Funmore Residence

We Have Moved In

2010-05-05T20:24:00.011+10:00

We are finally in our home with only the pictures to be hung and the inside would have been done. We can already fit one car in the garage and by the end of the week both cars will be locked away safe & warm, not a bad effort in a week.

Handover went very smoothly and the only things to be done were very minor and I am only waiting on the outside windows to be cleaned as the Construction Manager wasn’t happy.

I must say I have been very happy with my builder and in particular my Construction Manager Adrian. His standards are very high and considering some of the horror stories I have heard my builder has been a dream to deal with.

My planning worked a treat and everything I ordered arrived on time or early, well nearly everything, I still don’t have foxtel, it would appear that Telstra needed longer than the 2 months I gave them. It has taken numerous phone calls, an official complaint, which they have not called me back on and in the end I called foxtel to get the install done and I will transfer later on.

Fair dinkum Telstra are an ordinary mob when it comes to customer service and if I could get adsl and other providers had their network coverage I would not be a customer of theirs in a pink fit. They think they are losing customers because of people moving away from fixed lines, I can tell you it’s because their service is so far down the sewer I am not sure they could ever improve. If you own shares dump them because the service I have received means they are on a downward spiral to oblivion.

I would also like to acknowledge all our family & friends that helped us over the weekend, without their support and hours of toil we could have hoped to un pack as many boxes, build a fence & a gate and we certainly would have gone nuts with our kids snapping at our heels while running around.

Also a big thankyou to MrsB's parents who put up with all 5 of us for 5 and a bit months, thier support was amazing and we couldn't have done this without them.

The kids love their new home and it was like Christmas with all thier old toys coming out of storage so apart from being skint and being left with a mud pile and no dishwasher for months we couldn’t be happier.

Below are some photos taken early on Saturday morning before the removalists arrived.

Photo looking towards the rumpus with the bi-fold doors open

Photo looking towards the rumpus with the bi-fold doors closed

Photo looking towards the front door with the bi-fold doors open

Front door with flash on the camera

Front door with no flash on the camera

Another shot looking down to the rumpus

The kitchen

The family room and my new entertainment unit

Main bedroom

Ensuite & walk in robe

Ensuite

Our shower

Transition from carpet to tiles

Laundry

Bathroom

Bathroom shower

Our Towel Ladder

Hallway down to kids bedrooms

Transition from carpet to bamboo boards

I may just have a break from posting but many thanks to you all for taking an interest and passing on your good wishes

Ciao

PCI & 10 Days to Go

2010-04-20T21:32:00.004+10:00

Well what a week we have had. At one stage it looked like we were not going to make it & I seriously considered delaying our move in date & I still may do that except now I am a lot more comfortable and confident that it will all work out.

We had our Project Completion Inspection (PCI) today and while it might have been a little early we needed to do it now so I could get the ball rolling with the bank.

I must say I am very pleased and most of my issues are very minor, a touch of paint here a fly screen required there. There are some big ticket items still missing like a driveway, hot water service, Air/Con vent, security doors, fly wire screens, insulation, oven, gas hot plates, range hood & all up there are 37 items.

For the big ticket stuff I have a schedule of them being completed and the driveway guy started while I was there so once again I am confident we can make it and my Construction Manager (CM) has told me to come around again next Tuesday to see the finished result. I suspect Wednesday and since I will only be able to make it first thing in the morning I will suggest Wednesday the 28th.

All I need is the Certificate of Occupancy to start the ball rolling with the bank. I should get that tomorrow and if I do it should be all systems go for a 10am handover on Friday April 30 where after 328 days we will be in our new home and once again I will be king of my little castle, woo hoo!!!

Below are some pictures of the house taken over the last week.

10 Days to Go, cant wait!

311 days down 17 to go

2010-04-13T21:22:00.000+10:00

I spoke with my Construction Manager (CM) today and it would appear I jumped the gun on appointing blame for the telephone cable & fit off. The dodgy so & so’s who did the crappy work was Telstra and considering their reputation and the fact they have waived the $300 installation fee I guess I am stuck with their workmanship, well at least to handover when I fix it.

When talking to my CM he informed me that our driveway will be installed by the end of the week, as will our bamboo floor. The plasterer comes in on Wednesday and the painter is due on Friday. There is the first wave of cleaning on Monday the 19th with the carpet being laid on the morning of Tuesday the 20th.

That means our project completion inspection (PCI) is in the afternoon of Tuesday the 20th of April. This time in a week we would have seen 99.9% of the finished article, only another clean, an oven and hotplates to go, oh and any thing we find in the inspection.

The countdown has begun and MrsB and I are starting to get very keen and increasingly impatient. Considering we walked into the sales office on Saturday June 6th 2009 it’s been a long 311 days so far.

By the time we get the keys it will be 328 days since we walked into the sales office and decided to build a house, 300 days since we signed the building contract and 218 days since construction started.

When you have already been waiting 311 days, another 17 doesn’t seem so bad.

The End Game

2010-04-12T21:01:00.004+10:00

I was always warned that the most difficult part of building was the end game because this the time that the plastering, the painting and the fit off occurs and it is this time where the quality of the finish matters.

Well the fit off is well underway and I have already noticed some “issues” which I have escalated to the Construction Manager via head office. I have decided to document my issues so that they can’t complain I have not given them fair warning I expect these issues dealt with prior to handover.

The plumber has finished, apart from the gas cooktop and hot water service and to date I cant fault his workmanship.

The tiler has done a wonderful job and the painter apart from not being able to read a colour selection chart has done on the whole a good job. The AirCon guy apart from stuffing up one outlet has also done a good job. I have a bulge in the plaster wall in the garage & I would expect that it will be fixed, surely a bulging wall is not “commercially acceptable”

I have discovered this term “commercially acceptable” and the cynic in me says it’s a dodgy clause used by builders to get away with shoddy work. Now I should give my builder the benefit of the doubt as this issue was only discovered by me on Saturday so they still have time to fix it and they have not come to me and said they wouldn’t so time will tell.

One trade I am not happy with is the sparkie. The exterior power point for the water tank pump is shoddy and the way they have connected the phone line to the Telstra box is just plain unacceptable. In my email to the builder I stated that I believed it was the work of an unsupervised 1st year apprentice, surely a fully qualified tradesman wouldn’t be proud of that kind of work.

As I said I will give the benefit of the doubt to my builder that these issues and more will be addressed, including the missing power point in the extra kitchen cupboard, the silly idiot electrician wired for it, just didn’t fit it off!!

Our Strand Woven Bamboo Borads, cant wait to see them actually laid.

The ensuite toilet, I am actually impressed with our "standard" toilet

Ensuite sink & taps, again we are happy with the standard

The main toilet, obviously its just the same as the other one

Bathroom sink & taps, again they match the ensuite, funny that!!

The external power point. It should have 2 conduit clips and the hole should be filled with silicone to stop moisture entering the walls.

This piece of workmanship is simply not good enough and is rough & lazy. One they should have used conduit to ensure the Telstra box was over the hole or at least used conduit from the hole and again there is no silicone, tsk tsk. This will be fixed.

Our door handles, another standard item

It would appear people are using our site as a rubbish dump, garden waste appeared last week and now a whole heap of MaxFactor makeup boxes have been dumped. If I was the builder I would be pissed off. I wonder which neighbour is the culprit?

I plan to play fussy bugger and be very stubborn to ensure a tip top finish, besides they stung me hard over the crossover, so if I have to stick to the contract, so do they. I just hope our relationship, which has been good too date doesn’t degenerate into a slanging match, I still want my keys on April 30

A month to go

2010-04-05T21:27:00.007+10:00

Well its Easter and a few months ago, well even late Jan I thought we would be in by now but no.

We have had more progress in that the electrical fit off is almost complete and the showers are in. We also got our quote to move our crossover.

Now thanks to the council stipulating certain concrete thicknesses etc and the builder whacking on his 20% margin our quote came to an additional $5,150.

To say I was shocked was an understatement and the builder & I spent half an hour debating the “fairness” in the 20% margin when he stuffed up the original driveway allowance and they have had other crossover issues in the estate and our street.

In the end he stuck to his contract and for the sake of having one person on the hook for the whole house and to have a functional driveway and handover date of the 30th of April I have accepted the hit and will somehow come up with the additional $3000 after I had budgeted $2000.

I guess its swings & roundabouts because now I want that 10 cent sized dent in the toilet window fixed. I don’t care that he may have to replace the whole window frame and remove bricks to get it out, my contract states a house with no defects and that’s what I expect. I have also been mentioning it for the last few months so they cant say I haven’t warned them. They also have to patch the ceiling so I will be very keen to ensure the paint work is spot on.

It could be a very interesting month and I just hope that handover is not affected.

Below are some of the latest pics

The above 3 photos are of our tile splashback and how it looks with our benchtop. Mrs B wanted to lay the tiles in a "brick" format, I didn't and obviously I now carry the can if it looks bad. I like it though, MrsB says its "OK"

The above shots are from our ensuite including our "decorative tile". We went with the same theme in the main bathroom shown below. You can also see our floor tiles, a little dusty of course.

