It's time to get our finances in order

We had contacted Mortgage Choice early last year to arrange finance, and had our initial appointment with Irene Cujko in July 2013. Irene ran through figures with us and gave us advice regarding land and construction loans, and advised us to come back later in the year when it was closer to land registration.  

Mortgage Choice contacted us numerous times throughout the rest of the year to re-schedule, but as the land wasn't close to registration, we had to continually push the appointments back. Finally, in January we decided it was time to get the loans started as we had to be close to registration now.

We met with Serge who arranged for our land loan to be processed first, followed by the construction loan a little later down the track.  In the days following our appointment, we provided Serge with all the documentation required to get the loan application to the bank. 

On the 7th February I received a call from our "Mortgage Angel" telling me that we had received conditional on the land loan (pending valuation) and pre-approval on the construction loan.  CBA had booked in the land valuation for the following Tuesday, 11th February 2014.

NBN

We found out today that we should not have been charged for NBN pre-wiring, thanks to all the folks on Homeone.

We had pre-wiring for NBN included in our quotation with HSI under their guidance. But as it turns out, this is paid by the government and should have been included free of charge in our contract, which it wasn't.

So I emailed our CSA whom advised us to take it up with HSI to arrange a credit. HSI issued a credit of $675 and EBH added it into our contract by way of PCV.

Just a note to anyone building a home, no matter who the builder is, to double check everything, do as much research as you can, question anything that doesn't appear right, and I highly recommend Homeone. I found this site invaluable, receiving so much advice from other people having been through the same experience.

Discontinued carpet and colour changes

One day, out of the blue, I came to the realisation that the tiles in the MIL's bathroom were very similar in pattern and colour to the tiles we chose for our bathroom and ensuite. I wasn't a fan of her bathroom, so I mentioned this to J, who surprisingly agreed with me. We weren't sure though, if we would be able to re-select so many months later, even though our house wouldn't be built for months to come.

So we decided to take a drive over to Di Lorenzo and suss out the situation.  We were advised that we would be able to make one change only, which was a relief.  We still wanted a large tile for the bathroom walls which limited us in colour and texture.  In the end, we both agreed on a gloss white tile. However, we didn't lock in our new selection on the day, we thought we would sit on it for a few days. This turned out to be an excellent decision. 

While we were there, we just happened to pop over to the carpet section, and to our surprise found out that our carpet was no longer on display and was believed to be discontinued.  Tilly advised that I send her an email and she will follow up and confirm.

Well, instead of looking at this as a negative, we took it as a sign that we had originally made the wrong choices and this was going to allow us to correct them.

The following day I received an email from Tilly advising that our carpet had definitely been discontinued and we would need to come back in and re-select.

This is where our decision to hold off re-selecting our bathroom tiles worked in our best interest.

The other thing that I had been concerned about was our choice of floor tiles. We had selected a ceramic tile, but after talking this out with people at work and having seen the flooring at the display homes, J and I both wished that we had upgraded our tiles to porcelain.  

Around the same time, I started questioning our kitchen colours! Back in December we finally found a colour for our Polyurethane Gloss Finish and locked it in with Alex at Kitchen Culture. At our original tiling appointment we opted to remove all tile splashbacks, deciding to have glass splashbacks installed in the kitchen and laundry after handover (a family member worked for  a reputable splashback company at the time).

This is what we had in mind for our kitchen.

This is the colour we chose for the kitchen. It actually looks a lot more like the colour above, but the scan didn't work out too well.

I obviously had too much time on my hands and began questioning all of our earlier decisions. In my opinion, a kitchen like the one above would date too quickly. I wanted something a little more timeless. After googling endless kitchens in various colours, I decided that I wanted a white kitchen. I would still have the red splashback, but white would be a far better choice.

So with all of this in mind at our tiling re-selection, we ended up changing, not only the bathroom wall tiles and carpet, but everything. We chose a brown porcelain floor tile for the entire tiled floor area, chose a white tile for the bathroom & ensuite walls, a new silver and aluminium feature tile and we upgraded our carpets to the Triexta Carpet.  We were extremely happy with our selection but not looking forward to receiving the quotation! 

Some pics.

Triexta Natural Haven Earth Brown Carpet

Porcelain Tile with Carpet

Porcelain Tile under different light (a little more accurate colour)

New Feature Tile (to run horizontally)

After doing a little research on bathrooms, we decided to include a niche over our bath. This way we avoid all the clutter around the bath.

