Saturday 28 July 2012

Tender presentation and Brick Selection

We were very happy with our tender presentation... slab was classes as M but will require some extra piers or something like that so the  funds allocated to the H class slab will be put towards that.

There were two questionable items - Landscape plan prep $705. Seriously we dont need this for our developer and I hope to have this removed and secondly they wanted to charge up $1400 to have a bushfire report done. I am in the process of following this up, because our 149 certificate from council and the map from Council  signed by NSW Rural Fire both say we are not in a bush fire prone area.

Overall though very happy and no real surprises.

Today we went to PGH bricks and selected our exterior colours Bricks Vanilla, Roof tiles, Barramundi, Gutters, garage door monument, Fascia Paperbark, Window trims - woodland grey... still deciding downpipes either paperbark or monument....

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Dream house

On the 30th June, J paid our $750 to begin the process with Eden Brae. We liked the Hawthorne 31. We decided to go with Essentials package - this included 'm' site costs, standard basix and council fees, sarking, stenciled driveway, wool blend sisal carpet, standard range of tiles to living areas, alarm system, remote control garage door, plain concrete to alfresco. We added on the Lifestyles promotion and the 3 x $1 promotion. This means we get Actron air reverse cycled ducted air conditioning, 20mm caesarstone in the kitchen as well as stainless steel 900mm oven and 5 gas burner cooktop, dishwasher, microwave and glass canopy rangehood. We also choose Monier Horizon roof tiles.

Included is shower niches, eaves, cornives, skirting, stacker door to alfresco, termite treated timber frame.

We have upgraded to higher ceiling all over, as well as 3m ceilings in entry, a longer bath in ensuite, tiles to both walls of shower, above bench cupboards in the kitchen, a fancy wide front door, doors to the WIR, and rumpus, cavity slider in ensuite.

We also took up the big space promotion so that means we will extend the rumpus, linen and alfresco by 1.4m and split this so that Bed 4 and the Breakout room also get an additional 0.7m.

Our tender presentation is booked in for the 26th July. Can't wait!

Dream Suburb

J and I bought land on June 9 2012 at Harrington Gardens.


We were originally looking at established houses, but nothing out there was perfect. I knew what I wanted, an area for L, an area for J and an area for me. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, double garage and not on a main street. In the end we took advantage of the stamp duty exemption by buying land and building.

So this is where the story starts - Lot 112. The block was fairly flat, had no easement, and we knew that on out northerly east side we would have a single story block as the neighbours had already started building.

We orginally decided to build with a different builder, but after several hesitations we changed. Mainly the layout of the design was not exactly the best use of the land, and we were alterating it a lot... more $$$

When I went through the Eden Brae display home I was impressed. The sales person gave me the options list up front, so I knew exactly what was upgraded. The layout was perfect - 4 bedrooms, space for L, J and me, a linen press and a pantry - both walkins. Best of all the alfresco and laundry were at the back of the design so it would use the block the best.

When J walked through the house - he loved the entry door, high entry ceilings and double door to the master bedroom. He like the bath in the ensuite, and the alfresco area.