From City to Coast: Building a Metricon Home in Gippsland
Over the past several years, Phillip Island has seen an influx of people making the switch from city to coastal living.
Among those are Peter and Colleen Pringle who, after holidaying in Phillip Island for eight years, finally decided to swap their family home in Mount Waverley for a beachside abode in Cowes.
Taking advantage of the increasingly coveted Phillip Island postcode, they lived seaside for a few years before deciding it was time to build their dream home on the Island.
They purchased a block of land in the then newly opened Seagrove Estate and, after a lengthy search for a design that captured their vision, stumbled upon Metricon’s Chelsea 33.
“We had been looking but couldn’t come up with a design we wanted,” Peter recalls. “Then friends of ours who had built three houses previously with Metricon suggested we look at them. We saw this design online and loved it straight away. We knew as soon as we walked in to the display that it was going to be our house.”
It was the Chelsea's simple, single-storey floorplan and light-filled living spaces that captured Peter and Colleen’s attention.
As retirees, they were looking for something easy and low-maintenance, but also with plenty of space to relax, entertain or accommodate guests – like their two children who like to stay with them over the holidays.
They needed a flexible design that would accommodate all of their needs, including a butler’s pantry, a sewing room for Colleen, enough room out the back for Peter’s man cave, and a floorplan that catered to the indoor-outdoor lifestyle that has become so synonymous with seaside living.
Being their dream home, they didn’t want to sacrifice on additional inclusions, so invested in double glazing, under-floor heating and extra roof insulation, as well as aesthetic features like wall cut outs and tiles all the way to the ceiling in the bathrooms.
They particularly love the feel that Phillip Island offers. “There are a lot of retirees coming to the island so there is a really strong community feel down here,” Peter says. Colleen adds, “It’s a great place to live.”
From the moment they made the decision to build to receiving the keys to their finished home, Peter and Colleen say the experience with Metricon was seamless. “We never had one single issue,” Peter recalls.
“Our site manager, Peter, was excellent and our local tradies were all great.”