Our AirCon condenser below

Another shot of the front with the yet to be rectified front door and main beam.

We are so close now I am very excited but I also know the fun with the builder on the quality of the finish may draw things out. I hope not but after being reminded about the terms in my contract with the cross over I have every intention of them honouring their part of the contract, lets hope it all doesn’t turn pear shaped right at the end.

Some things done & some not

2010-03-30T21:49:00.002+11:00

Last week I made a list of the things I had to do and what the builder had to do & we both have ticked some items off the list.

The tiling is complete and I must say I am happy about it; I am not so sure Mrs B is. You see she wanted our tiles in the kitchen to be laid in a “Brick” style but I wanted the traditional one on to of the other style and after the tiler said the brick style would look odd with such a large rectangular tile I was on a winner and in the end I got my way.

The decorative tiles in the shower look good and the floor tiles are understated as we wanted. I don’t have photos as I didn’t have the camera on me when I snuck in, but I will sort something out in the next couple of weeks.

The AirCon condenser has been installed and the toilet window replaced and that’s about it. I still don’t have the quote for the driveway and the sparkie has not started his fit off.

It looks like twice weekly phone calls and emails are on the cards yet again as I feel a more “active” approach from myself is necessary, especially if we are to make the PCI date of April 19.

I on the other hand have been busy and I have purchased my home entertainment “kit” and I have organised Telstra & Foxtel. I was right and I only have one choice of ISP and its Telstra Wireless, at least they have dropped their prices a bit.

The whole program relies on hand over occurring no later than April 30 as I have organised the removalist, the bed delivery, the blinds to be installed and my home entertainment “kit” & unit to be delivered all on Saturday the 1st of May. I will try and get the antenna guy also but I won’t be too fussed if this doesn’t happen.

The dishwasher and microwave will arrive on Monday the 3rd as does the Telstra technician and brining up the rear on Tuesday the 4th is the Foxtel man.

All I need now is the keys

Whats left to do

2010-03-25T20:46:00.006+11:00

Now that we are so close to handover, well after signing building contracts on July 4 2009, April 30 is not far away, I thought I would make a list of things that have to happen both on the building front and what we have to do.

Builders List

Tiles in the bathroom, ensuite, laundry, toilet and kitchen (done)

Plumbing fit off (taps, connect the sinks, toilets, gas hot plates etc)

Install the Hot Water Unit

Electrical fit out (power points inside & out, battens, downlights & oven)

Air Con Condenser (done)

Driveway & path

Concrete the veranda & alfresco

Fix the painting stuff ups

Garage roller doors, both of them

Install the last AirCon/Heater vent

Commission the AirCon/Heater

Mount the doors and attach the door handles

Install the sliding security doors

Lay the carpet

Install the bamboo floorboards

Install the shower shelves, towel ladders, toilet roll holders & rails in the wardrobes

Clean the house

Clear the block (hopefully the weeds also)

I think that’s it

My List

Organise the removalist to deliver our stuff from storage (done)

Organise our leather couch delivery (done)

Organise our new bed delivery (done)

Organise the purchase & install of our Holland blinds (done)

Fit off the ceiling speakers, wall plates and data points

Organise gates

Organise delivery of our entertainment unit (done)

Go and purchase dishwasher, microwave, toaster & kettle (still not sure why we need a new kettle & toaster but I am assured we do)

Go purchase my new home entertainment setup (done)

Organise an TV antenna

Organise Foxtel (done)

Kitchen rubbish bin

Get a letterbox

Organise telephone connection (done)

Organise internet (I only had the massive choice of 1, Telstra wireless D’oH but its done)

I think that’s it

It does sound like quite a lot to do but really its just coordination and pre-planning, which as I do that sort of thing for a living its pretty straight forward and easy.

I just cant wait to move in

Painting complete, well sort of

2010-03-22T21:55:00.004+11:00

Well the painting is done, well sort of as they made a couple of mistakes, like painting our front door and side light 2 different colours when we said we want the whole lot Manor Red, inside & out.

The also stuffed up the main beam on the veranda and got a little paint on our ensuite vanity unit but overall they look to have done a decent job.

We have a water tank and all the AirCon / Heater vents are in except one and the return air and control units are on the wall.

We met the tiler on Saturday and they should be finished off tomorrow. The sparkie is due back this week and I assume the plumber won’t be too far behind.

With all this progress you would think we would get in early but alas upon speaking with our Construction Manager we have decided that April 30 it is. He said it maybe a week or two early but definitely April 30 with an PCI on or about April 20.

I have decided on certainty then I can organise the removalists, furniture delivery, foxtel and the bed all to come within a coupe of days of handover. We plan to stay with my in-laws for a few days because we can un-pack and sort everything out, install gates etc without the kiddies under our feet and then by Wednesday after 4 days hard yakka it should all be done, well nearly all done.

We had a second “Blind” guy come a do a measure & quote which I am waiting on but we have decided not to worry about the outside blinds until spring, we will know which windows will need it by then and we simply can’t afford it now. The last guy quoted $3250 for 6 outside blinds last week and that money can be better spent right now. He did quote $5000 for the inside blinds that consisted of 10 double rollers and 3 single roller blinds of various sizes.

I have posted photos of the front door and the water tank as well as a few other items, I am sure you will work it out.

There is one outstanding item and that’s the driveway, more specifically the cross-over, it needs to be moved and we are awaiting the quote for that one, I have a bad feeling it will hurt and we have no choice if we want a functional driveway.

Let Me Paint A Picture

2010-03-15T22:35:00.002+11:00

Well it took Michelangelo about 4 years to paint the Sistine Chapel but in just over a week our place will be painted in all its "hogs bristle" glory.

We went out on Saturday and the painters were almost finished and should be done tomorrow. I am told the tiling will be done this week and the sparkie might just start the electrical fit off also, I won’t hold my breath on that one.

So overall we are getting there and while the builder said an Easter handover is not going to happen he is very confident that he will make the April 30 contract end date. I say so he bloody should, there is bugger all left to do & if he takes another 7 weeks I think I will have a tantrum, I know how they work I have a 2 & half yo for inspiration.

Anyway there are a couple of pictures below our the painters work site to give you an idea of how its looking.

On a side note I didn’t see my neighbours car in my garage, so maybe he has stopped doing it, I told my builder anyway so in the end I will demand a perfect garage and if he has an issue he can take it up with my neighbour.

We will be heading out again on Saturday for our second measure & quote on blinds, I hope it’s a bit cheaper than the first one!!

Not much to report

2010-03-06T21:18:00.000+11:00

Well we managed to dodge most of the very bad weather over in the outer east but it still bucketed down so we planned a very quick visit and just as well.

When we arrived we noticed all the windows had plastic all over them, a bit like Dexter had prepared his “work area”.

I did find one window with no plastic and it was obvious the painters had started but not quite finished. What I could see was good and I think we have done ok with our colour choice but next weekend will be good as we get in while we have a measure & quote done on our blinds.

The only other quirky thing today was our over the road neighbour had decided to park his ute in our garage. Now I guess I shouldn’t mind but I did notice some tyre marks on the fresh concrete floor, so they had better be gone or words will be spoken. Also I presume it was a once off to avoid the expected hail and if that is the case no worries, but if I see it again next week, then words will be spoken!!

Anyway no pictures this week and there was nothing to see, but next week should yield and good deal of new shots.

Fixing Is Complete

2010-03-02T22:43:00.002+11:00

Well a genuine pattern is forming with good progress each week. Fixing is now complete and I have cut out for my speakers and according to our Construction Manager the painting started today.

So what remains to be done?

Now lets see; the painting, tiling of the kitchen (wall only), bathrooms, toilet & laundry. The laying of the carpet and floorboards, the electrical fit off and plumbing fit off. The installation of the air con condenser, the solar gas boosted hot water service and the water tank and let’s not forget the concrete veranda, alfresco, driveway & path.

Other than that we are done, oh and an oven and gas cook top, but then we are done!!

Below are some pictures including my speaker cut out.

We have arranged for the blinds to be measured in the 13th of March and I plan to ask once again, when is handover? If they tell me April 30 again I will scream aaaghhhh

Slow & Steady

2010-02-22T21:09:00.003+11:00

It’s a recurring theme but slowly does it is probably best to describe our build this year. Where as last year we went weeks with nothing happening this year a few things just happen every week and as I said last week eventually they will run out of things to do and just hand us the keys.

I certainly prefer slow but steady progress than the stop start approach.

This week saw the plastering completed except for the ceiling in the alfresco. The garage floor poured and about a 1/3 of the architrave work completed. Some of the wardrobes have started but alas, not all the down lights have been cut out so I still cant cut out for my ceiling mounted speakers. I spoke with our Construction Manager and apparently I will be able to do this tomorrow or Wednesday.

