Schofields- Our Future Home with McDonald Jones (Sierra Split Level)

KEYS IN 3 WEEKS!!! 11.02.2017

So with all the business that's happened over the few months. We are so happy to say that we will be doing our practical inspection on the 24.02.2017 and then we will be getting key on the 03.03.2017!!! The work inside really does go faster than the outside. It has probably finished faster too since we are doing our own flooring after handover.

Below is the most recent photo, taken today. We can't wait to share photos of the inside.

FRAMES  & BRICKS 28.10.2016

So despite having a minor issue after the slab was laid, there was a good 5 weeks where the house construction was put on hold. Luckily  I was able to speak to someone in management who was able to get the problem resolved.

So once we got the all ok again, they did external drainage quite quickly.

While we were away on holidays in Hawaii recently we were very surprise to find that they had completed framing on the house and had started brick laying yay!!

They really did catch-up due to the 5 week hold up and we have been really happy with the progress. I also met our site supervisor Brent yesterday and he was lovely. He told us bricks should be completed by next week (09.11.2016) and roof should also go up!! Yay!! We are so excited and its really staring to look like our home.  

Below is the most up to date photo of the house.

SLAB  12.09.2016 

EXCAVATION 30.08.2016

AND IT BEGINS....

After McDonald Jones finally received the letter to commence construction from the bank 19.08.2016. Seven days later they will be starting excavation which is tomorrow for us 30.08.2016!! We are super excited to finally start and we cant wait to document every stage of the build. Now we have really entered into the exciting stage.

CDC APPROVAL, YAY!!

So our CDC got approved on 08.08.2016. Took less than 4 weeks to get approved. Just waiting on the banks to release the funds for stage 1, then we hope slab will be laid in the next 2-3 weeks. Will keep this blog up to date.

GREAT NEWS!!

We got great news this week  (02.08.2016) our construction loan has been approved!! YAY!! This is what we were waiting for and now its all official. We will be heading to the bank in the next few days to go sign the contracts then I have a good feeling that the CDC will be done by the end of next week. So we're hoping construction will begin this month!!

We also cleared our block from the cement and dirt that contractors had dumped on our block when construction first began for the houses around us.

Let me just say getting a skip bin and hiring a small excavator saved us money. We got quotes of almost 1k or over to get this removed. It cost us only $550 to hire the bin and excavator for the day. #winning

Do look at this  option if you need to remove waste from your vacant block. A fence also helps though and we wish we did this right from the beginning to stop this from happening in the first place.

ELECTRICAL APPOINTMENT

We attended our electrical appointment yesterday (07.07.2016) at the Norwest Studio again.

As I anticipated, I was out of there within 1.5hours. Going into the appointment prepared is a big, big help not only for yourselves but also for your consultant.

We had a budget of 10k for electrical's and we went over by $240. We were really happy with spending this much because it included all of the lighting, powerpoints and switches. The only thing we will be doing after handover is getting an electrician to install both the pendant lights over the kitchen island and the dining light. Great thing is that we included the wiring so electrician needs to just come in and install the lights we chose.

Here is a picture of the pendants light we chose at Beacon Lighting. Also pays to do your homework for lighting, especially if you don;t like anything from their range. Oh and a big tip, if you do like the lighting, fans etc through MJ then go visit a lighting place in person.

A big decision we had to make on lighting was whether we wanted warm white or cool white for our down-lights in the house. Make sure you see the difference in person. We were about to do half half but ended up picking cool white for the whole house for consistency, but this also meant we chose dimmers for the bedrooms, kitchen and living areas so we could adjust the brightness.

PRE-WORK  FOR ELECTRICAL APPOINTMENT

We have our electrical appointment in a week's time and we decided to be very organised. We got our floor plan and placed exactly where wanted, lights, switches and powerpoints to be in the house.

Being prepared similar to the colour appointment I think this will help speed the process up and also help avoid in over spending.

Below is the electrical floor plan we completed.

COLOR APPOINTMENT

Contract signing is done and dusted this morning 15.06.2016. It's all starting to feel real, especially how quickly things can move after the colours appointment.

We already have a copy of the signed contract and has been sent to our broker. Now its the waiting game for finances to be approved. We even got the good news today that plans will be submitted through a private certifier rather than council, so that means it will only take 4 weeks for everything to approved!! YAY!!!

