Choosing My Home

Choosing the location was but only the first step to getting the right home. What followed after paying the 'holding deposit' for the land was deciding what type of house to build on the land. While Simonds (the building company) had plenty of floorplans, in the end, we realised that there wasn't that many choices suitable for us.

From the start, we wanted to have a 4-bedroom and single-storey house. Double storeys are great too but that will leave us with a very big backyard. Unless we build a swimming pool, I don't know how else to use the land and I don't fancy Hubby will be mowing 200msq of grass every two weeks. In other words, I don't think we're capable to take care of a huge garden. A single-storey house that takes up about 70% of the space is ideal and cheaper to build too.

As our lot was a corner block flanked by a small lane to the right, it is not possible for the driveway and garage to be anywhere else but the left. And to take maximum advantage of the northern facing, we wanted the living/dining areas to be on the right side which is north facing. Half the designs were striked out after factoring in these two criterias.

Initially we considered houses that were narrower and long in design. This will give us more space between the fences and the windows, allowing more sunlight into the house. There were about 3 or 4 house designs suitable but I realised that NONE of them had a study area. And I really thought that a study area, for computer, books and homework, is neccesary. I became rather dismayed that out of Simonds' 32 single-storey designs, I could not find a single floorplan that suited all my requirements.

Actually Simonds is able to put a study area into the floorplan of some designs. Of course, just pay more $$$. But it also occured to me suddenly 'hey, why limit the house to narrow designs just to stay away from the fence? Why not just choose fences that allow light through and yet provide security/privacy?

With that breakthrough, we found a house design called "Marriott" that meets all our requirements above. It's around 31.62 squares (293.79sqm), has 4 bedrooms plus a study and includes a huge alfresco included under the roofline. The width is 14.66m, which makes the fence less than 2 metres from the windows. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some suitable fences in the future. We liked the open plan layout, spacious kitchen and I got a walk-in pantry!!

Unlike buying an established house, where most of the decision-making headaches should end at this stage of finding the right house, our building journey has just started. Last night, we had an appointment (the 3rd) with the sales consultant to finalise the house design and the upgrades/changes we want. They had a Big Brand "Pay $10,000 for $30,000 upgrades" promotion and one of the homework we had to do was to work out what upgrades to take. We selected about $26k worth of items initially. And we were faced with whether to select more just to make it $30k or to reduce the upgrades to $22K, in which case we only had to pay $5k. We found that we couldn't reduce much without cutting a major item (such as high ceilings). In the end, we went the extravagant way and took good-to-have items such as a 25 degree roof, better cooker, better canopy rangehood and even a Dorf Krysten veggie spray mixer tap for the kitchen.

We also paid extra (outside of the promotion) for things such as tiled shower bases, a stone kitchen benchtop, extending the overhang and a waterfall panel feature. We were seriously considering changing the aluminium sliding alfresco door to a timber bi-fold one but has decided that instead of paying $4,500 for asthestics, we should perhaps save the money for something more practical like solar panels or a water tank flushing system instead.

The quotation we signed was only an estimate of the cost of the house. There will be other sessions for colour selection and appointments with the electrician. I am quite sure there will be more things, such as extra powerpoints, that will increase our cost. And we haven't added in the cost of fencing and landscaping yet. If you ask me, there is often less value to building your house versus buying an established one. There is actually an established house currently for sale just a few streets from where we bought. The land size is slightly bigger and the house looks pretty good from the pictures. Curtains, lightings and landscaping are all nicely done. And it's only asking for $445k - $465k. I believe my final cost of land + building cannot be lower than that amount. Honestly, I wavered for a moment. But Hubby is not tempted. He's advocated building our home from the beginning as that's the way to get exactly what we want. And after so many months of searching and not finding, I must agree he is right. It might cost more in the end, but it's 100% your creation. This time round, I trust my other half is the better half.

With all the upgrades, I can imagine our house is gonna be a good one. Especially the kitchen, it's a homemaker's dream kitchen, with a giant pantry, lots of countertop space and some of the most sleek, modern and useful appliances. I noticed that Hubby has been espcially generous when it comes to the kitchen upgrades. I know that's his way of indulging me....for sure there's no more excuse now not to cook better! And I can't wait to move in already!