the after service is very good. I'd have to agree. Any issues they were onto it ASAP. I've got friends that built a year ago & still haven't got things fixed!

5 tips for those about to build for the first time!

1. Pick your house plan & work with the builder on what size your land needs to be. Then search for the land.

2. Buy flat land!! Site costs will be costly. Mine cost 50k!! My friend with flat land cost 500 dollars! Research the the area & ask questions if their is rock, as this could be costly! Some people do their own site tests before they purchase.

3. Do your research: homeone forum (link on this blog) is great. I am still using it for research. It was a great aid on everything with building, buying land, landscaping, etc. Read lots of blogs. I followed around 50 & also found some really old ones that had built the cremorne to get ideas!

4. Do a budget for what you really need versus what you want in your upgrades. Eg: what can you do later & save money & what will cost a fortune later if you don't get it done!

5. Take lots of pics throughout your build. Especially at frame stage. Great for future reference. Also amazing to see the progress from start to finish.

Mel













Sunday, December 18, 2011

blinds installed

Hi everyone,

Well our lovely blinds were installed today.
Cannot believe the 1 week turnaround.

Love them!!

See some pics! Colour is pumice!




Plain blind near my Xmas tree!




Dual blind!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Holland / dual blinds

Hi everyone,
Well I got 2 quotes & my blinds should be installed in a few weeks! Hoping before Xmas. Both quotes were within budget!
We end up going with a company called blinds kingdom.
Website: www.blindskingdom.com.au

We chose holland (roller blinds) for the whole house. We end up picking the colour pumice (matches the carpet) & on 6 windows we got the dual blinds with the back blind being a bronze chocolate colour to match the jasper window frames!

Some pics of what we chose!








Update on fencing: finally found a fencer! They will be going up early jan ;-) can't wait!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Driveway

Hi everyone,
Been a while since I last posted!
Finally today we got our driveway done. My god it costs alot just for concrete! Now hopefully start landscaping the front within the next few wks!

Fencing has been painful. People not showing up, especially after calling 8 of them! They say they are coming, they just don't seem to want to do a fence on that retaining wall! Arghhhh

In terms of the house only major issues are 3 things: leak into front door! No weather strip on bottom of door & a crack in the right hand corner front pane which the wood has now warped after heavy rains. And 3 leaks in garage!
One plumbing issue!! Water pressure upstairs is very weak! Plumber & PD construction manager coming by on Monday! A few other tiny things but they can wait until 3 month maintenance!

Curtains - hopefully will be happening soon! Getting quotes ATM!!

In terms of the house we are loving it :-) I'm even loving cleaning it! That won't last long lol!

Pics of driveway! Exposed aggregate in charcoal!





Saturday, November 5, 2011

We are in!

Hi everyone,
We moved in on wednesday, unpacking all day Thursday & still a few boxes to unpack!
Am pretty happy :-)
A few hiccups! Telstra man came yesterday & apparently the hub in garage is working but not the points in house!!! So hopefully they come out pretty quickly. Foxtel is coming Monday so will be interesting to see if they can hook it up!!
Phone on, appliances installed on Thursday, PD forgot to organise my ducted vac installation, so that will be Monday wk.
A few hiccups, but we are pretty ecstatic & love the house.



Kitchen





Thursday, October 27, 2011

Handover tomorrow!

Hi everyone,
So handover is booked for tomorrow at 2.00pm. What a stressful time it is organizing the bank valuation and making sure the cheque will be ready tomorrow!!!
On my way home I brought a bottle of Moët to celebrate tomorrow when we get the keys.
It's chilling in the fridge ATM! Lol


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Handover next Friday!! wohooooo

Hi everyone,
Had PCI this morning. About 2 hours of going thru everything ;-)
Handover is booked for next Friday :-)
So happy.

Now onto lots of organizing to move, pack!! Arghhh busy 2 wks ahead!

Mel