Another Big Day

Fence Posts!

Here's today's surprise. Fence posts! When you do your fencing, you put in half the fence and the neighbours put in half. That means if your neighbours don't build for a while you can be stuck with a half fence for some time. A funny look and no good if you have a run-away dog.

Clothes Line

 Obviously the cement and hole specialist has been to visit the house as not only are the fence posts in, the clothes line frame has been cemented in too.
Do not ask me why the spare piece of roof truss is there and you will see a bit of wood on the ground to remind the cement guys to make the path longer.

Shelves in Walk In

 While I have been only able to peep through windows, the carpenter has put shelves into the cupboards. The walk in one gets a unit of them at one end and the bedrooms have just the upper shelf.

En-suite

 And the tiler seems to have finished all the tiles except the laundry and the kitchen splashbacks.

Kate in the kids' bathroom

 Tiles in the kids' bathroom are in too. In the store they looked more cream than they do here but I am very satisfied. I think maybe they were called ivory. I had forgotten what I had chosen to tell the truth. I thought there was texture in the colour. Now that I see them up, I remember this is what I decided on!

Kate in the Bathroom

 Kate and I looked at the paint colours I had chosen and I am more and more convinced that Handmade Linen is the one I will choose. It has the faintest green tinge which means it goes with both the whites and the creams I have chosen. I think.

The Laundry!

Look at that! The laundry is looking like a laundry! Beneath the overhead cupboards is a hanging rail so that I can hang clothes to dry in there rather than have to put everything through the dryer or have clothes ponies all through the house.

The laundry sink and my paint charts

Impossible to tell much but the cupboard doors are the same colour as the kitchen but the top is different. The handles are the same.
 

Almost a kitchen

 And here is the work in progress kitchen. Exciting! Exciting Exciting!

(See the waterfall bench?)

Progress Report

Lots of news today!

My visit to the house revealed the tiling has commenced. My immediate question then was 'When will they need my huge tiles?'

Note: Tiles on ensuite floor

Also noticed the path to the clothes line was not going to make it to the clothes line. The boxing stops a bit more then a metre short of the end of the house and the clothes line is against the fence beyond the house.

Path to ...?

I went home and simultaneously logged into gmail and rang Cheryl at Solid Constructions.
Low and behold as Cheryl picks up the phone I see that she has emailed me. She needs the paint colours. Cripes. I thought I had decided but straight away I start to second guess myself. Nothing like a final decision to undo all my resolve.
I ask her about the tiles and she says I need to contact Pete the tiler.
I mentioned the path as well. Cheryl will follow it up for me. There has been a lot of to and fro on how much cement is included so I feel a degree of tension over this.

There may be a good reason. There often are that mere non-builder mortals like me don't know!

It turned out the base to the pergola had to be lowered to ensure that it sat below the pest barrier of the house. That strikes me as a very good reason.

Anyhow, I rang Pete-the-tiler and he says he needs them tomorrow morning which means I will have to leave home very early indeed to drop them off before work. I have had Bill help me load them into the car as they are way too heavy for me to lift on my own - no matter how stubborn I am about such things!

I happened to ask Pete why he needed the kitchen tiles so soon and he has told me that the kitchen is going in tomorrow!

Sigh
I know I should be saying woohoo....
But Cheryl says the painters can't get there for a fortnight and then it will take about 4 weeks to finish after that.
I guess it is one of those things there is no point getting upset over but when I signed up for this I was told August was the move in date. Then October. Then early November. And now it looks like early December.
It's just one of those things with building. Stuff happens and the chain gets broken and the delays snowball.

My promise to myself is no knickers in a knot over this! I am not going to build up a head of steam- I am going to enjoy this as much as possible!

P.S Anyone been watching the Renovators in channel 10? I have absolutely loved the series but what a horrible ending? All the hard work and the stunning presentation left unrecognised by the market. I suspect that serious shoppers do not buy houses at auction with TVs and celebrities. If it was me, I would be expecting the sale to go out of control and I wouldn't even bother.

I have a sneaking suspicion the houses were bought at a premium. Or perhaps it is just over capitalising.

