New House Build. Help/Suggestions please(HVAC, Cinema, Electrics, Cladding, Timber etc)

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › New House Build. Help/Suggestions please(HVAC, Cinema, Electrics, Cladding, Timber etc)

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#1453611 19-Dec-2015 18:14

If you go back to page 2, I did say that it would be a million plus job. This is specking from my real life experience of designing building, which have been build. I don't know how they were so out with their estimates, as an estimate should be reasonably accurate, within 10-15%. I would suggest getting some fixed quotes from other builders. At least 3. As someone previously said, builders make their premium margins on variations, as you have really got no choice but to employ them for any variations, and accept the fee they charge.eg no competition. It is very difficult to get through a project without any variations. Also builders will often spec the cheapest stuff, and will make premiums on upspecing you as a variation. So make sure you have absolutely everything specified, including door and window hardware. So you do want to make sure that the quote they give you looks realistic. If it looks too low, then the builder may have problems completing it.

billgates

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#1453625 19-Dec-2015 19:02

Not a $ million build. Still not close to it. They have agreed to meet the middle ground that I wanted in the end. I will write a big long post about it once (hopefully) the house is complete as to how it happened. I believe their explanation with how the mistake happened. There is a lot more to this story that I don't want to divulge into right now at least. I still trust them and have faith in them. I sat down last week and went over every little thing again which took 5 hours including things like which make and model channel drain for showers, taps, toilet models etc. I will post my final SMW which will contain every bit I have selected. Changed all the shower heads in all 3 bathrooms in the last meeting to the Methven Aurajet.

http://www.methven.com/nz/aurajet#/desktop

Do whatever you want to do man.

billgates

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#1454721 21-Dec-2015 18:49

Received the master WIR's layout for both rows including wife's dressing table setup. Also received the bottom bedroom's WIR layout. All the shelving/material/drawers are soft close and 25mm HMR Melamine in White colour. Adding coloured panels cost a lot extra $$$ compared to the white. I have requested for pricing for both white and coloured panels to see how big of a difference it is.

This is the general layout of the master bedroom WIR. To the left of the sliding/cavity door will be the dressing table for wife. The front row to the door which is longer is wife's and shorter is mine.

Dressing table on left hand side of master bedroom's WIR. Not liking the side shelving which will be next to mirror. Thinking of removing the upper shelves and let the mirror continue all the way to the end.

This is the wife's side layout.

Below is my side. I am thinking of removing the far left shelving and just extending my double hanging length.

Below is the ground floor bedroom WIR layout.

Click on the below links for enlarged images.

https://i.imgur.com/VrRkhkg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bqW1HZf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3EyDc8W.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sX9oCgE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WYr7MCR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/atsLFdd.jpg

Do whatever you want to do man.

billgates

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#1498069 23-Feb-2016 20:12

Working drawings started yesterday :)

Have to get a soakage pit system for storm water solution as there is none available for all sections facing the ravine. Cost for that is extra $8k incl storm water report for section. The storm water report has started as well. Had a meeting with the builder today and if all goes well with few extra days allowance in the plan provided, we should be ready to move in by March 2017. I was hoping January 2017.

The Synergy Plus heatpump/ventilation solution is being a total pain in the bottom to implement in this double storey house due to weight (200KGB each) and a hatch access near the units for changing filters etc. I did not wanted to wait any further and said to go ahead with working drawings and we will see later on. My backup solution is a seperate ventillation system from Cleanaire or DVS Reclaim (yes this is a ERV system) and high wall heatpumps in all bedrooms including cinema, family and living. I have also dropped slider doors height in master bedroom, family and kitchen to 2.4M instead of full height. I checked out a similar sliding door view of a back yard area i liked in someone else's house and their height was only 2.2m so 2.4m is a bonus.

Do whatever you want to do man.

billgates

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#1506525 5-Mar-2016 16:49

Builder had a council meeting earlier this week about the house and said everything went well. The city council was given a good brief regarding what's going to be in and outside the house, any special engineering requirements and if council had any initial concerns about any specific aspect. The only thing council mentioned that would be required to my surprise is a smoke alarm right outside the door of cinema room in the hallway. I would have thought they would have asked for a smoke alarm in the cinema room considering a risk to occupants watching movie in a soundproof room and not being able to hear what's going on outside. I always had and will still be putting in a smoke alarm and house entry buzzer in the cinema room. Working drawings finish mid April and I get final costings mid May and it gets submitted to council after contract is signed in May

Do whatever you want to do man.

bfginger

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#1523633 31-Mar-2016 23:54

I've heard soak pits can clog with sediment over the long term and stop working.

While the Synergy Plus heat pumps sounded underpowered for the size of the house it looks like duplication and potential over compensation to have high walls in every room. If the Synergy Plus HPs are so unable to cope by themselves with the size of the house I'd question whether to get them over another ventilation system which could be standalone or integrated with a couple of powerful ducted heatpumps with external units.

