Our wishlist of House Additions

Consider this a fun posting of what we would like to install either during the build because it is easier and less costly or soon after because the budget has been blown...again :)

They range from the small upgrades, for example a larger shower head to the layout of a second patio to be located on the long side of the house facing Stream Place.

Many of the ideas and images are taken from the Home Renovation & Building site and various display home villages.

Enjoy the slideshow.

House Additions

Our decision on which Builder is now made...

and what a relief.

Still, we have a very long way to go, the least of which is addressing what we consider some minor alterations on the appearance and then making sure we stay involved throughout each phase as we head towards signing a contract prior to 30th September.

Until this is finalised, we will leave our decision, for now.....to ourselves :)

When will we decide?

Bellmarch mentioned to us yesterday that they will complete the draft of the design in approximately 7 days.

They will also try and provide the price given that this is a new design. At the end of 7 days we will discuss where things stand. They are aware of our urgency to meet the deadline for the First Home Owners Boost and have not promised anything.

Metricon have 2 more weeks before they complete a full tender and then require 2 weeks after to write the amended contract.

Pricing will vary slightly because we chose the 38sq instead of the 42sq Liberty and the low valuation.

However, we may know the outcome for the Metricon in a shorter amount of time, Once they find when drawing the site plan that the 38sq does not fit or comply with the RTA corner restrictions given the ill-placed road side tree bays, we will have no choice.

And, Jandson? Well, they are simply waiting for us to respond back to them. We have a tender and the colour pack.

So, we will build the Jandson home only if Metricon and Bellmarch are no longer in play.

So, how will we decide?

There are four possible scenarios.

(A) If Metricon is unable to fit the Liberty home on our land after conducting the site plan and Bellmarch cannot complete their documentation for us to sign before 30th September, we will build the Jandson Odyssey. This is because the Design Panel said it looked 'doable' in terms of receiving DA approval and really then is the only house we can build.

(B) If Bellmarch complete their documentation and we are satisfied, then we will build the Bellmarch house off-the plan. While risky, apparently 50% of people build houses like this and many more make changes to their choice of display homes.

(C) If the Metricon Liberty fits on our land but Bellmarch is able to complete the documentation, we will build the Bellmarch house because of the many reasons stated earlier.

We will forfeit our $1K deposit to Metricon for a tender but because the overall pricing for the Metricon is significantly higher than the Bellmarch home, even more-so when the valuation came in so low, we will still make significant savings.

(D) However, if Metricon fits on our land and Bellmarch is unable to complete the documentation, and the decision is between the Metricon and Jandson, we will build the Metricon.

The primary reason being that the Metricon design complements our land better than the Jandson design.


We will simply practice delayed gratfication and over time, build in all that we wanted initially to the Metricon Liberty.

We find ourselves in an unbelievable situation

The kind of home we are going to build will be determined by the following

1. Can Bellmarch (remember them? they were the first builder we looked at) pull one out of the hat and we buy the corner designed house we saw yesterday, off-the-plan?
2. Can Metricon fit the Liberty house on our land?
3. While the Jandson home is still an impressive house and likely to pass the DA process because the Design Panel okayed it, it does not complement the size of our land as well as the Bellmarch design or Metricon Liberty offering good outdoor/indoor flow.


What is our deciding criteria?

It is up to whether Bellmarch can draft and price up their new 42sq corner house so we can sign a contract BEFORE 30th September?


Why did we revisit Bellmarch?

Way back in June, the representative we spoke to at Bellmarch mentioned he was also buying a corner lot at The Ponds. His lot was a standard rectangle size. However, at the time he was only just starting to design a house that would comply with the Design Guidelines and Bellmarch could use as a display home.

It was only when I called him yesterday about whether it was possible to modify the Manhattan plan we saw earlier, that he mentioned he had now finished his design and had given it to his drawers to draft. I drove in yesterday and saw these plans, and liked it.

As a builder/designer he shared our frustrations in trying to find a display home that would both fit and comply with the restrictions when building on the corner at The Ponds.

