Yearly Archive: 2013
Tips for Setting up a Home Office
Sponsored Post When you are drawing up plans for a new house, you may want to think about including a home office. The number of telecommuters and home business owners is on the rise, with the advances in technology that…
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Lap Dog Window – Fail
Three horizontal windows, a Builder’s design “Wow factor” that was quite common in show houses around 5 years ago. What is the point of that bottom window? About the only thing that could see out of it would be a…
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Reducing External Noise
It’s not always possible to build in a quiet area so there are a number of techniques for reducing noise that you can use in your new home. Here is a quick review of the options: Minimising windows facing…
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Choosing Bricks
If you want brick you really need to go and visit one of the brick manufacturers display centres where they have display walls built with the various bricks. Make sure you look at the bricks in the builders standard range…
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Brickwork Fail 2
This brick wall is on a house opposite my bedroom window. To me its wrong on so many levels! Bricks are meant to be laid with a bond rather than stacked like this as it makes a stronger job. To…
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Manhole
When I started in the drainage business 40 years ago we called them Manholes. Since then due to political correctness we have had; Person Holes, Access Points, Inspection Pits, but now we seem to be coming back to calling them…
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Noise
Noise pollution should be an issue to check when choosing a block. Relatively low noise levels can affect how you enjoy your garden and allfresco areas. Bad noise can spoil your enjoyment inside as well. (We rented for a few months near…
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Tree Selection – Fail
The sight of this Norfolk pine towering over this single storey house caused me to stop the car! And the tree is only half grown. It breaks RULE 2 of suburban tree selection – “Don’t get a tree that grows…
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Post Contract Variations
The best advice I can give is: “Avoid making Post Contract Variations” The reasons are: Cost Basically the builder holds all the cards once the contract is signed. They can quote you the top price for the change…..plus a percentage…
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Subdivision Costs
Are you thinking about splitting an existing house block to get a 2nd house block for free?………..Well it might be cheap compared with an existing block in the same area, but it won’t be free! The costs can easily exceed…
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