We have reviewed the proposal from our builder today. We’ve actually had it for 3 weeks but have all been so sick with flu, colds, tummy bugs (you name it!) that we hadn’t had a chance to do any more than a brief flick through, so we put aside some time this weekend to look it over. Overall it’s pretty good, although there are a few things we discussed that either haven’t been included or have but aren’t stated. I hope it’s more of the latter as the price is already too high and we need to find some places to cut costs. There are some things we will do ourselves after hand over, including fit out of the bar on the verandah and the attic, and there are some materials we will look into cheaper alternatives for.
We’ve taken our design to another builder, well my parents did actually. They built a new home about 2 years ago and have raved about their builder the whole time. We didn’t consider using them until recently as my parents are in the country and so is the builder. But apparently they have a Melbourne crew and do take Melbourne jobs. They were keen to talk to us so I sent my sketch and our requirements to my Dad and he passed them on. This is what they came back with:
We’re pretty happy with it. The stairs are a much nicer solution than the one we came up with and they have included everything else we wanted. Our next step is to go and talk to them ourselves, take a look at their new display home (which is a heritage style home) and get an estimate.
Its all happening over at our place at the moment. Yesterday we paid a deposit to start putting together the plans for our new house and today I got offered and accepted a new job (a very important box to tick when you are going to be asking the bank for lots of money!).Yesterday we went for our walk through of the Hawthorn Attic and talked through the changes we wanted to make with the design consultant. The main ones were:
All “weather board” facade.
Timber flooring throughout the ground floor (bedroom area was carpet).
Remove the 4th bedroom and increase the size of the 3rd bedroom and alfresco area.
Remove the fire place and built in desk unit in the attic.
Install our own heating system (we hope to salvage and re-use our 3 year old heating and air conditioning in this house).
Provide our own exhaust fan for the kitchen (one of those silent ones).
We hadn’t expected to get the estimate yesterday, but our consultant was able to put it together while we went and had lunch. With all the ins and outs the changes didn’t add a great deal to the original price – so we are going to the next stage – getting the pre-tender documents prepared. And with the changes to the 4th bedroom we have created a little alcove in the alfresco area for hubby to build an outdoor kitchen (plumbing and electricity points have been included in the plans) – he’s already making plans to salvage the sink and some of the cupboards from our current kitchen.
Oscar is getting excited about the new house, we showed him “his bedroom” – he wants to paint it brown. And Teddy who accompanies us on all our display home visits (except one week off when Spot the dog came instead) was also very impressed!
This time around (read here for the previous attempt) the process feels a lot more comfortable and we are much happier with how the consultant is working with us. He didn’t find any of our requests too difficult and their process is quite easy to understand. At this stage our plan is to demolish in January and start the new build in February, but we have a lot to do between now and then…………..
Things on our to do list:
Investigate salvaging and re-using our heating/air con system
Talk to the bank (or banks)
Contact the council about a planning permit to demolish
Keep an eye on the prices for the exhaust fan we want to install
Get quotes for the demolition, and investigate whether the house can be sold and removed
Investigate carpets/floor coverings that are suitable for asthmatics (Oscar, and the carpet in the attic)
