My Own Project

Bitten by the property development bug, working for a Property Developer), together with a town planner we bought a corner lot in Gosnells and proceeded to put all our experience into practice on our own project.  

Gosnells is a family orientated older suburb suitable for affordable housing.  Houses are mostly single storey so we took a gamble with building townhouses however I did some research to realise a change that had occurred due to the rise in the price of land.  

Whereas when I started out in this field, your typical (single storey) family home would cost twice the land value, our current typical ratio is the land costs twice as much as the house.  This means you can buy less land and build a 2 storey home and still get a decent amount of outdoor area, probably for less total outlay.  And who doesn't want a 2 storey home?

Subdividing the lot into 6 small lots around 220m² we planned a square townhouse with a larger than single garage.  Being the designer and wanting to make a statement we used the same design but altered slightly each unit street front to give each home it's own character based on a main colour.

The plan was a simple box to keep costs economical with living areas downstairs and  sleeping areas up. Because of the 2 storey format, despite the small lots there was still plenty of outdoor living area left over.  

The ground floor is double brick with the upper floor being what in local vernacular is called timber top construction, however the boundary wall is also brick being easier to obtain the required fire rating. This allowed me to break up the monotony a little with varying shapes.  

The upper floor was clad with a new external cladding profile and colorbond custom-orb was also used on alternate units for variation.  Altogether a good economic solution for a tight budget.

We also put considerable thought into the internal finishes to ensure that whilst on a strict spending budget, we wanted the homes to feel upmarket and luxurious and I think we achieved this well.

 The last 2 lots have not yet been built but the corner lot had the advantage of enough room for a double garage.