Building our Heywood 29

Driveway

2009-08-17T11:23:00.004+10:00

Here are the pics of the driveway being laid:

It was kind of still dark when the boys from Mark Wood Paving Showed up!

The concrete truck from Cranbourne premix turned up at 7am..... yep still not much light!

Under the portico........ the concrete mix looks a lot like the stuff they use on roads at this stage except it looks as black as night.

The concrete came in 2 trucks...... the boys were a little worried as they had ordered one big truck but got 2 small ones. The problem with using 2 small trucks is if the second load of concrete comes a long time after the first lot, the first lot will set and if this happens would have to be ripped up and they would have to start all over again.... lucky Cranbourne premix is not that far away and the second load was there in about 40 minutes.

And here its is after the second truck The concrete is then smoothed all over to make sure the shape is uniform.

In fact, the guys were really fussy even though the top layer gets washed away. At this stage a retardant was sprayed on the concrete which prevents the top layer from setting.

Then a hose is used to wash the top layer away and "expose" the "aggregate".

With a little help from a broom.

All done...... in a little over 6 hours or so. Sorry not the best shot with the shadow. Anyway I am very happy with the colour of the mix.

The usual suspects! Joe (centre) and the guys from Mark Wood Paving have done a fantastic job and I highly recommend them for all you concreting needs. I will be getting Joe back to do our Alfresco/Courtyard and blindside of the house once I get some more dosh together!

Contact details for a great concreter:

MARK WOOD PAVING

JOE

0419332623

Well that all from me for now

Cheers

Cozmo

Post Handover Update

2009-08-12T13:56:00.008+10:00

Oh the Joy of Settlement day!
Well it should have being all joy getting the keys to our new house but alas due to an administration error I got quite upset and muttered very bad words about PD under my breath (and a few out loud).

The problem:
Seems that they forgot about our Driveway & Fencing allowance. It was in the contract but they didn’t have a cheque for us. This was a bigger issue as I had my concreter booked in to lay the driveway the next day and was panicking about how I would pay him. Anyway it took them a full week to organise 2 managers to sign the cheque for us. I just feel they did not go out of their way at all to resolve this and that it was just a hassle for them.... really spoiled what was a wonderful building experience with PD overall. Lucky for me My concreter is a top notch bloke and completely understood the situation I was in and said "No worries, just pay me when the money come though". I will post about the driveway later once I upload the photos.

Anyway back to handover:
There was still a few issues outstanding from PCI that had not being fixed but our SS assured us they will all be done (and they now have) and also a new issue of the dishwasher that was installed had a huge dent in the front of it, this has also now being fixed by the good blokes at Blanco.

As handover was on a Thursday and we were not moving in 'till the Saturday I decided that I would sleep in the new house to guard our newly installed appliances (especially my oven... I love that oven). It was like staying in a ghost town.... so quite as there was NOONE else living in the street and probably only about 20 or so occupied houses in the entire Estate.

Move in day:
OMG what did I get myself into.... I completely underestimated the man power required. It was just my mate M and I........ anyway 3 truck loads and 11 hours later we were done, completely exhausted, in fact the next day I woke up and every muscle in my body was sore.... never never again! A big thanks to M for his help on the day... it was a huge effort (especially considering I’m a few years younger and struggled) Hats off to you my friend.

Other things done around the house after handover:

Lots of Box's unpacked.... lots more to go!

Driveway completed.

Antenna installed in roof.

Toilet roll holder/Towel rails installed.

Pebble feature strip in showers sealed (May redo this with different product as it is not shinny).

Letter box purchased and painted same colour as render (surf mist).

Letter box was destroyed by the missus, reversing out of the driveway for the first time.

Letter box moved to a safer location, patched up with bog a waiting sanding and repaint.

Supports for an inbuilt desk installed and painted, awaiting laminated bench top to be made.

Things that still need to be done:

Fencing

Bobcat required to level/put crushed rock where we intend to concrete.

Concreting for Alfresco/Court yard and blindside of house.

Lots of gardening - that will never end.

Blinds and curtains(Just redy shades ATM).

Probably lots more involving more work than I want to think about right now.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

PCI

2009-07-20T14:13:00.001+10:00

We had PCI last Thursday and I am delighted to say that we are very happy with the house and the Fact that we couldn’t even find 20 places to put red dots is a real testament to the great work done building our house. A special thanks to the General running the show, our SS "V" who has being a pleasure to deal with during the whole process. V can be hard to get a hold of sometimes but he did give regular updates and was always true to his word.

