We Moved In

So much has happened since my last post. We finally got our keys, gave notice to vacate the rental house and started organising the moving in. Appliances and curtains got installed, furniture delivered, we moved in officially, XX turned 5, Hubby and KK got their blue belts for Taekwondo, end of school year and it's Christmas tomorrow! 


In between all these major events, there were lots of unpacking, tidying and organising at our new home and the cleaning and handing back of the rental property that was our home for the last 21 months. There were also school orientations for XX as he gets ready for Prep next year and end of year Christmas concerts to attend (even XX's kinder had a mini one). Hubby and I were so tired these last few weeks that we basically just crashed into bed everynight. But there's the satisfaction of finally living in our own home which we've work hard to create and I think we're progressing well. Hubby has been very hard working especially, assembling furnitures and fixing up odd jobs around the house. He's even started working on some of the many home projects lined up, such as our timber deck and we even got the Christmas tree set up. 


Enough said, I'll let the pictures tell the story:

One of the first thing we had to do was to set up a post box.

Hob and Hood installed.

Blinds had to be in before we can move in. Here's the sliding panel blinds in our bedroom.

Bought some furniture pieces from Ikea which we had to assemble.

The plantation shutters in the Lounge room.

Panel blinds in the laundry room that we installed ourselves. Rails from Ikea, fabric from Spotlight. 

Yay, our first meal (Korean instant noodles) in our new home.

The timber arrive for our alfresco decking.

Hubby setting up the frame for the decking. Yes, we're going to try and DIY!

Looking homely and comfy for Christmas.

More pictures on XX and KK to come and as we settle in and tackle more home improvement projects. Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!!
   

More Delays

What do you do when things are not going the way you want and you can't do much about it? You sit around sulking or walk around grumbling or you pour it out in writing? Well I tried the first two, it didn't really help me feel better so I'm going to try the 3rd remedy.


At this final stage, the house is still not settled. Things took a dramatic turn for the worse when we went to do our "PCS" (Project Completion Signoff). Instead of signing off that everything had been completed, we found the site supervisor couldn't make it for the appointment as he was summoned to go to the head office urgently. Turned out he got fired that day. 


Turned out also that he has not been doing much at all about our house. Some of the items raised 2 weeks ago were being fixed on the spot by the substitute site supervisor who took over last minute. This new guy seems initially like a nice guy and one who has much higher standards. He saw some of the rectifications and agreed that it was a 'crap' job and had to be redone. Some other rectifications made no improvement at all. Like the garage door, it was still not sitting straight. 


We were very keen to move in and even agreed that some issues could be fixed after handover. However, I was reminded many times by different people not to do that. Most people had difficulties getting the builder to come back and fix things after handover. They are not one bit interested in you after they take your money. So we have decided to make them fix all the defects before we take over the house. Which means an indefinite delay.


To make matters worse, we discovered the concrete path outside our house had some serious defects. There appeared 2 long thin cracks in the concrete recently and when I mentioned it to the ex-site supervisor, he claimed it was within tolerance. He asked that we leave it and review during the 3 month maintenance period. I took his word for it then but we met another concrete trades person lately and he highlighted what a bad job our concrete was. Many parts were not even the minimum thickness of 100mm. Indeed it was and from then my eyes opened. I now suspect the cracks could be the result of poor workmanship. We raised a fuss with the builder about the concrete and they have still not responded how they are going to deal with it. 


That's not the end. On the day of the PCS, the new site supervisor got someone to come and clean up the exterior of the house. He did a good job but some water from his high pressure hose were forced into the house and there was a puddle on the floor boards near the alfresco sliding doors. It was highlighted to the site supervisor who claimed that he will get some towels from his car to mop it up later. But guess what? In his hurry to go off (to visit Grandmother and it's girlfriend's birthday), he forgot. That was Friday and when I reminded him on Monday, he claimed that it was done on Saturday. However when I went to the site on Wednesday, I saw huge stain marks on the floor and I suspect the floorboards have just got damaged from the flooding. One more major issue to repair = more delay.


I'm getting increasing frustrated especially when there's nothing much we can do except email them every other day about the progress. Yesterday, the furniture company called, claiming they can't hold on to the furniture (2 large sofas and a dining table) we ordered any longer. When we ordered them 2 months ago, I never expect that the house would still not be ready until now. 


