Soil test and initial site work

To give us more certainty, we performed a soil test through Homestead.  Unfortunately the site is common Adelaide soil and came back as a soil type H2-D - lots of clay and extra footing requirements to build a solid foundation for our home.  Fortunately our Homestead consultant had been able to prepare this cost for us in early pricing estimates and wasn’t too much of a surprise!

It's a hole!

On further inspection, we also noticed some termite activity in the tree stumps of the Japanese plums.  A quick call and discussion with Trent from Pest and Tree Solutions and a diagnosis was performed and a recommendation for baits.  They may not be present after we remove the stumps, but at least we can sleep easy knowing we have done all we can for our build and the neighbours.  Thanks Trent!

Green painted tree stumps with termite bait

Tender Process

We started visiting more display homes and builders and settled on tendering our build with three: Metricon, Homestead Homes and Rossdale.

By the end of the tendering process, Homestead eventuated as the best option for us, based on the flexibility they provide and the can-do attitude of their consultant, backing it up with real examples.  Homestead were also happy for us to include options usually selected at selections time so that we had a  real cost as possible for our build.

We settled on a rough house plan (Homestead Sandridge), but as can be seen from the picture, a lot of modifications were made before we settled on what we wanted!

Rough changes made to Sandridge design

Introduction - to buy or build

Our growing toddler quickly reminded us that we are going to run out of room at our current house sooner, rather than later so we went in search for a new home. We started the journey looking for a pre-established house that met our requirements, but unfortunately couldn’t find what we were looking for.

We decided to start looking at renovate or detonate listings and got the bug for building our new home.  A few visits to display homes and discussions with sales consultants we were convinced we could do this!

After a number of attempts at purchasing vacant blocks, we were finally successful at a purchase for the location of our new home!  The sales, conveyancing & bank process was particularly smooth - a big thanks to Hillal at Commonwealth Bank and Natalie at Eckermann Steinert Conveyancers.

Surprisingly the block of land had always be vacant and was used by the existing owner (who also owned adjoining blocks) as an orchard for Japanese Plums.

Sold!

Opening the gate

Our first walk on the block as owners