If you ever had a project in mind to work on over a long period of time – why not consider building a house? This process took us nearly 2 1/2-years from start to finish – and to date, we’re still tinkering along with other new projects on the way. We purchased land in May 2014, which was then only approved and registered by the council in June 2015. During this period, we could not commence any form of construction on the land, which gave us plenty of time to search and agree on the right builder.
Over a few months, we visited several display homes, read house building forums, blogs, home building reviews online on who we should consider, and knew that Eden Brae Homes was a reputable builder amongst the home building industry. They may not be the cheapest, but it’s also long-term quality that you want to ensure you consider in the process. There are also other reputable home builders, so do take the time researching this information when deciding who to choose. I couldn’t find much information about personal house building experiences online, so I decided to write about our Eden Brae Homes Cremorne build and review first hand.
We opted not to secure a commencement build month in advance as we’d been advised that council registration delays can occur and penalties apply from Eden Brae if your scheduled construction date is delayed.
The below outline gives you an idea of house construction / build time frames for an Eden Brae 30SQ Cremorne double-storey house. The actual build of our house took about 11-months; this is in addition to all other approvals required before commencement of construction.
(Edit: Updated to include newer links)
Thanks Jacqueline for the tips, mostly relying on your very structured posts to know at least what to expect. Extremely helpful!
Yep agreed to spend on inspections now than more costly issues down the track
Thank you Mei for taking the time to read my house building blog. I myself couldn’t find much information when we started building, which is why I started this. So glad you find it useful. Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. All the best when you get the keys to your new home!
Did you get an independent inspection/certifier during build construction and/or practical completion inspection?
Hi Mei,
We used Report Master Inspections based in Sydney however, looking back on correspondence, Colin from TEK Inspect Building & Pest Inspections met us on the day and was reporting on their behalf. I’d suggest to go direct instead. Cost was AU$350 (over two years ago) and to be honest, if you’re paying for a new house, this is such a small cost in comparison to your actual build.
If you’re not a builder, I’d recommend to get a building defects/inspection report done independent of your builder for peace of mind. Of our 26-page report back (8- pages were T&Cs, introduction etc), we felt the report was beneficial. You can also reference this during your defect liability review period (issues that are not critical prior to settlement but need to be fixed after). You won’t spot everything on your final inspection and until you start living in your home, more things will be noticed. A few examples from the report which we didn’t acknowledge on the day: some of our window sill seals needed to be adjusted to be out and over the brick sills; our insulation in the roof was not distributed evenly and needed to be corrected (the report included a photo too); runners were missing on a sliding door to prevent tiles from being scratched and a handful of other minor issues. The report is not all negative, it also denotes if areas are deemed “acceptable” too.
Congratulations on your soon to be new home – you must be getting excited.
Thank you!