an early xmas present?

Well, there is a week to go until xmas but we're still not sure if we will get handover before then, the tiling was getting done this week and i'm pleased to say it is looking fabulous! We're really happy with the tiles we've chosen (we agonised for over 2 hours choosing tiles) and now that we see it in place, all my worries about how the colours would go together are gone. The house is looking very good now and we're happy with all the choices we've made.

We will be going on holiday for a week in early Jan so hubby says he'd rather handover was after xmas anyway as the builder will be closed for the hols and we may not have tradesmen available over this period to do the work we need done like the driveway etc

Anyway a few more weeks is not a problem for us. A few pics for you but in no particular order :), these were taken two weeks ago so there has been more work done since then (mainly tiling, battens for the lighting.

The master bedroom on the first floor, you can see the walk in wardrobe and the ensuite, tiling and tub have been installed by now

First floor family room, you can see the top of the stairs and the metal and wood banister. The balcony can also be seen and the doorways into two of the bedrooms on this floor (4 bedrooms up here)

First floor bathroom, the tiling and tub have been installed now though

the living and dining room, the kitchen island can be seen here and the alfresco area though the sliding doors

The laundry with nice big storage cupboard, floor tiling has already been done though and the sink has been installed already too

The kitchen, splashback tiles have been done

Entry way and lounge room, the door to the study which we converted into a room can be seen near the front door. The lounge room windows were made smaller and raised due to council restrictions about privacy but in hindsight we may have been able to use bigger windows with obscured glazing instead as its a bit darker than we'd like here

Next photos you will see will be the handover photos...

the home stretch...

Hubby went past today and dropped in asking if he could have a look around ... the kitchen is in! also the vanities in the bathrooms are also done and the doors have been installed! Everything is looking great and we're getting excited. It has been so worth it now at this point. We're very happy and relieved that the colours have come together nicely so far. There is still a fair way to go before we can move in as we are doing the flooring, landscaping, decking and fencing etc ourselves but at least the builder's job has been moving at a rapid and reasonably well done rate. Will try to schedule a visit for next week and take some photos.

Hubby is investigating options for the front fence which we want done in matching brick and metal fencing with automatic gate. He's currently replacing the side gates for our current home so the handyman in him is gonna be getting a good workout in the next few months.

We had originally asked the builder to tack the skirting boards on as we are doing the tiling on the ground floor ourselves (or rather getting someone else besides the builder to do it) and they were happy to do so but when hubby checked today, they had nailed it in fully but left us a gap below the skirting boards so the tiles would fit. Hopefully this will be ok when we get the tiling done.

there still needs to be painting, wall tiling, some electrical and plumbing and some finishing touches to do but this shouldn't take that long.

Inside and out!

After what seemed a few weeks of not much happening after our first tour, this week the gyprocking has been completed and wet areas sealed... yay!!! The verandah has also received its railings and a little ornamental metal grill has been placed outside the study window. We're very happy with the colors of the bricks, roof, guttering and fascia.. its all coming together nicely and we're told it might be finished by xmas! it would be a very nice xmas present indeed.

We drove past and saw a truck outside so stopped and had a sticky beak from outside the fence since we had not scheduled a visit. But after a bit of ogling and dawdling, the work person who was finishing up for the day asked if we were the owner and said we could go have a look.

SOOOOOOOO exciting!!!! but also know there is still a bit of work ahead of us after handover... fingers crossed!!

Hank's a shocker now!

We have electricity! and also the airconditioning has been done and probably a few other little internal things that we can't see from the front fence hehehehehe

back view
front view
next week they will probably start on the staircase

latest photos

Living room

Garage

Front with guttering

Meals/Family

Kitchen/Meals

Back/Alfresco

Master Bedroom

Upstairs Lounge

Front

Back

Our first meeting with Hank

We had our first site visit today. So far the bricking has been completed and the roofing has gone up. The roof was completed this week, bricking last week. Doing the eaves later this week. Alfresco roof still needs to be done.