Of the red dots most were paint touch-ups which is a be expected and the painter was on site to fix them up straight away. Our painter "C" work is impeccable and you can tell he takes much pride in his work.

Other minor issues identified were:
* Broken storm water pipe out the front of the block
* A loose floorboard
* Section of kitchen where the dishwasher goes was not plumb
* Laundry Door to be replaced

AND THATS IT !!!!! :)

All I can say is that my build has being probably one of the smoothest you could ask for in this game and anyone who says negative comments about PD will only have it fall on deaf ears with me.

All set for handover this Thursday just waiting on the Bank and then the move on Sat.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

PS As we move who knows how long before we get internet back so if I don’t post for a while this will be the reason.

Flooring Photo Fest!

2009-07-12T21:33:00.008+10:00

PCI is this week and the final touches on the house are being applied.
The remaining tap fittings have being installed.

WIR...... Surly the other half could let me have more than the 1/2 a meter of closet space I'm allowed in the rental with all this space.............. No I've just being informed that she needs all of it and I can have 1/4 of a meter.

Master

The Lounge

Bedroom 2.

Bedroom 3 soon to be home of the Master of the house.

Bedroom 4 which will be my little den when working from home.

Its a Hallway!

OK now we get to the bit that really excited me when I saw the house this week and that was the fact that our Trueloc Flooring had being laid( well 99.9% anyway). We choose spotted gum and I think its looks $h!t Hot!!!

Entry with the 0.1% that needs to be finished.

Looking at the living room.

Rumpus.

From Living Room to the kitchen.

Rumpus to front door.

And a better picture of the splash back with the correct pot draws.

PCI is this Thursday..................... I don't think there will be much to pick on.... just a few paint touch ups and maybe just some other minor things.... all I can say is that the work being done on our house has being of a very high quality.

I am glad I have seen the house with the floor now before PCI so I wont just walk around with my gob open drooling like I did when I took these photos so I can concentrate and find all those little faults.

Wish me Luck

Cheers

Cozmo

Carpet, Flyscreens, Spashback and a nice surprise!

2009-07-06T20:45:00.011+10:00

Oh it was a muddy visit this weekend and I guess it was a good thing that I was locked out so I couldn't drag any mud through the house.... like I would!

I am trying to organise the fencing with the neighbours, I was successful in contacting the guys to the right of us who have just reached lockup (building with the big M). But on the left hand side is an empty block which belongs to Burbank. They currently have not sold this block and the person I spoke to was not sure of the procedure for Burbank themselves to pay for their half and redirected my phone call to another department but alas all I got was a voice message. I did leave a message but have not received a return call 1 week later..... fun times ahead chasing that one me thinks!

Anyway back to the house and the photos:

Flyscreens and Flyscreen door have been fitted.

Spashback in Dulux Sphathire Stone in and also for the keen eye the correct pot doors have been installed.

Carpet........ its pretty dark! But is a good match with the tiles.

And it was a nice surprise that our couch that we ordered 12 weeks ago is ready to be delivered and will be dropped off on the 28th of this month.

It is the Igloo from Nick Scali but ours will be in black.

PCI next week......cant wait!

Cheers for now

Cozmo

Just about all Done and Dusted!

2009-06-28T18:32:00.005+10:00

Well the house is looking like its just about ready for us to move in... I cant believe it still nearly 4 weeks away.

Temporary Fence has been taken away and the site has been cleaned up..... they even put dirt steps at all the doors.

Close up of feature pebbles.

Shower screens in.

Mirrors in.

Kitchen sink in.

Main bathroom... just one tap missing from the bath, paint behind the bath and the basin that needs to be replaced and we are all done in here...... the replacement basin was sitting in the pantry ready to be installed.

Yep its a shower!!!

And here is the dunny!!

Could have taken allot more photos of completed work.... but I didn't so here is a wrap up of what else has being done around the place:

* Electrical- Down Lights, Chinamen Hats, switches, Flood lights all done.... alas a double flood light is in the wrong spot and will need to be moved.

* Shower screens, Shower roses, taps all done.

* Range Hood installed.

* Shelving in all WIR and pantry complete.

There was also lots of markings on the ground where they are going to level the slab in preparation on installing flooring.

Oh and a cleaner has been though the house and done her thing.... the windows have come up a treat..... will be handy if I'm locked out next time I go down.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

Tiles Done! PCI and Handover dates given!!!!!!

2009-06-25T11:50:00.004+10:00

On my normal Sat morning visit I was a little sad that I was locked out :( But I soon became Happy to see that the tiles had been finished :)

Ensuite..... was hard to get a photo because of the reflection.

