Tips for building a new home

First Home buyer advice 3

Thursday, March 19, 2015
I had some clients come to me to discuss their first home requirements over the weekend nothing out of the ordinary there I thought. Over the next few days I found them a great block of land in the Mernda Villages estate and I priced an Onella18 Berstan home on the site and fixed the price no more to pay. I then sent the details to the client who replied back with a much lower price with a major volume
read more

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.
read more

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 .
read more

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. 
read more

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. .
read more

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
read more

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. 
read more

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.
read more

Retirement home living with Berstan Homes

Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Stop don’t buy into a retirement village without looking into the facts about them. A client came to me last week and explained how some friends of hers had purchased a home in a retirement village and the costs were very high. Some of the fees are as follows site fee for having your home on their property. A 30 year lease was offered and at the end of that period the lease would need to be renegotiated. The homes
read more

Polished concrete floors

Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Many feel that polished concrete flooring is expensive this is not true the costs are very similar to quality porcelain floor tiles. There are many advantages to having a polished concrete floor instead of tiled floors. There are no grouted joints to clean and very easy to clean in comparison to tiled floors. There are an amazing range of colours to choose from and the process is about the same as for tiled floors time wise .
read more

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next

Tags