About the only things I can suggest is
Keeping the afternoon sun out of the Northwest facing windows using reflective film.
Putting plenty of solar panels on what is probably a large…

Some cracking in large concrete slabs can be expected.
Follow this link for more information:

You don't say if the area is old or new.
If it is a well established area its probably likely that either; the council owned surface water pipes are either blocked…

On orientation it seems to work quite well but I would look to reduce the amount of glass facing west on the ground floor.
It will keep the living area much…

Orientation has a huge effect so a North point would help.

This is a link to one of the Melbourne Water Authorities web site about this kind of problem

When you take air out of a room it has to be replaced from somewhere.
If the bathroom window is not open the next nearest place is the probably the fan…

Size can vary depending on how it is worked out.....see the following link to see what the differences are:

I would be removing that west facing window in the master bedroom and make the north facing one bigger otherwise the room will overheat badly in the summer.
The east facing…

Most slabs would develop very fine cracks like this.
It wouldn't worry me.

How the sun affects the house is something that really affects how the house feels so it would be good if you could show North.

Warranties do vary but the following link shows a typical list of coverage.
http://anewhouse.com.au/2016/10/what-do ... ies-cover/

You can normally cut over the easement as long as any pipes still have plenty of cover (say at least 1m)
Building a retaining wall is a bit more problematic and…

Steel and wood do expand and contract at different rates so I would expect some noise at times.

I would have thought erecting prefabricated frames would be fairly limiting.
You would miss out on ,building frames from scratch, and finishing carpentry.
Having said that it does seem the way that…

There is some advice here: http://anewhouse.com.au/2012/10/if-the- ... goes-bust/

The builder pays a surveyor to certify the builders work for all his builds.
As this surveyor gets regular work from the builder who do you think he will be looking…

You may find the following link of interest Particularly the update in regards to 101 builders in Perth

The key thing is where the pipe is in the easement.
You can build up to the edge of the easement as long as the bottom of the pool is below…

It really depends on what you signed, but tender fees are often in the form of a non refundable deposit

One thought is can you reduce the size of some of the windows?
I see plenty of houses with a window down to the floor that has a view of fence…

PCI is really identifying the main defects before handover.
You will need to check the items carefully before the Handover.
It is very common to not fit appliances until handover day…

I would see no reason why you couldn't have a timber sleeper wall 2m or even higher.
The height only becomes an issue if you using it as a retaining wall.
The…

I don't see why not although I vapour barrier behind the internal cladding may be a good idea otherwise you welll get moisture on the glass which can be a…

LPG is the most expensive way to heat anything.
For a new house I would be going for a heat pump, but probably not Dux.
For some independent advice check out Renew…

We have had reverse cycle split systems in our last three houses.
Effective cooling and inexpensive heating in winter (cheaper than gas) we wouldn't have any other system
In our last house…

It's not normal as the slab will have been laid directly on a base.
I can think of a few reasons why this has occurred so you need to get a…

Going through the roof is pretty common.
For running cables down outside walls it's often the only way it can be done as there isn't enough height to get to the…

Below is a link to how I insulated my garage door which proved very effective, particularly in keeping the afternoon summer heat out as the door faced west.

Good luck with the blog. . . . that's how I started mine.