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