Laundry... tiler did the right wall from the bench which is not the norm... but I wont say anything :)

Main Bathroom.... oh sexy in black.... the tiles are allot darker than the sample we had from NT, was meant to be more grey.... but I like the way they have turned out.

We were also given our PCI and handover dates.

PCI: 16/07

Handover: 23/07

Cant wait till I'm never locked out of my house again....(unless I really upset the other half.) :)

Cheers Cozmo

Tiles started and colour selection disaster averted!

2009-06-15T13:41:00.003+10:00

Our tiling has finally started!! YIPPEE!

Went down down on site on Sat and meet with P our Tiler. This was so P could take me though the way he was going to lay the tiles and to show him exactly where are feature pebble strip will go.

Laundry all laid and ready to be grouted.

Throne room!

Ensuite was started while I was there with feature pebble strip.

The Colour selection disaster was the tile trimming that was selected was white in colour (I wont say who selected this colour except to say it was not ME!). P even said when he opened the tube of it from NT "What where you thinking when you chose that!". After talking with P about our options, P made a phone call and got the price of some nice silver trimming and I gave him the money to cover the cost..... so now we will have silver trim which will match the shower screen, taps, towel rail and door handles........ much happier with this and thanks to P for being flexible.

Front of the house and the moldings and garage infill have been painted.

P said he will finish by Wednesday or has to be as V(SS) has got the sparkies and plumbers booked to start on Thursday for their fitoffs.

Cheers

Cozmo

2009-06-09T11:34:00.005+10:00

Just a quick note to say not much is happening at the house. The tiler still has not started (being waiting for 2 weeks) Internal door handles have been hung, garage door installed and the bench top in on(although it will have to come off when they replace the incorrect pot draws).

And on with the photos:
Internal door handles with privacy locks.

Another view of the same.

Pantry now with handles (same of kitchen cupboards).

Bench top is on.

Its called New Diamond White.

Extreme close up.

Garage Door in ironstone.

Also got a quote for the driveway, choose this mix from Cranbourne premix called the Maguire.

Hopefully the tiler will start this week, was hoping the House would be finished for the school holidays but that is looking very unlikely now.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

The Great Whiteout! - Painting photofest

2009-05-26T14:18:00.007+10:00

We had a meeting with out SS V on Monday. He talked us through all the next steps to be undertaken and answered any questions we had( which there were many). We left the house feeling that our house is in very capable hands and that all our issues will be addressed.( Most of these are very minor).
The front render has had its first coat of surfmist applied and moldings put onto the front windows. Gutters and fascia have also had one cost of ironstone put onto them, with another to go.

All internal doors painted in Gloss Flokati... nice and shiny!

Kitchen and Dining, SS said the replacement pot draws have been ordered and the exposed end will be covered in vinyl wrap.

Bedroom 2

Laundry. Tiles will cover where it is not painted.

The abyss

Bedroom 3

Bedroom 4 or study.

Bedroom hallway looking down towards bedroom 4.

Looking through void in rumpus.

Rumpus looking down to front door..... it seems so far away

Opposite view... from front door to rumpus..... there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Master bedroom.

More Master bedroom!

Up close and personal with the front door. Now with vanish.

Looking from dining to bedroom hallway.

Family room.

From down the street .

Closer look at the gutters and half painted beam.

Just love the front door!

Actually love the house full stop!

Now there will be no work at the house for the next few days as we are waiting for the tilers to begin, he has another house to finish and is expected at our house by Friday.

Tiling should take a week at most and then the final fit off can start... shower screens, tap ware and sparkies.

SS says barring any disasters we should have PCI in 4-5 weeks. So time to get some driveway/fencing quotes.

I know allot of people stop blogging about there build in the final weeks as it all gets very busy with packing/moving getting quotes etc. but I will try to keep the updates coming so you can get the complete picture of the build.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

Ready Set...... Paint

2009-05-17T20:22:00.004+10:00

An early morning Saturday visit and lucky for me a tradie was working, in fact the tradie was C our painter. C was a good bloke and gave me lots of info, like how long before I will need to repaint exterior woodwork and gutters etc. He also said that all the scribble I saw last time was put there by V our SS and he was surprised that the plasterers actually did came back and fixed everything up. He said overall the plaster work in our house is pretty good and we are lucky as he has been seeing lots of shoddy work of late.

Anyway enough gas bagging and on with the photos:

Our front door has been stained but it is still waiting on the Tri-Loc door handle and C to put on the vanish.

Not so clear but you can make out the name Flokati which will be all over the place. All walls and interior woodwork will be in Flokati so I hope we like it.