When they put in all the soft furnishing, people won't pay you for them. I suspect in resale you won't necessarily even get the value back of better branded appliances. And when you install a $2000 bath tub, will you actually increase your resale by $2K? Or will the home buyer simply go... 'lovely bathroom'.
'Lovely bathroom' will sell the house when there is a decision to be made between two but will it sell it for $1900 more?

The contestants would surely have been counting their chickens well before they were hatched. I would expect they were all expecting the winner to take home several hundred thousand with each house yielding $50k or so profit. And yet the winner ended up lucky they didn't subtract the loss amounts from the small profits or he would have ended up with next to nothing.

I was very disappointed for them all.

I still have a cold

I still have a cold and knowing my colds, I am going to have it tomorrow and the next day and the one after that and....

So I figured there was no point staying home all day. I might as well go to work, keep things ticking along while convincing the other MAB folk that I was diseased and it would be best to keep their distance.

One of my jobs is to keep his inbox under control. Seriously? His inbox is like my girls bedroom. Well almost. So I accept invitations for him, delete rubbish and look for urgent things that could get overlooked.
When he is away or I am away, then they simply accumulate faster than possible. When I started, 5 weeks ago he had 4200 emails. Now he has 4700 in his inbox.
His inbox is the only reason I am glad he has got a position somewhere else for three months. Maybe Emma will have better luck.

40 emails awaited me in my inbox to sort through and there is no point at all trying to estimate how many in Peter's inbox. So I waded through inboxes. Prepared a report. Tidied loose ends and felt as sick as a dog. I made the mistake of eating lunch and that was the undoing of me.

Just as I made my mind up to call it a day Cheryl rang from Solid Constructions to sort out the final details of the variations to the contract. (Variations are the things that I want that were not in the original contract.. like my stove)
Cheryl is lovely. She makes lots of apologies to me for the way things have to be done, but as I haveworked the other side of the counter, she doesn't need to. I know that with customers changing their minds, the fiddling around is time consuming and time is money.

Anyway, what she needed me to sort was door handles. So on my way home I had to stop and buy a front door lock. I had bought the internal ones already.
I felt so sick and as usual I had to wait forever at this particular hardware place. I will never willingly shop there ever again. Every single time, the sexist way they treat female customers makes my blood boil. Men get served but I can't even get them to meet my eyes!

But who cares... because lovely Cheryl said that the house could be finished in as few as 6 weeks. I won't hold my breath but.......

September 12

Well today has seen a few things happen.
Today I got the quote for the extras that I talked with Mark about during the walk through. As I guessed, they amounted a sizable sum of money. I am now looking at them and deciding which things to remove after all.
One thing I am reasonably sure I will do is seek a quote elsewhere for the cement for the pergola area. Mark's business is building, not cementing so getting some one to do that work is just an extra job for him. And rightfully, extra work deserves extra pay. So I might as well do the work on that myself.
 
As well as the quote, today I wrote a letter to the Govt about the plans for the next door house. I think it is ridiculous that i have to complain about it... because it isn't even legal. Well whatever.. I have written the letter and sent it off.

But there has been better news! look at the photos and what do you see?

Tiles!

2 things to note:

1. They are not as dark as they look in this photo and

2. They are darker than I realised. 

They look really nice though but I am a tad frightened about how hot they will be.

Excitement comes easily

Today I did my usual drive by- It is still so hard to get photos as it is nearly always dusk and holding the camera still is something of a trick. However it was worth trying to steady my hand and take photos in the gloom under headlights.

The promised rain did not arrive so today there are developments!

So what can we see? Gutters and fascias! With a bit of luck maybe tomorrow tiling will commence on the roof.

This photo shows the newly built wall for the veranda area. It is a nice large area and I am surprised to discover that there is not nearly enough dirt pushed there to fill the space. My brain is now trying to solve the 'what will I fill it with?' question.

