We are building with Inform and would recommend them so far but you will not be able to build with them for under $500,000. Especially not 50 squares.

Where do you live? I think in NSW they recommend light rooves, while in Victoria we need to concentrate on heat gain to reduce our energy consumption.
I think with…

We ended up choosing sublime teak overheads, white laminate cabinets and benchtop and the same dark grey tiles on the floor, with a white subway tile splashback. I bowed to…

Our knock down in that area cost $12,000.

How funny to make preferred bedroom size a moral issue. Surely we can all agree that people are entitled to use their houses differently.
Small bedrooms (I would say <3.5x3.5) would…

We lived with electric slab heating in a rental for a year. It is much more expensive than hydronic to run and I wouldn't choose it for that reason, but…

You have a cooling off period after signing, which I understand is waived if a solicitor has examined the contract prior.
Our builder provided a copy of the HIA contract but…

I think I saw some at Schot's
http://www.schots.com.au/italian-hand-m ... -in-white/

Demolition has finally started, six weeks after we moved out. Unfortunately there is a long weekend, but we should be handing the block to our builder mid-next week.
It seems much…

We wanted full height tiling and were quoted about $5000 to extend it to the roof in ensuite and main bathroom. It included the extra tiles (which is quite a…

We have a block with north at the front and I get furious at the lack of sensible options for maximizing light to your house. I think it should be…

Ours are like this too I think.
Is it important to turn off the taps between uses? That's the only awkwardness of having them hidden away.

We have a north facing house and will have our solar panels on the West. I think they're an eyesore, even if they are good for the environment. It's about…

We went through smaller builders.
The first offered us a $7000 discount for signing rapidly. This would only have covered the colorbond roof we wanted!! (they get tiling heavily discounted because…

We are building a house with 900mm eaves (even though we really like modern cubic architecture with no eaves).
Anyway, at contract signing our consultant was saying that in Melbourne, houses…

It was only $400 for us to upgrade our sliding doors and flanking windows to 2.7m. Our builder does timber famed double glazed windows throughout so probably the windows were…

Thanks for this thread. We're doing 2.54 m ceilings with a 0.5m step down and 3.2m ceilings in the kitchen/dining/living too. We have a door to close this area off.
Our…

Choice recommend one of the Sunbeam models which retails for about $300. We've used our cheaper Sunbeam for 6 years and have been very happy with it.
I hear the pod…

Our old house had blue eaves!
I was just thinking yesterday that dark eaves might look good as we have monument roof/gutter with monument-painted cladding underneath on the top storey.
I really…

If you intend to live in the house for the rest of your lives then the thing to spend money on is getting the plan right and useable at different…

Our builder tells us the price of solid timber has increased markedly since the Queensland floods. Is that true?

I would love to hear from someone who has vinyl wrap as to whether they've had any issues. I don't like the edging on laminate, and wanted a glossy finish,…

It's not the worst kitchen I've ever seen! We've lived with a much uglier one for four years.
I think I would just start with painting the overhead cabinets in white…

Yay! Good news.
It must be the only cheaper option we've selected in our entire build.

Thanks everyone.
Our builder says they are doing a lot of burnished concrete floors and this is less expensive than polishing. We ended up being able to afford a polished finish…

Can someone please explain the difference between ceramic and porcelain tiles?
Our builder includes porcelain tiles on the floor, ceramic on the walls, but we accidentally chose a ceramic floor tile…

We are using timber in our entrance hallway, stepping down to a polished concrete kitchen/living/dining.
Which of these two timbers would you choose? Spotted Gum seems to be much more popular,…

We have picked most colours for our house without difficulty, but I am struggling with the laundry.
Kitchen will have concrete floors, glossy white lower cabinets, stone and stainless steel bench…

Thanks. Will have to see how all the $$$ add up.

Living at home past 30 may seem "looserish", but with the way cost of housing is going, it seems possible that our children won't be able to afford to buy…