Starting the Slab

We dropped past the land on Wednesday night 18/12 only to find they have levelled the block!! Surprised by J the builder who has given us an early start date.

Phone call from J the next day confirmed that the slab was due to be poured 24/12. No doubt due to heavy rains this will be delayed until after Xmas.

Exciting times ahead!
We have also settled on the external colours
CB roof, gutters & garage door in Dune
Windows - brushed aluminium - silver
Render - Dulux Porcelein Figurines & Toffee Fingers
Front door - Dulux Red Cross

J the builder has been excellent and very accommodating with our nefarious plans to delay the build with more changes.

Our Plan

Kitchen selections and Non Standard items

Kitchen selections are complete. Kitchen cupboards are Cafe Cream laminate (gloss) and the pantry cupboard is laminate gloss Mountain Pepper.

Benchtops are Ceasarstone Ice Snow. is glass but we can't decide on the colour and have decided to wait until the wooden floors and kitchen cupboards are installed before making a final decision on the splash.Most likely Dulux Murray River Red.


Splashback Upgrades to the spec include Innotech drawers to the kitchen, spice rack insert to draws (love Indian and Thai food), 4 downlights under the kitchen cupboards, non standard handles to joinery, 2.8lm pantry in the Kitchen including an appliance cupboard and roller door, square brushed aluminium downlights, double shower to ensuite, BBQ point to the patio, motorized control to rear garage roller door, Culligan P150 drinking system in the kitchen, feature tiles in bathrooms, tiled kickers in ensuite bathroom, extra linen cupboard, Corinthian Madison 1020mm wide x 2340 high front door with glass and mirror cabinet with shelves in ensuite and extra banks of drawers and shelving in the WIR.

Final contracts are signed and new start date is beginning of January 07.

Selections - wet areas

Our selections for the wet areas include:
Tiling
Stone grey 400x400 tiles on the floors and White Luxor Rectified Gloss 300x500 tiles for the walls - laid horizontal. Stone grey tiles to be laid up one wall as well as floors and in the shower niches.




Tapware
Hansa Polo mixers







Basins:
semi recessed square basins in the master ensuite and upstairs bathroom. The downstairs powder room has an Azure grand pedestal basin with attached towel rail. It looks neat and tidy which is essential as the powder room is small - only 1710 x 1000 mm.

Bathroom & ensuites
White gloss laminate cupboards with Ceasarstone ginger benchtops (attached pic).


Laundry:
Laminate New Barron Alder and Buller Stone benchtops

Wooden floors

We purchased 120 sqm of spotted gum wood for the lower level and treads/ risers for the staircase. We chose 83x12 mm select grade from Planet Timbers.

We decided against hydronic heating due to lack of communication from the supplier but have incorporated as many passive heating/cooling options as possible given the restraints of a traditional build. The wooden floors are a bit of a compromise as concrete would have been the better option for thermal mass; but the look was a bit too 'raw' for us.

The build is now set to commence early January due to the 3 months delay in waiting for specifications from the hydronic supplier. They never arrived so I guess he doesn't want the job or the system is not ready. Whatever the case, Michael doesn't get his hydronic floors but we can console ourselves with a fireplace and beautiful wood!!

Final plan at last

We thought we could sign off on the last design however the window size and placement is not absolutely correct, so we have requested further changes.

Will the build be ecofriendly or driven by a budget

We have been researching a number of ecofriendly options - such as hydronic heating and underfloor cooling and double glazing. After visiting the ecoarchitect we are keen to incorporate as many of these ideas into our house design as possible.

The builder is beside himself and we are hoping he will hang in there so we get the best of all worlds - great modern aesthetics and ecofriendly design. The stairwell is likely to become the house 'chimney' - venting hot air through the house to the roof. Each of the rooms will have a whirly mate to vent hot air out of the house and into the roof space ... eventually released outside. We are just waiting for some costings and final drawings and it is all systems go .... slab predicted to be down in October.

Builder on holidays

Well the builder is on holidays so the design and decision making process is on hold until he gets back. We agree with the designer that the main bedroom is too small to include all the features we want, so we are going to negotiate some changes with J so the bedroom is larger. We can always change the furniture later but we can't alter the footprint.

It is hard weighing up whether to incorporate the bathroom into the bedroom or have them completely separate. It seems there are two design 'fads' at the moment - the fully integrated ensuite/bedroom and the separate toilet, shower, w.i.r and sleeping areas.

While we are waiting we have been visiting our land. We settled on our dirt/mud a couple of weeks ago which was purchased in Mawson Lakes Adelaide in the Bridges. It seems like a nice & quiet area as it is a bit away from the rest of the Mawson estate (which is going to be massive).

In the meantime we are busy designing and re-designing the house. Is there such a thing as over designed!! I must say our builder has been fantastic and very accommodating.

Looking forward to our meeting with the builder/designer next week, when we come crashing back to reality as the costs for the mod's are revealed. Here is the land.

from old to new

Last month we sold our house by the beach and decided to take the plunge and build a brand new home in the 'burbs'. I know it will feel great sitting on a brand new toilet and not having to dig up 100 yr old cement to find leaky pipes. Oh yeah, and hopefully we won't get zapped by faulty wiring when we turn on the NEW lightswitches..... Yippee.

the design process

Today we met with our designer to go through the house design. We originally modified an existing design from Seville Homes. J (the builder) has contracted a designer to work with us. Fantastic team and we are very happy with their approach.