Latest news with #ImagineKitHomes
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Surprise twist: Builder with $740k fine builds jawdropping new cubby
An Aussie builder who went viral over a double decker cubby house that drew a $740k council fine, is back in the spotlight undeterred, with a jawdropping fairytale replacement. Undeterred and determined to beat the system for his children, dad of three Keith Richardson relocated to a new home in a different suburb and constructed an even more extraordinary Rapunzel tower/spaceship style cubby for his kids. Origin star Reece Walsh's staggering windfall The cubby 2.0 is a self supported steel structure complete with flying fox zip line if you don't feel like using the internal spiral staircase to exit. This time, the Queensland-based managing director of Imagine Kit Homes told The Courier-Mail. no neighbour could complain because the magical multistorey playzone is tucked away with full privacy. 'It's miles away from the boundary,' he said. 'We don't have little grumpy men living next door, we've got families, and they love it as well. So they get the enjoyment out of the new one. The kids come visiting.' He said he built it so his children would be safe using a zip line in the backyard. 'We had a flying fox that went from one of the big palm trees across the yard, and the kids were having to climb up on this rickety old ladder. I said, okay I need to do something.' Mapped: Owners of Aus' trashed islands named 'So this one is built to last 1,000 years. It's all steel frames and trusses. It's got its own structure underneath those trees. It's not even touching the trees.' 'The only thing I haven't put in is indoor plumbing,' he laughed. His children are 10, 14 and 17 now. 'It's got a little spiral staircase in the middle. It's super safe. It's super strong. It has lights that come on at night.' Mr Richardson said it costs about $4,000 to put a cubby house together like the one the council zeroed in on. 'You've got to remember a lot of the products I had lying around at work. I mean, I'm the managing director of the company, so the leftovers from jobs, I'm the first to claim them. There was additional expense of having to get the engineering, I paid $1,600 to get the certification.' He loves what he does, and his children have appreciated it too, he said. Cash-strap student turns $40k to 38 homes 'It's a hobby and work. I've come from a house that's up in the Sunshine Coast which for a kit home looks nothing like it. It's a 650sq m house on the beach. We do 750sq m houses that are four levels with balconies, customised houses that are reselling for $6-7m. So, work's a big step above what a cubby house is. The cubby house thing is a passion.' He said the family taking on the cubby house in his old home could be certain it was built well. 'It has got some credibility behind it. The problem (with the previous cubby) was the council went and cleared all the trees which made it then stand out.' 'My tenants who have been there for the last five years love it and they've got little kids. They were then going to spend $1,000 to get it painted out. I had to go back to them and say sorry I'm gonna have to remove because I just haven't got the time and can't be bothered fighting with the council.' Mr Richardson has no regrets about building any of the cubby houses for his children, given the joy it gave them and him as well as their grandfather putting plans together and tweaking it to suit the kids.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Aussie threatened with a $740,000 council fine after he built a cubby house for his daughter on his property
An Aussie builder has been threatened with a $740,000 fine for the cubby house he built for his daughter after neighbours complained the structure was an 'eyesore'. Owner and managing director of Imagine Kit Homes, Keith Richardson, designed and built a double-storey cubby house for his daughter Sophie when she was two years old. Mr Richardson built the cubby house against the back fence line of his family's home in Upper Coomera, Gold Coast. The elaborate cubby house had specific design requirements, including cantilevered balconies, hardwood flooring, and raked ceilings. Despite the property backing onto a main road and the cubby house blending in with the trees behind the fence, a neighbour complained about the structure to the council. Mr Richardson had to go through a rigorous approval process - similar to that required for normal homes - to keep the cubby house. The tradie employed five designers and architects who submitted plans to the council and even had an engineer inspect the cubby house before he was given approval. However, eight years later, a second neighbour has complained to the council, claiming the cubby house was an 'eyesore'. In an eight-page letter, the council has now threatened Mr Richardson with a $740,000 fine if he does not make the cubby house compliant or refuses to pull it down. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My 10-year-old thinks it's the best thing she's ever seen,' Mr Richardson told the Courier Mail. 'The fact that this person thinks that is their opinion, but it's then made the council come around, do the inspections, and send this big eight-page letter basically saying that there's a $740,000 fine if I don't become compliant.' Mr Richardson said he believes the cubby house is the only one in the country that has ever had council approval. However, the council informed Mr Richardson the original approval could not be found. Mr Richardson said he could 'easily fight' the latest complaint but did not have the energy to engage anymore. 'I don't want to upset them, because I need the council, but I just think seriously... there's bigger things than a cubby house to worry about. I just can't be bothered fighting with them,' Mr Richardson said. Despite spending 'a lot of money' to build the cubby house and have it engineer-approved, Mr Richardson is offering it for free as long as it goes to a good home. The cubby house was posted to Facebook Marketplace and comes with the condition that the person removing it does so without damaging a pizza oven built next to it. Mr Richardson added a young family has already contacted him, claiming they 'love it' and are keen to take it off his hands. 'I built this for my children, and it's got emotional value,' Mr Richardson told the Courier Mail. 'When I first heard (about the council demand), I thought that was so unfair and but now I just want to give it away to someone... It's more about making sure it goes to a good family and they enjoy it.'