C would have had to get all the internal doors off that were hung so he can paint them. Here they have had the under coat done and will be finished in Flokati Gloss.

The House is looking better with every drop of paint. C was spraying the roof when I was in.

Good thing I got in while C was there 'cos I wouldn't have been able to see much as all the windows are covered in plastic.

I could have stayed at the house all day but I was probably holding C up a little as we were chatting.

More work has been done on the showers awaiting the tiler to begin.

Now that I am looking at this photo it seems to me that these taps are not centered. Dose not leave much room for the vertical feature tile which is meant to be on the right of the taps.

All covered up!

And our tiles have been delivered.

C said with any luck he should be finished on Wednesday. Tiling should being straight afterwards on the Thursday. So as we are only getting the bathrooms and Laundry Tiled maybe it could be all done by my next visit. (knock on wood)

Talking about next visit, I have requested a walk through with V since we got our fixing invoice and now we are on the hoe run I need him to put my mind at ease. I need to know that every issue we have raised is being taken care of and that all the smaller ones are in his radar well before we have PCI.

On that note I might have to start thinking about packing........Oh its getting close I can almost smell the finish line.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

Kitchen, Vanities, Washed Bricks, Render and Mr Squiggle

2009-05-11T12:02:00.006+10:00

We were able to get inside for a bit of a look and as our SS had said Kitchen and Vanities were installed.

Here is our Kitchen, It is in Pearl Frost (White with silver specks) but from a distance it just looks white.

The pot draws are wrong. The top draw is supposed to be smaller (same size as cutlery)

A close up of the Pearl Frost Vinyl wrap. You still can not see the silver in the dull light of the house at the moment.

Oops, seems they wrapped the vinyl around the wrong end bit, leaving this bit with timber exposed.

These pot draws are correct here, you can see the cutlery draws are a bit smaller

I questioned if I could live them just as they are, but after going to a Friends house who has it the way I wanted it, its a no brainer ... PD will have to change them it what they are in the contract.

Ensuite, very happy with the colour (Milkwood). These will contrast nicely against the charcoal coloured tiles we will have in here.

Main Bathroom, will have same colours as Ensuite. The basin in here has an issue.

Mr Squiggle has been.... these are all over the place and I guess are from the SS or PD's independent inspector marking areas that require attention.

Another small issue with the rubber sills in the picture window not sitting correctly.

Damage near door handle in Laundry. Not sure if they are able to fix this as the door will be stained and not painted, maybe up for a new door?

The offending basin the the bathroom, looks like its got a bit zit (not that clear in photo but you can see it). Looks like its come from a factory seconds shop and that's were it will have to go 'cos we want this replaced.

Now I'm no expert but they have put the skirting in already but we will be having Tru-Loc timber floors installed (by PD) in the Family, Rumpus, Kitchen, Dinning and Entrance. Surly they will have to take this off to put the flooring in?

Bricks have now had their Acid wash and look better than ever :)

Front projection has had its first coat of render.

Most of the down pipes have being installed.

So that's how she's looking at the moment.

Overall I'm still very happy with the quality of the work, all builds with have some issues, it how they get fixed that will tell if PD can live up to their reputation of delivering a quality product.

Fully bricked up... well almost!

2009-04-28T20:06:00.005+10:00

On Saturday we saw the bricking was 99.9% complete with just a few window sills to go and under a couple of the doors. Hopefully the rain stayed away long enough on Monday for them to finish it off.

With the bricks complete it means we are officially at lock up, so it was no surprise to find the lockup invoice in the letter box on Monday ( Oh dam do I really have to pay this one it kind of really BIG ).

The front projection has had the mortar done flush as this will be rendered.

Silly temporary fencing and rubbish pile getting in the way a good photo! We should have a site clean this week so we stacked a pile of bricks out the back that we wanted to keep.... or did we, I don't even know what I'm going to do with the bricks but our SS said if we wanted to keep any this was the weekend to move them so after a lot of procrastinating decided to move about a pallet of them.

Back of the house.

Alfresco pillars, for some reason I keep on visualizing walking into one of these babies and knocking myself out cold..... must remember not to have 2 many drinkies the first night we move in ;)

Blind side of the house.

Peeping inside through the windows we can see the internal doors have arrived.

And that the cornice's have been done and at the bottom of the picture you can just see the architraves awaiting installation.

Hopefully we will be able to get in this weekend to see what wonderful work the fixing carpenter has got up to this week.

