The wife and I have decided to relocate to grander pastures. After a few months of trolling through existing established properties we found one design we liked. It was a new home just recently fitted out and for sale. On researching the costs we found the markup was rather high and decided to look into building it ourselves. The next few weekends were spent driving around looking at land releases. What a difference is price we found i.e. $20,000 just because you were on the other side of a main road yet the more expensive sites were smaller and often irregular shapes. Weird????
Finally we looked into the Stage 6 release at Harrisdale - Heron Park. The area on previous stages looked really nice and the water canals with walkways helped us make the decision.
We were first on the list for a decent sized block but wanted one of the larger ones (what's another $22000, LOL.) Meeting with the Satterley rep on D-Day we found the other people hadn't come back and we could have the bigger block if we wanted. So we grabbed it. Pity we couldn't see it as the land was only starting to be developed and was all closed off.
That was at the beginning of February.
Meeting with the bank took about half an hour for preliminary finance approval - once they completed the valuation on our current house.
We also went and met with the builders reps and started the ball rolling although we did identify about 25 changes we wanted. Everything was going well until my wife stumbled onto a Builder Review site and there were nothing but bad reports.
A quick turnaround and we were suddenly looking at display homes anywhere and everywhere plus researching plans on the internet. We finally decided to go with Scott Park Homes and have put down to build their Grand Banksia. The rep has been nothing but helpful to date and has visited us at home twice so far to get prelim documents signed. We have made a few changes to the base design but feel it is well worth it with all costs being fully explained.
Settlement on the land finally went through on July 27, 2009 - only 3 months late and we have paid our deposit to SPH. We also have approval from the bank for the house and have forwarded to PSH so we get our application upgraded to 'Class 1'.
We visited the block again last weekend (all roads are in now) and it looks like the core survey has already been done. They certainly aren't delaying. There is also a small SPH sign on deck which looks a bit strange in a sea of empty sand. Only 1 other site has action on it so far so it looks like ours will be one of the first in the stage.
Visiting Homebase Expo we decided on exterior tile colour and roof tile colour. We also decided on the Stacker sliding doors as SPH have them at 50% for 3 months and after looking at them, we decided they are a must.
Last weekend we looked at interior colours for all the wet areas. We started off by visiting European Ceramics in Osborne Park. Overall our impression of the place wasn't very positive. The venue was quite clinical and the staff weren't too helpful and rather snobbish. Then we visited Crosby Tiles around the corner and walked out over an hour later having completed our selections. Nothing but praise for the staff there. We have also decided on a floor tile for the main living area, and passages, and will be buying them soon (as they are on special until they sell them all) in preparation for handover. Now to choose carpets, doors, tapwares, etc etc.
Hopefully pre-start isn't far away. PSH is rapidly trying to catch up with submissions due to the FHBG drying up soon. Not a problem for us as we are not in a position where we have to move in a hurry.
