It amazes me the lengths some people go to to decorate their homes for annual events.
If you think you are going to want the big Halloween or Christmas decorations it’s worth thinking about lots of outdoor power sockets when you build.
Did you realise that there are clauses about a ‘Security Account’ in a Standard Building Contract?
If you aren’t planning on a mortgage because
The builder is likely to require money to be deposited in a Security Account.
Money deposited in the Security Account is to cover the cost of the build, and is released to the builder when Progress Payments are due.
As the Security Account will have large sums of money depositedmake sure that all interest is payable to you.
If you have an approval from your mortgage provider the builder normally is happy to accept the approval as adequate security.
Perhaps you need a bedroom like this:
This is a room in The Icon Hotel, Manila.
I hear a lot of people suggesting they get a lawyer to review their house building contract.
I”m not that sure that is a great idea, and its going to cost a fair bit of money.
If you don’t feel happy checking the documents yourself I know that many independent building inspection services offer pre-contract reviews.
As these companies check on builders every day that are well experienced in what can go wrong with a contract.
They may also be able to give you an assessment of your builders quality standards.
I would expect to to pay up to $700 for a review.
This is a general opinion only and not to be considered legal advice
With all the publicity about container homes I thought I would publish this picture.
This is Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada, and as its name suggests it was completed in 1967.
That is before the ISO standards for intermodal containers was published in 1968.
Want to find out more check out Wikipedia.
Most of us are used to the traditional Australian roof drainage connecting to down pipes . . . . but this isn’t how everyone sees it.
Travelling around Hawaii I was quite surprised to see how many houses completely dispensed with any form of roof drainage like this photo.
No Gutters and no downpipes.
OK as long as you aren’t building on Reactive Clay
Not a problem in Hawaii where it is mainly volcanic sands or rock.
I recently talked about visiting some Frank Lloyd Wright ‘Prairie Houses’ in America.
With the ‘Prairie House; style there was an emphasis on horizontal lines.
To avoid the strong vertical lines of the downpipes Frank just got rid of them.
To collect the rain below each discharge point he positioned a pit like this one.
The only problem is that in the slightest breeze there is going to be a lot of spray.
For small flows the water drains through each cup to the one below it.
With heavier rain the flow runs on the outside of the cups where it is held to the cup by surface tension.
If you can’t get hold of the Japanese cups a simple chain can work just as well.
I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t replaced the worn carpet.
It was the pattern of the carpet!
Why would you spend $10 of thousands on a carpet that looked like it was worn out?
If your flooring is starting to look old it might just need some attention from Melbourne Carpet And Tile Cleaning.
I am sure you have seen many different photographs of these houses if you have seen any publicity about San Francisco.
They are known as the Painted Ladies. . . but why are they always photographed?
Well the reason relates to the way our brain reacts to what it sees.
Experts say that the brain likes to see patterns so we find the repeated pattern of the Painted Ladies pleasing.
The more interesting different houses along the street are a bit more jarring.
So what does this mean for your new house?
Well I am not suggesting that you build an identical house to next door, . . but you could think about making sure your house does have some recurring pattern.
For example:
