OT: Projekt Haus II

[Lima]

Hugo, your house is amazing, and beautifully fitted out too. Restecp.

Friends of ours are selling this place at the moment:
http://www.realestate.com.au/propert...edon-106504782
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWP-VADKgA

Pictures do NOT do it justice.

Nice pad.

[Timbo_S3]

Lima, there's a shop in Berrima that has oodles of period stuff...maybe older than you are searching for, but worth dropping in to see

[Lima]

Peppergreens?

[Timbo_S3]

Possibly...it's on the right near the park with trees etc as you drive into Berrima from Sydney

[Lima]

No luck at Peppergreens I'm afraid.

Any recommendations from the floor for retro hardware/furniture places in Sydney or Melbourne???

In other news, we finally signed the contract with our builder and it looks like we might actually start this fking mess.

[MickyD]

Grand Designs Revisited had a Huf Haus tonight. I want one.

[WAY]

No luck at Peppergreens I'm afraid.

Any recommendations from the floor for retro hardware/furniture places in Sydney or Melbourne???

In other news, we finally signed the contract with our builder and it looks like we might actually start this fking mess.

Good luck. My friend got fired by his fourth builder and finally gave up and sold the house unfinished. Don't be like him.

[Tank Engine]

Grand Designs Revisited had a Huf Haus tonight. I want one.

That is one of the great episodes with the German crew fronting up and getting slowed down with British inefficiency.

[Tank Engine]

No luck at Peppergreens I'm afraid.

Any recommendations from the floor for retro hardware/furniture places in Sydney or Melbourne???

In other news, we finally signed the contract with our builder and it looks like we might actually start this fking mess.

Liam, define retro - 1950s?. I renovated my last Sydney house so built up a good list of stores but it was a turn of the century house.

[Lima]

Yeah, our house was built in 1958 ... so around that ballpark.

[Lima]

Okay, bit of an update... we're still getting d1cked around by paperwork and red tape and our renos haven't started; we started this process almost two years ago.

Both us and the builder - who is ready to start but can't due to the aforementioned red tape dramas - are almost at the stage that if things don't alter in the next few weeks we might pull the pin.

So, we've been thinking ... who has experience building on small acreages?

[mikinoz]

Okay, bit of an update... we're still getting d1cked around by paperwork and red tape and our renos haven't started; we started this process almost two years ago.

Both us and the builder - who is ready to start but can't due to the aforementioned red tape dramas - are almost at the stage that if things don't alter in the next few weeks we might pull the pin.

So, we've been thinking ... who has experience building on small acreages?

That is ultra schit. I think that is as much of a joke as anything I have heard. Time to go to ACA!

As for acreage -- do it!

[auR32]

Okay, bit of an update... we're still getting d1cked around by paperwork and red tape and our renos haven't started; we started this process almost two years ago.

I feel your pain. 2 years!

Will getting approvals for building on small acreage be any different?

[Lima]

Will getting approvals for building on small acreage be any different?

Probably not, haha, but at least it gives us something new to focus on, instead of going around in circles like we have been. That's the optimist's view, anyway.

[R'chitect]

What's the hold up? DA approval? Heritage issues?

Fire your architect and go buy a new site.

Here's one we prepared earlier..... (yes it is one house despite the slightly different front & rear elevations...)

[The Samaritan]

nice work chris

i like the look of that re-worked victorian terrace in newtown (featured in a recent Habitus issue) by sam crawford

[Lima]

What's the hold up? DA approval? Heritage issues?

At the moment it is the MBA being kunts over the builder's warranty insurance. But at every step we have been delayed in one way or another.

The architect has already been fired.

[auR32]

At the moment it is the MBA

Mountain Biking Association?

[sweatyworker]

Where does all the nail polish, mascara, lipstick etc live

[mdt]

Probably not, haha, but at least it gives us something new to focus on, instead of going around in circles like we have been. That's the optimist's view, anyway.

Liam, I usually get involved when things go pear shaped so I perhaps have a skewed perspective, but your situation is not uncommon. In my view, it's why you should not renovate but buy a new place with the work already done. You pay a premium because someone else has done the work, but the risks and hassles are much lower. Unless you are born to be a project manager (and some people are) or have some other imperative for doing it yourself, spend your time doing things you're good at and leave the building to others.