A word of advice when it comes to the shower or bath niche. Make sure you measure the tallest bottle or item you plan to put in the niche and make your measurements based on this. We opted for 300mm high, tile to tile (not frame to frame).

Electrical & tiling appointments

Our second and final day of selections is here. 

We weren't too sure what to expect at the electrical appointment and therefore were not fully prepared. We met with Malinda whom was very nice and patient with us. She called our job up on the screen and we proceeded to go through each room and decide where to position each power point, tv socket, light switch etc.  We didn't anticipate spending more than a couple of thousand dollars on electrical upgrades, but ended up spending over $5,000! Its amazing how quickly it all adds up. 

Some of our upgrades consisted of the following:-

• Switch wire for 7 x fans throughout the house
• Provision for 3 x wall mounted TV's including extra noggins and bull nose wall plates
• Under cupboard light boxes (for kitchen cupboard downlights)
• Double floodlight for backyard
• Double Fluoro light for garage
• 4 x junction boxes (for outdoor lighting to front facade)
• 2 x dimmer switches
• 8 x additional double power points
• 3 x additional single power points
• 1 x additional outdoor power point
• 3 x additional TV points
• 1 x additional motion detector for alarm system
• Additional battens for future pendants over the kitchen island and downlights in a number of the rooms
• Pre-wire for NBN
• TV antenna
• Upgrade alarm to the Navigator package

At the completion of our layout the computer played up and our job was lost. Malinda advised she would do another mock up after we left and email it to me for checking.  Of course if this was going to happen, it was going to happen to us.

We left HOG and headed over to Di Lorenzo (after a quick stop for lunch at the Bella Vista Hotel).

At Di Lorenzo Tiles we met with Elisa for our tiling.  We believed we were completely organised for this appointment as we had spent countless days and hours at Di Lorenzo contemplating various colour schemes. Admittingly, all the preparation in the world doesn't remove the second guessing that comes with making major decisions. 

We decided on a larger wall tile in the standard tile selection for both our ensuite and main bathroom, and standard floor tiles for the bathrooms and main floor area. The only upgrade was our feature bathroom tiles. There were additional costs to lay the larger wall tile but apart from that, we managed to keep the costs down.

We then met with Tilly for carpets. We upgraded our underlay to the blue rubber underlay at $8 per m3. The standard underlay was almost as thin as a sheet of paper.  We chose carpet within the standard range as we agreed that we would re-do our carpets in a few years.  This appointment was very quick as we had already decided which carpet we wanted prior to this day.

Having finished our colour selections, we were excited to get the land registered and building under way. It was all a waiting game from this point on.

Pics of our tile selections...

Bathroom & Ensuite wall, floor and feature tile

Bathroom floor tile (matt) with mail floor tile (shiny)

Carpet

The fun stuff...

Colours, Kitchen, Landscaping & Plumbing 

Today is day 1 of our colour selection process....I have been looking forward to this day since signing our tender.  For the past few months I have spent most nights on the internet researching and preparing for this day.  Homeone has been an invaluable resource. There are so many helpful and knowledgable people that are happy and willing to share their expertise and experiences with you. I highly recommend this website to anyone whom is building their own home.  There is a link to the website on my home page. The exciting part is knowing you have total control over the colour scheme and finishes in your home.

Our appointment was booked for 9am and we were on time and filled with enthusiasm and anticipation for the day ahead. Don't get me wrong, I was feeling a little anxious and uncertain that I was 100% prepared and ready to make the right choices.

First up, our colour consultant for the day took us through the exterior colours.  Our selections went like this:-

Bricks: Gravel

Roof: Monument (Colorbond)

Gutters, Downpipes, Meter Box & Water Tank: Monument

Fascia: Dune

Garage Door: Dune

Cladding: Dune

Front Door: Dune

Eaves: Surfmist

Windows: APO Grey

Next we moved onto door handles for the doors throughout the house, including the front door, kitchen and bathroom cabinetry handles and WIR door handles. As we had increased the ceiling height to the entrance, we decided to upgrade the main bedroom doors. We also added a solid timber door and lock to our internal garage door (door added at tender stage).

Then it was over to choose paint colours. This was a little difficult. We knew what we wanted, but couldn't find the colour within the limited colour choices provided by EBH. In the end, after much procrastination, we settled on Kidskin for the walls and Crisp White for the skirting and architraves.

The last of the colour choices was the kitchen and bathroom vanities and bench tops. This took us some time as the colours in the brochures were not a true representation of the colour samples at HOG (It could have had something to do with the lighting). With regards to kitchen colours, we were planning upgrading but was advised by our colour consultant to choose a colour for the file and this would be over written once we had our kitchen appointment.  So our colour selection was done and dusted.