Cheers for now
Cozmo

Locked up, Plaster and more bricks

2009-04-20T20:32:00.007+10:00

Work at the house is going at a frantic pace, As I visited last weekend I was expecting to see just a bit more of the bricks done, so it was a shock to be locked out and see all the plaster up inside.
So as usual here is a whole lot of photos:

The sky is dark and ominous but DAM it makes the bricks look good. Very happy with the brick work so far. :)

Garage all plastered up.

Bricking has began on the left side of the house. It does look like we will have a fair few bricks left over. I'm not sure if I want to keep any left over bricks, after speaking with our SS today he said if we want to keep them we need to stack them at the back of the house, probably a job for this weekend as he said the bricks should be finished by the end of week.

As I was locked out all the inside shots have been taken though the windows so might not be really clear. This one is of the toilet...cos I know you wanted to see that!

The main bathroom. This blue plaster board is used in the wet ares, so I guess it must be water resistant.

Bedroom 3. Wardrobe on the right and hallway straight ahead.

Bedroom 4.

Looking from the window at the rear of the house into the rumpus. Void on the left, we hope to put a plantation shutter in this (Just like the display!).

Oh the rumpus again, you can really tell I like this room.

This will be our Kitchen. The Blue bit is were the fridge will go, with oven and cook top on the wall next to it.

Bricking in the Alfresco is complete apart from the pillars. This is also the first window the has had bricks put in underneath.

Courtyard with our NQR french door. Our SS said this will be fixed nearer to completion as many of the doors will need some form of adjustment.

Family Room. TV and stereo will go on this wall.

Another picture of the bricks. One thing to do if your selecting bricks for your new house is to go the manufacturers website and see what finish for the mortar they recommend with your bricks. It was recommended for a racked or rolled finish for ours, so we went with the rolled as we had paid for the upgrade to off white mortar. I think we have got it right as the mortar clearly defined without overpowering the colours of the bricks.

Master bedroom, looking at the walk in robe.

So whats next: Bricks finished by the end of the week (and probably a big fat invoice from porter), Fixing Carpenter starts next week and painting to begin in two weeks time. At this rate we should looking for a handover date in the next school holidays, which will make a nice and easy transition for Master C into his new school. (knock on wood).

Cheers Cozmo

Bricks, wires, pipes, doors and more

2009-04-13T17:02:00.008+10:00

Had a couple of the of visits to the house and lots more has been happening, Electrical rough in complete, all plumbing rough in complete, insulation for the walls put in, all external door hung (except rear garage and the front door is just temporary) . The bricking has started.
So here are the photos in no real order:

A few holes have been made in the slab in a few places, I guess these will be patched up before any flooring is made but I will follow up with my SS to make sure.

House from the right side, not much change here.

Front right of the house shows the efforts of our brickies first two days of work.

Front of the house.

Temporary front door and a couple of the windows have had the black tape removed to show their bright whiteness, I think they look great but I know I will have to stay on top of keeping them clean so it stays that way.

The bricks are Boral Jarrah and I have noticed that they are very popular as I have spotted numerous other houses with the same bricks.

French doors for the lounge are hung, I have an issue with the one on the left as it is not hung at the same height as the on the right.

The slab has bits on bright paint here and there all over the place. The pink shows electrical work and the green is a duct for the central heating.

Bedroom 4 at the back of the house.

Bi-Fold doors are up. I couldn't resist and opened them right up so I could see what it was like, all I can say is they are going to be lots of drinks with friends in the rumpus and alfresco :)

The bath is in and nailed down.

Central heating unit is installed.

Along with all the duct work.

Insulation for the walls all complete, there was still six packs on the wall insulation left in the garage....mmm I wonder if we could use this to help insulate the internal walls of the master bedroom. Will have to ask our SS.

Here is the gap in the french door up the top, it is also noticeable from the inside so will have to be rehung.

Left side of the house really coming along now.

He might not be the neatest tradie (I'm yet to see one that is) but I could not fault his work to date. Our brickie worked on the house across the road ( A PD Francis 29)before he started on ours and his work there looks great so hopefully the is one area of the build we will not have issues.

A window...it is white.... The mortar will be off white once it dries (I hope!)

The infamous French doors again!

Close up of the Jarrah bricks sitting on a pallet.

Laundry door. All our external doors with be stained wattle dark oak.

And that's all for now, hopefully more to come soon!

Roof

2009-04-02T10:57:00.005+11:00

Seems I left out the money shot of the roof in my post yesterday:

The tiles are from Boral but im not sure what the profile is called, but they are the builders standard range. The colour is Gunmetal. Just looked up the profile and it is Macquarie.