In the meantime I have a minor annoyance. The next door neighbours have lodged their plans and like me, they have a long wall sitting on their southern boundary. That's my northern side. The side that all my windows look out onto. the side that I would most like to have curtains open on to let in winter sun.
Well in some kind of freakish notion, they have included a window in that boundary wall. I don't even know how that is legal. So effectively they are building a porthole in my fence and will be able to look into my yard and living areas whenever they want. I would guess that they mostly won't want to, but it's the principle.

I have asked Dad to have a look at the development application and I will see what to do next. I have already established contact with ACTPLA and asked casually if this window was really allowable and do I need to formally complain to have it removed. I hope I don't have to formally complain because that is not a nice way to begin life with your new neighbours.

Blimey

Here is Monday

Slow slow slow

Nearly finished with the bricks. There seem to be more roof tiles round the building now. And certainly more timber. They are obviously gearing up to get serious with the roof.

The feedback on the doors is that they are too wide for the space. And the fellow who suggested I have the skirting boards pinned in place and put on properly once the laminate floors have been added has had his plan jettisoned too. Apparently they need to be nailed on to pass certification.

Sunday

I just can't stay away from the house. 

Today I drove to Fyshwick to look at glass doors to put between the family room and the lounge.
Doors Plus had three options. 8 pane doors, single pane doors and Bi-fold single pane doors. The first two options were $200 a door = $400 for the space. The Bi-folds were $599 for the gear, or $832 installed but not painted.

I just can't see how they will fit in the space. The space just doesn't look big enough for two cavity doors.

Anyway on the way home I said to Kate that i really struggle not to visit the house even when I know nothing can have changed. Kate is as bad as me so at her urging, we went via the house.

:)

Good Girl!

So here is Kate... the first kid to use the new stairs...

And more bricks!

Yesterday I went round to see if the bricking had finished and really, it wasn't worth taking photos. There were more bricks but it looks pretty much the same.
This morning I dragged Wendy round show her my home and  as we walked through, I discovered there are now steps inside!

Hurrah!

They are handsome steps too!

I had figured when they weren't part of the original slab pouring that I was going to get chipboard steps that would be noisey, Instead, yesterday they bricked the risers and have placed heavy cement lids on top for a lovely little set of solid steps.

I am pleased

:)

The addition of walls is making the house darker. Wendy thought if we left the roof off it would stay lovely and bright....
When the builder maximises area of a house while minimising cost, the houses will tend towards square. As well as having deep rooms that get less light, it means they tend to be close to the boundaries of the block and the walls of the neighbours closer. This adds up to more gloom.
The lovely side effect of changing the shape of my house is that the family room is nicely set back and the outside living area is not hard up against the fence. There is some hope that some lovely winter sun is going to sneak in under the pergola.

So all up, while the progress is not as fast as I hoped, I like what it happening there.

Another nice thing is the snippets the other tradies are giving about Solid Construction. Pete Bonelli from TileFlair, had Solid build his house and the chap at 'About Kitchens' just added as a throw away comment that Solid Constructions build a good house. This is the sort of endorsement I like. Before the contracts are signed, people can say anything if they stand to gain by it. At this point, however I can expect that this is the truth as there is no escape for me now :)

And now the slow progress of bricking

I am ready to move, really I am! When I started this notion I was given a finish date of "August-ish". I understood that August couldn't happen when the Govt didn't release the land, but now the house that is down the road is having its gutters and fascias added and i don't even have full walls yet. Well I have one...

And they are working on the others.

I am filling my evenings now watching renovation programs. Thinking about gardens now that all my shopping for house bits is just about done. And they say that lock-up is short of halfway. Which means it will be a while yet before I am moving anywhere.

Electrical Walk Through

On Tuesday, 23rd I will be meeting the builder, Mark Porreca at the house to walk through and make decisions about the placement of TV, phone, power and light points through the house.
EEeeeek
I don't want to do that on my own at all!

I have started drawing it up to get an idea what I have in mind. I don't know where to put computer lines. I don't know what kind of light I want in my bedroom. I can't decide on the kitchen
Oh woe is me :P

Progress Payments

Today I received an invoice for my next progress payment. It's the frame stage one, and definitely looking at it, I have a frame! I still don't have a receipt for the slab payment so I sent off an email reminder tonight.