Some big pluses about his Bellmarch design:

1. Their standard base price is $70K less than Metricon. Of course, still to be confirmed.

This is significant given that our valuation based on a Estimate of the Metricon tender given to our lender came in very low. This meant we would have to fund many of the features ourselves. Bellmarch seems to be offering the opportunity to install a number of upgrades and enhancements while managing our cashflow.

2. This house design was drawn from a builder who would also be a resident of one of the corner lots at The Ponds. He already had direct discussions with the Design Panel and his design was ready to proceed for DA approval.

NOTE: If you drive around The Ponds, there is only one double-storey home currently being built on a corner lot. The corner houses in the Newbury area look okay but they also look very pricey and similar in design. They seemed to be designed for standard lots and simply have a corner facade tacked on so it looks 'interesting' on both sides. The Bellmarch house design has corner balconies, patios and living areas to go round the land.

While the Bellmarch designer had the option to build a single or double-storey home, he believes a double-storey house will add greater resale value down the track.

We do not have that choice according to our land contract. Our lot is also not a standard rectangle shape. The road tree bays on both corners of our lot forces the issue that any design would have to have the garage built for access near the boundary of Stream Place. This is my concern with the Metricon Liberty. They said they could only confirm this after a contour site plan. This was only possible if we paid $1K for the tender process. So we did.

Trying to find a display home or completed house design that could be built within these limitations has been exhausting and stressful.

Another plus with the Bellmarch, is that it is a unique design. If all goes well, only this house will be built first on the designers lot and then our own. No doubt as more land is released and more corner lots registered, people will go through the same process as ourselves as to what to build on their corner.

I will add a floor plan of this Bellmarch design as well as a site plan as soon as I'm able to scan these in.

Here are a few more exciting Bellmarch features

a. The Master Bedroom while similar to Metricon in facing Levy Crescent, has a long corner balcony extending from Levy to Stream. This will suit our corner because we have nature corridors on both sides.

b. Below this balcony is a corner shaped verandah patio which can be accessed from sliding doors of the downstairs Lounge area.

b. The ensuite of the Master Bedroom is superior to Metricon. Yes, there is a Presidential Spa in it also.

c. Bedrooms 2, 3 and 4 are larger than the Metricon

d. The main bathroom in the Bellmarch is larger and more superior than the Metricon.

e. Bedroom 4 (facing Stream Place) shares another separate balcony on Level 1 with the upstairs sitting room.

f. The garage is on the far right of Stream Place so no more tree bay hassles. The Jandson design had this also, and

g. we still have a large outdoor living area for a paved alfresco look extending from the Dining Room on the back left of the Ground Floor to the Family Room in the middle and the Study on the far right. Yes, with the house located closer to the setback on Stream Place we will get our backyard again.


The main thing in all of this is that we have secured an unconditional extension loan for a certain amount to cover the build.

All 3 houses when built will exceed this extension amount but the Bellmarch one is the only one offering true value for money.

Our Third Builder

A lot has happened since settling our land. While we await a second valuation based on an initial 'ridiculous' valuation, we are looking at building the Liberty 38 from Metricon.

Click on picture to open slideshow.
















The difference to how our house will look to the picture above is that instead of the garage door entry seen here, the garage entrance is to the side. That is, from Stream Place.

A window similar to the window on the left (the Guest Bedroom/Bedroom 5) will be installed to ensure this side is still 'interesting' according to the Design Guidelines when building at The Ponds.

The problem we have is whether we can comply with the RTA requirements of building a driveway within the required distance (at least 6m) from the corner when there is both a street tree and road tree bay in the way.

Hopefully, we will know in a week when the contour plans are drawn during the tender process. If we don't overcome this hurdle, we will build the Jandson Home mentioned earlier in this blog.

The MAIN attraction of the Metricon home is that it complements our land very well. It makes great use of the shape of our land for the outdoor/indoor flow enabling us to have a sizeable front yard acting as our backyard enclosed in the privacy of the surrounding 1.8m high fence.

Enjoy the slideshow and feel free to comment.