Kitchen colours and upgrades

Have finally decided on the following items for our kitchen benches and appliances.

Heres the kitchen layout:

Selections:

Quantum Quartz Starlight Black 40mm stone bench tops with waterfall edges. The platinum package doesnt include the Starlight black in the choices so this is an upgraded extra for us.
Polytec createc gloss white for all under bench cupboards and cupboards above fridge space.
Cupboards above the oven bench will be Polytech gloss black with the glass doors as shown in the plans.

Brushed alloy kickplates:

Mirror splashback (depending on price).

Westinghouse freestanding 900mm Dual fuel oven (DSP963S):

Westinghouse glass canopy 900mm rangehood (WRG950CGS):

 

AEG/Electrolux Dishwasher (F88025VIM):

Kitchen tap-ware will be from the Italian made choice (cant remember brand - Novelli?) from the platinum selection which comes with a 10 year warranty.

OSMS & 5% Deposit

Submitted the OSMS application to council today. The lady at the council said at least 2 weeks. She then asked me if I was in a hurry for it and naturally I said yes, as we just signed contracts with the builder and she then said that she would see what they could do. Hopefully they dont take that long (Fingers crossed).

Will also be paying the 5% deposit today. The bank account is starting to get hit now.

Now to wait.......again.

Busy day - Contracts signed

Had a busy day today. We got our second quote in for our collection  wells. Around $1K cheaper than the first quote. This is also from the same mob we got our water tanks for the cabin from. I also got a quote for the 10,000L tank and pump we will require for our house and was also impressed with the price.
Think I will stick with these guys.- www.rainking.com.au

We also had our sewage report completed so have signed this off and will submit this with the application to install / alter a on-site sewage management system (OSMS) to council tomorrow, along with their huge $930 fee for the application and the 6 required inspections.
From here, all we can do is wait for council to process this so it could be anywhere from 2-6 weeks!!
I'm kicking my self that I didn't do it as soon as I signed off on the plans nearly 3 weeks ago as it probably would have processed by now.
Once this is done we will go through CDC. Im confident that this will be a fast process as Im sure everything has been covered.

On a side note, we received our contracts today and have signed them and will post them back to Sydney tomorrow. Will probably also be paying the 5% deposit over the next few days.
We are now locked in to this so I hope it all goes quickly and  smoothly. Its been slow going up to date as it has been 4 months now since we first had Masterton initially check our site.

More hidden costs - OSMS

Just got a quote for purchase of 15,000L worth of collection wells.....$5,880.00.

Thats not including excavating or plumbing either.... I have a mate who can help me out a bit with the excavating side of things. Will be a bit cheaper than hiring someone I dont know.

Off to get another quote for the wells.....

sewage system

Wow, just found out that we need to install a 15,000L pump out On-site Sewage Management System (OSMS). So we will require 2x 7500L collection wells. The reason for the size is because the house is classed as 5 bedroom with the Study included, and because of the 2 bedroom cabin. I dont understand this because the cabin is using a waterless composting toilet system. No solids are going into the system, only liquids and grey water. Oh well, at least if we eventually decide to go with a flush toilet in the cabin, the system should be future proof. Also, having such a large system and only a small family, the pump outs required will be fewer and further between.
I actually didnt realise that I would have to organise al this with council before applying for a CDC. Had I known this, I would have gotten the engineer to draw this up and submit the OSMS application weeks ago.
This will most likely delay our CDC application  by a few weeks now. :(

On a side note, I received a call on Thursday from the sales office and was told to expect a call from the Masterton pre-contract coordinator very shortly.

Mirrored Splashback & Tiles & Curtains

Got an email from our M sales office yesterday. She confirmed that we can choose the mirrored splashback if we like but apparently it is costly. Heres hoping its not too much as this would be the best and nicest option for us.
For our colour selections, we have been advised to go to Sydney and spend a couple of days looking over the showrooms and displays etc.... but after checking out the range at the Batemans Bay display center, Id be happy to make do with whats in front of me and avoid Sydney all-together.
After also talking with the same sales person previously, we were told that we'd have to go to Dons tiles in Sydney to pick out our tiles as M in Batemans Bay doesnt have anything on display.
Im not too keen on this as I find it hard to get time off as it is, let alone to go to Sydney to select tiles.
I took the liberty of emailing Dons tiles and asked if they had samples or catalogues but unfortunately they dont. However, Dons tiles will be opening up a showroom in Canberra mid June so this is a 1 day trip up and back for us, which is way more convenient.