Below you will find some photos and for the first time they have all be taken from outside as we stuck by our vow not to enter the house. This is mainly to save any potential issues with the kids causing damage but depending on what sort of progress has been made and what is left laying around we still reserve the right to use our magic key!!!

We hope that by next weekend with some extra effort the “fixing” stage will be completed thus leaving open the possibility of a handover this side of Easter, woo hoo!!

Slowly Getting There

2010-02-15T22:19:00.006+11:00

Another week and more progress, if they keep this up eventually the builders will have nothing left but to hand over the keys!!

This week we had the bricks washed and I must say we are very happy with our selection. The kitchen was finished off, all our doors have arrived along with the skirting and architraves, all they need to do is fit them.

The electrical cut out is almost done, only a few more down lights and they will be ready for me to go in and cut out my speakers. The bathrooms have had the waterproof paint applied to where the tiles will go and there is steel reo ready for the garage, veranda and alfresco to be poured.

We hope that fixing will be complete in the next fortnight opening up the possibility that we will be in by Easter.

I did notice one thing, fresh tape over the side door lock, so maybe we have been found out. Its there fault for leaving a key on the ground but we have decided to stop entering the house, mainly because the kids are getting to the stage where they could do some damage. It was good while it lasted!!

Below are the latest pics and we may sneak in when some more significant changes have occurred but for now we will settle on these and what we can take through the windows.

I ordered our entertainment unit this week and here is a picture of it, we are getting it stained darker, a chocolate colour. Its huge, solid and most importantly it will fit the centre speaker, amp, a foxtel box and a blu-ray player.

We also ordered our bathroom accessories this week, a towel ladder, shower shelf and toilet roll holder for each of the bathrooms and toilets.

There is not to much more we can buy just yet but as soon as we have the window frames finished inside I will arrange for a quote on the blinds. Other than that it’s just another week where we hope that more things completed and we move closer to handover!!

We Have A Kitchen

2010-02-07T16:18:00.004+11:00

Well it has been a while since my last post and I think I have a good excuse, its not that here hasn’t been progress on the house, there has been. No its just the little fact that child number 3 arrived on Tuesday the 19th of Jan, another boy which makes 3 under 3!!!!

Anyway this blog is about our house and a few things have been completed like all the in-fills, plastering, air-con set-up and best of all, our kitchen is in!!

Kitchen Benchtop - Kashmire Granite (Diamond Gloss)

Ensuite Cabinet & Benchtop (Brook Pebble Dimensions Finish)

I caught up with our Construction Manager (CM) last week to officially check in on the progress and we are ahead of schedule so when I asked for a estimated handover date I was told the 30th of April, that’s over 12 weeks to do the electrical cut out & fit off, the plumbing fit off, architraves etc, paint, lay the driveway & lay the floors.

Now considering the amount achieved to date I am disappointed it won’t be any earlier than 5 days prior to the contracted finish. Then again I shouldn’t have expected anything less and already 2 things that were supposed to happen this week didn’t.

I will just have to learn some patience, something I struggle with!

We Keep Moving Forward

2010-01-17T23:27:00.002+11:00

Another week passes and we have more progress, which considering I was told hardly anything would be done over the holidays I am quite pleased with what actually has been completed prior to the official start work date which is tomorrow.

The plastering is almost complete, just some cornices and spotting (I think its called that, you know where they join the sheets of plaster) in the walk in robe and the laundry and the house is done. The only remaining area to be plastered is the garage.

The in-fills have been completed, the eve under the veranda has been done and the concrete footings for the aircon condenser has also been done.

The one issue we do have is the aircon guys have cut out all the vents, they happen to be perfect circles, only issue is we specified and paid extra for square registers so they will be fixing that little mistake. I will ring the Construction Manager tomorrow and point this out, I am sure he would rather know now instead after things have been painted!

All that’s left to do inside is the architraves, doors, cabinets and kitchen, painting and the electrical & plumbing fit-off, shouldn’t take em too long!!!!

Below are some pictures of the finished off plaster work.

Its been amazing to see what they have done while on holidays, lets hope we get even more progress when they are officially back on the job, I guess I will find out next weekend.

Totally Plastered

2010-01-12T21:21:00.009+11:00

Well it happens to the best of us, its that time of year, you know where you over indulge and maybe enjoy a few too many bevies and you wind up PLASTERED!!

Yes, god bless the plasterers and short holidays because on a visit over the weekend most of the plastering is complete, just the cornices, the edging and joins to be finished off.

Its funny, someone told me that your house looks bigger once its plastered and I thought they were having a laugh, but its true and it’s the first time the interior looks like a house.

We have started the year off well so lets hope the rapid progress continues.

Below are photos of the inside, obviously the outside hasn’t changed

From the front door right down to rumpus room with the lounge room to the left

Back of family room towards front door

The kitchen and back sliding door

The bathroom

Toilet

Hallway to bedroom's 3 & 4 with the toilet and laundry to the right

Laundry

Bedroom 4

Bedroom 3

Kitchen, well soon anyway

Main Bedroom

Ensuite to the right and walk in robe to the left

From the Rumpus looking through to the family room

Bedroom 2

You can always look at the plan by clicking on it on the right hand side menu and I have added an interior panoramic shot that we will attempt to use to document our progress inside.

Lock Up, well sort of!!

2009-12-28T21:41:00.006+11:00

Its amazing what can be achieved when a concentrated effort is made on your house. Over the last couple of weeks we have seen the roof completed, the wiring installed, the water & gas pipes installed, the Heater/AirCon units installed as well as the required copper pipes and wiring for the condenser. Two thirds of the ceiling has been plastered and our bath & shower bases installed.

As you can imagine we are at lockup, and as such our builder has sent us an invoice and I plan to pay it. The only thing is the brick work is not quite finished. It would appear our broken window is not fixed and the broken one is back in place. Maybe they realised the replacement that was there last Tuesday wasn’t double glazed as per our 5 star energy rating required!!!

Overall I am very happy and I only hope the progress continues at close to the same pace as the last two weeks when they return from holidays.

Below are pictures of our place and some of my handy work, in the cables I ran and wall plates I installed, top notch quality work that!!!!!

Our tiny Elfresco, which will be a nice place to store the kids toys and shoes come winter

A view from the runpus and through our two eldest kids bedrooms

Our Lounge Room

Mr & Mrs B's Bedroom (with the spare front window frame)

The Kitchen

Where the AirCon Condensor will be installed

The AirCon Pipes, nicely hidden behind the bricks which cost me a small fortune!!

Hot Water Service, well the pipes anyway

Our switchboard with an old fashioned 2-wire meter. No doubt I will be charged for the privilage of having a smart meter installed later on down the track. I dont mind waiting because those smart meters are not that kind as they allow the power company to shut you down if they think your using too much power on those very hot days. Nice of them to protect thier equipement by shutting down my AirCon!!!!

Our Gas Ducted Heater

The Add-On Refrigerated Air-Con Unit

Can you spot those insulated copper pipes for the AirCon?

The wall plates I installed are on the left, you could tell, they look better than the ones the sparkie installed!!!

Its hard to see but my speaker cables, data cable and the string line is what I installed. I left a nice clean run for the Foxtel man, lets hope he appreciates it

The other end of the data cable

I didnt take photos of my speaker cables when I ran them in, but the plasterers thought they would leave one for me to photograph later on!

Also over the weekend we popped into our family friend’s house down the end of the street, the one’s who have the same house as ours, just a little bigger and it was built by the same builder. If our finish is up to their standard I will be very happy with the finished product.

They say there is no action until the 18th of Jan but I have heard the plasterers wish to complete our house by then so maybe in a couple of weeks we will have our place completely plastered!!

We also used the last couple of days to start purchasing those items that we need to fill the house and have a couple of months lead time to get, such as our bed. We went to the local bed shop and managed to pick a very sturdy hardwood bed and mattress that was divine, unfortunately we have to wait until the house is finished to enjoy it.

We also picked up a new bed for our eldest as he will have to give his convertible bed to our youngest who will have to give up his cot to our soon to be born third child (did you follow that!!!)

I have now decided on the makeup of our home entertainment components and so the final piece of the puzzle is the entertainment cabinet. Some Google searching has identified some candidates and over the next couple of weekends I hope to nail that purchase down also.

Until then I trust everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you a fantastic New Year.

Cabling Done & Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T12:59:00.003+11:00

I went to the house yesterday after work and installed my speaker cables and data cable. Now I can say I helped build our house!! I am sure over the years my physical contribution will grow to the point where I built the whole thing!!

It took me a couple of hours but its worth it as now things are hidden and I am ready to fit off as soon as they finish painting.

It also gave me a good opportunity to check things out and marvel at yet more progress.

The sparky & plumber have finished and the platform to hold the Heater/AirCon unit has been completed. The only issue with that is the size of the platform and the fact I wont be able to install the speakers I wanted to as I will be limited to a mounting depth of 100mm, and the speakers I had chosen have a mounting depth of 138mm, D’Oh!!