The first visit went well, we are happy with the progress so far. Everything appeared as expected, the workmanship seemed fine (not that we'd know any better) and I took pictures of every room which I will upload at a later blog. The study/5th bedroom seems smaller than expected in real life but it is supposed to be a little room really. I noticed that the alfresco would have been more open without the side columns but its too late now to change. They are a bit obstructive but anyway.

And the great news is that our site supervisor thinks if all goes well, we will have handover in 10 weeks or so.

We asked about tacking the skirting boards so we could put them over the tiling which we are doing outside of the builder and the supervisor said this was no problem although I am always skeptical! But overall we are happy with the colours we have chosen so far. The house is really big, which is much needed since we have our extended family living with us plus two kiddies. Its quite exciting and I can't wait until the interior has been done and is looking more like a home.

We should be shopping for floor tiles for the bottom floor soon and carpeting for the top floor as well as getting some quotes for the driveway and front brick fence and automatic gate. Hubby says he will do the alfresco decking himself (I won't hold my breath!) plus we'll have to see what kind of retaining walls we will need. Also have to consider the landscaping and the mandatory items the council has requested.

If all goes well we may move in next Jan!

** photos to come soon!

Hank's skeleton...

Ok so here are the pictures, we've just sent our second progress payment now that the frame is complete. I think brick work is next which will give a good indication of how the house will look and whether our choice of brick works or not.

The slab....

The ground and first floor frame...The roof completed with front windows...

The back of the house, with alfresco area showing back windows...

Upstairs, downstairs

We have a second floor! Things are moving pretty fast now, second floor has been added and its likely the roof will be done tomorrow too. Maybe its too soon to be optimistic but i'll say it anyway, perhaps it will be complete before the end of the year?

Let's hope I didn't jinx it!

Hank is finally grounded

Excitement plus this week as yesterday I drove plus and saw that all the timbers for the frame had been delivered. Today, imagine our surprise as we drove past again and Hank's ground floor frame had been completed!

A couple of the front windows have been hung too. Strange, the study/bedroom on this floor looks small but its probably just a visual effect. Will probably look normal once the walls are up.

Looking forward to seeing the progress at the end of the week. Hopefully I get off my butt and put some of baby Hank's photos up so we can watch him grow!

Absolutely slabulous!

We have a slab! After receiving several mails from the builder that the work has been delayed for 1 month due to bad weather, we drove past Nora today and saw Hank's slab had been laid!
Hubby will take a few pics soon to check it out.

Another house in our area which we always thought violated several council regulations regarding distance from side and back fences, sold through auction for over a million and just as I thought, it was owned by a council member... so looks like the rules don't apply if you're on the board, talk about buttering your own bread!

so unfair...

but anyway, i'm too happy about our slab to let that cloud an otherwise sunny building week!

The first cut

The first cut has been made to Nora. Its been two weeks or so of intermittent weather and I've reached the stage where I am over expecting any real leaps in progress. I am now relatively excited if even a minor hop or skip has been made. There is a few pallets of our bricks sitting there but not much else.

on a good note, nora doesnt look so skinny with the fencing across here so hopefully once Hank starts to develop he will also start looking like the right size.

Nora... covered up!

Our land has been fenced off by Masterton now, with a big Masterton banner across the front and there is a also a portaloo. Last week the rain stopped with quite a bit of sun but nothing has been done on the land yet. I was hopeful but just now we had some rain, not heavy but the rest of the week has been forecast for showers. Boo hoooooo!

With the fence hiding Nora's dignity, she doesn't look so skinny any more and I can visualise seeing Hank fitting in quite nicely now.

Funding for Hank

An update - our loan finally got approved last week yay! after about a month.. the valuation took longer than expected but anyway its done now and Hank should be getting some visits soon in then next couple of weeks.

Unfortunately it appears to be rainy season at the moment so we will be joining the ranks of many others who have prayed to the rain gods for a reprieve so their slab could be laid!

Signing up to what ?