Also received the curtains on monday. They look good and are well made. Also found the required rods for the Alfresco door which cost another $110.00
All thats left for the windows now is to get some blinds for the ensuite, bathroom, kitchen and 2x home theatre windows.
Will probably go wooden blinds and get them made to suit after we get the keys. They aren't too hard to install, so will do these myself to save on costs.

Hopefully we will be signing the HIA contract by the end of this week. Then we will be given a time-line which will also be great. When looking at a lot of other people building single story houses with M, it looks like it should take around 4-6 months. If this is the case, we may be in our new home by Christmas (fingers crossed). :)

Plans signed off - Hidden bonuses

We just got back from our local sales office and have now signed off the plans so they are practically ready for CDC.
Had a great chat with the colour consultant too which was fantastic. We came home with a truckload of brochures and reading material. This will make the final colour choice day a lot faster as I will go in armed knowing exactly what we want.

I also found out that with the platinum package, the standard paint is 3 coats (1 undercoat and 2 colour coat), as opposed to the normal 1 coat of undercoat and 1 of colour coat.
We were going to pay $2K to do the extra coat but looks like we will now upgrade our kitchens stone benchtops to 40mm QQ starlight black and the ensuite/bathroom stone tops to Starlight white instead. The platinum package is the way to go. You can basically choose anything you want, without any limitations.
Another bonus is the kitchen layout. It actually changes when you select the Platinum package. We now have pot drawers on either side of the oven and better overhead cupboards and also bulkheads which are all part of the platinum package.

Only downside is looks like we may have to travel to Sydney just to do our wet area floor tiles selection as its through Dons tiles.
Not too keen to do this so will hopefully try and find a way to not have to.

Floor plans sign off

wow. just got an email about 5 mins ago from my sales guy asking if we can meet up to sign off the plans this saturday. I suggested we do it sooner (tomorrow or friday) and am now awaiting confirmation.
They are really hooking in now. good to see. Im fairly confident that we will go through CDC quickly. If all goes well, we should see some pegs in the ground by the end of this month (fingers crossed).

Final plans, finally in.

Received the revised plans today and everything has been fixed. Looks like we are ready to move forward and pay the deposit and go to CDC. woohoo!!

Plans can be viewed here - http://photos.imageevent.com/kadepunk/personal/FINAL%20PLANS%202nd%20DRAFT%20EDITED.pdf

Slow progress - Curtains purchased.

Not a whole lot to report lately. We are still waiting on the redraw of the plans. Its been 2 weeks since we received the first draft and Its now been 7 weeks since the plan prep fee was paid.

As we all know the carbon tax is coming in around July so from going by the past, with any tax enforced on the people by our beloved govt, you can bet your bottom dollar that everything will jump in price.
Because of this Ive decided to prematurely start to gather things we will need for the house after handover.
I found a good deal on curtains today and managed to get all windows, minus the Home Theater, Bathroom, Ensuite and Kitchen covered (literally).
We will most likely get blinds for the Home Theater, Bathroom, Ensuite and Kitchen.

The total price was $950 delivered from a Ebay seller in Melbourne (They knocked around $170 off the price as I opted to not go through ebay). This includes stainless steel rods to all the rooms except the larger Alfresco windows which I will source elsewhere.
The curtains are all 100% blockout and are all black in colour. We couldnt decide on different colours for the different rooms so, as black seems to me to be a colour that neutrally mixes with other colours, then hopefully this will match the Quantum Qaurtz, Starlight Black stone bench tops and gloss black cupboards as well as the rest of our furniture/decor and also the black aluminium window frames.
We are after a contemporary look and would like a break from the light coloured walls, tiles and carpets we will be choosing. I also think black looks classy if mixed well.

If it doesnt suit, we can always change to other colours later on down the track.