Oh well after a bit of research and I have identified two alternatives which both have pros & cons, not too worry, I have a few months to make a decision anyway.

Now the brickies have not quite finished, it would appear someone broke the window to the front bedroom and I can tell you that the Construction manager (CM) is none to pleased about it either. It’s double glazed as part of our 5 star energy rating and because no tradie owned up it comes out of the builders pocket, ouch!!

Anyway my CM confirmed that the plastering is being done and should be completed by tomorrow and the bricks and infill should be done by tomorrow also, which means we have completed lockup by Christmas and with the plastering done we are already into the fixing stage. A mid March handover just become a possibility again, Woo Hoo.

We will venture over to the house on Boxing Day and check it all out. I will post pictures then but in the mean time Merry Christmas to all and may all our tradies come back from holidays refreshed and ready to go!!!!

Finally some action

2009-12-19T17:25:00.006+11:00

Its Saturday so its time to visit the new house and see what has happened in the last week.

Now I didn’t have my hopes up as I had tried to contact our Construction Manager (CM) to see how things had gone and organise a key so I could get into the house and run the speaker cables and data cable.

I rang twice on Thursday & once on Friday with no luck, he didn’t return my calls, which you can imagine, I found quite frustrating and its poor form in my opinion.

So we arrived on site and not only had there been progress but “Dave” the plumber was there packing up. He kindly let us in and gave us an update as to where he was at.

So we have all the gas pipes done, the bath and 2 shower bases are in and the ensuite has its water pipes run in. The copper pipe work for the hot water service is done and all that’s left is the water pipes for the kitchen, laundry and bathroom.

The sparky has been and all the power has been run in and all the wall plates for the GPO’s and light switches installed. The lighting needs to be finished off and then he is done, for now anyway.

The brickies are almost finished and by the looks of things another couple of days & they will be all done apart from washing the bricks. The roof has been completed but when they replaced one broken tile they have damaged another, so I will let them know and I am sure it will be replaced.

The ducted heating / AirCon ducts have been installed with the pan and platform ready for the ducted heating and AirCon units.

So overall I am very pleased and if they keep up this level of activity then we should have lockup by next Wednesday no problems, all I need a is a key so I can run my cables. If we don’t manage to get one then I am sure I will work something out and they will just magically appear, if you know what I mean.

Below are pictures and I have updated the latest site photo, click on any of them for a better look.

Talk about timing, as we were about to leave some of the MaxyB extended family arrived to have a look at our house, lucky for them we managed to get back into the house and give them the grand tour. I had to appologise as I couldnt offer them a cold beer, but there is always next time, and for us next week, I cant wait to see what they have done.

Would You Believe?

2009-12-14T22:24:00.000+11:00

I rang my Construction Manager (CM) to find out what was going on and what he planned to achieve prior to the Christmas shutdown.

First off the CM stated work stops on the 23rd of December, not the 19th as I had previously been told, mind you they don’t come back until the 18th of Jan, a week later than I thought, so overall no real change as they have 3 weeks off.

I asked if he still planned to get to lock up by the 23rd and he said yes, the brickies were there today and they would be there again Wednesday and for the rest of the week after that. OK that sounds good.

I asked if the plumbing would be done and again he said “yes that should be done Thursday”, the electrical work I asked, “Friday the sparky is due”, mmm so can I wire up my speakers this weekend, “yes you have to”, why is that I asked, he replied that the plasterers are not taking too much time off and want to plaster the place by the 18th of Jan. As a result he has to have all the plumbing, aircon / heater works, electrical wiring, bricks and in-fills done by the 23rd of December.

Now all this sounds fantastic but I am not getting my hopes up. I have a little mental picture of Maxwell Smart going would you believe in a week you will see so much progress that only the wet areas and fit off remain? Would you believe 2 weeks?

It all sounds too good to be true

The plan is to call him on Thursday to confirm I can do my wiring and organise a key (can’t let them know I don’t really need one!!!). Then on Saturday or Sunday I will go over and run my 4 speaker wires, run a string line for the foxtel cable and run my cat6 data cable from where the computer will go to the TV.

If all that happens by Christmas Day then a mid March handover is back on the agenda.

I guess I just have to believe.

The Joys of Building - 5

2009-12-13T21:32:00.001+11:00

The Joys of Building, I have used this expression a few times now so I thought I may take the opportunity to explain what I mean by “The Joys of Building”

I was warned a number of times that building your own place takes patience, and I can tell you they are on the money, because there have been a number of occasions where I want to ring the builder and asking him in an non too polite manner, “what the fig are you doing” “when will you actually do something?”

There are times when you look outside the window and go this is a lovely day to build a house, then you find out it’s a lovely day to build someone else’s house!!

There are times when you ring your Construction Manager (CM) and ask what they hope to achieve in the next two weeks and they go into great detail of what they are going to do. Trouble is, 5 weeks later they still haven’t completed what they said they would do 3 weeks ago.

You have to love it that they give you 7 days to make a stage payment and expect this to be done quick smart or the threat of 20% penalty interest hangs over your head, yet you see no real progress over three weeks and wonder how do I put a rocket up them?

You ask when something will be finished and your told “if they get out there tomorrow they will finish it off then” what happens when that tomorrow was 2 weeks ago.

I guess I use the term “The Joys of Building” as a simple way to say I am pissed off and angry and if they were my employees there would be getting a right royal talking too, yet as many of you know, when your building a house that kind of thing wont get you anything more than increased frustration & anger.

I am sick of being told something will happen when the reality is NOTHING happens.

Over the last two weeks the only things that have happened on our site is a temporary front door, some support framework removed and bricks distributed around the house, I am guessing a few hours work, so in my book absolutely sweet F all has happened and its really getting me, well you should have the idea by now.

The fun part is when I will call my CM tomorrow and ask the question again, “Will you get to lockup by the Christmas shutdown”? This just happens to be this Saturday (19/12). Now I have asked this question at least 4 times and each time he has said yes and tomorrow I expect to be told no, which will be very disappointing as well as frustrating because over the last 6 weeks I think our site has seen at most 7 days worth of activity, simply not enough.

I will sign off now, obviously there are no new photos and I hope by the time I post again next weekend I can report some progress rather than vent my frustrations by filling up a page on a website!!

Slow Progress

2009-12-09T22:43:00.006+11:00

It was a nice sunny day and I had a phone call from our Construction Manager (CM) on Monday so we thought, yeh there would be progress, let’s make a quick dash and have a look at the house.

Well there had been progress, just not a lot!!

We have a front door, albeit temporary, two of our the three gables installed and all the temporary supports taken out of the frame now that the roof is on. The roof is yet to be finished though!!

Its nice to see a clean shell inside and to be able to walk around, and I guess having it “lockable” so to speak means the plumbers and sparkies can do their bit, I am a little disappointed at the pace, or should I say lack of pace in our build.

I simply can’t see them getting to lockup by the 18th. The only good sign is the house around the corner, the one we seem to have to wait for nearly has all its brick work completed and our CM told me that once they finish there they will move on to our place.

I know it only takes 2 people a day to do the wiring and a couple of days to run the copper pipe through, so I guess lockup is achievable by Christmas, I just don’t think we will get there.

Anyway here are some pictures from todaywith an updated site photo, just click on any photo for a better look.

We wont make our usual Saturday visit but we will get out there on Sunday and we hope there is some more substantial progress.

Also I would like to thank my Dad for his eagle eye and willingness to make an early morning visit to the site for the fact that I have a way of entering the house when it is locked up, very sneaky, but extremely handy I say, thanks Dad & Marg

We Have a Roof

2009-12-07T22:06:00.005+11:00

No mid-week visits this week as there wasn’t enough time and it would have meant another wasted visit on Saturday.

A little birdie told us on Thursday that we had a roof and a conversation with our Construction Manager (CM) confirmed this on Friday. He said the tiles had been done but it had not been “pointed” and “if they had time” they would finish that off by Saturday.

When we arrived it was quite obvious they didn’t have time but it was nice to see some progress and that our roof tile & gutter / fascia selection looked good.

Front Veranda

From the neighbours front yard

Inside the roof

Out Back

More of the backyard

Garage

There is not much more to report except to say the builders are on site today as I received a phone call from our CM asking me which way I would like the front door to open. It would appear the proper door frame has arrived, just one thing it opens the wrong way! so I said, no I want it how its shown on the plans.

I hope this means we will get our roof pointed and the bricks will start being laid around the remainder of the house. I keep being told lockup will occur by the xmas shutdown but I am growing more sceptical by the day as it would require a work effort I am yet to see on our site.

I did go out and complete one of those many side tasks in that I purchased my speaker cable and data cable, that way I am ready to get on site and run the cables prior to the plastering. I got away with it cheaper than I originally thought which is always nice.

Oh well I guess that’s it for another week, but hey maybe a mid-week visit is needed and hopefully another update to the blog is required!!!

