Flexibility delivers custom lifestyle
Darron and Robyn Ogier customised their Perspective 202 property to cater to their individual needs (and to accommodate specific works of art).
Nowhere has Sherpa’s “customisation” value been better executed than with the Ogiers’ apartment in Perspective 202. Darron and Robyn Ogier moved into their new Bilinga home at the end of last year, after playing an active role in the building process to ensure everything was exactly what they wanted.
The Ogiers had been looking for an apartment for years, without great enthusiasm or commitment. But when they came across a project that was the right size, and in a good location, they were excited about moving in right from the start.
“We were looking, off-and-on, for the best part of three years, but only conceptually, not seriously,” Darron said. “We were trying to figure out the right size of apartment (it was our first apartment), and what level would suit us – all those things. An agent advertising something at Kirra that wasn’t really suitable for us got us down in that area. We gave him a description of what we were looking for and he told us about something that was coming up but not yet announced. A few days later, we were sitting down with Christie and Ben from Sherpa, looking at plans.”
With most projects, that initial excitement might wane between signing the contract and moving in, but that wasn’t the case for Darron and Robyn.
“One morning we got a phone call from Ben, asking if we wanted to come down and see the concrete pour on our level,” Darron said. “I never thought we’d get a call like that when other builders are making clients agree to stay away from the site. Not only did we go down there but it was fresh enough for the builder to let us write our names in the concrete.”
One of the advantages of buying early in a Sherpa project is having so much opportunity to modify design and details. Darron said his wife, Robyn, played a lead role in customising their apartment.
“Robyn is an exceptional talent at tailoring a space to a lifestyle,” he said. “She provided Sherpa with an enormous amount of feedback on things they could do to further improve on the process. Christie said we were exactly the type of people they wanted to see living here because the company was all about lifestyle and tailoring homes to suit client needs. Sherpa has done everything across all levels. They were very welcoming of our feedback and very keen to see that we got what we wanted.”
One of Sherpa’s four core values is customisation and that was certainly evident in the Ogiers’ case.
“We didn’t adjust the toilet – but we made changes to the kitchen, fridge placement, oven placement, and the joinery,” Darron said. “We have quite a lot of art and when we were looking at units, we would look at floor plans and wall space to see where we could display the work that we’ve got. That was really important to us and that need was easily accommodated with Sherpa’s flexibility.
“We also added a lot of customised joinery in the multipurpose room because I’m working from home. We needed a reasonable size desk and all the wiring, as well as a network switch to control every other element in the house. In the ensuite, we changed the tiles to reduce the amount of grout in the showers and we made the vanity basins slightly higher than average. We also eliminated the second bath and moved the toilet in that space so we could put in a much bigger vanity. I think the improvements Robyn provided were things architects wouldn’t normally think about.”
The completion of Perspective 202 was great timing for making the switch to large apartment living.
“The kids had just left home so it was now or never,” Darron said. “We have never lived on the beachfront before, although we had a bit of an idea of what it would be like. Now that we live here, we wouldn’t move for quids.”