Contracts

Received contracts through, pretty close to being right. A good effort from 101 residential. 

More playing around with our walk in robe, we have a idea now that seems to work well, will see how it goes at pre start. 

101 residential

Prior to our previous builder parting ways I had spoken to 101 residential. The sales rep was very adamant that he could come up with a better design, and with some apprehension I let him try. Extremely glad I did, he made great changes and our house went from being a average house to something that looks a bit special. Great with realizing what we wanted, when even we didn't really know, we happily gave them the go ahead.

Our new design still focuses on the living area and alfresco at the rear to make the most of the parks, but also incorporates a double height entry and scullery. A gas heater detail in the rear wall should keep it all nice and cosy, whilst doors out to the alfresco will allow for a open entertaining area.

Not the perfect match

After a discussion today we have come to the agreement that This builder is not the right match for us. Their designs are amazing and construction methodology innovative and efficient, however my expectations are quite high and not suited to their style of business.
The phone call would not have been a easy one for them to make, but does demonstrate their pride in the business and product.
All seems to have ended well, and given the right project in the future I would not hesitate to deal with them.

Contracts

Finally received a set of drawings from our builder, and the preliminary sketches were better.
No attention was paid to our lighting, doors which were to be recessed sliding were exposed and our bifold doors are missing.
The sales guys solution... We can fix them as variations. What happened to getting it right?
Icing on the cake was a 9 month "maximum" build time is now almost 12 months.

Land Titles

Satterly have finally got their act together and titles are available, now it's just waiting for settlement to go through.
The builder seem to have done nothing, no plans have been shown to us. Hopefully they have been working on something, the plan was always to submit for building permit immediately after settlement. Unfortunately their house design isn't really matched by anyone else with the main bedroom downstairs and three others upstairs.
We have been looking at various options for the multitude of choices, colours, tiles, doors, splashbacks, door handles, bench tops etc. A set of double doors is quite exciting, looking at a glazed detail. Glass splash backs seem to be the nicest to clean, and as cool as lighting in the glass is, it probably isn't essential.

The original design

Having decided on a plan we have been in touch with the builder to look at minor changes. From the standard we'll push the kitchen out about 1200mm to use that extra 1m on the block. Deciding how to connect the kitchen to the alfresco is still up in the air, at the moment we are looking at a window as large as possible above bench height, figuring it is easier to fill in than increase the window size.
Windows have also thrown up a interesting possibility, with the estate agreement including noise requirements given the close location to the freeway. These include a requirement for laminated glass and mechanical ventilation to bedrooms. I think that their intention with mechanical ventilation is to be part of a ducted air conditioning system, but the estate manager didn't really know so we'll just put the plans in and see if they get approved. Similarly with laminated glazing there doesn't look to be laminated glass in any other houses there. Given the range of windows the builder normally deals with can only do laminate in a awning window (which really makes the elevation look bad), we'll also take our luck on whether the plans will be approved without this.
After we've spoken about the changes they are in to be drafted, I thought this would now be a convenient lull until land titles come through, but no, we get a selections file for door handles, tiles, windows & doors. Looking through these is great, but also so easy to get wrong, so we're considering a interior designer to pass our choices by.

Choosing a House

We had a number of factors to consider when choosing a house plan. Two bathrooms were essential, a open plan living area, outdoor space for WRX to play in, and resale value.
After having been looking at established houses we found that four bedrooms had much higher value, and given there generally was not a massive extra cost this seemed to be the way to go. This however was against the aim of having a bit of outdoor space. Outdoor space was not only for WRX, but also for us, we didn't want to be on top of the neighbours when outside.
The solution then presented itself with a two storey home. Having found what was a great design, all living spaces up stairs and down stairs open plan we thought we had the solution. Placing the floor plan on the block however, it was a tiny house, would only be using 1/3 of the land. Back to the drawing board, and most two storey houses seemed out of our price range. Eventually after much searching we found a builder, they had some good designs and the prices were great.
Typically still cynical it was back to Google to search out the reviews. Not surprisingly there wasn't a whole lot, definately not a heap of people raving about their experience, but also no complaints. Becoming more positive we got in contact with them, and a meeting was arranged to discuss extras and changes. Again I was surprised at how accommodating and reasonable they were, both being accommodating and reasonable in pricing. Smart construction techniques also seemed to explain the cost savings they presented over a typical two storey builder.
A few more discussions and this is feeling good, they have had all the right answers to my questions, and there is plenty of them, that's what building services engineering does.