Some progress, just not on the house!

2009-11-29T21:07:00.002+11:00

As suspected, there was no progress from Wednesday; they are probably waiting on our cheque for the Frame stage, the cheque should be in their letterbox tomorrow so they can start up again.

We did achieve a couple of things on Saturday, we confirmed the windows in our front door and we purchased a couch.

While we had decided on the make & model of front door I was having second thoughts on the window inserts, should we have clear, obscure or translucent glass?

We had ordered and payed for the translucent glass and after a drive out to Campbellfield to the Corinthian showroom we made our selection, translucent!! So really no change to what we had ordered and we didn’t really need to go on our trek to Campbellfield but I needed piece of mind, Mrs B just thought I was being stupid as she was happy with translucent all along.

As for the couch we had our mind set on a leather couch with a chaise and a matching 2 seater sofa. Last Sunday I managed to visit nearly every furniture store in Nunawading and while I found a couple of nice couches, they were either too big for the space we had or too expensive.

Never fear though because I had been surfing the net for quite a while and had found Frogs Sofas who are a small company selling direct to the public and make to measure as well as provide a wide range to choose from. We went into the factory and found the “Toad Hall” sat down and instantly fell in love, it was sooooo comfy and we knew we were on a winner, especially as they could make it to the right size.

Well we asked for a quote and they were very reasonable, so reasonable in fact we managed to squeeze 3 kiddies chairs in and only spent $16 more than our budget, including delivery. The kiddies chairs are very cute and should be good until the kids turn 6 or 7 and they are making them out of the same leather as our couch, so they will match perfectly.

Now all we need is a house to put them in!!!!!!!!!!

Framed & Wrapped

2009-11-25T21:31:00.005+11:00

Well after our disappointment on the weekend we wondered if a mid-week trip was in order so we jumped in the car and we are sure glad we made the trip.

We have been Framed & Wrapped, woo hoo!!!!

It would appear the availability of power on site may hold the key to our progress so I am hoping that when we pay a visit on Saturday we will see some roof tiles.

Back of house & rumpus room

Front of House

Front & Garage

Garage

Side of house

Side panoramic

Back panoramic

Bring on Saturday and hopefully more progress!!!!

The Joys of Building part 4

2009-11-21T21:58:00.002+11:00

Well it’s been a weird week in that we have done a lot in regards to our old house but apart from an electricity meter absolutely bugger all happened on our site this week.

We successfully transitioned our life to Mrs B’s parents. We have had some calls to go home from our eldest and we did pay a visit to our old house with it empty which seemed to help him understand but being 2 & a half your never quite sure.

We had the carpets cleaned and thanks to my mum who spent all day Monday cleaning, (thanks Mum!) The old place came up a treat and on 11:20am Friday the 20th of November and after 6 years and not quite 2 months it slipped into the hands of another.

Now onto our new home, as I said we have a electricity meter, woopie, we can now get power bills to go with our water bill.

Other than that sweet fa happened so that means a week where there was decent weather was wasted and yet again what the construction manager told me didn’t happen. I must say that is the most frustrating thing about it, here he painted a picture of progress and I should have seen roof tiles this week but alas NOTHING.

I will give it another week and see what happens, if we get to next weekend with no action I will be really shitty because they would be damn close giving up all the spare time they had in their schedule after pouring the slab ahead of time.

I have said it before and I will say it again, ah the joys of building!!!!!

A Big Week

2009-11-16T22:01:00.005+11:00

Well it’s been a big week for the MaxyB family as we moved out of our old place and in with Mrs B’s Mum & Dad.

It was long drawn out weekend which started early Saturday morning when I picked up the van from Budget. Mrs B’s dad helped me load in all our stuff we were taking with us as well as the hard rubbish and op-shop gear. This took us close to lunch time and I arrived at our new (temporary) home and preceded to un-pack which didn’t take too long and I had the van returned by 3pm.

I spent the next 5 hours finalising all the boxes and breaking down all the wall units and storage units ready to be packed in the shipping container where they will live for the next 4 or so months.

I was back on site at 6:30 Sunday morning finalising somethings before the removalists arrived just before 8. I set the removalists on their way and I disappeared to get other chores done like delivering more stuff to the Salvos, wash my car and have a bacon & eggs breakie while reading the paper.

By 11am the guys were finished and there was room to spare in the container, but not much. We had a joke about the fact the BBQ would be one of the first things out and I said I would do some snags when they unloaded in a few months time, they said sure thing and mentioned the esky wasn’t too far from the BBQ, I am guessing they will want a couple of "frothies" to wash down the snags!!

Here are a couple of photos of our old place which has served us well over the last 6 plus years. Mrs B & myself will always have fond memories but our family has well & truly grown to big for it and we now count down to when we can move into our new home.

We will pay one last visit & take the kids to say bye bye on Thursday as we settle on Friday the 20th and it will be ours no longer

Now while we were busy with moving we did go and pay the site a visit. Now after speaking with our construction manager I had expected to see all our roof trusses up and our frame completed but alas we had everything bar the roof trusses fixed to the frame.

Our Bedroom

Family Room

Rumpus Room

Now here’s hoping that by the end of this week we have roof tiles because if we do we are back on schedule with what our Construction Manager said last Wednesday.

Also there is an added bonus in living with the in-laws, we are closer to the block so a quick visit is only 15 min each way, a trip I am sure I will be making more often now, gotta love daylight savings!!

Let the Frame Up Begin

2009-11-08T18:12:00.008+11:00

As most of you will know its been an usual week here in Melbourne as we have had the Melbourne Cup, in which we lost a massive $5, but also here in Melbourne the building industry takes a few days off, namely Monday through to Wednesday. So it was quite surprising to find our house had been framed, well minus the roof joists and the window frames, but we have the wall frames up.

It was great to walk around and really get a sense on how big our place is and where everything will go.

We were surprised by the size of the rumpus area as it’s a bit bigger than we thought as is bedroom 3. We thought our soon to arrive 3rd child was going to be jibbed compared to their 2 brothers but in the end all 3 of the kids rooms are pretty similar in size.

The best money we spent was getting more cupboard space in the kitchen and putting in bi-fold doors between the lounge & the meals area, you can see right through from the front of the house right to the rumpus at the back.

We also met our next door neighbours and they were really nice. I spent a good half hour chatting so it would appear that we are doing all right on the neighbours’ front, as you know everyone needs good neighbours!!!!

They did tell me something disturbing in that my internet options maybe restricted to 1 and that is Telstra Wireless, something I am not happy about as I don’t wish to pay a kings ransom each month for internet access. I will have to do some digging there but for mine its bloody ridiculous that new areas can be developed without adequate infrastructure for ADSL as a minimum. To get a Telstra Wireless account that will cover our current usage I will be paying 80% more per month, highway robbery if you ask me.

Anyway, below are the photos from the visit, feel free to click on any photo to get a better look and you can click on the plans on the right hand side menu to get a better idea of the floor plan

Now next weekend is a big one as we move out of our “old” house and into the in-laws until our “new” house is built. We do the move next Saturday and the removalists come on Sunday to place our stuff in storage.

We then have a week to clean up and we settle Friday the 20th and for the first time in well over 6 years we will be living with our parents, this time with two kids. I do wonder if Mrs B’s parents really know what they are in for!!!!

Ready to be Framed

2009-11-02T12:09:00.003+11:00

Another weekend and another journey to our block to see what has happened over the last week, and not surprisingly not too much has happened.

Our garage has been completed, well the brick work anyway and the frames have arrived on site, ready to be attached to the slab.

As this week is a stop start week and I suspect the builders will only be working 3 days I am not expecting too much action this week, but I guess you never know.

Now that’s Progress

2009-10-26T20:54:00.012+11:00

Well last week was a big one in that we got SLABED, which is very exciting.

We got the call last Wednesday that the slab had been poured so we took advantage of day light savings and headed out to the block.

Not only had we been slabed but some of our bricks had been delivered and thankfully they looked the same as the sample wall at Boral, the only concern, what would they look like once they had been laid?

Well we didn’t have to wait long as on Saturday when we went out again the brickies started our garage and we were very happy. Well I was very happy as the bricks were my choice.

We also noticed they had marked out the slab for the frames and dispersed all the spoil from the slab over our block, making it very flat which is great. It was fun seeing where all the rooms fitted in and just how big our place is, well a lot bigger than we have now but it aint no McMansion at 18Sq.

We do end up with a decent backyard and a place for the kids to play Football, Cricket and AFL, mind you I am sure it will cost me a few windows over the years.

Below are pictures of the slab and the bricks

We are now really looking forward to our trip this coming weekend, we may even see some frames and I may finally need to go and buy some speaker cable and some cat6 cable for some data points, now that will be more progress.

Here is a Panoramic shot of the site

Click on any photo for a better look

52 Long Days

2009-10-22T22:27:00.002+11:00

It has taken 52 days, 52 LONG days but we finally have a breakdown of the air-conditioning quote and low & behold the quote is now 15% cheaper.

