So what do you get with the base price?

It turns out not a lot. You certainly do not get a house, there is at least another $20,000 in site costs that you cannot avoid before construction can even start. It would appear other builders (Henly as an example) include far more in their base price, but it is also partly due to the fact that we are doing a knock-down and rebuild.

We are planning to go with the traditional facade, the extra cost for the premium does not seem worth it to us:

From Chattertons Build a New Home

The options we are selecting include

• Alfresco
• Extend the backhalf of the house by 600mm
• 4-leaf Bi-Fold Doors to Meals
• Evaporative Cooling
• Solar Hot Water
• Water Tank plumbed to toilets
• Double Glazed Windows
• 450mm Eaves

These options will make the house very energy efficient.

We still have two issues to decide. The first is whether to raise the ceilings above the standard height. Its not cheap, would make the house less energy efficient, but would look better inside.

The second and larger issue is the driveway is on left hand side of the block, but we want the living areas to be on the right-hand side (West) to get the evening sun. The Barrington has an option to mirror 2/3s of the house (kids bedrooms and living areas), but this greatly limits themain bedroom  ensuite options. We have asked Burbank to see if we can overcome these limitations to get more than just a small shower and two vanities in a large ensuite space.

The kids see their future

Today we took the kids and Granny to the Cascades on Clyde display centre to the Burbank Barrington 3100 home.

Originally we were planning the build the Henly Eclipse Q2, a nice double story home, but this was when we were looking at cheaper land options in Chadstone/Ashwood. In order to afford the block in Mount Waverley we decided that the location was very important to us so we started looking at single story homes.

We like the Barrinton design mainly for the kids bedrooms. Almost every single story home plan has the kids bedrooms sharing a common corridor and separated by the laundry and main bathroom. The corridor seems like a waste of space and the bathroom does not cater for teenage boys and girls competing for bathroom time in the mornings.

The Barrington 3100 has a WIR and a vanity for the 2nd and 3rd bathrooms, and then access to the shared bathroom (shower, bath and WC). Although we would prefer the WC was separate as well, this design at least allows teenage girls to be doing her hair in private while teenage boy has a shower.

It also has a nice open living/meals area, study nook for the kids and a another bathroom for visitors. So it ticks most of our requirements that we were looking for in a two story home.

The kids and Granny all liked it, so Kate and I are meeting with a consultant on Wednesday to walk through the options in more detail.

We bought a block in Mount Waverley

After looking for 2 months, flip-flopping between buying an established home or a knock-down, we finally decided on a block of land in Mount Waverley where we had hoped to live, much to the relief of the kids and relatives who were sick of us living on realestate.com.au.

The property is a short walk to Jordanville station, not much further to Mount Waverley shops and station. The block overlooks the Riversdale golf course and the Glen Waverley train line, so there is only parkland opposite the house.

The vendor wanted a short settlement, August 18, so we are going to have to get moving with our house plans. There are tenants in the house so we will give them notice once the permits have been approved.