On the other hand, I'm glad that all these things happened now, before we sign off and while we still have a bit of bargaining power to make them fix the problems. I thank God for the people He sent to remind and advise us. The contractual completion date is 23 December, after which the builder will have to start paying us $250 per week as damages. I wonder if this will really happen? From a project that have so much potential to be completed in 5 months to one that is overdue. I have no problems moving in next year but where am I going to settle the furniture in the mean time? 

Rock A Fellas

There is never an end to the things we can learn. We thought that with a combined experience of over 70 years on earth between us, there is nothing that will faze us. But building our first house in Australia has given us that opportunity to feel like a little confused child again. Our latest crash course now is on  'Landscaping'.


In Singapore, landscaping was never an agenda for us. We kind of take it for granted that it will be there when we move into the HDB or condo estate. That timber deck, paved footpath, lush green lawn and stone benches, it's all done up nicely by the developer. We walked around and on them but have we ever wondered how it was made? Here in Australia, we're learning for the first time how to turn a piece of muddy ground into a garden. Where do we even begin? 


Apparently, the land has to be 'prepared' first. Like before putting on make-up, you have to clean your face and put on moisturiser first. The land has to be excavated by a bobcat and the trash soil taken away. Then you can put on the weed mats before you pile on top soil (which you got to buy). Only then do you plant the grass or turf. 


And if you want your garden to be more than just grass, a space that is both decorative and usable, which in our case consist of some timber decking, footpaths, garden beds and paving, the jobs add up. And getting landscaping done here is not cheap. The labour cost is high and can make up 60% of the total cost. We have gotten quotes ranging from $16,000 to $50,000. Which makes us think that it makes a lot of sense to DIY some parts of the landscaping ourselves. But how?


Unlike most Australian men who grew up watching their dads doing gardening and handy jobs around the house, my born and bred in Singapore husband is a total green horn when it comes to such tasks. And I'm even worse, can't tell the difference between a rake and a fork until recently. We are both very willing to take on the labour, especially if it saves us so much money, but our lack of technical and practical knowledge is a major setback.


So that's why currently we are on a steep learning curve. No doubt we will have to get the professionals to do some jobs like preparing the land and setting the concrete base, but I feel we should attempt to do the timber decking, garden beds and paving ourselves. There are some friends we know who has done theirs and we are hoping that we can learn from them. In the meantime, we have visited a few places that sell pavers and stones to learn more about the different materials available and their prices.


The range is mind boggling. Pavers comes in all sorts of shapes - rectangle, squares, irregular... and thickness, colours and feel. Even rocks are not so simple....Basalt, bluestone, sandstone....The strangest part is these rocks that comes freely from the earth are not cheap. One shop quoted us $80/cubic metre. Sure, some of them had to be mined and broken down but you know what, when builders build your house, they make you pay like $16K to excavate and remove rocks (called site costs) from your land. The rocks are taken to factories to be broken down and then sold to landscape suppliers...for you to later buy them back for your garden. 


I'm pretty sure that even with research and theoretical knowledge, we'll never be able to fully understand landscaping until we sink our hands into the mud. I just hope to be able to carry them rocks when they arrive.    

Almost Ours

If you're wondering if we've moved into our new house already, we haven't. But after almost one year from the time we bought the land, we're into our final leg of the building journey. Like an expectant mother in her final trimester, there is a sense of anticipation and impatience, for the official completion of our latest production.


The PCI (Present to Customers Inspection?) happened last Tuesday where we went through the completed home and pointed out areas that we were not satisfied with, things that needed to be fixed, repaired, touched-up. We already hired an independent inspector go through the house two weeks ago and he had prepared a long list of items that were not up to standard and had to be rectified. There were a few things that they will have to rectify or replace but in general, they were not major issues and the builder has agreed to fix most of them. I only hope they won't take too long to do it.


At this stage, we have already started preparing for the taking over of the house. The blinds for the whole house have been ordered, after getting 3 vendors to measure and quote and today we just paid the deposit for the fences. Next on our agenda is the landscaping. How we want the front yard to look, what to do with the backyard - footpaths, lawn, storage area, garden beds, veggie patch, laundry lines - where to locate, what materials to use, who to do the job (DIY or professional landscapers)? From the sourcing of suitable vendors to getting quotes, comparing quotes and selecting what we want/like, there is a string of decisions to be made. It is both fun and tedious. 