I can now finally make sense of the quote and I have managed to do some research on the brand and models used, and all appears OK. We have been quoted a 11.2Kw unit for cooling which I will ask about, as I want to make sure we can run all zones at once.

While the quote is still more expensive than the 3rd party quote and the builder wont let a 3rd party on site during construction and he is not legally oblidged to do so, so I look at the extra expense as the price I pay to not have a brand new roof opened and copper pipes run inside the wall and not outside.

All that’s left to do is clarify a few questions, like why they have downgraded our heater model from the specs, is the heater and cooling controlled by the one unit and can the 11.2Kw unit cope with cooling the whole house and not just individual zones? Lets hope this doesn’t take another 52 days!!

Oh and we now have a SLAB & some bricks, woo hoo. (Pictures will follow this weekend)

The Joys of Building part 3

2009-10-20T11:39:00.001+11:00

Well we still have no slab but that hasn’t stopped head office sending me an invoice for the slab with 7 days to pay, oh and they sent it Friday so by the time I got it 3 days have passed. If I miss the 7 day window they can charge penalty interest!!!

So I rang both my CM and left a message with head office. My CM called me back and confirmed the pour would happen tomorrow. I have now emailed the head office about the fact we don’t have a slab so I am not sure they should invoice me just yet and I would hope they don’t plan on charging me interest if I don’t pay by the 23rd, there will be a very unhappy client if they try to.

I re-read the contract last night and they have not complied with section 30.1, so lets hope we don’t have to go down that path

Anyway the frame also starts on Friday so they are making great progress, just a few administrative issues one has to deal with, ah the Joys of Building

When it Rains it Pours

2009-10-17T22:35:00.005+11:00

"When it rains it pours"
Now this saying usually is used to describe certain events and not usually used in the literal sense, but not this time!!

As all Melbournians will know its been pissing down of late and over the last few weeks we have had more rain than we have had the 9 months previous, which will lead me to using another saying “Murphy’s Law”

You see, I always joked that once we signed our building contract in July and that we wanted the house to be finished as early as possible that the bloody drought would break and slow things down, and sure enough it has.

We were supposed to get a slab last Tuesday, then it was last Friday, well we have no slab but we are very close. I am sure if the rain stops for just a few days we will have the concrete pour and the foundations of our home in place but its just needs to stop raining. I trust all you farmers & keen gardeners out there will understand, well maybe not.

If the rain does continue I will start driving around signing building contracts just to break droughts all over the country, bah who is that elnino person anyway!

I will calm down a little and rejoice that we are still a month ahead of schedule and from the pictures below you will notice we have the form work and steel laid all ready for the pour, so by next weekend I am sure we will have a slab and maybe the first signs of a frame, well maybe just the slab.

For those of you who are keen to see the whole block have a look on the top right hand side & you will see a photo, this will be the latest shot of the site and it will be updated each and every time we visit and there has been some progress. Also each photo posted can be clicked on for a better look.

The Joys of Building part 2

2009-10-14T19:23:00.005+11:00

Well I finally got hold of my Construction Manager (CM) to see how we are going with the slab and the power relocation; it only took 2 phone calls and 21 hours, ahh the Joys of Building!!

Good news the power has been relocated, so I look forward to seeing the cables and the earth stake on the right side of the house.

Apparently the concreters couldn’t get on site until last Monday so they are scheduled to do the pour on Friday…………………..

Your waiting for the BUT!!

But Friday’s pour is dependant on the weather and for those Melbournians you will know for the first time in a decade we are looking at an above average October rainfall, after an above average September rainfall, so I am taking personal credit if it means the drought is broken.

As our block of land is just a really big piece of clay and a little rain turns that into a really big piece of mud, and you can't dig channels, lay formwork and pour concrete into mud, so I am not getting my hopes up that we will have a concrete pour on Friday.

So cross your fingers that it doesn’t rain too much over the outer eastern burbs of Melbourne over the next few days and when we venture out on Saturday we see a really big lump of concrete!!!

The Joys of Building

2009-10-10T23:04:00.001+11:00

Another weekend and another trip out to our block to see what progress has been made, and after my conversations with our construction manager (CM) I anticipated that the power would have been relocated to the other side of the house and we would see trenching dug and possibly some form work in preparation for Tuesday’s slab pour.

So what did we see when we went out today? Well a big fat NOTHING!!!!

There has been no progress since last week and quite obviously what my CM told me didn’t happen. So I am very disappointed, but trying to be a glass half full kind of person I look at the positive, if on our journey out next weekend we find a slab and the power relocated we will be exactly where we thought we would be, so it won’t matter that nothing happened this week.

Having said that I will be calling my CM on Tuesday to confirm the slab pour and I will mention I noticed that the power had not been relocated when he said it would, in a nice way of course. It’s too early in the process to be jumping up & down, just as long as he knows that I am keeping track and I expect him to deliver what he says he will and when he says he will.

In the end one has to be patient and we are still ahead of schedule, I guess its just the joys of building

Site Visit With CM

2009-10-08T13:23:00.003+11:00

Well I met my Construction Manager (CM) this morning and he seems like a good bloke. We had a good chat about our house and the process involved in building it. He again confirmed that weather permitting the slab would be poured next Tuesday and he planned for the frame to be finished a fortnight after that.

I mentioned to him that I don’t like surprises and that if any issues should pop up he should let me know early. He mentioned they may need to move our crossover for the driveway and that may cost extra, I would hope not but let’s just wait & see. Other than that he didn't anticipate any issues so let’s hope they keep motoring along.

I asked him when he expects to finish and as I suspected he wouldn’t commit to a time but he said they shut down for 4 weeks over Christmas. He did say he expects that "Lock Up" would be achieved prior to the shutdown, which would mean they would be ahead of schedule so I estimate a mid March hand over, hopefully.

We still plan to visit the site this weekend and we should see trenches dug for the slab and form work ready for Tuesdays pour, as C. Montgomery Burns would say “Excellent”

On Site @ 7AM - Thats Bloody Early!!

2009-10-06T21:24:00.002+11:00

I called my Construction Manager (CM) today to arrange a "Meet & Greet" session and I have organised to meet him Thursday at 7AM, my god it’s been well over a decade since I had to be on site by 7am, it will remind me that I now prefer to drive a desk in a nice air conditioned and heated office.

He did update me on the power issue and the sparky will be out on Friday to fix the stuff up and the slab guys will start their work on Thursday and should, weather permitting, pour the slab next Tuesday, which will mark the completion of stage 1, only the frame, lockup, fixing and completion to go!!

We Have Been Plumbed

2009-10-05T22:15:00.004+11:00

Well we went on our weekend pilgrimage to see what progress had occurred in the previous 7 days.

Low & behold we have been plumbed

It’s always exciting to see progress and in a week they have dug all the trenches and laid all the pipes for stormwater, sewage and water. They have also marked out the site in preparation for the slab, very exciting.

It is also the first time where we get a real understanding on the footprint of our house. It’s a little smaller than I imagined, but that’s always the way. It’s a lot bigger than we have now and it will easily accommodate our family.

The builders are really making progress and are ahead of schedule; however they have made a mistake which may delay the slab.

When we were planning our house I wanted the switchboard / meter box on the blind side of the house and I paid extra for the change but when I arrived this weekend the first thing I noticed was the power cable sticking out of the ground on the wrong side of the house. The sparky had obviously taken the easy route in it being just 4 metres from the pit, but I paid to have it on the other side so I was defiantly going to raise it with the builder.

I rang the builder this morning & pointed out my issue, they checked the plans and straight away said they would have it fixed and apologised for the error. I was waiting for them to try and talk me into letting them off, & I may have for certain favours down the line and a refund but it never got that far.

So I am pleased to date with the builder except to say they didn’t read the plans properly & I am still waiting for my aircon cost breakdown, but other than that I have not had any tension and they are ahead of schedule.

Below are some pictures of our Plumbed & Marked Out Block……….

This where the power was run to

This is where it should have gone on the far right hand side

Our garage, the biggest room in the House!

A view from the back of the block

Rain Rain Go Away.......

2009-09-28T21:34:00.002+10:00

I spoke with our construction manager (CM) today and he sounded like a good bloke. We plan to catch up in the next few weeks as we both like to put a face to a name. By the sounds of his working hours I will be getting up early to see him as I would have to take an afternoon off work to catch-up with him, something I cant do all the time.

I am starting to want the rain to stop as he said if it wasn’t for the rain he would have had the plumbing dug in ready for the concreters to do their thing. I guess we need the rain pretty badly here in Melbourne so maybe I should take credit for breaking the drought when I signed my building contract.

Anyway, it would appear that if we get some dry days I should have a slab in the next couple of weeks, which will be fantastic prpgress, lets just see what we find on our visit this weekend.

We have been Levelled

2009-09-27T15:31:00.005+10:00

Well we ventured out on a pretty wet & miserable Grand Final Day to discover we have had yet another week of actual progress.