I also received a call from the kitchen company, About Kitchens to say that they had commenced construction of my cabinets and asked for the sum that I will be paying over and above the allowance in my contract. The contract allowed for $8k for the kitchen. Before I signed the contracts, I needed to make sure that I could actually get a kitchen for that much. The allowance is worked out based on the cost of the house, not necessarily the kitchen that the architect sketches into the space shown as kitchen.

I went to About Kitchens which is the one that my builder, Solid Constructions use. I explained that my budget had no budge in it! The kitchen they drew up for me came in at about $10 under. Then I added the waterfall edges and that pushed it over a little.

The Kitchen. The island is in two shades of Mocha and the cupboard doors are just off white. No doubt it will date badly. The bench top around the stove is also in the mocha colour.

The laundry on the other hand, had a budget of just $1500 and I blew that by as much as the kitchen! All the cupboards and the hanging rail over the bench were over the budget. But a house must have cupboards!

The Laundry. Space for washing machine on right and under bench space for dryer on left. My current dryer is wall hung and I can't actually reach the things in it! To the right of the cabinetry will be the linen press.

And the house by day reveals more!

 First thing this morning, Kate had a flute lesson and as the new road into the suburb was open, making it easier to drive from old to new house, we did a drive by.

 Kate went round the side and pointed out what I hadn't noticed the night before in the dark...

 They have put the piping in for hot and cold water!

 So here we are on the 13th with a roof frame and some plumbing and some bricks.

 It has been a week of noteworthy progress

After I dropped her off at the lesson, I went carpet shopping. Before I accepted the contract on the house, I went and got a quote on carpet to make sure that it was going to add up to an affordable bundle. I haven't checked my figures from today but I have a sinking feeling that it was significantly more expensive today than in March/April when I first asked. I am peeved and annoyed and somewhat worried. I have been to Carpet One and Carpet Choice.
I am waiting on Carpet Choice's estimate, but the estimate from Carpet One is that I need 62.5(m?) of timber laminate and 16-17m of carpet. All up laid I am looking at $8,300. (Builder's range). I think that is about a thousand more than the original price I was guestimated. Hurrumph

And now a roof by night!

Today I finished my second week at the new job. After a sick kid and two visits to the dentist, I was feeling like things were not progressing fast enough. I needed a bit of time at work just to read up on a few things. So I stayed on late to read about formatting ministerials and minutes. And tried to find a legend for the icons in our email system (unsuccessfully). The end result was that by the time I got to the house, it was dark.

At first as I drove up and aimed my lights at high beam on the house, I thought they had only finished bricking the garage. Well that was a little disappointing...

Then just as I was reversing out, I realised that they had put the roof trusses on!
Tadah

Well I was so excited, I jumped out of the car, in the dark, and took photos of the house in the headlights... then noticed the car was still in reverse....eeeeek
Jumped back in and drove off a happy camper.

With Roof Trusses by the full moon and under headlights!

Bricks by Night

Every night I drive home via the house. The nights are getting shorter and so have my working days since changing jobs, so tonight it was possible to snatch a blury picture of what happened today...

 Bricks!

Progress Report in Pictures

Here are a few photos of the progress so far. Pretty much as I reported in the last post

 Looking from the North West. It looks bigger than it will be. Note the mess on the next door neighbors block. Hope my folk didn't do that!

The bricks are sitting on the mound that eventually will be the patio. There will be a pergola over the top of it. I am not really sure what is going to retain the dirt. The builder said he would put in footings. I hope that means bricks and not just the cement outline that is currently there.

 These are bricks. That much is obvious! The colour is called Urban Mist. The pink is the part that is not so much seen and the white is the outside part.

And from the front. Now sign of the garage which will be all brick and no timber framework. The Zafira and Erin pose for photos

A story of appliances to fill the time that a house takes to build...

(Be warned, the story is longer than its title!)

The frame is finished and the bricks have arrived. Down the road Solid are building someone else's house too and I watch it nearly as closely as I do mine. I tried not to feel jealous  when their bricks arrived before mine! It didn't really work :)

It is raining this weekend and I like rainy days a lot, but the more often the sun shines on a weekday, the quicker the house will be built.