Having high walls in every room is going to end up with a heap of external units unless you go for a multi-split. Each external unit can use as much as 100w/h in standby and you don't want them near bedrooms.

Many HRV systems are marketed as ERV systems because people are confused over the terminology. The DVS Reclaim literature gave the strong impression that it is a true HRV system and not a vapour transfering ERV.

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mattwnz

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#1523637 1-Apr-2016 00:11

Will be interested to see how the build goes. They do say it takes the best part of a year to go through the planning stage. How long are the working drawings taking? I suspect the details will be pretty standard, rather than needing bespoke details designed for you, which are what can take a long time to do.

billgates

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#1524790 2-Apr-2016 19:59

@bfginger I received the stormwater report couple of days ago that is site specific. Report has recommend a AquaCell or RainSmart system.

I have decided to use Hi-Walls with multi split. I will ensure that the outside unit sits as far away from ground floor bedrooms. Will go with DVS ERV system most likely as price is good but the design is not to my taste. I will add the design images in another post and explain what I mean.

Below link has contents of entire report and drawings/recommendations of where the system should be placed (close to entry of driveway). I have attached some of the screenshots from the report.

https://imgur.com/a/KdYO5

Do whatever you want to do man.

billgates

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#1524804 2-Apr-2016 20:09

mattwnz:

Will be interested to see how the build goes. They do say it takes the best part of a year to go through the planning stage. How long are the working drawings taking? I suspect the details will be pretty standard, rather than needing bespoke details designed for you, which are what can take a long time to do.

I should get the finished working drawings back in couple of weeks. It's taken nearly 6 weeks. I did get to see a set of working drawings for another house build that Jennian did and it looked pretty thorough to me and lots and lots and lots of pages.

Do whatever you want to do man.

bfginger

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#1528080 8-Apr-2016 00:02

Is the roof footprint really 446m2?

I have decided to use Hi-Walls with multi split. I will ensure that the outside unit sits as far away from ground floor bedrooms.

High powered external units for ducted heat pumps are noisy but some better brands' multi-split external units are far quieter. But some cheaper brands' multisplit external units are noisy so look at the sound power specifications.

How low the inverter can ramp down may vary. It won't be very low on those systems.

When I last looked the specs for Toshiba multi-split systems on the New Zealand website didn't match what was on overseas websites so there may have been a mistake somewhere.

It should be possible to have a central controller for multi-split systems like any other central heating system.

There are options other than hi-walls for the internal units attached to a multi-split. Ceiling box units move air into the adjacent room through a duct so only a grille shows inside. I don't know how filter servicing would work with those.

billgates

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#1540660 23-Apr-2016 14:38

Working drawings are completed. Link below has working drawings. Waiting for Engineering report to finish. Final contract pricing has now started. Getting closer...

https://imgur.com/a/GEMTx

Do whatever you want to do man.

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darylblake

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#1540694 23-Apr-2016 15:43

Wow that looks like a pretty sweet place. I have TRIED to keep my build under 500k, but its not gonna happen. I am estimating 550k but its probably gonna hit close to 600 by the time its done :(.

So im building mine, well... trying to. I just go an earthworks resource consent and getting a building consent at the moment. We have to spend about 80,000 on retaining and digging because its on a sloped section. There is no site access for a few weeks so that should match up nicely with the building consent time the council need to fluff around, so all in all im pretty excited.

Our house is going to be fully brick. We have picked a Euro brick, white for the whole house.

I have a separate lounge, and open plan dining living area which has our kitchen and indoor/outdoor flow.

We have tried to be practical about heating etc. So have gone for Gas hobs and hot water but decided on using a heating system (heat pump) for the actual heating.

We have a scullery going in and have upgraded our kitchen bench top to engineered stone.

I am going to get the house wired up with cat5e/6 for the network and probably pop a couple high quality access points in for my network, a patch panel in the garage and have my modem/router out there.

We have shunted the idea of getting tiles. Personally I really like them but my wife hates them. So we agreed on getting some Karndean laminated flooring (it looks like wood planks) in most of the downstairs and the wet rooms upstairs.

Once piece of advise, we actually got a colour consultant in to help us pick colours, it cost $120 dollars but I rekon it was worth every cent.

Good luck with your build.

billgates

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#1540732 23-Apr-2016 16:48

Good luck with your build. $80k sounds like a lot for retaining and digging so must be a very steep sloped section? Would love to see your plan designs as well if you don't mind sharing. Colour consultant is booked via the builder as well. Me and wife will be meeting with them sometime in next few weeks.

Do whatever you want to do man.

pipe60

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#1540983 24-Apr-2016 09:26

Good to see your working drawings looks like you have it sorted.

Do you have a start date yet?

Currently half way thru our house build a few Ks north of you(assuming that's the Hamilton north area)

billgates

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#1540989 24-Apr-2016 09:31

Yep. At this stage start date is set to 4th of July and finish March 2017. I am building in Flagstaff. Good luck with your build. Would love to see fellow members house design plans. Are you in Flagstaff/Rototuna way as well?

Do whatever you want to do man.

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