Being first time home owners in Australia, there are many things that are new to us and we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory when dealing with Australian construction standards and materials. At the same time that we are making important decisions, we are also on a steep learning curve. Inevitably, we are discovering some mistakes already. Some things we have to blame on our own ignorance and inexperience. Like the concrete driveway to the garage. Ours is just plain concrete and I don't think it looks very nice. Now we realize that there are numerous options when it comes to the type of pavings for driveways. In the concrete category, you can choose the concrete to come in almost any colour or 'exposed aggregate' (we just learnt this name and it's the latest trend - concrete seeded with pebbles). In the interim, until we decide to knock it down and build a new driveway, I learnt that we can still paint the concrete and seal it, but it will fade after a while.


At this point, there are definitely some things that we wished we didn't choose or vice versa but is now too late to change. Like we wished we'd chosen to "upgrade" to brickwork above garage door instead of standard strapping and FC sheet infill. We didn't even know what they mean by "strapping and FC sheet infill" until we see the final product. Of course, it is always possible to change it as long as we're willing to spend the money. But that will be for another day. Right now, we have to focus on more urgent and basic furnishings of the house.


It is exciting and getting more so as we neared completion. There're so many things to do, not to mention the packing up. I really can't wait to move in and start decorating the house!

Progressing into Winter

This year's Winter is by far the coldest I've felt. Even in Autumn, I already felt like I was in Winter and Summer, it left no warmth in my memory. Apart from shuttling the kids, grocery shopping and visiting the construction site, I have been pretty much keeping warm at home. Even that I'm finding hard without turning on the heater and wearing a few layers of clothes. Arrgh, the inconvenience of Winter. Each time we dress/undress, we got to do that standing in front of a fan-force heater. And each change would entail at least 4 pieces of clothing to be either washed or sorted. Some days, getting out of bed is a challenge.


On a positive side, the winter chill has not hampered the progress of our house. There were pockets of good sunny days that allowed all the necessary foundation and structure to be set up. Now that the weather is more rainy, they are doing the interior jobs. So far, we're rather happy with Simonds on the progress. There were small hiccups like we had to re-select our bricks (due to nil availability) and front door (due to discontinued model) but it's been ironed out and we're happy they waived the upgrade cost for us after we had to select a brick from a higher category. Other small issues include pilferage of materials from our house. We found the two knobs for turning the awning windows missing after the long weekend. Also, the brick layers from the construction next door have been stealing our water. And phantom people have been using the construction bin outside our house to dump their household waste. It seems theft is quite common (the site supervisor barely raised his eyebrow when he saw the missing knobs on the window and just jotted it down) and apparently worse can happen.


I've recently got a friend to teach me knitting and got started working on two scarves and probably a beanie next. Due to the frosty weather, such accessories have now become a necessity. I had a pair of woolly gloves that I've never had to use over the last few years but this year, it's been especially handy in the mornings. I bet the sale of wool and fleece clothing have gone up over the last month! 


It seemed to us an amazing change compared to the year we first arrived. In 2008, I heard my friend telling us there was no need for umbrellas in Melbourne. The rain were just drizzles that passed in 5 mins. The Winters were mild and the Summers, hot and dry. Remember the forest fires of Black Saturday in 2009? But these last 2 years, things have turned around so much. The dams are now filled and we've started to get a mosquito problem during Summer, something that's not happened before for a long time. The terrain is now looking lushier and greener, the creeks are flowing with water and life again. This was how it was 10 years ago, before the drought set in. In a way, if this is Nature's way of finding a balance for itself, I'm glad. I just have to re-adjust my body thermostat and be more tolerant of the cold.

Site Start

After months of planning and hours spent pouring over our house plans again and again, we finally moved out of paperwork stage and officially went into "site start" on 17 May. This is the stage when construction of the house actually begins and all the plans on paper are put into action. And it started at an amazing speed.

Last Monday when Hubby went past the site, it was still mud with some pipes sticking out here and there. On Wednesday when I went over, I was surprised to see half a dozen people working on my land. The base of the house was already formed and being filled with waffle pods. On Thursday, the concrete was poured and the slab was officially completed. By the end of the work week, the timber frame of the house was constructed. I could now clearly make out all the rooms in the house and have an idea of the actual size of the spaces. Amazing!

It sure looked pretty easy to construct a house. The timber frames were all pre-fabricated and all the tradies have to do is to fix them together with a nail gun. It took 3 guys to put up the house frame (minus the roof) within a day. We were hoping they could put up the roof as well on the same day but given the size of our house and the number of guys allocated to the job, it didn't happen.

