Friday 30 December 2016

Building lesson #2 - Getting your ducks in a row.

Now this may seem obvious to some, however I cannot stress how important it is to get those proverbial "ducks in a row" at the start of the building process.

Last year, we were working with a builder, we had progressed through the design phase and thought we were ready to sell our home and get the ball rolling - yes, trick for young players there!  The builder we had been working with was dragging their feet with the delivery of our contract pricing, however they assured us that we were looking to be on budget...hmmmm.  So, as naive as it now seems, we did put our house on the market and eventually, after much chasing, we did receive our contract pricing, about two days before our auction.  The build cost was coming in significantly over budget which meant one of three things; 1) we either needed to extend ourselves and our mortgage or 2) we needed to sell the house for more or 3) we needed to save more dollars or cut the build budget.  Add this to the scenario where we were receiving offers for our current house which were less than we were expecting and this created quite a deep, dark financial hole.  Being a chartered accountant, this didn't sit well with me at all, so we decided to step back, take the house off the market and consider our options - we are now thanking our lucky stars that we did.

We took the opportunity to seek out other builders and obtain comparitive pricing, this has saved us approximately 15% of the original quote.  After speaking with friends who were either on the other side of the building process or much further along than us, we also thought it would be a good idea to make sure that our plans were through council while we living in our current home and not renting.   This has been invaluable.  It has taken us over 6 months to get through council, and from what I am hearing, this is relatively quick.  Many friends in neighbouring councils have taken up to 18 months to get their plans through council.  A school mum is building in a new land release in Melbourne's middle ring eastern suburbs, she sold her house a year ago, has been renting all that time and still has not broken ground.  Working with builders, you will find that they include these items called "provisional sums" basically a provisional sum is an allowance for an item - this may go up or down and if the item is a significant proportion of your budget, this needs to be worked out to ensure that there are no nasty surprises down the track.  In pricing with our new builder, there was a provisional sum for cabinetry - I was a bit sceptical about the amount.  To get some clarity around the amount, I have had three or four, two hour design meetings with the cabinet maker to really work out what we are trying to achieve with the cabinetry and benchtops, this has meant that we can turn a provisional sum into a quoted amount, which provides greater certainty for this significant amount in the budget.

So, building lesson number 2 for us was to get those ducks in a row.  Unless you love living with the inlaws or renting, it is wise to have all your plans and permits in place, have planning permission from the council, completed working drawings, electrical and mechanical plans, finances sorted and a solid contract price from a builder.

Thanks for stopping by,
Jo 

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Building lesson #1 - Time!

So here's what I have learnt so far - the most important thing about building is giving yourself time...time to get to know your block, time to get to know how you live as a family, time to really work out what design style you love and can live with for many years to come.  When Jon and I bought our block, we had a one year old son, MJ and we had just found out we were pregnant with baby number 2, who would turn out to be our son LX.  At that stage of our life as a family, we really hadn't yet worked out how we lived as a family and what would be important for us as our kids grew.  We also weren't sure if more children may come as well....and they did, our daughter SJ.

The first scribbles of what our house may have turned out to be, are very different to what is now... almost... our final design.   With the kids now 8, 6 and 3, it has become very clear that we all need our own space - space for the adults to retreat to do some work (or get some much needed peace and quiet!), space to be together as a family and space for the kids to hang out, make a mess, make noise without mum constantly telling them to keep it down to a dull roar or to tidy up after I have stepped on another piece of lego!

As a working mum with kids at school, my nights evolve around washing, school lunches, washing, cooking for the next day, washing....you get the drill!  Where we live now, the kitchen is away from the main living area, so most nights Jon and I are in different rooms.  It is really important to us that the kitchen and living areas are well connected as well as the functional spaces such as the laundry, butler's pantry and mud room.  Here is a snip of our functional family zone.


This zone has been designed around our family and how we live.  We have included a study nook in the kitchen next to the fridge space and our butler's pantry has room for a second fridge, oven and dishwasher.  These appliances were originally not part of the design, however after much thought and consultation, we have opted to include them.  We also have a considerable amount of shelving in the pantry, this is to manage a slight obsession I have with Costco!  The laundry is a space I am actually looking forward to spending time in (still sad I know).  We have included a laundry chute, drying cupboard, elevated spaces for the washing machine and dryer and extensive bench spaces.  Thanks to Louise's advise (Our Hamptons style forever home), we have included three built in drawers for laundry hampers.  Each laundry drawer can fit two baskets in them, so I can sort laundry to my heart's content (very sad, definitely a problem!)

The mud room is basically a second laundry come store room. It is connected to the garage and will be where we enter the house most.  This is the place for the school bags and associated paraphernalia to be deposited at the end of the day.  Our cabinet maker has designed this to be a very functional, practical space - a bag space for each family member, drawers with white board facia to allow reminders and notes to be jotted down, shoe drawers, coat hooks, cupboards and even a seat so you can put on/take off your shoes - can't wait to use this space..ahhmm, and to show the kids how to use this space.

The family zone can be shut off from the rest of the house with what will be a sliding barn door.  This will help with noise, heating, cooling and giving this space a cozy feel in Winter.  In summer, this space can be opened up to the alfresco/pool area making this a large space for entertaining and providing a great flow for indoor/outdoor entertaining.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all,
Thanks for stopping by,
Jo

Monday 21 November 2016

So why Roehampton?

Jon and I thought it might be nice to give our new home a name - everything we love we give a name to, so that was it, the house needed a name.  We did a lot of research in to the history of our new suburb and came up with a short list of names with some significance - but there was a problem, the names were signficant to our area and its history, a history we were not yet a part of, so none of these names seemed to fit.

I happened to be looking at one of our children's birth certificates and noticed the place of my husband's birth, Roehampton, London England.  There it was, it was there all along, our dream now has a name;

Roehampton.

Saturday 19 November 2016

To all the blogs I've loved before....

Hi Everyone,

Great to meet you!  I'm Jo.  In 2009 my husband Jon and I bought a great block of land in Melbourne's Eastern Suburbs, about 20kms out of the city.   This site will soon become our family home for Jon, myself and our three children.  Since we bought the block, I have immersed myself in all things design.  To that end, firstly, there are a few blog owners to thank and acknowledge - your generosity in sharing your experiences has been so inspirational and without doubt, has helped me to develop my own vision for our new home.

Louise - Our Hamptons Style Forever Home
Natasha - Building our House of Grey and White
Belinda - GallerieB
Amity - Doing our Block
White Verandah
Hawthorn House

So now it is my turn to share our journey and, hopefully, help someone else along the way.

Thanks for stopping by

Jo