So, I've been documenting my house and garage build on another forum, but I figured you might like to see it here.
It might seem a little disjointed as our design and materials used have changed since this all started in April 2013.
12th April 2013
So, after being with my girlfriend for 5 years, we got married in March last year. After 8 months of marriage, we decided it's time we get somewhere to live, and something that we want. It co-coincided with me turning 30, so it all tied together nicely.
Eventually, we've decided on a small block of land (2.5 acres) outside of Canberra. The land price was under 300k, so we feel we did pretty well on that. I guess history will tell.
Currently the land is a paddock as they had to sell 4 blocks before they'd build the road and put in the infrastructure. We had a very good, very fussy lawyer, and our road to exchange of contracts took the better part of 5 weeks after the initial offer was made. She was great though, and as she said, once you sign, that's it. Your locked in. So better to get it sorted at exchange.
My father in law is an architect by trade, and he's just in the process of retiring, so he offered rather graciously to design our house.
Design Requirements:
Use SIP's. (Structural Insulated Panels). Essentially ~20cm of expanded polystyrene, with a timer panel glued to each side. VERY thermally efficient, very quick to install, and quite strong given their weight. Two men can lift a 1.2m wide, 8m long panel. Houses go up very quickly as they are semi pre-fabbed. ~4 days for a house and roof to go up.
Be cheap to construct. We have a limited budget. We also have extra stuff we MUST install that will be eating into our budget, so we must save where possible.
Be thermally efficient. We don't want expensive bills. This is a scratch built house, so lets do it right from the get-go. No need to go back and retro-fit stuff later.
Suit both our current lifestyle and a planned future. My wife wants to eventually get another horse. Both her parents have horses, the land is ~1.5km from a large equestrian area. We both like to have friends over, so there must be area for them to sleep. The house must have a nice kitchen as I enjoy cooking. We must have an outdoor area for relaxing in the afternoons. We do not plan to have children but for future resale, the house must have additional rooms.
Minimal Bills. This co-incides nicely with the thermally efficent, well placed design etc... My plan for retirement is that I want a house that's paid off, that has no on-going bills (excluding rates) and that I have the majority of my food requirements grown onsite if possible.
Large Garage. I have motorcycles, the wife has her car, we'll have equipment for the block, hobbies, horse gear, food storage for animals etc. This all needs a safe place to be stored.
Site Requirements:
100,000L water storage. We are not connected to town water.
Septic System. We are not connected to town sewerage.
Driveway. Builder has specified a dirt driveway should be fine, but we may need to put down gravel.
House Design.
After much to-and-fro'ing, we have come up with this relatively final design. We're down to small details in the kitchen, cupboards, and layouts of the shelves in the laundry.
We are having honed concrete floors. It's cheaper than polished (May change dependent on price). This will allow good thermal mass.
Builder Details:
We've met with a really good builder. He even came out on Easter Monday, and spent 4 hours going over plans, and what's needed to build, and how he runs his sites. He advised straight up, if he touches something, it'll cost an extra 15%. If we're able to do something ourselves, he's happy with that and it'll save him time, and us money. He's happy to install anything we can provide, so toilets, taps, appliances, will all be purchased before hand and can sit in my garage till we're ready for them. Appliances for the kitchen will all be imported from England. We're looking at either Miele, Bosch, or Siemens. We're looking at Franke sinks. I understand these aren't cheap, but we are happy to spend the money in areas it's needed. Kitchens are renovated on average every 15 years, so I'd prefer to do this part right... Also, importing the sink and appliances saves 50% of the price. So we'll see what our budget is, and stick to it. We'll just make sure we get the maximum we can.
We'll be doing our own decking. The builder will put in the structure, and we'll do the decking itself. We're looking at approximately 50sqm of decking required...
Budget:
Land: 285,000
House: 250,000
Septic: 10,000
Watertank: 15,000
Garage: ~12,000 (self constructed)
Anyhow, have a look at the shots, and lets see what people think.
Current Status:
House design 95%.
Enough blocks have been sold, and they are starting earthworks for the street. Rough estimate of completion is end of Sept, start October.
