Wednesday 18 March 2015
Pool approved
yay! finally we can start building something....even if it is a pool shell. Pool company think they will excavate and concrete the shell before Easter and then finally McDonald jones can start building the house. Pool will be about 2.5m x 6m. Keeping it small allowed us to go through a Private certifier and avoids holding up the house much longer.
Friday 6 March 2015
The Story So Far......
Well we are about 6 months into the process of building our new home (better late than never to start a blog!) We decided to build a new home as the addition of two little boys to our family made our old house feel a little small. It would have been almost as expensive to extend and update so we started toying with the idea of building a house. Some land was for sale 5 mins up the road and we thought we would go and have a nosy one night to see how many people were lined up and ended up purchasing a block of land. Here is a summary so far.
Oct 2014 Land purchased (land was already registered)
Oct 2014 House chosen - Garden Retreat by Macdonald Jones
The developer only allows about 7 builders so that narrows the choices down which is probably a good thing. There are a lot of display homes out there. We looked at quite a few display homes, only one other house came close which was a wisdom home which would have been cheaper, however as soon as we walked into the Garden Retreat that was it. The floor plan was perfect and we felt we were going to use all the rooms and the outdoor area was the best of all the homes we had seen.
We have made a couple of changes, extending the garage out by an extra metre, 2.7m ceilings and some other bits and pieces. We have chosen the Balinese Tropicana façade.
Oct 2014 Sold our house on the last day of October (sad for all of us) and moved in Jan to our temporary home (also sad for all of us!)
Jan 2015 Landscaping plans completed
Jan 2015 Final contracts signed
Feb 2015 Colour selections completed
We were a bit nervous about picking colours but it was an easy fun day in the end. Spent about 5 hours at Macdonald Jones and spent too much money but we think the house will look good. Colour consultant was awesome.
Feb 2015 Electrical selections completed
Feb 2015 Approval from developer received
Mar 2015 Council approval received (CDC) yay !!!
Currently - a bit last minute but we decided in Feb to look into squeezing a pool into the already teeny backyard. Decided to go ahead but we have to keep it small so it qualifies for CDC approval and little chance of holding up the house. So right now we are awaiting approval for the pool (CDC) then pool shell can be installed and then building can start.
Oct 2014 Land purchased (land was already registered)
Oct 2014 House chosen - Garden Retreat by Macdonald Jones
The developer only allows about 7 builders so that narrows the choices down which is probably a good thing. There are a lot of display homes out there. We looked at quite a few display homes, only one other house came close which was a wisdom home which would have been cheaper, however as soon as we walked into the Garden Retreat that was it. The floor plan was perfect and we felt we were going to use all the rooms and the outdoor area was the best of all the homes we had seen.
We have made a couple of changes, extending the garage out by an extra metre, 2.7m ceilings and some other bits and pieces. We have chosen the Balinese Tropicana façade.
Oct 2014 Sold our house on the last day of October (sad for all of us) and moved in Jan to our temporary home (also sad for all of us!)
Jan 2015 Landscaping plans completed
Jan 2015 Final contracts signed
Feb 2015 Colour selections completed
We were a bit nervous about picking colours but it was an easy fun day in the end. Spent about 5 hours at Macdonald Jones and spent too much money but we think the house will look good. Colour consultant was awesome.
Feb 2015 Electrical selections completed
Feb 2015 Approval from developer received
Mar 2015 Council approval received (CDC) yay !!!
Currently - a bit last minute but we decided in Feb to look into squeezing a pool into the already teeny backyard. Decided to go ahead but we have to keep it small so it qualifies for CDC approval and little chance of holding up the house. So right now we are awaiting approval for the pool (CDC) then pool shell can be installed and then building can start.
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