The reason why we wanted them to put up the frame faster was because we were paying for the generator hire. It was the result of an unfair clause in the contract which 90% of people are caught in. I hope people who are building their homes here will take note of this clause that stated "If there are any delays in Clients 'Connection and Supply of Power' to site by Local Power Authority, Simonds Homes may provide 'temporary power supply/generator hire' for construction purposes as required and charge the Client accordingly for any additional costs."

Simonds is supposed to pay for the electrical usage during the construction and they are supposed to set the electrical meter up for the house. The Local Power Authority need about 10 days to connect the power after the meter is ready. However, Simonds only set the meter up this week when the concrete slab is built, reason being they want to prevent its exposure to theft of its fuse and copper wires. Therefore when they need the power 3 days later to do the timber frame, 90% of the time the power supply is not connected yet. And clients now have to make a choice of paying for the generator hire or delay their project for up to 3 weeks. We didn't think there was much of a choice as we didn't want to delay the construction. Even though we felt it was unfair as Simonds should set up the meter box earlier so that power can be ready when they need it, we can't argue for Simonds to pay since it was explicitly stated in the contract. We really didn't expect to be caught by this 'Note Only' clause. We did not have the experience to realise that the connection of power would have a time lapse and it was not within our control when Simonds set up the meter. These are Simonds' responsibility but the clients have to pay the price for any delays. Does it make sense? Simonds should just be upfront to clients about this 'almost confirmed' out of pocket cost or make better processes to ensure that power will be available on site when needed. Until this is done, potential clients, if possible, negotiate for this clause to be removed during contract negotiation.

   

160mm

A little bit more update on our house. Just before we embark on our Easter holiday, we were informed of some bad news. It appeared that due to our land being a corner lot and set next to a road, the house is required to have a minimum setback of 2000mm from the edge on the side next to the road. Ours had a 1840mm setback, short of 160mm or 16cm. Simonds informed us that since our house is already parked right to the edge on the other side, we will need to reduce the width of our house by 16cm. Straight away, they proposed to cut the width of the entry area. It was only after asking than I found out this meant we can't have double doors any more and I'm not happy about that. What made us confused and astonished was why no one from Simonds had the knowledge to inform us of this policy until now. If we had known that in the beginning, we might have chosen another house design.

One thing I have learnt from dealing with Simonds is not to trust every word they tell you. Sometimes they don't know their facts or sometimes they'll doing it on purpose for their advantage. So first of all, I asked Hubby to double check the 2m setback policy with Council but it turned out to be true. Then I challenged the fact that the 'road' next to our site is actually a 'lane' as stated in its name 'Alana Lane'. I was told that even though they name it a lane, it is in fact classified a road as it is 6m wide. I made them send me documentary proof for this.

We later learnt from the developer, who has by now become like an ally, that we could actually ask for a dispensation of the rule. (See? Simonds didn't even tell us about this option. We only found out by asking someone else.) Since it was only 16cm, we were likely to succeed. The night before we set off, we wrote an email to Simonds requesting that they ask for a dispensation. While driving along Hume Hwy the next day, they replied that they could but asking for a dispensation involved giving notice to all the adjacent neighbours and asking if anyone objects to the dispensation.What? How come reducing the setback on our own land needs the consent of neighbours?

Worse, this process of asking and waiting for their response might take 6 - 8 weeks before we get the green light! Again, the concern about the site start date comes to play. The Customer Service rep recommended that it would be faster and easier to work on where to reduce the 16cm from our house. She compromised by saying that if we want to keep our double doors, we can sit down and work together on where else the reduction can be. After considering, we agreed to meet her after the holidays.


Much as we would like to keep the original size of the house, we agreed that a cut of 16cm is not a significant difference in a house that's 14.5m wide. Even though we know that agreement from the neighbours to the dispensation would not be difficult to get through the developer's help, we also wanted to start construction as soon as possible.

All the finance approvals are in place and the land was finally settled on 20 Apr. We are ready to go as soon as we decide whether to shrink the pantry/study or the lounge. In the end, MY pantry won. Storage space for all my cooking ingredients and appliances is precious. The lounge, it will be a little narrower, but I don't think it'll be missed at all. I hope I'm right.....

 

The Building Contract

Finally, some progress on the building of our new house. Between the last update and up till last week, pretty much NOTHING happened. The land, that was supposed to be titled in December last year finally got titled last week. Settlement is due by 20th this month, afterwhich we will officially own it. In preparation for the building to proceed, we also started negotiating the building contract with Simonds last week and eventually signed it on the day of Hubby's 40th birthday.

