Building A New House

[ZAP]

As the topic says, We are abouts to build a new house, so I was wondering if anyone had any regrets about things they did not include or thought they should have in a house. I am not into AV so I do not plan to have a theater room, but will have rear speaker wiring. We are also Foxteling and Network cabling all rooms for future uses.

I am also after opinions on water heaters. We are thinking of a continuous gas boosted Solar system, but we are not sure about if it is the right way as they cost a lot more than a normal continuous system, like a Rinni Infinity.

We have cabled Optus/Foxtel and town gas to the house.

Please give me some suggestions.

[senna_T]

Get the biggest bloody garage you can Mal! I've seen waaay too many new houses with tiny little garages that can barely fit a family sized car. If the plan hasn't already covered A/C, I would look into ducted - can be pricey, but is actually quite efficient when zoned properly.

Can you fit a burnout/skid pad in the backyard?

[SCRIBR]

Our house starts in September. Senna's right about the garage, we (I!) added 1.5m to the side of ours, otherwise it would only fit two cars (reads: 3 yaris').

We also put in a water pipe behind the fridge, for later on when I don't have hand me downs

Look around at the builders other display homes. There were 4 or 5 sites around Melbourne that had our house, so we went to all & found a few nice items which you can either option up, or add on later.

Solar hot water is mandatory as far as I'm aware to comply with the 5 start energy rating.

I'm interested what people mention too, as we still don't have our final contracts, so give me ideas for suggestions!

Edit: sp3lling

Edited 18/08/08 03:49 AM by SCRIBR

[ZAP]

We have checked out the garage and it will fit the terry and the F6 and still be able to open the doors on all sides.

We have gone with Dakin inverter ducted aircon as it is a better brand than the Acctron crap they quoted first.

Funny you mention the fridge, we are planning to have a tap put there for a ice/water maker fridge. I am also putting in a gas tap outside for the bbq.

[senna_T]

Great idea for the gas tap for BBQ, I'm so angry that my street doesn't have gas

Are you having the BBQ area built or will it just be a normal barbie on wheels? I always love the built in BBQ style, cupboards, preparation areas, my mate has a bottle opener built into his - small but very handy and amusing item to have next to the BBQ!

[R-SPEC]

Here's my suggestions, however they all ad up quickly when writing them on a tender... it all depends on the $ you're spending...

- The gas boosted solar system is usually there for your energy rating. Get the infinity they're awesome and not too expensive.

- Popular things are caesar stone benchtops, or reconstituted stone, either to just the kitchen or all benches, this looks fantastic, costs fark all compared to granite and makes a huge difference.

- Do yourself a favor and upgrade to Porcelain tiles. Again, they look sensational, are easier to keep clean and never date (if they're a neutral colour).

- It's quite often cheaper when building a house in the long run to get evaporative cooling or even refridgerated cooling. Refidgerated costs twice as much as evap (unless you know someone) but evap cooling will only lower the temp about 10° or so (on a 30+° day) where as refridgerated, well, you know the deal.

- Go for 900mm wide stainless appliances in the kitchen. 600mil ones these days are just too small and make a kitchen seem smaller than it is.

- If you can, try a glass splashback in the kitchen or everywhere if you wanna spend the money. Again, they look great and are easy to clean eg. no grout.

- Ask for window locks (for your insurance) coz they're a sh*t to install afterwards.

- Upgrade your facade if you have the money too. Plain face brick is boring these days.

- Dunno what ceiling height is standard in your area, but having your ceilings at least 9" or higher creates space and definition within your house.

- Depending on the style of your dwelling, bulkheads hide cornices and look sh*t these days so don't do them, but nice thick cornices look sweet as, as do thick skirting boards.

- Carpet is something that always gets overlooked. You get what you pay for, but higher middle range is well worth the money in the long run.

- Don't do laminate timber! It's not worth it!

Basically these things can cost quite a bit but ad a lot to your resale value and presentation. It all comes down to how much you want to spend. You can splash $50,000 to $100,000 on upgrades in the blink of an eye sometimes!

[Dagabond]

The future is wireless Mal I wouldn't waste your money on the cabling....

[tab]

Ducted vacuum cleaner system....simple thing but farkin brilliant. The olds got a "dustpan" outlet in the kitchen as well; sweep all the crap up to it and kick the lever and it sucks it all up!

And if you've got a few spare $'s lying around a C-Bus system to control all your lighting is the bomb

[ZAP]

We have spent already $100k over the base price, but our area is prestigious, so we will not over capitialise.

- The gas boosted solar system is usually there for your energy rating. Get the infinity they're awesome and not too expensive.

Thanks, we can get 4 infinities for the price of the boosted solar. I was going to get 2 one for each side of the house as we have kitchen and laundry on one side and 2 baths on the other side

- Popular things are caesar stone benchtops, or reconstituted stone, either to just the kitchen or all benches, this looks fantastic, costs fark all compared to granite and makes a huge difference.

We are getting 40mm ceasarstone as part of the kitchen

- Do yourself a favor and upgrade to Porcelain tiles. Again, they look sensational, are easier to keep clean and never date (if they're a neutral colour).

we are tiling to the celing in all bathrooms. I assumed they were all porceleain

- It's quite often cheaper when building a house in the long run to get evaporative cooling or even refridgerated cooling. Refidgerated costs twice as much as evap (unless you know someone) but evap cooling will only lower the temp about 10° or so (on a 30+° day) where as refridgerated, well, you know the deal. Ducted Daikin refrigerated

- Go for 900mm wide stainless appliances in the kitchen. 600mil ones these days are just too small and make a kitchen seem smaller than it is.

my wife like the double oven we have at the moment, so it is a double 600mm oven with a 900mm gas cooktop

- If you can, try a glass splashback in the kitchen or everywhere if you wanna spend the money. Again, they look great and are easy to clean eg. no grout.

glass splashbacks are like $6500 for our kitchen. I figure solid gold would be cheaper. We are going to look tiling

- Ask for window locks (for your insurance) coz they're a sh*t to install afterwards.

this is included, all keyed alike window and deadlocks

- Upgrade your facade if you have the money too. Plain face brick is boring these days.

we are going a blond brick with a blond morter. from a distance it looks like it is bagged. There will be a rendered feature at the front. If we do not like the look we will either render or bag it later.

- Dunno what ceiling height is standard in your area, but having your ceilings at least 9" or higher creates space and definition within your house.

downstairs is all 2.7m (9ft) as it does make a huge difference for feel of space with higher ceilings. we cannot do the second floor as it exceeds the council rules

- Depending on the style of your dwelling, bulkheads hide cornices and look sh*t these days so don't do them, but nice thick cornices look sweet as, as do thick skirting boards.

we are going 150mm on the skirts and cornices and 75mm on the arcatraives(?). We have also selected stilish non project home series.

- Carpet is something that always gets overlooked. You get what you pay for, but higher middle range is well worth the money in the long run.

we are spendign more on the carpet and tiling as this does make a big difference as you suggested. Carpet upstairs for all the bedrooms and tiling downstairs.

- Don't do laminate timber! It's not worth it!

A laminiated kitchen is part of the package.

The house has ducted vac as the other choice is a dishwasher.

The reason we are putting the Cat5 cabling in is because of TV/PC/Telephones. Wireless is great, but for practicality and health reasons I would rather hardwired.

All great suggestions, thanks

[R-SPEC]

You're welcome mate You and the wifey sound like you've got it all covered. By laminate timber I meant on the floors in leiu of tiles. Laminex kitchens are great.

Last but not least, what are you doing with your pergola/alfresco?