It might seem a little disjointed as our design and materials used have changed since this all started in April 2013.
12th April 2013
So, after being with my girlfriend for 5 years, we got married in March last year. After 8 months of marriage, we decided it's time we get somewhere to live, and something that we want. It co-coincided with me turning 30, so it all tied together nicely.
Eventually, we've decided on a small block of land (2.5 acres) outside of Canberra. The land price was under 300k, so we feel we did pretty well on that. I guess history will tell.
Currently the land is a paddock as they had to sell 4 blocks before they'd build the road and put in the infrastructure. We had a very good, very fussy lawyer, and our road to exchange of contracts took the better part of 5 weeks after the initial offer was made. She was great though, and as she said, once you sign, that's it. Your locked in. So better to get it sorted at exchange.
My father in law is an architect by trade, and he's just in the process of retiring, so he offered rather graciously to design our house.
Design Requirements:
Use SIP's. (Structural Insulated Panels). Essentially ~20cm of expanded polystyrene, with a timer panel glued to each side. VERY thermally efficient, very quick to install, and quite strong given their weight. Two men can lift a 1.2m wide, 8m long panel. Houses go up very quickly as they are semi pre-fabbed. ~4 days for a house and roof to go up.
Be cheap to construct. We have a limited budget. We also have extra stuff we MUST install that will be eating into our budget, so we must save where possible.
Be thermally efficient. We don't want expensive bills. This is a scratch built house, so lets do it right from the get-go. No need to go back and retro-fit stuff later.
Suit both our current lifestyle and a planned future. My wife wants to eventually get another horse. Both her parents have horses, the land is ~1.5km from a large equestrian area. We both like to have friends over, so there must be area for them to sleep. The house must have a nice kitchen as I enjoy cooking. We must have an outdoor area for relaxing in the afternoons. We do not plan to have children but for future resale, the house must have additional rooms.
Minimal Bills. This co-incides nicely with the thermally efficent, well placed design etc... My plan for retirement is that I want a house that's paid off, that has no on-going bills (excluding rates) and that I have the majority of my food requirements grown onsite if possible.
Large Garage. I have motorcycles, the wife has her car, we'll have equipment for the block, hobbies, horse gear, food storage for animals etc. This all needs a safe place to be stored.
Site Requirements:
100,000L water storage. We are not connected to town water.
Septic System. We are not connected to town sewerage.
Driveway. Builder has specified a dirt driveway should be fine, but we may need to put down gravel.
House Design.
After much to-and-fro'ing, we have come up with this relatively final design. We're down to small details in the kitchen, cupboards, and layouts of the shelves in the laundry.
We are having honed concrete floors. It's cheaper than polished (May change dependent on price). This will allow good thermal mass.
Builder Details:
We've met with a really good builder. He even came out on Easter Monday, and spent 4 hours going over plans, and what's needed to build, and how he runs his sites. He advised straight up, if he touches something, it'll cost an extra 15%. If we're able to do something ourselves, he's happy with that and it'll save him time, and us money. He's happy to install anything we can provide, so toilets, taps, appliances, will all be purchased before hand and can sit in my garage till we're ready for them. Appliances for the kitchen will all be imported from England. We're looking at either Miele, Bosch, or Siemens. We're looking at Franke sinks. I understand these aren't cheap, but we are happy to spend the money in areas it's needed. Kitchens are renovated on average every 15 years, so I'd prefer to do this part right... Also, importing the sink and appliances saves 50% of the price. So we'll see what our budget is, and stick to it. We'll just make sure we get the maximum we can.
We'll be doing our own decking. The builder will put in the structure, and we'll do the decking itself. We're looking at approximately 50sqm of decking required...
Budget:
Land: 285,000
House: 250,000
Septic: 10,000
Watertank: 15,000
Garage: ~12,000 (self constructed)
Anyhow, have a look at the shots, and lets see what people think.
Current Status:
House design 95%.
Enough blocks have been sold, and they are starting earthworks for the street. Rough estimate of completion is end of Sept, start October.
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nicely articulated, I have just read it from go to whoa. I am looking forward to following your progress.