In the meantime, a story of ovens and cooktops!

My contract with Solid includes builder's range cooking appliances. In the three houses I have owned, I have had two lots of builder's range. Both time Chef. I am not impressed. This time the builder's range wasn't even to Chef level. It wasn't a deal breaker but it was something that left me keeping an eye open to options.

I have been watching Masterchef and they have been using Ariston ovens etc. They reminded me of the Eurolec stove that I had in house no.2. I loved that stove. The oven was enormous and the cook top large and delivered really good heat. The gas oven wasn't fabulous as the heat was uneven, but the size made up for it. So I started nosing round on the net, looking at stoves, ovens and cooktops. I was reading reviews and getting a feel for things. I have to say, this is the best thing to do before you need an item. Know what you might like in advance so that you can leap if it falls under your feet by chance.

And chance arrived. I listen to 666 radio and sometimes the stupidity of the callers to the program makes me so mad I resort to the commercial channel. So on my way to work I heard an add saying that Clive Anthony was closing down and clearing all stock.

It was a call to action. First off I went to Harvey Norman. I asked about the items I had chosen on line, best price. I was by then looking at De Longi which seems to get reasonable reviews at a moderate price. Armed with local prices and their opinion, I headed to Clive.

Well the place looked ransacked. The shelves bare. I headed down to the cooking appliances area and there were still some options available. The De Longi appliances were of a mixed bag. One of the ones I had ticked in my mind was at an absolutely excellent price, but no oven in that brand that I wanted. So I started looking at other brands for an oven. I ended up standing in front of Bosch. I started to get serious. It seemed that the prices were possible. Then I went hunting for a cook top. Bingo. Not on display, but wrapped in plastic, I found a cook top from Bosch. Waited for staff. Got a price. Tingled with excitement.  I wanted to double check the Bosch reviews for these particular items and I wanted to see if Harvey Norman could make an offer in the same ball park as I would rather be dealing with an ongoing business and they  had given me a very good price on my dishwasher.

HBA43B450A

The girl at Harvey was very helpful and she told me that the price I was being offered for the Bosch was less than cost. The reviews were good so I rang to pay a deposit. The fellow I speaking to said that the cook top I wanted was not there and I would have to pay $100 more for the next model. Well, I was disappointed but it wasn't the end of the world. I agreed and paid the deposit and the items were put aside for me.

Next day when I went to pay the remainder and collect, I noticed that the one I had originally seen was still there. I asked if I could go back to my original plan and they agreed cheerfully. (I was impressed with the service I was getting when the staff were obviously working so hard under difficult conditions)

 

Bosch PCH615FAULP

 In the loading dock, they brought out the wrong one. The up market one was being delivered to me. I brought it to the fellows attention. He left me for a while, scoured the store and couldn't find the one I had bought. Someone had picked it up! So he adjusted my paperwork and I ended up with the upmarket version for the lesser price. I saved thousands in the transaction all up.

So now I have an oven and cooktop that by review, is much better than anything I have ever owned before. It's exciting!

Why a Blog?

The reason I am writing this blog is because I need somewhere for my memories to live and my head isn't reliable :)
This is my own adventure so the memories are really for my own benefit and blogs make a good place to store them.
As the direction of my life has changed I have written different blogs. I have a quilting one, a Second Life one and now I have this one which will be about building a new home and a new life.

I began by writing the story in my SL Blog as my two lives began to merge. Now though, my SL has become something more like a curtain than a life. It is in the background, it colours my life but it isn't my life anymore.

So now this blog is about 9 months behind where things are up to. I may lift whole pieces from Audslife and bring it over, or I might just do some quick summaries. I will think on it :)

Meanwhile, yesterday they built half the frame of my house!

Yesterday was much like today. Gorgeous sunny day and clear skies. Not much wind. A fine day to be a builder I guess. But so cold! Minus 6.5 this morning. (that's 20F) we have been having very heavy frosts and I am happy to be working inside at 9am