We have been allocated our construction manager who will be the man responsible for building our home. We have clarified all outstanding variation requests, apart from the Air Conditioning. It would appear easier to come up with a price and really difficult to actually explain how you get to that price! No worries, we will continue to wait.

But all that wasn’t the biggest thing to happen this week, the biggest thing was our block of land was scrapped and levelled in preparation for the slab. This is real progress and if the rain holds off we may actually get plumbing and form work next week. I did fear that when I signed my building contract I would be responsible for breaking the drought and to date I am on track for doing so and as a result I am not expecting too much progress next week.

Below are pictures of our Block
(click on the pictures for a better look)

Before............

After.................

Now I wonder what they will do with all the top soil and dirt. I was hoping they could maybe mulch it for me and the spread it out over the block once the house was built, maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

I do have some concerns over the area against the neighbour’s fence; does it need a retaining wall? I didn’t think one was allocated for in our contract but as far as I am concerned it can’t stay the way it is and I won’t be paying any extra. I guess we will have to wait & see.

If the rain continues I will imagine our blcok may turn into pretty boggy mess, I guess we will find out next week when we have another look

We have a TAP

2009-09-19T16:58:00.003+10:00

Well we ventured out on our usual Saturday excursion to see if anything had happened to our block in the last week, and to also check out the progress of a friend’s house which is being built just around the corner from our place.

We have been venturing out every Saturday for the last 6 weeks in the off chance we will see some sign our new home is about to spring up from the ground and take shape before our very eyes, and in the past there has been nothing.

Our friend’s house has been making good progress and we noticed it has been framed and wrapped in the last week, so we got out of the car and had a sticky beak which was fun in that we now cant wait to do that with our place.

When we finished our sticky beak we jumped back into our car and headed off to our block and low & behold we have a TAP.

I never thought I would get excited over a tap but is the first physical sign of progress in building our new home. No longer is progress measured in paper work signed, colours chosen no, now progress can be measured on what we can see and touch, and eventually walk through.

I am so excited, I have posted a picture of the now famous tap and you would have to admit, it’s quite a good looking tap, well as far as taps are concerned.

We only hope that by next Saturday our tap has a friend like form work or even a slab!

Finally Some Action..............well sort of

2009-09-16T21:45:00.002+10:00

Well we finally have some action, well no physical action but a building permit, confirmation of the “official” start date and some clarification on some of my variations.

Our Building Permit was issued on the 10th of September and I am told the “Official” Start Date is the 1st of October. Now the word “official” is a bit flaky as they do still mention starting earlier but either way I have a start date and I couldn’t be happier…………....for now, next I want a slab.

As for our variations, I am still waiting on a breakdown of the AirCon but we have confirmed that we are getting Strand Woven Bamboo Floorboards, an external GPO for the water tank pump and Vinyl Wrap kitchen cupboards doors and draws.

So finally I feel as we are getting some where, even though we have achieved so much in such a short time. We walked into the display house on Saturday June 6 and now just over 3.5 months later our new house will spring from the ground and grow into our family home.

Waiting and More Waiting

2009-09-09T22:17:00.001+10:00

Waiting and more waiting is all I seem to have done over the last couple of weeks. I am waiting for construction to start. I am waiting for my emails to be answered and I am waiting for the inevitable call for more money.

I have been in contact with my builder about Air Conditioning, specifically a quote for installing what is called "add-on" air con. That is the installation of a cooling coil to the ducted heating just before the fan. I managed to get a quote from a 3rd party and I got a 1 line quote from my builder, and that 1 line was the cost. It was 55% above the quote from the 3rd party, so obviously I asked for a breakdown, and it’s this breakdown I am still waiting on.

As I mentioned in earlier posts my builder suggested we install Bamboo floors instead of our Tassie Oak floorboards. I said no worries, get me a quote and we will see how we go. Again my builder gave me a quote that contained just the cost, so again I asked for more information, like what type of Bamboo floor will be installed? How do you intend on laying the floor? In doing my research I discovered there are 3 types of Bamboo Floorboards, Vertical, Horizontal & Strand Woven. Vertical & Horizontal were of a similar strength and price while strand woven was stronger than Jarrah and all most as hard as spotted gum. I also discovered there are 3 methods of laying the boards, each with their own pros & cons. Guess what? Yep I am still waiting for this information.

It’s been over a week since I have heard from my builder and my most recent email is yet to be responded to, maybe it’s because I asked questions about my building permit and an estimated start date for construction.

All this waiting is starting to get on my nerves but one must remain calm and ensure the working relationship is not jeopardised as the builder holds all the power. He can stall and delay because until he starts construction his 220 day construction window doesn’t start and what incentive does he have to finish early if he has a frosty relationship with his client, as I said they have the power.

The reason I have asked about the building permit is that we settled on the land on the 27th of July, the building permit should take approx 4 weeks to be issued and the builder is obliged to commence construction within 21 days from the building permit being issued. So if I don’t know this date I can’t enforce the start of construction, as I said this waiting is starting to drive me crazy.

As a result I have decided this will be my final post until I see some action, be that clarification on my air con & floor quotes, notification of when construction will start, or even actual physical evidence that construction has started, because this waiting is doing my head in!

I Want A Slab & I want it Now

2009-08-31T22:09:00.001+10:00

Normally when I want a slab I head of the Mr Murphy's, wander the aisles and select 24 bottles of what ever takes my fancy, but now my slab is different, I want a truck load of concrete delivered to my block and poured.

My builder said I would have one by Mid-September, so technically he isn’t late but one would expect the prep works to occur and on Saturday when we visited, nothing!!!!!!!!!

I feel like Verucca Salt, I want a slab and I want it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the fun part of building, we have made our selections, lodged our variations, its been over 4 weeks since we settled on the land, so all that’s left is for construction to begin, I want to see some action.

I guess they say patience is a virtue, mmmmm I don’t care about that hurry up & build my house

Colour Selections Complete, Let the Construction Begin

2009-08-22T21:21:00.032+10:00

Well it has been over a week since my last post and a lot has happened. We have met face to face our builder, chosen our Front Door, Kitchen Cabinets and Benchtops, Bathroom Cabinets & Benchtops and had a curve ball thrown at us with the floor boards.

Kitchen

We went and had a look and as per usual I wasn't keen on the standard offering. In the end (after fainting) we have gone with Vinyl Wrap Doors in a Laminex White Flint Finish (I scanned the wrong side of the sample, but you get the idea) The Benchtop to is a Laminex Kashmir Granite in a Gloss Finish Its typical, I saw pictures of the standard laminate finish and I saw pictures and a display of the vinyl wrap and I just couldn't bring myself to liking the laminate finish. I figure I am spending all this money on building a house and our kitchen plays such a big part in our living area that I knew I would just keep looking at the cabinet doors and spewing I didn't spend the $2400 to upgrade. Oh well its only money!!!!

Our splashback tile is a Serenity Black which will be laid in brick style with ultra fine white grout. I did contemplate a glass splashback but I couldn't justify the cash for that.Bathroom & Ensuite

While we may have upgraded the kitchen we didn't upgrade the bathroom cabinets so while they are the Laminex White Flint Finish they will be the standard laminate

We did choose a different Laminex Benchtop, that being Brook Pebble with the Dimension FinishThe wall tiles are a plain white Gloss and they will be used in the Bathroom, Ensuite & Laundry. Each shower will have a decorative strip which will match the floor tiles

Our floor tile will be in the Bathroom, Ensuite, Laundry & Toilet

Here is the Floor Tile and Decorative Strip together as seen in the showroom. We will have a strip 6 tiles wide where as the picture has the strip 3 tiles wide.

Flooring

Now the curve ball was our builder recommending the option of Bamboo Floorboards. We had already selected Tassie Oak but Mrs B was never keen but we couldn't afford the Spotted Gum that she loves. Well the bamboo is affordable and you can get it in the darker colour, exactly what Mrs B was after

Now I must say I did like the look of the sample that was shown to us and according to the research I have done it is a lot harder than Tassie Oak and some varieties are up there and above Jarrah, so it should be hard wearing. In the end I think we will go with it providing it doesn't turn out too much more expensive than Tassie Oak.

Our Carpet, which will only be in the Bedrooms and Hallway is the "Builders Standard" and is "Westgrove Armour"

Here is a sample in a different light which shows the carpet being a little darker

Doors

We have chosen a Corinthian Front Door, the Madison PM104 with side light

Now our front door will be painted Dulux Colorbond Manor Red and the side light will be on the Right with the door handle on the right also. The glass in our door will be translucent. The door lock is a Gainsborough Tri-Lock.

The internal doors are a "Flush Style Door"

The internal door handles are a "Gainsborough Sophia Lever"

We have now finished all our product selections and all we are waiting on now is for construction to start. The building permit is due to come through next week and the builder has told me he expects a slab to be poured by the middle of September, which if true will be more than a month ahead of schedule. Lets hope that continues.

