Be prepared for your meeting with your Eden Brae consultant. Kevin knew we were detailed customers and well-aware a series of questions would come from us.
Consider the structural modifications you’d like to explore with the current layout of your new home. Think about where your council bins, rainwater tank and air-conditioning unit will be positioned. As these are all large objects, they will need to be accommodated around the sides or the backyard of your house. Review the window sizes, walls positions, door entries and openings, upgrades and optional extras, or any other questions you may have which could alter its existing layout – even if marginal.
Also the direction of the sun on your house plans. Where is North? I won’t go into detail on this one, but the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Look at your top down view of your floor plans and identify North on the map.
When looking East – from North – the sun will rise in that location and where it is West, the sun will set. So, the direction of South would be your most shaded/cooler area of the house. This is very important when you’re positioning windows and natural light. The South side of your house will have minimal natural light, so consider rooms that may not be actively used in this area (such as the garage or placement of your rainwater tank) if you have the ability to position your house in such a way to take advantage of this.
This will also be impacted by the amount of shade in both the front and backyards and the types of plants you require. You will have difficulty if you plant shrubs require full-sun in a completely shaded part of your home.
The size of your windows can also provide additional natural light with energy efficiency benefits. What’s the point of this you ask? In summer, the sun’s position is higher whilst in winter it is lower. The orientation of your home can make the best use of the sunlight and wind, increasing the energy efficiency of your home and cheaper to live in.
We had a few crazy ideas which included removing the butler pantry and reversing this into the garage for a small workshop, removing the rumpus room, creating an extended alfresco and also re-positioning our fridge to create a pantry cupboard under the stairs. A swimming pool was also on the cards.
By doing such modifications, this would be in addition to the house base package price or a credit of funds back (if deleting included items), depending on what you choose to do.
If you haven’t already, we kept a notepad on the kitchen table dedicated to house related questions and any time we thought of a discussion point, we added to the notepad to ensure we remembered for later.
The day was spent over 3-hours, so grab yourself a coffee at the local cafe before you arrive.
Kevin walked through the display homes pointing out the inclusions of the house base package price offering. Do question anything you’re not clear on and clarify if it’s an upgrade and optional extra cost. The display homes are not clear if the house base package price offer includes abc or not. A common example was the butler pantry with their well-designed cabinets, shelving and integrated drawers. From what we understood, the house base package price only includes wire shelving whilst the remainder are considered upgrades and optional extras. Kevin also ran through our floor plans in greater detail in preparation for the estimators inclusive of our modifications.
Initial costs:
- House base package price as advertised for the actual house selected, in addition to the Series type- selected. We chose the Eden Brae Cremorne 28, Lifestyle Series package.
- Facade style if different from the included design. We chose the Eden Brae Balmain fascade, which is an upgrade.
- Any promotion offers.
- Site costs (costs are in addition to the house base package price due to your land composite) such as soil type-/slab upgrade requirements, drop edge beam, extended driveway etc.
- Followed by upgrades and optional extras which are on-going throughout the build process.