Courier-Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Courier-Mail
Builder's epic $740k council fine for daughter's cubby house
An Aussie builder, who fought tooth and nail with council – even securing engineering approval – for a double-decker cubby house for his daughter, is now staring down a $740k fine. Keith Richardson has been crafting cubbies since childhood, which sparked his career as owner and managing director of Queensland-based Imagine Kit Homes. 'That is how I started way back when,' he said, 'all I wanted to do was build what we called huts at the time, we didn't call them cubby houses'. So when he had his own children, it was a no brainer that they would have the most amazing cubby he could construct – in this case a double-decker design built when his daughter, Sophie, was two. MORE: Origin star Reece Walsh's staggering windfall $74,800 rise: Aus capital leading home price spike More: Kochie warns RBA rate cut gamble could backfire Mapped: Owners of Aus' trashed islands named It was more than just a play space, he said. 'It was over engineered, and kind of a quirky little design. I made sure I had all these design specific requirements like cantilevered balconies, hardwood flooring and raked ceilings, all these things that I knew looked good on houses.' 'I wanted to make it a special sort of cubby house, and as we all know, a cubby house built on the ground isn't much fun, so that's why I put it up, not too high though.' But despite the property backing onto a main road and the cubby house blending into the tree line, a neighbour complained to the council. 'You got to have a pretty dark heart to do that,' the builder said, puzzled by his neighbour's complaint. An epic bureaucratic challenge began over the Upper Coomera cubby house, with the tiniest of houses going through a rigorous approval process akin to normal houses of grown-ups. 'I employ five designers and architects, so I put plans into council to get approval. I had to get engineers to inspect it. It was over engineered and I had to get consent. I did all that!' He's even built a granny flat on the property since which did not raise as many issues as the cubby house has with council. MORE: Cash-strap student turns $40k to 38 homes Govt pays $3.3m for unliveable derelict house Now, after eight years of peace, he has another fight looming with much more dire consequences that could put him out of pocket to the tune of $740,000 in fines. A second neighbour has complained about the cubby house – claiming it was an 'eyesore' and council has acted, again, over its removal. Mr Richardson said 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My 10-year-old thinks it's the best thing she's ever seen. The fact that this person thinks that is their opinion, but it's then made the council come around, do the inspections, and send this big eight page letter basically saying that there's a $740,000 fine if I don't become compliant.' 'I think it's the only one in Australia that has ever had council approval. They said we can't find the approval you did originally and I said well surely if you look in the cubby house approvals file, there's only one property in there, it'll be mine.' Mr Richardson told The Courier-Mail 'I could easily fight this' but he's over it all now. 'I don't want to upset them, because I need the council, but I just think seriously isn't there a cat stuck in a tree or something that they've got to go and save? There's bigger things than cubby houses to worry about. I just can't be bothered fighting with them.' MORE: ATO's dragnet: Millions of side hustles face shock tax bill Mr Richardson took to Facebook Marketplace, offering the cubby house up for free to a good home, with one condition being that in removing it they don't damage a pizza oven he built near it. 'When I first heard (about the council demand), I thought that was so unfair and but now I just want to give it away to someone. I just want someone to literally chop the four posts, lift it up with a crane, put it on the back of a truck, and take it wherever they want.' 'People have asked what's your best price? I'm like, well, it can't get any better than free.' 'It's cost me a lot of money to build it, get it engineered and everything. It's more about making sure it goes to a good family and they enjoy it.' 'I've now got a young family that live on South Straddie that have contacted me saying yes, we love it, we want it.' Mr Richardson. who has the property with the double decker cubby house rented out, said his tenants adored it. 'I hope I don't have to drop the rent because it's going'. 'I had to admit, now that the trees behind it have gone, it does stick out a bit. It's just that I built this for my children, and it's got emotional value.' MORE REAL ESTATE NEWS
