AH.FM Cribs

Well I thought I would start this thread for those of you who want to share pictures of where you live. So post pics of your crib!
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I'll start things off with an epic post....

I myself am in the process of building my first house. So I'll start by telling the story.

In June 2006, Jo & I bought a block of land out at Teviot Downs (outside Brisbane, QLD, Australia). We both wanted space, and I hate being so close to my neighbours I can hear their conversations.

The block is 1.3 acres (5300m2), and was pretty flat. I think its a good size. Big enough for the house, a shed with toys, future pool, tennis court, chickens, weekend stable, or whatever. The best part about it (these photos don't show), is that we're up on top of a hill, with a view all the way to Mt Tamborine.

After more than a year of browsing houses and walking through the occasional display home, we decided it was time to get serious about it. We looked at every builder we could find from Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. We went to the bottom of the range "first home" builders, right through to spending an hour with a custom design architect to see what ideas we had, and how they could be achieved (and for what price).

In November 2007 we found a house that was as close to what we wanted "out-of-the-box", without going for a custom architect designed home. But...me and Jo being who we are...couldn't help ourselves and we started modding the house. Well - Jo modded it (she has a much better grasp on it than I do). I provided input by saying "Yeah...I really like that idea."

So with a few modifications made (laundry chute, walk-in pantry, remixed ensuite layout and modified study) - we settled on the final design. That took until around May 2008.

This is a photo of what the land looked like when we bought it.


Several signed documents and bank visits later - on 6th Oct 2008, we broke dirt! Jo went out to grab these pics just before it got dark - so they're not the best quality.














This is the original layout design of the house, but as you will see further down we changed a couple of things.


The house we got is the "Summit 415" from AV Jennings, in the "Acclaim" version (which had the higher ceilings, better inclusions etc).

Here is kind of what the house should look like when its finished. Though we're not getting ours rendered. We did however go for a double-height sandstone looking brick, with a "flush" mortar. So from a distance, it'll look rendered...but will actually be a brick face.

This is the same house as the one we are building, its just that this one has a different fascade on the front.




Not long after the land was cleared, the first thing that went in was the "BioCycle" system.

The biocycle system is different from a traditional septic tank. This system processes the grey water into something which is relatively safe for human contact, then sprinkles it out to the garden. In theory, the tank should never need pumping out, with waste being broken down internally through introduced bacteria. This is then pumped out through a couple of sprinkler systems.

In this diagram, you can see where the HSTP system and the water tank will go. A long hose connects the HSTP system to 2 sprinklers - which will be positioned out the back. I can however connect a hose to this system, and then move the sprinklers around to wherever the grass needs it.

And here is what the unit looks like in the flesh:




They also pegged out the boundaries of the slab so we can now see where the exterior walls will be. In this photo - I'm standing in the front door. In the 2nd photo below, the area directly infront of me will be the study.





...just testing where the garage will be



And we now have a Portaloo on the block.


Three weeks after they cleared the block, they started on the foundation and the frame.

I've heard that this part of the buid process is quite fast and it all happens very quickly. Where things slow down is when the trades people come into the equation. So many jobs depend on other jobs completing before it - and that's where the delays are.

Here is a panorama shot of the front of the block. Its only a 12m frontage, but (as you can see on the previous page...water tank diagram), the block widens a lot when it goes to the back. Called a "battle-axe block".

If anybody is interested the house next door to me (left of frame) is up for sale atm. Despite the distortion of the picture, it is a col-de-sac.

Here they started the foundation - they've boxed it up, and have put down the "waffles". From what I could tell...they basically put down some black plastic sheets, then put the styrofoam waffles on top, then the steel reinforcement on top of that. There are some piers in there too somewhere.







Two days after that went down - we got the slab poured!!




The slab was poured on Friday 24th of Oct. It was left to cure that weekend, and until Wednesday. Then they started the frame. They weren't missing about...and I didn't get a chance to lay some S15 rubber



This is inside the house, looking down the hallway.

They've also now installed the water tank.





I'm very surprised on how much of the frame they've done in 3 days.

And then the 2nd story frame went up.







Balcony off the media room...



This was one of the deciding factors in us buying the block of land we did. That mountain in the distance...that's the back of Mt Tamborine.

More pics of the 2nd story, with the roof going on...





My driveway...which is already too small for the cars Jo & I own.



I made an ammendment to the original plans, and in this design you see the true layout of the house. We added the walk-in-pantry to the kitchen, turned the downstairs bedroom into a dedicated office/study, and re-arranged the ensuite upstairs.

In these plans, you can also see where I put the network points - so the house is fully connected.

These pictures were taken in late November - and it shows the brickwork going up.












