builders, design proposal, display homes, floor plan, history

What an exciting couple of days!

3 Comments

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.
img
This will be our new home (Source: Premier Builder’s Group)

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)
Share/Bookmark

3 comments on “What an exciting couple of days!”

  1. Garry Easton on said:

    That can make you really excited, hehe. It's good that you listed down all that you needed to do. Some people forget this because of their excitement to move in their new house. It would be advisable to have a building inspector do a thorough inspection of the house to see if there are any problems before moving in. It's better to be safe than sorry.

  2. Oscar's Mum on said:

    Thanks for the comments Gary. We do plan to get our own independent inspections done – its on the ever growing to-do list!

  3. Shirley on said:

    Hello, my name is Shirley. My husband and I are in the very beginning stages of looking into building our own home, and we are lacking in the knowledge we’d like to have as we begin the process. I was excited to find your blog and hope it will be a helpful resource for me. Could you maybe tell me which posts you’ve written that might offer the most insight? It’d be really appreciated!