From here we saw Jenni from Outback Landscaping for our driveway. J and I had come into this appointment determined we would have a cement driveway. But after listening to the pros and cons of each, and the general maintenance of both, we ended up choosing pavers. We chose the Baines Charcoal pavers, laid in a stretcher bond pattern. We opted to upgrade to have the council crossover paved as well.  Outback were offering a $2 promotion where they would provide additional concrete/paving to the side of the house. I am not sure of the square meterage but it worked out that we would receive paving to one side of the house, the length of the garage.

Next we were off to meet with Alex from Kitchen Culture. Upon sitting down and sighting our kitchen layout that Alex had printed off, we were surprised to see that there were no overhead cabinets. Who builds a kitchen without overhead cabinets?? Turns out, all project builders don't, and it costs you an arm and a leg to include them! We were a little annoyed because we remember specifically asking our Sales Rep at Homeworld Kellyville whether the overhead cupboards were included and he confirmed that they were.  So to be told that they weren't was a bit of a blow.

The kitchen is where you can spend a lot of money on upgrades. For example, here are our upgrades.

• Two sets of soft close pot draws either side of the oven
• Overhead cabinets with a 100mm overhang in lieu of handles
• A lift up door cupboard above the fridge space, 
• A light shelf in each overhead cupboard for down lights
• Bulkheads to overhead cabinets, including flyover panel above rangehood
• Laminated panel behind rangehood
• Sharknose detail to base cabinet doors and drawers 
• Gloss polyurethane finish to kitchen cabinets, panels, and kickboard.
• Catergory 1 Essastone - Crystal Chalk
• Glass splash back

If anyone wants to know how much any of the above cost, please let me know. I would be happy to share with you.

We also opted to have KC fit out our laundry rather than try and have someone do it after handover. 

Here are our kitchen and laundry plans.

3D Kitchen Layout

Kitchen Plan

Laundry Plan

Our appointment with Cooks Plumbing was next. We wanted to keep the costs down seem as we just went overboard at our kitchen appointment.  Here is a list of our upgrades.

• Gallery Leonardo Wall-Faced Soft Close Toilet (main & ensuite)
• Caroma Classic 1700 Bath (main)
• Novelli Disc Shower 200mm Square Rose & 300mm Ceiling Dropper
• Dorf Enix Double Towel Rail - 900mm (main & ensuite)
• Everpure Water Filter Std Tap Starter Kit
• Everhard Benchline 45L Flushline Tub (laundry)

And some pics.......

Upgraded Shower Head

 Upgraded Toilet - Leonardo Wall Faced Soft Close Suite

Standard Basin for Main Bathroom & Ensuite

Standard Mixer for Bathroom & Ensuite

Standard Mixer for Shower

Standard Mixer & Tap for Bath

Standard Towel Rail

Standard Toilet Paper Holder

Standard Shower Head for Main Bathroom

Standard Kitchen Mixer

Standard Kitchen Sink

Standard Laundry Mixer

Standard Laundry Tapware

Upgraded Laundry In-Bench Laundry Tub

Handles for Laundry & Bathroom Cabinets

Sophia Lever Handles (satin chrome)

Upgraded Feature Door to Main Bedroom 

Upgraded Gainsborough Oblong Pull Handle for Front Door

 

 

Bathroom lights / ceiling fan

 

Change of mind

Outside influences have forced us to change our brick selection. Without having to bore you with the circumstances surrounding the reason for the change, we have found it necessary to remove them from our contract, saving us $4,950.  Just in case you wanted to know, they are a category F brick.

Its a shame because we really loved the Nickel Flash brick, but we also love our second option, so we can make the most out of the situation. Our house will still be gorgeous!  

I contacted our CSA to advise of the change and it was deleted in our first of many PCV's.

A PCV is a post contract variation, something we will become very familiar with over the coming months.

Exciting times ahead

Contract Signing....

On the 5th October we met with Charles to sign our contract. By delaying the signing until October meant we would be eligible for the $15,000 first home owners grant.

We paid our 5%, which was scary. All your hard earned money being handed over in exchange for a hundred or so pages of paper in the form of a building contract.

Next step...colour selections. I was very excited to get this underway. I had been researching for months now and the husband and I had been dragging the kids out almost every weekend doing drive by's looking for the perfect colour bricks.

Our colour selection appointment was booked for the 22nd October, with the tiles and electrical booked in for 12th November.

I couldn't wait.