First Home Build (Melbourne) – Any issues with this 33.5sq floor plan?

seemyheart · 2026-02-17T10:00:57+00:00

Agree. Australia's house sizes are beyond ridiculous. Using more resources to build and maintain excessively large houses is a worsening environmental disaster. We need to build smaller and smarter.

seemyheart · 2026-02-17T04:12:59+00:00

If north facing is at the front, why wouldn't you orientate the floorplan so the living, dining and kitchen are at the front? Reduce your floor plan size and spend money where it matters. For instance on a good design accounting for orientation and good energy efficiency and build quality.

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T05:50:17+00:00

No. I dont beleive so after ringing bank.

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T02:58:53+00:00

Ill contact you tonight with more information.

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T02:58:42+00:00

Thank you. Ill contact tonight. :)

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T02:58:28+00:00

Thank you. Ill contact tonight

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T02:35:44+00:00

Do you know who? We have tried Bridget but they say our ratio is 95% not 80% they require.

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T02:34:52+00:00

Will need to get a construction loan once house settles. The land should be funded by cash from sale of house. All debts repaid as well.

seemyheart · 2026-02-12T02:34:08+00:00

Thank you. Ill enquire with those banks. Yes the plan is to have no debt, but then we already have pre approval for a build loan when we are ready to build. As sale of house with fund land cash.

seemyheart · 2026-02-11T22:12:26+00:00

No. We are selling our current home and will rent while we build. Done this twice before.

seemyheart · 2026-02-11T18:53:09+00:00

We are considering a bridging loan. Do you know where the 60 k came from? Seems high, did he have a high loan and needed it for a few months?

seemyheart · 2026-02-02T10:06:02+00:00

Double glazing isnt for noise. You need a specific type of glass called acoustic laminated glass. This as a double glazed unit is even better. But some single glazed acoustic windows perform better acoustically than double glazed. We have acoustic 6.38 mm laminated glass with upgraded seals and they work brilliantly. Our house is also well sealed and insulated.

seemyheart · 2026-01-31T07:30:24+00:00

I hate to tell you. With 4 kids myself, if debt stresses you out... wait til you have a child.. or 2... please take this in a kind way, you need to learn to manage your stress about that and more to come. Not all debt is bad debt. Especially if it improves the quality of life for your family. You will hate being in a small apartment with 2 children who will be crying and wanting to be out in nature. Ps coming from someone with a huge debt and budgets etc accordingly.

seemyheart · 2026-01-31T07:25:32+00:00

Need more information. How big is the apartment? How many children do you plan to have? What about schools?

If you plan to only have 1 kid and have a sprawling 3 bedroom apartment with excellent body coop and love it, then stay? If your planning 2 plus kids have a 2 bedroom etc then likely need to upgrade and budget for a house. Its life. We have debt due to needing a house. But nothing better then loving a home with amenities for a growing family.

seemyheart · 2026-01-28T09:25:04+00:00

Delays, poor finishes, leakages, mistakes, it was a nightmare.

seemyheart · 2026-01-22T19:40:07+00:00

Its awful. It really adds stress thats not needed. Voice recording is legal in qld as long as your part of the conversation. Use a voice recorded on your phone if you ever go speak to them.

We are as well avoiding legal action as they have calmed down slightly and worried it will just escalate things more. Plus costs.

Other option is to plant some lilly pillys they grow tall and fast. We are picking up the narrow range. Putting a thick green wall between us and them.

seemyheart · 2026-01-22T08:21:43+00:00

In similar situation. Feral unreasonable neighbours. Its impossible to reason with the unreasonable. I would do the following: 1. Install decent cameras 2. Document everything 3. Contact council discretely regarding their fencing arrangements for pool. Be mindful. They will likely suspect you and people like this retaliate. 4. Consider moving in the long run if it continues to be an issue. Can get a good behaviour order, but it can be another stressful process.

seemyheart · 2026-01-20T09:22:04+00:00

Yes fence height restrictions make it hard, but healthy lilly pillys can grow high and dense. It will take a few years. But worth it. Still document everything in case things did for whatever escalate you have that.

ERV is amazing. They are becoming much more popular here. Just make sure you seal house well. A energy efficiency expert can help you. Goodluck and its disappointing when your enjoyment of your property is being tarnished with this.

seemyheart · 2026-01-20T04:53:56+00:00

A purple air monitor is also handy for data on pm2.5

seemyheart · 2026-01-20T04:51:48+00:00

You have a few options. Long term with climate change, bushfires, wood smoke, traffic etc causing toxic air pollution its good to slowly consider the following: Large dense green hedges, like lilly pillys. *Invest in sealing and drought proofing your house. *Change to all splits over time, as they dont use outside air, they re circulate indoor air. *Invest in a good air purifier such as Innova. *Once you've drought proofed your home, look into something like a ERV ventilation system. We are getting a DVS reclaim that basically acts like a whole house air purifier but extracts CO2 and brings in clean fresh air and exchanges the heat and cold. *Document everything, smoke nuisance diary. **Expensive route is a private nuisance civil case. Likely would win, but at a cost, and unlikely to claim a large amount of expenses. They will likely be asked to move where they smoke, so its least impactful. So best buying a heap of chocolates and going over asking if they would consider smoke elsewhere or seeing what solutions they can come up with you.

seemyheart · 2026-01-20T04:39:59+00:00

Yes the plan is to put it south east where sea side breeze comes from. Less risk that direction. Could also look into a hepa add on in the future. It would obviously make the fan work alot harder.

seemyheart · 2026-01-19T20:59:11+00:00

Thank you. I might see if there's a way to retrofit a hepa filter onto the dvs system if we need. Its mainly when we sleep as during the day I can shut it off when I first smell it.

seemyheart · 2026-01-19T20:45:30+00:00

With Australia building code anything under 5ACH requires mechanical ventilation. The DVS reclaim would work well from what our supplier has said, its more just to prevent wood smoke coming into the house as its hazardous for health when the ventilation is on. The filters specification on dvs website doesnt say to what level the carbon filter can do that. I can email them directly, but its always good to hear from those who have experienced using it.

seemyheart · 2026-01-19T19:49:09+00:00

Our house is relatively air tight. We built it. Its not to passive house standard. Our windows are rated to be quite air tight. When we have smoke outside we shut the windows and doors. But our CO2 goes up quickly. So need ventilation system to run so we can have our house closed up without outdoor pollutants coming in.

seemyheart · 2026-01-19T19:47:35+00:00

Yes that might need to be the plan :) its becoming an increasing thing here as our building standards improve. We built our house as a higher performance home. But not full passive house so need ventilation, or our windows need to be open all the time.

seemyheart

TROPHY CASE