Along with the roof & bricks, the electrial work has begun and the plumbing has gone in.

So much info cool

One of the things that sealed the deal for us on this house was that AV Jennings threw in "free ducted aircon" as part of a promotion. Which is really just another way of saying it was already factored into the price. But...we were pretty much going to buy this house anyway (before they put in the free A/C) - so for us this was a big bonus.

The scafolding went up to begin bricking the 2nd level.




A big pile of garbage...Jo & I have been salvaging good bricks from the bin. We paid for them...I'm sure we can use them later. Dog house....wood fired pizza oven...etc.




It was good to get up on the scafolding and walk around the house. This way we got a closer look at the roof.



And once again...that view I love! Where the S15 is parked...we have plans to have a bitchmen driveway.


And just before Christmas - they finished the brick work. You'll notice there's parts missing around the front window (library room), and around the side of the home theater. This is because these area's are not bricked, but will use a thing called "newport planking" (aka. weather board).

Dude, that looks awesome! Going to be an epic pad when it's finished! :smile:

I will take some pics of mine but it pales in comparison I'm also jealous of the amount of sunshine on your pics hehe

Kinda off topic but I spy a very nice Nissan Silvia..

Lazarus said:

Dude, that looks awesome! Going to be an epic pad when it's finished! :smile:

I will take some pics of mine but it pales in comparison I'm also jealous of the amount of sunshine on your pics hehe

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Thanks Lazarus

Yeah we get a lot of sunshine (and heat) here in Brisbane. Hence the need for an airconditioned house. My winter is the equivilent of an English summer. Mid-winter, day time temps are still in the high teens to low 20's. It only gets "cold" at night, when the temp gets down to "single digits" - but it never gets below freezing.

Tarek said:

Kinda off topic but I spy a very nice Nissan Silvia..

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Thanks Tarek! Indeed it is! Its an S15 Silvia. My girlfriend has the S14 version.

extreme makeover kang's house edition :LMAO::LMAO::LMAO:

dammit its simply amazing, when i grew up i wanna have one like that xDDDD

.. and how nice are those "jo and me" "jo and me" :lovers::lovers: love is in the air

hope u will be very very happy in that house

Jellyfish said:

extreme makeover kang's house edition :LMAO::LMAO::LMAO:

dammit its simply amazing, when i grew up i wanna have one like that xDDDD

.. and how nice are those "jo and me" "jo and me" :lovers: love is in the air

hope u will be very very happy in that house

Click to expand...

awesome pics dreamension

Very nice house and car! HAHA!

WOW!!! Looks like a fantastic house you are building. It's a big dream of mine to build my own house, and just by looknig at your pics I get more and more inspiration. Thanks alot!!

Will try to post some pictures from our current home!

looking good

Thought it was time for another update....

They've started work back at the house, and we're pretty close if not just over the half way mark.

They've removed the mountain of rubbish out the front, and have started on the portico and workshop roof. Once this is done, they'll do the planking around the library window, and on the side of the home theatre room, then the garage door goes on. Once that's on, its at "lock up" stage, and they start doing the interior.

The plasters are scheduled to come out the first or second week of Feb.

Here are some updated pics.

The roof over the entrance...


Roof over the workshop. You'll also notice the workshop window has changed...more on that below.



Front of the house as it currently is.



If you go back to earlier photos, you'll notice that the window on the workshop was tinted, but now its obscure. It was meant to be obscure all along, but they put a tinted one in by mistake. We told them about this (cause we wanted obscure) and they replaced it.

So far I've been pretty happy with the way they (AV Jennings) have responded to our requests. The builders have made a couple of mistakes along the way, and small things have been forgotten here and there. From their perspective, we're probably "just another house to build", so they probably don't pay as much attention to detail as we do. For me and Jo, this is "our house, and our investment" - so we pay attention to everything. Which...I guess is fair - and I guess because the builder/supervisor doesn't/wouldn't have time to look at every single thing...its our job to notify them if we notice something isn't right.

Just recently I walked through the house and looked at everything I could, and I noted a few things that weren't done. I wrote an email to AV Jennings, and very quickly they got back to me acknowledging my findings and advised they would be fixed asap.

Now to me....that's good service. Sure, it would have been nice to get it perfect the first time. But I don't any construction project ever goes 100% smoothly. Its good to know that any issues I do bring up, are acknowledged (or explained to me), and they are seen to.

Since my last update.... the roof has gone up over the Portico and workshop areas...




And now its starting to look a bit like the finished product...


We weren't expecting this, but they're insulating the media room with pink bats.





The plasters are due to start any day now, and the plaster board has been delviered.