We have been experiencing lately a few of our clients requesting a pond to be part of our landscaping. With the lots getting increasingly smaller it can leave some challenges, however with a little imagination these obstacles can be overcome. Ponds are of great interest to young and old alike creating a space for adventure and wonderment
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Tips for building a new home
Timber Feature walls
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
A great way to cover an ugly area or create privacy in part of your garden is to introduce a timber slatted fence screen. These pre-made timber screens are readily available at your local hardware shop at a reasonable price and look amazing.
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First Home Buyer Advice 2
Monday, February 16, 2015
I recently was at a Developer Function talking with some other builders and they were expressing concern about a particular Melbourne home builder's dubious method of financing homes. They are promoting and advising First Homes Buyers to take out credit card debt as part deposits for their home loans. This practice is a very poor form of advice leading to many First Home Buyers being in financial hot water before they even move into their home
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First Home Buyer Advice
Monday, February 09, 2015
Many First Home Buyers are becoming more interested in purchasing an Investment Property. This can be a sound idea and able to set yourself up well for the future. With many First Home Buyers still living at home this gives a great opportunity for saving and investing. Berstan Homes have investor packages starting at around $290K and well worthy of investigation with rental from these properties around $320 per week makes them a sound investment.
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Landscaping headaches.
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
I having noticed lately many new home builders are not doing any landscaping in their home and land packages. This leaves the landscaping to the home owner with many significant problems about to arise from this. Many landscapes I have seen lately are installed incorrectly and will cause many serious problems for all concerned in the not to distant future. Some of the issues are listed below:
- Sloping towards the home.
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Bamboo pricing for new homes
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
The cost of bamboo flooring is very similar to the cost of tiling with a quality floor tile. The benefits of bamboo in lieu of tiled floors are many.
Bamboo is sustainable, warmer than tiles and very attractive offering over a dozen different colours.
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Balcony design
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Many home designs fail to allow enough size to their balcony area rendering the area near unusable. A good size balcony can not only be a great useful living space but a great asset to your home. Positioning of the balcony is paramount to its usage and I like to design our homes with the balcony facing the North which allows the area to catch both morning and evening sun.
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New home builder wall fail
Monday, January 05, 2015
New home builder wall fail.
A client came in last week with a problem and with photos showing a failed retaining wall. I was asked by the client to inspect the wall and I found the builder had not installed any drain behind the wall. Another issue was the lack of crushed rock behind the wall and just earth was behind the wall. These two items are essential for the construction of a successful retaining wall. The crushed rock is
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How much should a power point cost?
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Extra power points installed at construction time should be charged out at around $50 if installed at the right time during build. If the contractor is asked to install extra power points after the wall linings have been installed then there would be the added costs due to the obstacles and extra time involved.
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New home builder with a difference.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
I have notices lately while looking over our sites in Melbourne there are many builders not finishing their porch entries to their new homes. What they are leaving in most cases is just concrete which is unsightly and certainly not a finished product. We offer our clients as a standard finish a small deck or tiling and find this a much better finish instead of the roar concrete left by most builders.
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