Well today we have reached a major milestone, the signing of the building contract.
But first, we had our electrical appointment. We chose to just have battens installed and will go with getting our own fluorescent downlights and electricians to install later.. this should save us at least 1K i would think. We just put downlights in common areas but the rooms will have the one standard room light. Hubby seems happy and our electrical salesperson was quite helpful and pleasant to deal with.

After this, we went over the building contract which we had read prior (with only layman knowledge) and it seemed pretty standard. I know we are really going in a bit blind and trusting that the builder will be doing the right thing. I am hoping that since our builder is quite large and well known and appears to be doing well in this financial drought, that they will not suffer the same financial hardships as other building companies have done recently.

Unfortunately when looking at the final final final plans we noticed our previous salesperson omitted putting in the little shower recesses we asked for. For those who don't know what i'm talking about, its a little cavity in the shower wall used to put toiletries within instead of having a shelf sticking out or those shower caddies. Hubby really had his heart set on it but it seems to have been missed. It was quite disappointing as during the time we asked for it, our salesperson was saying she would put it in but had to wait as there is only one copy of the files and the draftspeople had it at the time. Then our salesperson ended up leaving the company and it was several months until we saw the next version of the tender and it had slipped our mind by then.

At any rate, the excitement levels have risen again now there seems to be a bit more activity. Fingers crossed that there will be something happening on our land within the next month. First things first, we have to get full approval now from the bank.

Stay tuned.

Zone of annoyance

Yesterday I mentioned there was a considerable increase in the total cost due to us now being considered within the 'zone of influence'. We had sat down prior with the sales person who showed us that the main house was not on the zone of influence, only the alfresco area which should not be a problem Well, it seems like she was mistaken. We are following up to see if it is the alfresco area that is the problem and if so, we may scrap this as the alfresco area is now costing over $20K because of this. However if it is the main building then there is not much we can do about it.

Unfortunately if it is the alfresco area and we were to scrap it from the plans, it would probably result in more delays to redraw the plans and submit to council again? ah what to do. Never build again, that is for sure. There are too many risks with unknowns when building, too many for me to be comfortable with.

Finally happening??

Did i say that in the last post? well its 6 weeks later and we have yet to sign the building contract. Over the last 6 weeks, we cleared the land (lots of mowing, weeding and rubbish removal for the site) so the builder could do the peg out, got pre-approval from the bank and was waiting for the construction certificate. Suffice to say that while we were expecting some delays to the process, we were not expecting this degree of delay.

We also have received another version of the plans and have found another 30K increase in the variations! Most were due to council requirements and being in the zone of influence. We have also noticed about another $6K in new tenders being provided by the builder following the lapse of the previous free 6 months tender which expired in xmas. Since xmas we have had another 2 versions of tender (each for 3 months periods). Auburn council is a soulless hound!

We have approval!

Yay, yesterday afternoon we finally got the call that council has approved our DA.
Now we have to get the land clear so they can do the peg out and get our finances
approved.

Its finally happening!

Tick tock... watching the clock

Sigh, its officially 5 months in council now.
I'm keeping fingers crossed that we hear something this week. I have rang the council and spoken to someone who says it should be any day now.

Read a building blog from someone complaining it took them 9 weeks in council... HA! and they
thought that was a stretch. Try 5 months buddy!

2009 Update

Happy Chinese New Year! I wish I could also add the good news that our plans were approved by council but unfortunately they are still in submission. It has been over 3 months in council now and although there were a few weeks during xmas/new year where council was closed, I would have expected it to be done by now. We had to correct the size of our downstairs windows at one point with council claiming they were too big for privacy issues or something (ridiculous!) but it only took an extra week or so to fix the plans and resubmit.

I am sure I am echoing the frustration of many others who have embarked on the journey of building your own home and it really is frustrating.

But on a happier note (got to stay positive ey?), I am pregnant and expecting baby number two in late June. I was not expecting the house to be done by then, but would have thought it would be close. We are now expecting or rather hoping! that it will be done by August which would mean it has taken a full year to complete.

Anyway, fingers crossed, I haven't dropped off the blogsphere, just that there has been nothing noteworthy to report since the last entry.