When we first bought the land, the developer was confident that the title would be issued by December last year. But, like many inefficiencies in Australia, the title did not come on time. It was quite usual for titles to be late but no one expected it to be so late. This caused us to have some contention with Simonds due to a fixed price clause. Simonds would only guarantee the fixed base price until 30 April '11. If we do not get the building permit by then, we could be charged a $1000 per month contingency.

Of course we were not comfortable with that. But we had no choice then as we wanted the land. We were hoping we will not have a need to challenge that clause. But as time progressed and it became clear that we are walking on a thin line, we started to worry we might be charged for a delay that was not our fault or even within our control.

Luckily for us, we refused to sign the contract with Simonds any earlier. We told Simonds we will only sign the contract after the land is titled. Simonds people kept reminding us that if we did not sign the contract we might incur the contingency charges. We didn't care. As long as we had not signed the contract yet, we had the bargaining power. When we knew the date of the title was near, we agreed to meet them to start negotiating the contract.

We took the contract home after the first meeting where we talked about the contingency charges issue and had no compromise. They kept using the contingency charges to pressurize us to sign the contract which was really irritating. And the more they do so, the more we refused. At that time we had no idea the exact date the land will be titled. We needed to feel sure that we will not be penalised for any delays that was not within our control. I was prepared to walk away if they ever charged us any penalty.

At the same time, we also consulted a solicitor over the terms in the building contract. As this was our first time, we felt it was worth it to pay $200 for some professional advice and we were glad we did. The solicitor went through the whole contract with us and told us which items were against our interest and to negotiate with Simonds. Since this contract was written by Simonds, naturally all the clauses inside protects them more than us. Simonds was rather cocky and initially tried to 'con' us by saying that this is a standard contract, implying nothing is negotiable. But don't be fooled. As with any contracts, many terms are negotiable.

We managed to up the amount that they have to pay us if they failed to complete building within 220 days from $200/week to $250/week. We also refused to go for a new progress payment schedule that will give them 50% of the price by the frame stage. There was a clause that said 'fixed site costs' but we had to pay for any 'importation of fill' if they need to fill up excavation holes. We got them to remove that as well. Most importantly, they agreed to extend the fixed price timeline by another month. By then, the land was titled and we were confident we should not be charged any contingency.

At the end of the day, we agreed to sign the contract only when we were satisfied and achieved what we wanted. We closed one eye to some conditions that they refused to budge but overall we were happy to proceed. But not without first complaining about their high-handed tactics and threatening to walk away. :-p

The building contract is one of the most stressful yet important stage in building a house. We spent a few days reading through the whole document and scrutinizing the plans. One of the most unreasonable condition inside stated that if we made any 'variations', we would incur administrative charges of $1,000 on top of the cost of the variation! So we had to make sure that we make any mistake or don't change our minds once we signed the contract, otherwise they'll make a lot of money from us. But the most important thing is, don't be pressurized by the builders to sign a contract you are not comfortable with. Remember, if you walk away from the deal, they have more to lose than you.
  

Colour Selection - Round 2

Another round of selection. This time, from 1130hrs to 1630hrs. And we didn't even have time to have a proper lunch. Hubby ran off for a while to grab some sandwiches and we munched while we poured over the ceremic tiles. 



The tiles we choose for the bathroom and kitchen splashback.



Turned out Hubby and I were quite similar in terms of taste when it comes to colours. There wasn't any arguments where one liked one colour and the other liked another. Or perhaps he went along with most of my decisions? In the end, we stayed close to earthy and neutral colours and this theme was reflected in many areas of the home. It looks pretty boring but I'm told you can't go wrong with neutral colours.     



In many cases, our colour choices were based more on practicality than aesthetics. Some colours were easier to maintain and does not show up dirt as much as others. I don't want to be scrubbing the wall tiles everyday to remove soap scrubs or oil grease.

Colours of our house - the bricks, render and roof

Besides the tiles, we also had to decide the locations of lights, electrical points and even the security alarm sensors. This included where the light switches will be and which ones will link up. The lady assisting us, Rye, was very helpful and honest in advising us whether the lighting arrangements will be sufficiently bright for our usage of the room. The process was very tedious as we had to envisage the house in the future and what we'll do where, from where will we turn on/off the lights etc. But it's so important to go through it thoroughly now than to regret later.

