We had our first walk through with the SS today. I guess he thought it was finally time to meet face to face (we've been contacting over email/sms/phone all this time). Painting is pretty much done, though there were a lot of places that needs touch ups. The feature colour was only to the niches and the stairway as that was what was included. Rawson was going to charge $100 per wall beyond the two (both niches count as one wall) so we kept it the walls that were hardest to paint.
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| Entrance |
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| Stairway |
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| Void |
All the fittings to the wet areas were also done, along with the bath tubs and toilets.
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| Powder Room - Vanity & Shower |
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| Powder Room - Toilet |
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| Water Closet |
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| Main Bathroom - Vanity |
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| Main Bathroom - Bath |
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| Main Bathroom - Shower |
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| Ensuite |
The ensuite ended up with two separated mixer taps for the overhead rain shower and the hand held shower head. We noticed this on every version of the plans (DA, Compliance Cerifiicate, Construction) and did request it to be a single mixer with a lever but I guess the messages were ignored. SS also said he may be able to add the extra row of tiles since the shower screen will be up to the cornice. If so, that's another bonus and would avoid us having to call the tile in after handover.
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| Bedroom 3 |
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| Home Theatre |
The strange looking cut out in the corner will be a grate that acts as an access point to plumbing pipes directly above (main bathroom). There was also one in the kitchen area for the ensuite. Was curious what these were so I asked the SS.
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| Lounge |
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| Leisure |
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| Bedroom 2 |
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| Bedroom 5 |
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| Study |
I did notice the ethernet point here had 4 sockets. I thought it was meant to terminate at the garage, or did I just get 3 extra ports here for free? Most likely 3 of them are blank, only one port was marked with "M".
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| Bedroom 4 |
The electricians were busy putting up light switches, batten holders, power points, smoke alarm and sensors.
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| Hallway |
We also took the opportunity to call the floorboard people out to measure the windows for the plantation shutters. However, he did pointed out that there will be a problem with the skirting boards. We had previously asked the skirting boards to be soft tacked so that they can easily be removed to install the bamboo flooring and reinstalled. What we never considered was the thickness of the skirting boards. Apparently, bamboo flooring require an expansion gap of 10mm. With the skirting boards being 10mm thick, there was no way it was going to be sufficient to cover the gap. Beading or scotia will have to be used. The only other option is to replace all the skirting boards to a thicker one after handover (which may also affect the architraves since it's the same thickness)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteLoving the photo's. Looks like it's all coming along nicely. Can't wait till we get to this stage - we are about 3 weeks off getting our DA into council.
Can you give me a rough indication of the cost to have Rawson do the decking on the Alfreso for you? I was planning on doing it on ours after handover but looking at yours has got me thinking they might do a better job...
It really depends on the size of the alfresco, they charge by the area. I think ours was $4300. In hindsight, it may have been cheaper to do it after handover
DeleteLove all your photos, the house is looking fantastic. We have just decided on building the Seaview 39 with a few additional ares as well as keeping the same ensuite as in the 36 as displayed at Kellyville. being able to see some elses build gives you more of a realistic look. How did your price compare from when you sat with the salesman to receiving the Tender.... with my additions and upgrades we sit at about 470000 but I am worried that the tender will come back much much higher......
ReplyDeleteAnd we have done the same as you by flipping the bottom floor for the alfresco and garage to be on the same side. Think you get more land usage this way
Again thanks for sharing
Thank you but I could probably say the same about the earlier blogs of other seaview builds. Kind of tipped us over the decision after years of looking around. Our tender price was $465,000 so your additions and upgrades are on par (unless your site costs differs greatly from $30,000). There wasn't much difference after 8 or so variations. When you add something you will probably end up cutting something else out. So it should kept the overall balance roughly the same.
DeleteOne thing to note when you flip the front of the house, the hallway will no longer line up with the area in front of the kitchen counter. We only noticed this when designing the downlights locations. You may be able to do something about it if you are still in the early stages.
thanks for your reply, that gives me hope as I have allowed $500,000 for our build. What area did you build in. We are building on Oran Park. Can I also ask how far from the back wall of the top level to your back fence. I have to alter the plans slightly as I need to be 8mtrs from the back fence and the bottom floor to be 4metres from fence.
ReplyDeleteWe're in the south west region. Distance from the back fence really depends on your land size and front set backs. Just check your neighbours front set backs and add 21.5m for the house, that should give you the remaining space left for your backyard.
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