New Home Buyers Blog

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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The Astoria45 is an architectural designed home with all the features you would expect from a luxury adobe.  Spacious living areas are common and five large bedrooms all complete with walk in robes. A home theatre is also of great size for entertaining and those nights in. The entrance is also impressive featuring a 1200mm front door with side light and a hallway width of 2 meters.  The kitchen has a full walk through pantry, a household essential offering more
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New display village underway. Construction has commenced at Berstan homes new display village in Doreen with a completion date of April 2015. The village will feature a couple of new Berstan Home designs the Astoria45 and the Stockton26. The Astoria45 is a double story executive home designed for a large family and the Stockton26 is a four bedroom single story design .
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Knock down rebuild design for the future. I have been advising a few clients lately to make space at the rear of their properties to fit another dwelling in the future. Some of our clients have been a little tight for finance lately to complete a two home build with their knock down rebuild project. So my advice was to build one home as close to the front boundary with enough space for a rear access driveway for easy second
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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. 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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Surrounded by suburbs like Templestowe and Eltham, View Bank is certainly among some of the best North Eastern suburbs addresses.  Being only 18km to the CBD offers a great location for a knock down rebuild new home your family.  With our custom home design service we are able to create your dream home and guarantee the whole building process would be effortless.  
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Last weekend I was at a knock down rebuild site in Lower Plenty and I was surprised by the suburbs natural beauty. The knock down rebuild was overlooking plenty of tree tops and what a view it was. Lower Plenty is certainly a unique way of having a great natural environment to live in and just 16km from the CBD. 
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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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We are currently pricing many knock down rebuild sites in Eltham and I believe Eltham to be a suburb to keep on the radar for the future.  Most lots are of good size and the homes are ageing with maintenance being a large burden for their owners. The clients we are currently working for have seen an opportunity with a knock down rebuild in Eltham to capitalize on the location.  Eltham is located between St Helena and Viewbank just 20km
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A feature we are asked more about lately is an inclusion of a study nook close to the living areas for monitoring purposes. With so much internet bullying going on and inappropriate web sites available concerned parents are opting for a proactive stance by being within easy distance of the computer use area. Our designers are aware of these issues and we design home study nooks with this in mind, 
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We have experienced a strong up take lately for the installation of home alarm systems in our new home builds. The cost of our alarm systems installed at construction time is around $1200 a very worthwhile investment for your homes protection.  The system includes a camera/monitor for your front door with interface and a battery back. One question you must ask yourself, what are your personal items worth to you? These items in most cases are unable to be replaced
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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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We are currently selling our Berstan Homes Astoria35 too many of our knock down rebuild clients.  Clients are finding the Astoria35 suits their needs perfectly with a four very generous bedrooms on the first floor and a grand living area between the bedrooms. The ground floor offers an office/study, theatre and living dining area with easy walk through to the alfresco living space. The kitchen is very well appointed with a walk in pantry space and bench space a plenty
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New home builder Berstan Homes is currently experiencing very strong sales in the Eucalypt estate. Reason being the estate offers amazing parks, gardens, BBQ areas for unwinding with family and friends.  There is also plenty of space to kick a ball around or even a game of cricket and the parks offer numerous climbing activities.
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Mernda villages is very dog friendly with a huge dog park which is fully fenced for everyone’s enjoyment. Situated on the corner of Plenty Road and Mernda Village Drive and all are welcomes.  I was surprised at the sheer size of the park most you visit are very small and not much fun. The Mernda Villages dog park is undulating with many points of interest for your canine friend.
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Last weekend I was at a knock down rebuild site in Montmorency. This quiet little suburb nestled between Eltham and Templestowe is definitely an area to keep an eye on the future.  Montmorency is well positioned being close to the major arterials for easy city access and full of treed landscapes.  Homes in this area are prime targets for knock down rebuilds and will be great investment in the years to come being only 18km from the CBD.  