Although there's nothing physically built yet, the house is pretty much completed in our imagination. Instead of just black and white drawings, we have now filled in the colours to our home. The picture in our mind is taking shape and we now can clearly envisage how the kitchen and various other rooms will look like. Still, nothing beats seeing all these plans materialise but we're happy it should be good.  So what's the price to pay for all these happiness? I haven't got the final quotation yet, but on top of what we've already committed, the house just got more expensive by another $9,000 after that 2 rounds of colour selections.

Colour Selection

93 decisions in 4 and a half hours. That was the record we set yesterday at the Simonds Gallery. In that few hours, we made some of the most important decisions concerning how our future home will look like. 

Some of the things we got to decide were big structural materials and will not likely be changed over the next 2 decades, like the colour of bricks and roof. Other choices, though less permanent, like the design of cabinet handles, still require careful consideration over its shape, length, finish (matt or shiny) and even position (horizontal or vertical)!

The process wasn't as difficult as I'd thought actually. We knew what we liked already for some of items and from there, many other decisions sort of go along the same line. Like we chose a round vanity basin instead of the square one, so an oval bath tub and rounded edges tap ware naturally gives it a more coordinated look. And once we selected the brick colour, that gave us a base to match the colour of the other fixtures like window frames, garage door, gutters and fascia.

Some of the decisions took us a few seconds, like the edge of the mirror (standard polished edge) and the round gooseneck mixer tap for the laundry trough. Others, especially when the choices got too many, gave us a bit more headache. Of course, besides the selection of colours, we had to take into account some choices will cost us additional money. The choice floor coverings was probably the best example of such 'upgrades'.  For the laminate timber flooring, we upgraded from the twin strip to a single strip and from 8mm thickness to 12mm for an overall better timber look and more solid feel when you step on it. For the carpet, we jumped from the standard Category 1 to a Category 3 carpet. These 2 upgrades probably cost us the most, approximately $2800 more than what we are already paying for the standard. Not to mention the other smaller upgrades which ranged from $8 more per handle to over $2000 extra for glass splashback. I dread receiving the final quotation when it's ready.

Not that we had much choice sometimes. The carpets under Cat 1 were really crappy. They are rough to the feel, thin and comes with only a form underlay. Only at Cat 3 do we get rubber underlays and a more plushy feel to the feet. Since the house is for ourselves to stay in, we figured that a little investment now will be worth it in the long run. 

The other reason the process is not too stressful is our colour consultant Emma. She walked us through all the decisions patiently and gave us advice on our various options. Most importantly, she would make suggestions on matching colours, many of which we accepted. Especially when it comes to paint colours and cabinet laminates, we would be lost trying to choose the ONE from so many colours and samples. Emma would go pick a few that she thinks are suitable and bring it back to us. This way, we were not so confused and our decisions came much easier.

Finally, we would also like to thank our friends Kenneth, Debbie and her son Bradley. While we concentrated on deciding the best choices for our future home, they helped to babysit KK and XX. It was gonna be a long and tedious affair so we were not recommended to bring children along. Without our parents and relatives here with us, we have to depend on our friends to help out in situations like this. We told a few friends of our need and all of them offered their help. I'm thankful for them. In the end, I chose to leave them at Debbie's because I know XX and KK would enjoy the company of another boy best. XX is the one I'm worried about because he has never liked being separated from us. But it seemed that he has grown up. He doesn't mind it so much now if we leave the house for a short time, as long as KK is with him. Yesterday, he survived 6 over hours without even asking for us. Looks like I can look forward to some datings with Hubby soon....:)

Anyway, the decisions are not over yet. In fact, they've only just begun. Monday there'll be another round with the tiles department and also the electrical people. We will need to determine the choice of tiles to use for the bathroom walls, shower bases and kitchen splashback. And for the electrical part, the number and locations of powerpoints, TV points, telephone points, cooling outlets, heating outlets and light points. Which means we got to start planning where we'll likely put our furniture and the usage of the rooms. All these thought processes and the land is not even technically ours yet....
         

What Colour Bricks?

I know bricks can give you a headache if you hit your head with it, but I didn't know thinking about them can have the same effects too. Since we've decided to build our own home, I've been paying attention to the look of houses when I'm driving (I know, it's dangerous :p) What colour bricks did they have? What colour roof goes with what colour bricks? And more recently, I started noticing rendered and weatherboard facades as well.

It's never been like that before for my first 2 properties in S'pore. Buying HDB flats and condominiums, the building facade is the job of the developer and I only had to worry about the look of the interior. Now, we have to dig deep and think about details that most people walking past your house would not even notice. Like roof pitch, colour and type of roofing. There are 2 general types of roofing - Colourbond or cement tiles. Each has its range of colours to choose from and the cement tiles also comes with different patterns. The permutations on its own is endless.