The other thing we are waiting on is confirmation of Variation #3 which will have the additional costs for the Kitchen Vinyl Wrapped Cabinet Doors, the upgraded Front Door, Upgraded Paint Colours, Front Door Locks, Decorative Tiles and the list goes on............... it will also include our quote for the refrigerated air conditioner which will really hurt. Its funny we have already spent more than we had planned which means that landscaping will have to wait and I am close to kissing goodbye my audio visual setup but sometimes one has to prioritise.

We also signed off on the construction loan papers last week so there is nothing left but for the construction to start, and be quick about it!

Progress........... well sort of

2009-08-14T21:32:00.004+10:00

Well after some consultation and finally getting Mrs B's opinion I believe we have nailed the exterior colours.

The Garage Door will be Colorbond Ironside to match the bricks and the Front Door will be Dulux Manor Red. The reason for our choice is that we didn't want the garage door to be a feature and we wanted the front door to be that focal point. The other reason behind the darker garage door is that we will get away with the traditional profile door instead of the upgrade, which as we are starting to run out of money I have decided we need to prioritise and save some cash for those extras in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Tomorrow we venture out to confirm our carpet as well as look at tiles for the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry & toilet. After that we will drive past the concrete supplier and choose the colour for our veranda and alfresco concrete. I did want polished concrete but I would prefer the fancy garage door, so if I aint getting that I aint getting polished concrete.

As I said in an earlier post, sometimes what you want & what you can afford are not the same thing.

Later next week we will meet our cabinet maker to sort out our kitchen, bathroom, ensuite and laundry cabinets and benchtops which will be the final selection we have to make. All we will have then is to watch our house rise up from the ground.

Another significant event this week was that the sale of our current house went unconditional which allows us to modify our mortgage so we can pay for construction.

Its all coming into place, just hurry up and build the.............................. well you get the idea!

Second Guessing

2009-08-12T11:12:00.005+10:00

Well I am now starting to work out that colour selection is not all that its cracked up to be.

You see its very difficult to translate the vision in your head on to paper and match the colour of your roof, bricks and garage door.

Originally I believed I wanted a Shale Grey garage door to match the window frames and gable backgrounds thinking it would provide a contrast to the Blue Bricks and Black Roof. Now I am thinking it will be too "bright" and look odd so now I am thinking of matching the roof and going a black garage door? I have asked Mrs B and she states she doesn't care and I can decided. I am sure that attitude will change if I stuff it up.

Here is a picture of our Front Elevation to give you an idea on the starting point and what one has to visualise a real house will look like

Anyway we still have another week or so before we have to make a final choice but I do worry that a decision now maybe regretted down the track and may involve a dreaded "variation" to fix

Too Much Thinking Time

2009-08-05T10:59:00.004+10:00

Well we are at that stage of the project where we are just waiting for the action to start. As we settled on the land last week we are now waiting for the building permit to be approved and works to commence on our site, until then we are left with colour selections, choosing taps etc.

Unfortunately while I am thinking about that my mind keeps drifting towards the backyard and what we will do with that. We have identified an area where we would like a "patio" but the questions come up, pavers, concrete....oooohh polished concrete and then comes the question that follows any flash of inspiration HOW MUCH $$$$

We originally paid for coloured concrete for our veranda and alfresco but that was before we upgraded the bricks and I now think polished concrete would be great and have asked for a quote. Now if that comes back at a not too unreasonable price and I say yes, what then the patio out back, where one would want to match the alfresco, I am sure it aint cheap to concrete and polish 24 sqm of backyard, as I said too much thinking time.

Now if my suspicions prove correct and its beyond our budget and we go pavers, then do I lay them myself where the only benefit would be cost or suck it up and get them professionally laid where the benefits would be time, better job and someone to blame if it goes wrong.

Now I don't have to make a decision for some months and a lot of this maybe decided for me as I may not have the cash but its just one of the dilemmas of building, what you want and what you can afford maybe two different things.

Well one thing we will have to do soon is go and chat with the cabinet makers and tilers so we can decide on the look of the kitchen and bathrooms, once we have done that the inside will be done and everything after that will become a dreaded variation, more $$$$$$

aahh the joys, at least the A-League Season starts tomorrow, Go Victory!!!

Weekend Activities

2009-07-31T23:24:00.001+10:00

Well this is the first weekend in a while where I haven't been up late cleaning the house in preparation for an open for inspection, instead I am planning our activities for our new house.

Our task this weekend is to confirm our "Pre-Construction" materials which are

Bricks
Roof, Fascia & Gutters
Windows
Paint

We have decided on Boral "Nuvo" or "Escura" Victorian Blue Bricks

Our Roof Selection is a Monier Elebana Sambuca Tiles Our Fascia, Gutters & Downpipes will be Colorbond Monument

Our Windows will be Ultra Silver (no pics)

Exterior Paint will a mixture of Dulux "Surf Mist", "Shale Grey" & "Night Sky"

I have a few other questions about our concrete for the veranda & alfresco as well as the garage profile. I think I will want an upgrade there but it will depend on how much $$$

Here is a picture of our land, including our "Squatter" Trailer. I am thinking of claiming ownership very soon

We Have Sold Our House

2009-07-29T21:35:00.000+10:00

Finally, after 5 weeks we have sold our house, well subject to finance and a pest & building inspection but I imagine that will work out fine.

Funny thing is I always thought I would be happy, yet its a bit anti-climatic. Unfortunately we got a little less than we hoped for but we did get the settlement date we were after. Also those late Friday nights of vacuuming, mopping & cleaning in preparation of an open-house is done, we can empty the grandparents lounge and bring the kids toys back and we can now get on with building our new home.

Its a major milestone so regardless of us feeling a little flat we have celebrated with a bottle of MOET as it is the last piece of the jigsaw, now we move forward and count down the days until we move into our new Home.

Land Settlement

2009-07-27T17:56:00.001+10:00

Today we settled on our block of land so we now have two mortgages but also the builder can now lodge the building permits and with luck construction will start in three to four weeks.

Next major step for us is to sell our current home. There have been encouraging signs this last weekend and hopefully we will have a resolution by the end of the week.

The other task before us is confirm our "pre-construction" colour selections which are:

Bricks - Boral Victorian Blue with white mortar
Roof - Monier Elebana Sambuca Tiles
Fascia - Colorbond Monument
Gutters - Colorbond Monument
Down Pipes - Colorbond Monument
Internal Paint -Hogs Bristle Quarter
External Paint - TBA

We plan to have a chat with the builder to finalise our selections and discuss some changes to some fret work as we are not too sure we want it.

Hopefully our next post is to confirm the sale of our current place and some pictures of our block minus the trailer that seems to be squatting there.

Colour Selections & Frustration

2009-07-23T21:50:00.000+10:00

Well we have settled on a monier sambucca tile roof, monument gutters and downpipes, silver fascia & window frames so apart from paint we have almost selected all our pre-construction items.

Now the frustration and that is with selling our current place. Our agents change their story each day and I never know what is the truth and I find I am second guessing myself. This is a very stressful situation but my bank manager has given me another 4 weeks to come up with a contract of sale so I guess patience is the key. Lets hope we get some "written" offers after the weekends inspections.

Back to the fun part, below is our site plan and services plan

We will post some photos of the block soon, we just need to move this trailer that seems to live there, maybe once we settle on the land next Monday I can claim the trailer as my own

Getting Started

2009-07-17T15:07:00.000+10:00

Well our journey started some months ago when we finally decided our current residence just wasn't big enough for the 4 of us and the search began.
Time went by and we couldn't find what we were looking for and then a flash of inspiration popped into my head, why don't we build! In reality a house & land package came up in our search so we thought why not, trying to find an established place wasn't working.
We went to the display centre and we liked what we saw, we asked about land and again we liked what we saw. Then the questions started, how much? what is included? how much? what is not included? how much? and on & on it went until we worked out we can do this.
So away we went with the standard plans and began to plan our "McMansion" in the "Burbs".
Now in the MaxyB family we don't muck around as we first spied the display home and available land on the June long weekend 2009 and in just under 2 months we will settle on the land and would have settled on the design. With luck construction will start mid to late August and the 220 day countdown will begin.
So we settled on a single story brick veneer home on a modest block out in the Outer Eastern burbs of Melbourne. The current known make up of the House are as follows:

Bricks will be Boral Victorian Blue with white mortar

Tiled Roof, haven't picked the colour as yet

4 bedrooms, lounge, family & rumpus

2 car garage

Decent backyard for the kids

Polished floorboards

Ducted heating & refrigerated a/c (through the same ducts)

Downlights in the living areas

We think we have nailed the colour scheme inside but are yet to confirm tiles and everything else

This weekend we are going to pick up sample of the bricks and go and choose a roof, gutters and garage door and maybe some windows. Or should I say get samples and cards of them as I am sure we will be overwhelmed by the variety and then be hemmed in by what is actually in the standard range.
Well that's the end of my first post on my very first blog.