Roof Roof, sit, good boy

2009-04-01T13:38:00.004+11:00

Another Sunday visit and lots more has happened, I put a few noggins in and then got a little camera happy:Here are the noggin's I put in for the towel rail in the main bathroom (can also see the toilet roll holder one behind)

Looking from the rumpus through the void into the family room.

Laurndry door and window for bedroom 2.

Door from garage into the house.

Front door with sidelights.

Front view, windows in, roof tiles done. There were 5 people working on the tiles and they knocked the hole jobs off in one day.

Our portaloo seems to have been upgraded with a "Prestige" PD sign. Gutters are up awaiting a lick of paint.

Really is looking like a house now.

Piles of sand have been delivered. This will be used for the bricking which should be starting today.

Looking from the courtyard.

Picture window that sits in the dinning.

Sliding door from the Alfresco to Dinning room.

Bi-Fold frame looking from the Alfresco into the rumpus.

Don Al Fresco

Water taps on the rear of the house, the one on the right is for recycled water.

Window in the rumpus.

The plaster is all ready waiting on site, Water plumbing has been done and it looked like part of the gas don't as well.

Well that's it for now, cant wait to see what has happened this week when we pay another visit this Sunday.

Matchstick city

2009-03-28T15:37:00.014+11:00

Photo update from last sunday:
Left side of the house. The windows are stacked up waiting to go in.

Back of the house.

Right side of the house.

View from front right.

Front view. Portaloo still standing.

The laundry... looking even smaller. It is small so I guess we will have to keep the dirty pile under control :)

Some bits of wood. I will use some of these to put some extra noggin's in for towel holders ect.

Sliding door that will go off the dinning

From the rear of the house looking into bedroom 4.

Looking through the matchsticks.

Alfresco

Will go don this weekend and take a few more photos, roof should be nearly completely tiled and gutters should be up as well.

In Roof We Truss

2009-03-19T20:19:00.011+11:00

The roof Trusses have arrived! Oh and the frame is coming along nicely as well.
Here are the pics:

Roof Trusses on the ground.

Roof trusses on the um... roof!

Roof trusses of the ground and the roof ( You just don't get this sort of quality commentary everyday )And the windows have arrived.

Looks like everything is in order........ hang on what about the temporary fence ? We still have not got one, Im sure this means PD are breaking some kind of law or why are we paying 1200 odd bucks for it! Anyway a email to our CSC and apparently it will be up next week. Talking about our CSC, ours is leaving PD and we will have a new one starting Monday, so I guess we will have to call the new one CSCv2. Hopefully CSCv2 is as good with the commuication as original CSC.

Sunday

2009-03-17T20:44:00.013+11:00

Went to the block on Sunday and this is what we sawNo temporary fencing as yet, maybe this is why the frame had not being started.

Some wood had being plucked from the pile and laid onto the slab. Also on the slab was black marking where the frame is meant to be. Was good to see as you could see the layout of the house.

These bits looked a little sad after the rain we have had and I guess will have to be replaced.

Water pooling in the frame for the french doors. I'm sure it happens in most builds but somethings you wish you didn't see.

Looking at where the alfresco will be, with the frame for the bi-fold doors laying in the corning of what will be the rumpus. The bi-fold frame seemed very small so small I had to lay next to it to make sure it wasn't made for smurfs. It is actually the right size, but at this stage of the build everything seems small.

This is in the bathroom, don't know why a cut into the slab was required, maybe they forgot to lay the pipe in the picture, I'm sure it must of being required as I can honestly say that i was pleased to see there was no pooling of water on the slab, which means they have done a good job and it is all nice and level.

Front door frame on top, with Landry just under it...... but not to sure of the one on the bottom, maybe for the entrance from the garage.

A pile of wood!

A better photo of the frame for the french doors

Front of the house and an upright portaloo in all its glory! Although it didn't look very stable and I'm sure if you sat in it, it would fall over.

So I was a little disappointed this visit as I think I was expecting the frame to have started and the temporary fencing up and I'm sure seeing all the timber door frame getting wet will not be a highlight of the build as well. Having said that I am still optimistic that our SS will be on top of every thing and we will see more progress this week

Is it a Greek garden?

2009-03-10T21:09:00.011+11:00

No its our slab!

The slab was poured on Friday and we were able to go check it out on Monday. So without further ado here are some pics of a big bit of concrete:

So there you have it, with tipped over portaloo and all!

Spoke to V(SS) today and he said that the timber had been delivered for the frame, roof trusses are due on Friday so frame should be done by Wednesday next week.

He also said there will be a site clean up and a upright portaloo in the next day or so, with the temporary fencing going up.

