I've decided that progress with our house has reached a point where it's just about worthwhile having some photos and ramblings which we can direct friends and family members and whoever might be interested to come and have a look.
So, let me explain where we've come from and where we're at right now:
It all started at the end of January, we decided that with the First Home Owners Grant Boost coming to an end in 6 months time, it was a good time to look into building a house. We both liked the Guildford area and had seen a new estate that looked promising, we went and had a look and both felt it was perfect, we didn't really bother looking elsewhere too much, Waterhall in South Guildford suited all our requirements perfectly. We registered our interest in one particular block and started looking through display homes, something that became somewhat of a routine over the following month.
After a few disappointments and frustrations, we found the Evolution 3000 by RedInk. After a few modifications, we were happy and around the end of February we signed a preliminary contract to build our house, we also made an offer on the block which was accepted the following day. Both of these were pending finance which we applied for around the same time.
Had we known that when you put an application in you just apply for the maximum amount you can borrow, we would have put our application in when we started looking. We didn't though and it turned out that lots of other people thought buying/building a house now was a good idea. As a result, loan pre-approval times became 3 to 4 times longer than usual. It took about 2 months for our pre-approval to come through, when it finally we did, we sent a copy to RedInk and the next step began.
After a week or so we were told our house was being rushed through, I guess because it had been in the system for so long, so we went and signed a few documents to give to our lender so we could get our finance finalised. We also went down to the block and discovered holes had been drilled for the soil tests, the first actual change in the block since we first saw it. Since then we've booked pre-start for the 9th of June, given all the relevant documents to our lender and made gas and electricity accounts.
Around the time we decided on the house, we went to Midland Brick at Home Base Expo and picked our bricks, pavers, roof, gutters etc. We have also picked all of our tiles and plan to go and check out the place that all the basins, taps, sinks etc. come from in the next week or so.
So things seem to be actually happening now, according to the contract, construction on the house must start by the 29th of June and be completed 250 days from construction commencement, which is the 6th of March. I'll try and update this regularly and hopefully provide pictures as well.
For now, here are some pictures of the block and our tile and laminate choices.
Ash and I on our block
How exciting, a hole on our block. This is from the soil tests.
These are the tiles and laminates for the bathroom, toilet and laundry. The small tiles on the left are the feature tiles, ivory for the walls, chocolate for the floor, mocha for the cupboards and a whitish colour for the bench top.
Kitchen: Mocha for the lower cupboards, white with a hint of brown for the upper cupboards and the lower drawers, green tea Essa stone for the bench tops.
Ensuite: Same Ivory tiles as the bathroom, something with some texture for the floors, a dark woodgrain for the cupboards, a whitish for the bench top. The feature tile is just below.
Feature tile for the ensuite, these are 50mm square, there will be a strip of these running down the shower and also a strip under the mirror. We're doing the same sort of thing in the bathroom with it's feature tile.
That's it for now, I'll try and get a floor plan and a few other things up later on. The next few days are a long weekend in Margaret River for Ash and I to celebrate our 2 year anniversary which is on the 3rd, it's amazing how things can change so much in 2 years time(and to prevent me getting in trouble I'll just clarify that I mean change for the better :) )