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Interest has increased in the Eltham and Doncaster area for knock down rebuilds of late I believe due to the average of home owning residents looking to retirement. Many are caught up with not as much superannuation as they would like so a knock down rebuild looks very feasible. By building 2 townhouses on their land they can gain a sizeable nest egg to purchase a suitable smaller home. With the build cost of two good size townhouses coming in
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With most of the major new home builders now having foreign owners it"s good to know there are still a few Australian owned family companies remaining, Berstan Homes is one. Established by the Bryson family with strong work ethics and a personal involvement in every aspect of the business we can offer an effortless new home build experience. The new home build process with Berstan Homes is very different to other companies you actually get to speak with the owners
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We are currently working on  a project in Templestowe which is a knock down rebuild and the bank in this case Westpac required the existing home to be standing before they would clear the project for approval. Another client asked if it was necessary to have the home standing for loan approval and from our experience the answer is definitely yes. 
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Inner Melbourne suburban streetscapes are being slowly renovated with a large uptake of knock down rebuilds. With the changing lifestyles of Melbournians many don't want to make do with an old home in a great location and many are now opting for custom designed homes with their own style inputs.  The cost of renovating these old homes is not only expensive but in most cases far out the cost of a knock down rebuilds solution. A knock down rebuild is
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Bamboo flooring is now available for new homes in a matt finish not just the gloss, which has until now been the norm.  The matt bamboo is also stressed for an earthy rustic appearance at Berstan Homes it has really taken off as favourite flooring over it's highly polished cousin. 
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Lately we have been selling an increasing number of homes to clients that are downsizing and looking at cashing in their land. It's a known fact that many Australians will retire without enough superannuation for a comfortable retirement.  One way of overcoming this financial hurdle is to consider selling your current home and in most cases the land is sub-dividable and worth a lot more than what you paid for it way back when. We have had clients sell their
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What to look for when buying a knock down rebuild site and costs: The construction of two double storey homes around 25 square each The cost of the two homes would be around $650 to $700k including subdivision, surveying, design, demolition, planning, engineering, soil testing and all fees from start to finish.  Some areas you could be looking at are Doncaster, Blackburn, Vermont, Donvale, Ringwood and Reservoir is also worth a look.  Size of land would need to be a
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A client came in today to select her tiles, kitchen, floor coverings, façade, and bricks then commented about a previous experience with a major new home builder in Melbourne. I enquired further and found the selection process with this major new home builder to be interesting and disappointing for the client. In the category 1 range the major builder only offered 2 or 3 different colours and then if you couldn’t choose one of these they offered category 2 with
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Looking for a new home with a knock down rebuild, thought should be put into the positioning of the home on the lot. There are many reasons why thought should be put into location of your new home on your lot I have listed a couple.  Orientation to benefit from the winter sun and summer shade.  Future sub-division.  Views and aspect. If future sub-division is part of your vision then care needs to be taken to provide
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We are currently doing several knock down new builds in the Manningham city council area. With the cost of land with an old home around $600-$700k and the new homes around $850k, it makes financial sense to knock down rebuild.  Most of our enquiry is for dual occupancy dwelling or two stand alone homes. With construction at around $800k for the two that equates to a gross profit of $200k. Some choose to build two homes, sell one and live
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Retirement living at its best with Berstan Homes with most stages sold out, we are now waiting for our next releases. We currently have limited number of homes available in Eucalypt, Mernda Villages and Highlands estates. With prices under $310k and no management fees and no extra costs it is little wonder our packages sell quickly.  Berstan Homes is currently also offering a 10% deposit and no more to pay until your new home is complete, taking 100% of any
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First home buyers and down sizers alike a snapping up these quality built smart designed homes. A partnership between Stockland and Berstan Homes has bought a new home and land product to the market in the form of a 7.5metre lot and all sold out in 6 weeks.
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You're home among the gum trees is a true statement at the Eucalypt estate in Wollert.  There are many 300 year old plus river red gums scattered throughout the development with a strong focus on protection of these ancient trees. It's hard to believe that these magnificent trees started growing 56 years before Captain Cook landed on Australian soil.  Captain Cook
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