Then there're the bricks. Different colour bricks can give different effects to the look of your house. And there are like about 60 types of bricks available for us to choose, with fancy names like "Canterbury", "Blackwood" or "Red Trevallyn" to confuse. Not just that, you can also add fancy details to the facade. Like rendering some surfaces to give a different texture and coloured finish. Attractive stones and tiles has also been used to make the facade stand out and be more attractive

We never used to notice before when we drove around the residential estates. But now, when I drive down our street, I'm checking out every house, all different cominations of bricks and roof, all with its unique look and character. I'm also checking out the types of windows, colour of window frames, colour of doors and garage doors. Should I render the facade? Or half-render? What colour window frames will go with the bricks? I have experienced colour coordination when I do patchwork and have to decide which fabric to use but this is way more stressful. In patchwork, the worst that can happen is you unstitch and start again or you just chuck it aside and never let it see the daylight. But for my house, what if I get it wrong and it turned out not as I'd imagined? A bad combination of ALL these can make your house a very ugly, sore thumb in the neighbourhood. Not just that, it will haunt you everyday you come back to the house. So I must get it right. And that is why I'm having a headache.

The worst part is, I have no way of visualising how my house will look like with this roof and that bricks. All I have is one black and white 2-D drawing of my future house and I can only use my imagination to colour on the bricks, window frames and doors. My husband, being a typical man, has never paid attention to small details. To him, every house looks pretty similar and pretty good. But me, being a typical woman, likes to think about those things that men never bothers. Maybe I should just take a step back and look at the big picture. Just pick a brick colour that is soothing to my eye and ta-dah, let it be. 

The South Side

Most Victorians would have heard of Werribee, probably thanks to several tourist attractions such as the Werribee Park Open Range Zoo. This suburb is where we have chosen to build our next home.

So why do we decide on this area? Approximately 35km to the southwest of Melbourne CBD, Werribee is not exactly 'prime' real estate in terms of distance to the city. It is however an established and mature town on the outer edge of the Metropolitan. You don't have to travel very far to see farmlands and countryside.

Three months ago when we first began our house search, we never thought that we would end up in Werribee. We were looking around our current area and Point Cook. Then the search expanded to Hoppers Crossing and Truganina when we found Point Cook overpriced. Once we viewed a house in Werribee that was only about 10km from KK's school. It did not advertise its selling price and we were appalled when we heard that the seller was asking for $680K-$700K. It's a beautiful house but it's in Werribee! Well, it's the "South Side", replied the agent. But that's STILL in Werribee, we argued.

And so that was our first introduction to the "south side" of Werribee. We have never heard of "the south side of Werribee". The agent tried to explain that this area of Werribee is more exclusive and in demand because of its convenient access to freeway, shops and good schools. We didn't really buy it then but soon we found that there is a significant difference to the home prices there and the rest of Werribee.

Advertisement for properties on the "south side" will always highlight its 'highly demanded' location as a major plus point. We noticed that many of the Werribee real estate agents we dealt with all lived on the south side. (Even the Sales guy from Simonds who sold us the House & Land package has bought the lot next to ours.) A few of the 'south side' houses we inspected, the owners were just moving to another property also within the south side. We gathered if the real estate agents, the people who know the local area well are all living in that area and the people who lived there don't move out but move within the area, then there must be something good going on there. Another tell-tale sign is the amount of sub-division that is going on there. Many developers are buying up blocks of land there and sub-dividing them to build two or more units on each block.

There is no separate postal code to the "south side". Basically, you have to trawl through all the Werribee listings on the real estate website and look out for words such as "south side location". It is often mentioned in the headlines as it is a major selling point. From what I understand, the "south side" is the area south of the Werribee town center, separated by Princes Highway. Duncans Road runs through it and it is flanked by Princes Freeway (M1) on the other side. In the area is also a reputable secondary state college, Werribee Secondary College. The school is 'zoned', which means that it only takes in students staying within its immediate vicinity.

Even though Werribee is further away from the city, factors such as the convenient access to freeways, town center and a good school gradually changed our mind about the 'south side'. Many of the properties on the 'south side' have been around for a long time but the neighbourhood northeast of Duncans Road is rather newly developed. There are still isolated plots of vacant land and many of the houses there are newer, beautifully built, big houses. Most of the houses are owner-occupied, which is better than those areas where there are a lot of investment properties. (It is generally believed that tenants don't take care of the properties as well and so can affect the value of the neighbourhood.)

