UPGRADES & VARIATIONS

I thought i might go through some of our selections in more detail, including our Variations. There is so much to track - again a spreadsheet to record all these is crucial because when it comes to the Final End Panel stage (where all your upgrades and additional costings are consolidated into one document), you need to make sure the amounts all add up!

I will try and be a little candid with my costs where i can as i know that transparency is a huge thing, especially when building for the first time! 😉

FACADE:

We chose the Vogue facade with two tone render. An additional $300 will be charged if you opt for two colours. For our specific facade design, we thought having two colours would suit best to break up the porch, isolated brick pier and garage. Facades can range in prices from standard (Classic) which is included in your house base price to the Savannah with balcony, which can cost upwards $20,000+. We wanted to choose a facade that best complimented our interior as well. A modern and simple facade with a little character is why we chose the Vogue.

Our roof is also an upgrade to the Bristile Prestige Series Flat Roof Tiles. We chose Tungsten to compliment our facade, render colour and brick.

The total cost of facade upgrade is $11,450 - this includes $5,150 for the front render. The roof tiles were included as part of the Live Boldly Promotion. From memory, i believe this was valued at $9,000. Loving the Promotion!

EXTERNAL VARIATIONS:

For those who know us and our family well, it is no secret that Eldric and I are not tall people! So any ceiling height above the standard will seem "high" to us (insert laugh emoji here). But there is something about high ceilings that give a home the wow factor. And for us, this was a must. I don't think we deliberated on this at all. It was non negotiable! It was an upgrade cost we were willing to swallow. All the Wisdom Homes display homes have 2.74m ceilings. And to be honest, it really does add the oh-la-la.

We increased the powder room, butler's pantry and the leisure room depth by adding extra square footage to our home. Our land is long and narrow so to maximise the space, we added depth (can't really do much about making the house any wider!). The total cost to increase height and square footage was around $11,000.

WINDOWS / DOORS:

There are a few things you can do after handover, however for us, what ever we can add now, we opted to do so out of convenience. Especially if it makes little difference price wise. The less things on my To Do List, the better.

A few upgrades here and there most notably the following:

- front entry door: increase width and upgrade to timber finish
- due to the increased ceiling height, we also increased all the door heights too
- door handles to front door, ground floor and first floor: we opted for black matte finish by Lane
- 2 x cavity sliding doors to enclose the movie room: we chose translucent HLR210 by Hume Doors
- we added a window to the butler's pantry like the one in the kitchen
- flyscreens to all openable windows
- under staircase storage
- changed window in the lesiure room to a stacker door to open up the space and create flow
- changed window to rear of leisure room due to us changing the layout of the room

INTERNAL FINISHES:

A few changes here worth noting:

- square set cornices to entire ground floor
- dropped ceiling over kitchen area: again, all Wisdom Homes display home have this feature and it really does look amazing
- white melamine shelving to all linens and walk in robes
- stairs: mitred handrail with square balusters in matte black finish
- all bathroom and kitchen taps, sinks and fixtures including shower heads were upgraded in lieu of standard. If you want to change these fixtures, you need to get onto the Reece website, look up the items and codes and give them to your Colours Consultant to quote/price. I chose the Mizu range for the matte black finishes in keeping to the theme of the house.

The Internals are done at your Colours appointment and believe me, when you are seeing all the lovely colours and upgrades available, it is understandable if you go a little over budget! I have to admit that Eldric and I initially got a little too excited here. You are not given costs during your appointment, but an experienced Consultant can give you an indication or estimate. The cost to upgrade your door profiles can add up and painting a room in a feature colour can incur a charge!

During the appointment and up until you receive your Quotes and Variations, you keep reminding yourself not to worry about the $$ because this is in fact, your forever home, so you want to get it right the first time. But sometimes you also have to be realistic! Often times i had to remind Eldric - and myself that you can't over capitalise, easier said than done! My good old spreadsheet was my saving grace because it always put everything in perspective - budget wise!

An example of this would be the stairs. I was determined to get my glass panels, but after the Quote came back to just under $9,000, i had to abandon this idea! Aesthetics is important to me, but i just couldn't justify the cost. I think it worked out for the best, because after some Pinterest stalking, i saw a design concept for the stairs that i want to do in the future...

