who has built a house before?

Hey girls,
8 weeks until my due date and its pretty much bang on time for when our new house will be started!!

We have signed a fix price contract with a building company but there still seem to be a LOT of decisions to make.

Has anyone built before?
Anything you would change/do differently?
Any suggestions or comments to make my life easier??

Thanks heaps!!
Scarey how long it took though!! I hope we aren't in for a long wait.

I'm keen to hear people's experiences too. We're planning to have a company build our house to lock-up stage, then do the rest ourselves.

I'd love to hear from anyone who have physically done the work themselves if there's anyone out there

We built and did a lot ourselves. My father did the design and did the pm of the build using the builder that worked for him. DH broke his femur the month we started building

My thoughts are:
You will have to compromise on some things.

I wish we didn't get the shower we did. It looks nice, and it is nice to shower in but I hate cleaning it. Think about how things will be for cleaning.

I love our big spa bath to bath in but it is to high to lean over and bath a baby in

You can never have a too big garage- your DH will agree Love my full size washing line inside the garage.

You can never have too much storage

There may be some things you don't do straight away but think about if you can plan so it is easy to do later. We had the internal vac pipes put in but have only just bought the unit so we can use it.

I don't love having the same boring curtains all through the house but as it ended up costing us 1200 for 84m of curtaining and 500 to make them it got the job done and I will replace them as I can.

You can get lots of plants for landscaping formm garage sales and friends. Never say no to a free plant- if it doesn't survive the move it doesn't matter.

Good thread, would good to get some more feedback!

We are building later this year and have decided to go with a building company that does the lot rather than go it alone to take the stress out of it. It's so much fun choosing a plan and trying to visualise all of the interior design! At the moment we're arguing over whether or not to have a sink in the scullery

Some things I would suggest is to choose a builder who is reliable and good at what they do! There are so many cowboys around you need a Licensed Trade Qualified builder perferably Certified or a master Builder aswell. Get recommedations from friends/family or ask around at work and if you can see the work they have done.

Meet with the builder (who is actually going to do the building work) and discuss exactly what you want also once you have decided who you want to build with have a fixed price contract with specs (inclusions/exclusion) and start and completion dates so you are clear on what is going on. Remember there are sometimes unexpected costs so be prepared for this esp if you decide to change something halfway through the build.
Best thing is know exactly what you want and stick with it.

Unless your dam confident you can DIY but I would leave it up to the builders / subcontractors to do the work. To get a professional finish you need a professional to do it and I know it looks simple it do, I mean its only painting walls, laying tiles etc etc there is actually a lot of work behind it and you dont save much money in the end, The time and stress of it is not worth it.
Its best to stick with the fun parts like choosing colours/carpet/lights etc and let the builder do the hard work.

Yes its good to have a good relationship with the builder, scones and bickkies go a long way
And remember before its all done walk around and check it yourself, dont be afraid to speak up if your not happy with the quality of finish. Nothing worse if your all moved in and have an endless supply of contractors fixing this or that or you have to move back out so they can patch it up or re paint.

GL building is exciting if you have a good builder/building company it should be a breeze



Edited by LadyBee

Wow, some of this advice is gold! Thanks ladies. Our plan is that DH will take 6 months off work and basically work full time on the house. I don't mind if it's not totally finished before we move in as we DIY'd the house we're in so I'm not afraid of that, but it'd be great to have the major stuff done.

Looking forward to reading more advice and tips

Angs1982 wrote: Funny Trina its things like curtains that I'm most looking forward to doing - the finishing touches, but I know that takes $$$$.

There are some gorgeous curtains out there but couldn't justify the expense - some of those compromises I mentioned
I figured I could slowly work my way through the house and replace them over time if I wanted to. We did get sun filter blinds which were more imprtant for cutting down the glare and blocking the sun in the heat of summer.

We have built one house, done a full renovation (almost a demolish/rebuild situation) on another, relocated another house with another full renovation. My personal criteria for any future builds is that it is FULLY finished before I move in - even down to the landscaping. In the past due to budget restraints we have always moved in well before things are finished, and I reckon this just drags it out and the only time you ever get everything fully completed is if you are moving out or selling!
Like the lighting situation, make sure you have enough power points and they are in the right positions, especially in the kitchen.

not sure about bifolds we have triple stackers but makes the doors pretty heavy to slide compleatly open