Progress has been a little slow the last couple of weeks as Oscar and I have been taking it turns being sick. So we haven’t visited the other builder we found (Harkaway Homes), or the other kitchen places on our list. But I have been doing research on the internet into what being an owner builder would involve; getting approval to do it, impacts on getting finance, builder’s warranty insurance. So far, all that I have really discovered is that there is a lot more to discover!
Category Archives: history
First Estimate
We got our revised floor plan and ball park estimate from the builder a couple of days ago. The first thing I did was check the final figure – it looked OK – not much more than our renovation quotes! Then I started reading. There were so many things left out – “Owner to supply” – things we had discussed to be included: flooring (!), solar hot water system (required for energy rating compliance), installation of the heating and cooling system (that we are going to salvage from this house) and balustrading around the deck (legal compliance), and more. Then I had closer look at the floor plan. We had been required to mark up our changes to the previous floor plan and sign that these were our final changes, but the revised version didn’t include them all or had made them incorrectly. That’s one mark against for quality control! Then there are the provisional allowances. If the actual cost goes over the provisional allowances we are required to pay the difference (fair enough) plus 30% – what a rort!!!!
We have also found another company that does federation style homes – Harkaway Homes – but they only supply the shell of the building (no internal trades, fit out, etc.) and we would have to be owner builders to engage them and then organise all the trades and fit out companies. Its a bit of a scary thought, but if we have to do a lot of that with this builder, then why not? It will give us more control over what we spend our money on, but means a lot more work for us. So now we are going to spend the next few months investigating this option further.
More kitchens
Another kitchen place yesterday. Very impressed. As well as the standard timber bench tops, they also have beautiful reclaimed timber benches! This time we are going to put together a plan ourselves, but its not so hard now, they had a big showroom so we could see all the different types of cupboards and drawers. I quite liked the appliance cupboard – which I’d never heard of before. It hides away your appliances, they are still on the bench top but hidden behind a little roller door or cupboard, and you just pull them out when you need them.