FLOOR COVERINGS:

The larger the tiles, the more expensive the laying costs are. In my opinion, i think the upgrade to larger 600x600 is totally worth it. The thinner grout lines also incur extra laying charges, but for us, this was definitely a must! In our Tender, we included floor to ceiling wall tiles in all of the wet areas, which cost just under $5,000. I think it was a cost that we were willing to pay, i love the look of floor to ceiling wall tiles. A little bit of extra "wow", in my opinion!

We also opted to upgrade our carpet to the Redbook Green 100% Triexta for the look and feel. A few on the forum who have chosen this carpet has given extremely good feedback, saying it added a touch of "luxury". The cost to upgrade to the Triexta carpet was $3,540. This includes the Theatre Room carpet - which of course was also upgraded to the same Triexta carpet as the first floor.

It is probably worth mentioning that floors can be something you can do after handover if you have another supplier in mind. It can save you money, but it would be something you need to organise after handover. Wisdom Homes do require you to choose from Di Lorenzo for all wet areas.

ELECTRICAL:

Many of those from the Wisdom Homes building thread have noted they spent anything between $6,000 to $15,000. It really depends on what you are willing to include now as opposed to handover. Many put in provisions for down lights and pendant lights. Ideally, you would want your power points and switches included as you can't undo, move or change them once your build starts! We have a total of about 50 down lights, 15 of which were included as part of the Live Boldly Promotion.

Dimmers are also an upgraded cost. We included these in the Theatre Room, Leisure Room.... and Master Suite (insert cheeky grin here!). Can i just add - that was the husband's idea!

We also included ceiling fan provisions - which i have heard over and over again from friends who have built to those on the forum, that ceiling fans are a great investment - energy wise! In keeping to the theme of the home, we will be choosing black matte ceiling fans from Beacon Lighting.

We also opted to hide powerpoints in our cabinetry. I think it's great to have them hidden discreetly so as to not distract the look of the wall tiles. I love the clean and minimalist look so I think the hidden powerpoints are a great idea.

An external company (Sentinel) will be doing our Home Theatre Cabling, so we included this too. They will be providing the installation of cabling for 5 Speaker Surround System.

Sentinel is also doing our home alarms and video intercoms. A cost to include an additional video intercom on the first floor was an upgrade that we thought would be invaluable, especially with kids!

AIR CONDITIONING:

We upgraded the outlet in the kitchen dropped ceiling to a Linear one. Aesthetically pleasing rather than the standard outlet. An extra controller for the first floor was also a must. We also added extra zones which cost $350 each.

The Air Conditioning value came to $17,990 which was part of the Live Boldly Promotion. Any additional upgrades such as the one i mentioned above was included in the Tender.

KITCHEN / BUTLER'S PANTRY / LAUNDRY:

Upgrades:

- no handles to overhead cabinets/finger pull
- shark edge profile to kitchen base cabinets (no handles)
- additional Lamiwood overhead cabinet to suit undermount rangehood
- 40mm Deluxe Caesarstone to full kitchen benchtops: this was included as part of Wisdom Homes Live Boldly Promotion
- 1 x Deluxe 40mm Caesarstone waterfall end – mitred
- undermount sink and tap hole cut out to Caesarstone benchtop in kitchen
- soft close to kitchen doors
- underbench microwave provision including 1x soft close pot drawer below
- soft close Hettich dual pull out bins
- relocate sink to cooktop run
- change kitchen design from standard "U" shape to straight cooktop run and straight island

Full Butler's Pantry fitout:

- 20mm Deluxe range Caesarstone to walk in pantry as per clients design
- 3 x TKA 54 Black designer handles
- pantry and shelves

Full Laundry Fitout:

- 20mm Standard Caesarstone to laundry as per clients design
- 2 x TKA 54 Black designer handles

Powder Room:

- 40mm Deluxe Caesarstone: this was included as part of Wisdom Homes Live Boldly Promotion
- vanity upgrades in melamine as per clients design
- 1 x TKA 52 Black designer handle to powder room vanity
- Polytec finegrain to powder room vanity
- Timpelle Kitchens custom range handles to main bathroom and master ensuite vanity
- TKA 56  Black designer handles as per clients design

Appliance Upgrades:

- 900mm undermount rangehood in lieu of standard
- built-in Microwave with Stainless Steel Trim Kit

WISDOM HOMES LIVE BOLDLY PROMOTION:

Click on the link below to view the 2017 Live Boldly Promotion from Wisdom Homes. I absolutely can not rave enough of the value included in this package. During the builder research phase, Wisdom Homes always won hands down when it came to inclusions and value for money!

Check out the 2017 Promotion here