COLOR APPOINTMENT

So we finally attended our color appointment at the Norwest Color Studio on 08.06.2016. Our consultant was Erin and she was super lovely and very helpful.

We had brought our laptop with us because we knew exactly what we were after. It definitely pays off to be organised and at least come with a few ideas or a theme in mind for the whole house.

It only took us 3.5hours to choose everything!!! It was so much fun and to be honest not stressful at all.

So here are the upgrades we chose.

EXTERNAL

• Rendering to front of house only $2840
• Upgrade on roof insulation $3480
• Entry & Garage Door finish in Caoba $1150
• Increase  entry door height to line up with master windows $1060

INTERNAL

• Increase height ceiling to 2700mm including Alfresco $6110
• Flyscreens to all windows $540
• Standard Flyscreen to alfresco door $270
• Upgrade door knobs to whole house $400
• Upgrade door handles for home theatre and pantry door $420
• Upgrade all shelving to melamine $840
• We added 2x Shelving in the WIR $ 680
• Furniture Recess in theatre room $580
• Plantation Shutters in master suite, theatre room and bathroom $4400 (we chose white)
• 

• Blinds for the remainder of the house including the other 3 bedrooms $920 (below is the colour we chose)

KITCHEN

We spent most of our budget here because it is the heart of the house and we do spend alot of time here. We can't wait to see the finished results.

• Upgrade to Frosty Carrina ceasarstone for kitchen island bench and oven run bench $4550
• Upgrade to contempo design kitchen island $2890
• Upgrade to 60mm island bench and 40mm to oven run bench $3110
• 2-pak Polyurethane Classic 2mm for top cupboards $1500
• Dorf Vixen Retractable Sink Mixer Black $285
• 

• Ducting to rangehood $790
• We got the Fischer and Paykel promotion and it included all our appliances which included the 900m oven and freestanding gas stove, french fridge, dishwasher, microwave, top loader and dryer

WET AREAS

Everything here was kept pretty standard which we were happy about.

• Upgrade to free standing bath $990
• 
• Upgrade to semi-frame-less showers x 2$1780
• 
• Upgrade toilet seat x 2 $1060
• 

• Mirror to be frameless x 2 $200
• Shampoo Nook Medium size $380
• We also added 3 drawers in the main bathroom $250

THE WAITING GAME.......

Its been 2 years since we first purchased the block of land and we are praying this is finally the year we will get to start construction.

Big answers await come 1st July 2016!!

In the meantime, we are very excited for colours next week. 

REGISTRATION OF LAND AND THE NEIGHBOURS BUILDING

Our vacant land is on a slope, which means we must build a split level. It will be a step up rather than a step down.

HOME IDEAS

Here is pic of the kitchen island we are after.

 Here is the picture of the back splash and pantry door colour we want.

UPGRADES

• Alfresco.
• Highest Ceiling Height.
• Ducted Air Conditioning (came with promotion)
• 60mm kitchen island benchtop and 40mm for the remainder of the kitchen benchtop.
• Kitchen Island contempo design (removing waterfall edges).
• Fisher and Paykel Appliance Package (promotion)
• Impressions Package

APPOINTMENTS

• Electrical Appointment (06.07.2016)
• Contract Signing (15.06.2016)
• Design Appointment (08.06.2016)
• Colour Selection Walk-through Appointment (02.04.2015)
• Tender explanation with MJ and deposit put down (14.02.2015)
• Signed contract for vacant land (30.06.2014)

OUR BUILDER AND FLOOR PLAN

McDonald Jones was our choice of builder with my bestfriend previously building with them and the finish of their home was just beautiful.

We chose the Sierra floor plan with the chase facade and we are still deciding whether we go ahead with the split level option since we are situated on a hill.

Tender was accepted and deposit was put down on 14.02.2015.

SCHOFIELDS NSW 2762

Here is a a picture of the area being transformed. When we bought the land nearly a year ago, it was filled with lots of trees and now this. Road being created and fixed and hardly any  trees left. Our new street is right in the middle of the picture if you zoom in. The new road is still  being finished.

Registration of the land is happening in the next 5-6 weeks.....exciting!!!