Slab? No just a sixa for today thanks!

2009-03-05T21:21:00.004+11:00

The slab should be here, but alas it is not, slab was due yesterday but because of he high winds on Tuesday and Wednesday they could not get the foam and mesh down.

So they just got the gravel and the timber mold for the slab done:

Today they got the mesh and foam down:

Spoke to our SS and he said we should have a slab by tomorrow night.(Figures crossed the weather holds up).

Work commences

2009-03-02T21:19:00.005+11:00

Just a quick post to show a couple of photos of proof that it is all happening.

Pipes installed, looking from front left of block.

Porta-loo, rubbish cage and a pile of gravel which I guess is for the slab, also a keen eye will pickup the taps including the purple one for recycled water.

Power to the people!

Action at the block......apparently

2009-02-26T20:52:00.002+11:00

Yes it all has started, with site scape on Tuesday and would you believe we haven't even been down to the block to check it all out and probably wont for another week and by that time the slab will be laid (might have to make a visit tomorrow night).

On other news I received a call from our site supervisor who we will call V. He said we will have a slab on the 4th, then Frame on the 9th. First impressions is all good and I think I will get along with V just fine which will hopefully make it a much more enjoyable building experience.

Its now our bit of dirt!

2009-02-17T20:58:00.004+11:00

We had settlement of the land last Tuesday. All went as per plan and now we officially have a mortgage to pay(or half a one).

Now for the fun part. Received a call from PD with news of a site start for Tuesday next week. Oh yeah!

One week later they will pour the slab and I will drink one ;)
Hopefully lots of photos coming soon

Jump for Joy!

2009-01-16T14:29:00.004+11:00

We are back in the game. We have obtained finance through another lender and the valuation has come in ALOT higher.... where do they get these figures from?!?!

Anyway i don't care anymore as our dream of building our own home is now set to become true!

Now for all the paper work... bring it on!

A much a do about nothing

2009-01-08T11:58:00.003+11:00

A quick update to say there is no update, we are currently waiting for a new valuation to be done through another lender. Hopefully this one works out more in our favour or we may be looking to just purchase the land and wait another 12 months to save some more money and hopefully see off the uncertainty around the global economic crisis.

Shattered Dreams

2008-12-03T16:36:00.004+11:00

Had a phone call today from my broker today and the bank has come back saying the value of the house and land is $20,000 lower than what we are paying .

Most of it is the house that is short with the land being 4k and the rest the house.

This leaves us looking for that $20,000 to get the finance which of course I don’t have.

I managed to come across the list of houses sold they compared our house to. (Don't ask how I got this cos I'm not saying)

It appears the house's they used are all 2km away ( with undeveloped land between us and them) and they have not used any house sales to the Nth of as where all sell for more than it is costing for us to build. Here is a picture of what I'm going on about:
The areas circled in red are where the Bank found houses to compare ours with.
The blue dot is where our house will be.
And the green area is where I think they should get some valuations from to to an estimate of what our house market value will be.

Also looking at the houses they cocmpared our to they are all nearly 50mSq smaller but for one double story witch is 2mSq bigger and sold 70k more than hey evaluated ours..... WTF and the land is the same size. I dont think that it being a double story so they have a little more backyard would add 70k to the value.

All in all Im not very happy at the moment as you could imagine but Im not giving up without a fight and will ask for the valuation to be redone with the facts I have and will try to get some sales data of the houses just across the road to the north of us.

Contract signed

2008-12-01T21:34:00.004+11:00

A well over due update:

We had our tender appointment three weeks ago and luckily our site costs came in well under the 9k we had budgeted for at just over 5k. sweet

As we had saved a little on the sites costs we decided to spend the money on some more pot draws in the kitchen and a few more power points( We probably would have added these anyway but it felt good adding them in and still coming in under budget)

On Wednesday we had our contract appointment and all went very well except we had to add another $1200 to the house due to increasing the ceiling bats from R2.5 to R3.5 to meet 5 star energy requirements and we also increased the size of the kick boards for the bathroom and ensuite vanities from 703mm to 803mm. The standard height is 900mm but PD make them lower when you select the fish bowl above counter type sinks. While we think 900mm would be to high as the taps would be at chest level, a 200mm reduction was to much and would be unpractical (especially when T has a makeup and hair marathon before we go out).

At the end that cost us $74.

Today we received a phone call from our CSC and she told us that we had received developer approval on our plans and colours.

So all that needs to happen now is for a the bank to come to the party and formally approve the loan and we can sign our next 20-30years away.

I will post plans of the house soon.