News.com.au
6 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Builder's epic $740k council fine for daughter's cubby house
An Aussie builder, who fought tooth and nail with council - even securing engineering approval - for a double-decker cubby house for his daughter, is now staring down a $740k fine. Keith Richardson has been crafting cubbies since childhood, which sparked his career as owner and managing director of Queensland-based Imagine Kit Homes. 'That is how I started way back when,' he said, 'all I wanted to do was build what we called huts at the time, we didn't call them cubby houses'. So when he had his own children, it was a no brainer that they would have the most amazing cubby he could construct - in this case a double-decker design built when his daughter, Sophie, was two. More: Kochie warns RBA rate cut gamble could backfire It was more than just a play space, he said. 'It was over engineered, and kind of a quirky little design. I made sure I had all these design specific requirements like cantilevered balconies, hardwood flooring and raked ceilings, all these things that I knew looked good on houses.' 'I wanted to make it a special sort of cubby house, and as we all know, a cubby house built on the ground isn't much fun, so that's why I put it up, not too high though.' But despite the property backing onto a main road and the cubby house blending into the tree line, a neighbour complained to the council. 'You got to have a pretty dark heart to do that,' the builder said, puzzled by his neighbour's complaint. An epic bureaucratic challenge began over the Upper Coomera cubby house, with the tiniest of houses going through a rigorous approval process akin to normal houses of grown-ups. 'I employ five designers and architects, so I put plans into council to get approval. I had to get engineers to inspect it. It was over engineered and I had to get consent. I did all that!' He's even built a granny flat on the property since which did not raise as many issues as the cubby house has with council. MORE: Cash-strap student turns $40k to 38 homes Govt pays $3.3m for unliveable derelict house Now, after eight years of peace, he has another fight looming with much more dire consequences that could put him out of pocket to the tune of $740,000 in fines. A second neighbour has complained about the cubby house - claiming it was an 'eyesore' and council has acted, again, over its removal. Mr Richardson said 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My 10-year-old thinks it's the best thing she's ever seen. The fact that this person thinks that is their opinion, but it's then made the council come around, do the inspections, and send this big eight page letter basically saying that there's a $740,000 fine if I don't become compliant.' 'I think it's the only one in Australia that has ever had council approval. They said we can't find the approval you did originally and I said well surely if you look in the cubby house approvals file, there's only one property in there, it'll be mine.' Mr Richardson told The Courier-Mail 'I could easily fight this' but he's over it all now. 'I don't want to upset them, because I need the council, but I just think seriously isn't there a cat stuck in a tree or something that they've got to go and save? There's bigger things than cubby houses to worry about. I just can't be bothered fighting with them.' MORE: ATO's dragnet: Millions of side hustles face shock tax bill Mr Richardson took to Facebook Marketplace, offering the cubby house up for free to a good home, with one condition being that in removing it they don't damage a pizza oven he built near it. 'When I first heard (about the council demand), I thought that was so unfair and but now I just want to give it away to someone. I just want someone to literally chop the four posts, lift it up with a crane, put it on the back of a truck, and take it wherever they want.' 'People have asked what's your best price? I'm like, well, it can't get any better than free.' 'It's cost me a lot of money to build it, get it engineered and everything. It's more about making sure it goes to a good family and they enjoy it.' 'I've now got a young family that live on South Straddie that have contacted me saying yes, we love it, we want it.' Mr Richardson. who has the property with the double decker cubby house rented out, said his tenants adored it. 'I hope I don't have to drop the rent because it's going'. 'I had to admit, now that the trees behind it have gone, it does stick out a bit. It's just that I built this for my children, and it's got emotional value.'