We got an exclusive tour of the area that our future house will be last Sat. It turned out that the block we are buying belonged to the mother-in-law of the developer. She is also currently staying at the 'south side'. The developer walked us around the muddy site and pointed out our lot. It feels great to imagine our house sitting there some time in the future. It is a small development and all the lots have been sold sometime in March this year. We are lucky that his MIL now wants to sell it and another earlier buyer backed out.

Some shots of the site of our future home, simply land at the moment.

Width of our lot (I think).

A laneway marked by the pegs

The road leading up. (That's me and the developer at the corner)

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!

The Search Ends

After almost 3 months, I think I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. We've found it - our next home.







Actually to be more accurate, we've found the land and we're gonna be building a new home on it! No, it's not this one above. But hopefully something similar.



Despite what I've previously said in my previous post about building, it turned out that this might be a better option for us. Although buying an established house often has more value, finding one that meets all our criteria turned out not as easy as I thought. Ok, I admit, we're not easy to please as we've got lots of requirements.



After living in 2 rented properties and so many viewings of houses, we gradually formed a clearer picture of where and what we wanted our home to be. We have been dilligently looking at every house on the market for the last couple of months and still hasn't successfully found anything yet.



We were quite close 3 times but each attempt failed. I believed that was God's intervention, telling us it wasn't the right one. The first one failed as someone else made a better offer. On hindsight, I'm glad we didn't get it as we later felt the suburb is overpriced from too many investors. The 2nd offer was kind of impulsive. We liked the suburb and the interior of the house a lot and we made the offer after 1 viewing on the same night. But after cooling off, we pulled out after we felt that the offer we made was really stretching our budget. Naturally, the agent wasn't too happy. But again, I'm glad we didn't go through. As for the 3rd offer, that house is actually pretty bare and there are several improvements and repairs that has to be done before we can live in it. However, that house has potential to be nice, we liked the location and the north-facing of the living area is fantastic. The only problem is agreeing on the price. The vendor felt the price was too low but we refused to up our price. If the vendor cannot find a better offer, he might lower his expectation with time. However in the meantime, we found this piece of land, in a location that we really liked, for a reasonable price on the market.



I went down to see the agent on Tuesday, without much expectations, as I initially thought the land orientation was wrong. However I realised I had looked at the wrong plot of land on Google map and in fact, it had a Southeast facing, which means if we choose the correct floorplan, the living and backyard area will be facing North/Northwest. This is a good orientation for maximum daylight exposure and offers maximum potential for energy efficiency. I strongly believe that sustainable and energy efficient homes is the way to go for the future. Also, this land is a highly sought after area of the suburb, with potential for capital gains, it is near a good secondary school and has easy freeway access. The land size of 610msq is also big enough to build a house that has lots of room for the boys. It is a regular shape and has a 16.5m width, which means it can fit majority of the house designs. Most importantly, the price is reasonable. I knew immediately that such a plot of land does not come by too often.





Building your own home is a long process and the house probably won't be ready until middle of next year. During the process, we will have to make lots of decisions starting from the floor plan to the colour of the carpets and tiles. There will be plenty of interactions with the builders/subcontractors on site to make sure that everything is in order. But the good think about starting from scratch, you have a blank canvas and you are free to choose a house design that fits your needs. This probably is the best way for us as many of the older houses we've inspected do not meet our requirements for a modern energy efficient home.



The only catch is, I have no choice when it comes to the builder. This plot of land is for sale under a "House & Land" package. Which means I buy the house together and am tied to the builder that sells it. This practice where land developers 'reserve' and give builders the exclusive rights to sell blocks of land for them is pretty common in Melbourne and if you ask me, it's BAD for the consumers! Consumers should be free to choose the builder they want. Instead, these big guys, through their connections and whatever means, are hoarding up land and forcing you to build with them. Smaller builders are disadvantaged and consumers rights are compromised. It's ANTI-COMPETITION and it's not fair but the situation is as such.





I don't like it but there is no choice if I really like the land. We can only comfort ourseleves that this is a reputable builder and so far, we have not heard anyone we know who had a bad experience with them. We also managed to find a floor plan we like and were quite happy with what we saw when we visited their display house. Click here to go to the builder's website.



Wish us luck and I'll keep posting about the developments as it goes along!