Colour Selection

2008-10-26T21:00:00.014+11:00

A sample of the colors chosen for the house, I could not get samples for everything so have included a list at the bottom of this post.
BathroomsVanities : Laminex Natural Milkwood with kickboards in Laminex Flint charcoal.
Floor tiles and wall tiles in showers : Agra Charcoal with silver white mortar.
The showers will have a Pebble Tan 10 cm vertical feature running down one wall.

External

The bricks are Boral Jarrah with an offwhite mortar that has an ironed finish.
Windows are white.
Gutters, downpipes and garage door are colourbond Ironstone.
The front rendering on portico and projection will be colorbond Surf Mist.
The roof tiles are Boral Gunmetal.

Landry
Agra Charcoal tiles to the floor. Minima Avor (light beige) tiles for the splashback.
Sink and benchtop are Formica Silver Strata, again with charcoal kickers.

Kitchen

Floor is Truloc Spotted Gum which will also feature in the entrance, living/dining and the rumpus room. The glass splashback will be Dulux Sapphire Stone. The kick boards are Laminex Natural Zinc Works (looks like stainless steel).

One of our major upgrades was to put Vinyl Wrap for the kitchen cupboards including the wrap around the front. This enabled us to have a gloss finish. We decided to go with a new colour to the Laminex range called Pearl Frost which has subtle silver sparkles through it. This should match the stainless steel oven, rangehood and dishwasher(and the fridge one day when we can afford to upgrade it). The benchtop will be Quantum Quartz New Diamond White. This has the least amount of fleck.

A closeup of the Pearl Frost Vinyl Wrap. Photo still doesn't do it justice, but trust me it looks really nice :)

Others not listed

Carpet - Godfrey Hirst Forget me not (Dark Grey)
Internal Paint - Wattle Flokati (Off white) - Used throughout the house as it is neutral and we can paint feature walls once we are finished. PD charge way to much to change a color of a room or for a feature wall.
Timber front door and sidelights - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain
Laundry door - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain with clear glass
French doors to Lounge/Courtyard - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain
Bi-Fold door to Rumpus/Alfresco - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain

Fear of the unknown

2008-10-20T20:21:00.000+11:00

Good news is that we now have our Tender and Contract appointments booked on the 3rd Nov and 26th Nov respectively. Bad news is they wont tell us the site costs over the phone and we have to wait for the tender appointment to find out so they can "explain the breakdown of what the site costs are made out of." I can understand why they do this as the sites costs can be a large part of the overall build and can vary a lot. This is where the fear c0mes in, if the site costs blow out to 15 or 20k we will seriously need to cut back on some of our modifications (I will post these soon) maybe even losing the alfresco which to me was the main reason of getting the house (along with the rumpus room that opens onto the alfresco) .

The worst thing I did after seeing that there was some clay that came up from the holes that were drilled by the Porter Davis soil engineers was look up building on clay soil. Yep the information I found was all doom and gloom. Clay is one of the worst soils to build on because it expands and contracts with the weather, obviously not good for the foundations of the house.

I have included a link to a quick video that gives some basic information about building on different soil types. (It is American but i guess they have dirt as well :) )
Soil Video Click Here - /www.hgtvpro.com

Anyway figures crossed, no need to loose any sleep over it, just may have to think of some options before we go the tender appointment for if the site costs do blow out.

The Hole

2008-10-12T20:44:00.001+11:00

Some action from the block... we found three holes just like this one which hopefully means the builders have been able to get onto the block and do the soil survey.

We have been waiting for 8 weeks for the developer to let Porter onto the block which we were told would only be when the land is ready to title. Now with any luck we will get the figure for the site costs that wont blow us away. We were unable to get Porter to fix the site costs as the block did not meet their criteria which of course they wouldn't tell what the criteria is.

With an estimate from the Porter Davis Sales Rep we budgeted 10k for sites costs as the block has less than 700mm of fall(fingers crossed).

Land

2008-09-28T20:13:00.000+10:00

We have put a deposit on a block of land in Melbourne's South East called Eve just next to Berwick Springs. Settlement is in Feb 2009. We were quite excited when we had a look at the block the other day as they had finished the road and put our driveway in.
The soil is great and seems like it will grow just about anything, which will be good when we try to establish a garden down the track.

So it begins

2008-09-27T11:27:00.000+10:00

After viewing every display home this side of Texas, it finally happened after walking into a Porter Davis Heywood 29, T started to nest straight away and we knew it was exactly what we were looking for. A few visits with the Sales rep. negotiating a basic quote to see how much this was going to cost us and we were away.