[R'chitect]

Where does all the nail polish, mascara, lipstick etc live

Don't worry, that's the kid's bathroom, besides, making the plumbing disappear was a better trick.

[AA003]

Where does all the nail polish, mascara, lipstick etc live

I have a special hidden cupboard for mine.

[craig_m5]

Don't worry, that's the kid's bathroom, besides, making the plumbing disappear was a better trick.

Hiding it behind the towels is not a trick
... Okay where'd you run it, doesn't appear to be enough fall under the counter, unless the sink is an inch deep?

[sweatyworker]

I think I just got owned

[Lima]

No progress, still.

To the many who, probably rightly, ask why are we persisting with the same builder ... well, we've spoken to four other builders, the last one was supposed to come out to meet on site today and provide us with a quote. No show.

Of the previous three, one was quite promising and, sadly, his father was ill, but he was large-ish setup and to leave contact to lapse for 8 weeks+ was a bit of a let down. Two others were supposed to come out to check the house out to quote, one didn't get back to us to confirm a time. The other came out, seemed positive, thought our plans and ideas were really good and ... we've never heard from him again!

was it something we said?!

Where to now? Looks like we might go owner-builder and sub-contract all works to our builder to circumvent the schit he is being dealt by the MBA. We've been researching the insurance issues and it seems doable. At least, more doable than any other conventional option we've tried.

[Jim Bookie]

Don't worry, that's the kid's bathroom, besides, making the plumbing disappear was a better trick.

does the master bathroom have black sink? (vanities...)

[Tank Engine]

Liam - I did owner / builder about 9 years ago. It was timed to do 'between jobs' so I was fully dedicated.

I don't know what sort of hours you or your wife put in to work but be prepared for little else outside work while you do this. I dare say it will be harder in Canberra with a far smaller supply base for materials and labour. Your lack of luck with builders will be repeated with the tradie specialists as I see Canberra as a pretty tight market for good trades.

Oh and good luck.

[Lima]

Thanks.

It's a bit tricky to explain online, but our only motivation for going owner-builder is to get around the red tape that is currently preventing our builder from starting. So, while in theory we would be owner-builder, in practice it will be the usual client-builder relationship, we won't be doing any of the work.

Also, we will be living on site during the build, so we haven't even got to the really painful bits yet.

[TMK-001]

What's the hold up? DA approval? Heritage issues?

Fire your architect and go buy a new site.

Here's one we prepared earlier..... (yes it is one house despite the slightly different front & rear elevations...)

Me liiiiiiiiiiiike! I have the mag with that on the cover. I want to build something in the next 18 months If one of my best mates wasnt an architect who does similar projects in Melbourne, I'd be on the phone to you! (works for Jam architects, and his family used to have neometro... So I trust him!)

[Jim Bookie]

i like the juxtaposition between the warmth of the wood to the coolness of the cast concrete to the sexy chills of the glossed-out bricks.

[mikinoz]

I got a degree in the discipline of Architecture once - have not had much use for it...

[Sloth]

"You know, the stupidest guy in my fraternity became an architect – after he flunked out of dental school! Congratulations, young man."

[R'chitect]

New Zealand Institute of Architects Award November 10th:


Workshop, a shop fit-out in an existing Ponsonby building, by Pohio Adams Pty Ltd, was the only winner in the Interior Architecture category.
Jurors said the fitout employed elegance and restraint to achieve its aims and was "a fine example of architecture closely and productively allying itself with fine art".


http://workshop.co.nz/

I'm happy with my career, just not my bank account.

[Jim Bookie]

congrats, chris! finally, the accolades..

[VDUB2C]

Thanks.

It's a bit tricky to explain online, but our only motivation for going owner-builder is to get around the red tape that is currently preventing our builder from starting. So, while in theory we would be owner-builder, in practice it will be the usual client-builder relationship, we won't be doing any of the work.

Also, we will be living on site during the build, so we haven't even got to the really painful bits yet.

speak with your bank manager/broker as well before deciding.. banks HATE the words OWNER and BUILDER put together. I understand what you're going for by circumventing the MBA, however to a bank it's clear cut.

Just saying make sure your money is sorted before starting up.
happy to help if need be