Variation 1 - Structural

On Friday just gone (11th of February) we received Variation 1, relating to structural changes we made/requested at Pre-Start. While on paper, there were officially 26 variations, amongst them were a few items of "note" which were more informational such as the air conditioning model that that air-con company had advised and the related electrical wiring it needed, the fact that we are getting 28c internal doors, a repositioning of a doorway, etc. Most other items were fairly minor (i.e. add a soakwell for the pool backwash, swap a big window for a little one, reduce the height of the wall behind the BBQ, swap a wooden framed door for a aluminium one, etc) but there were a few big hitters. Our original plan showed a skylight in our master ensuite and two in the kitchen, we changed that at pre-start to be one skylight mounted landscape in the kitchen and dropped the one in the ensuite. This saved us quite a lot of money but two lines later on the variation, we'd spent it all and then some. 

Ever since seeing it in a display home, we loved the idea that our main house flooring and the alfresco flooring would be at the same height. (See pic of what i'm talking about - although ours will be straight, not a corner like as shown). We've even selected the same tile to flow from inside to outside. However, our original plans showed a step down to the alfresco as required by building code.

This can be avoided if you move to a commercial solution that has a sump drain built into the frame of the stacking doors to avoid flooding the house when it rains but obviously that comes with a hefty price tag. Ultimately though, we decided that it would be well worth our investment so ticked this box. I have no doubt the results will be stunning but hat one stings the hip pocket. We removed a few other variations we'd talked about but ultimately decided not to go ahead with and returned our signed variation today, which has now been processed. Next step will be the internal selections variation. I know that one is going to be meatier!