You turn your back for just a few days...

And all of a sudden, there is a frame on the slab that is on your block of land!!!

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since we got back from holidays, and we've barely had time to stop to smell the roses, let alone watch the progress of our home.  Apart from a quick visit shortly after getting back, Sare and I have been busy with work, birthdays, and just catching up on everything that needs to be caught up on.

It was with huge anticipation that we visited our block this afternoon, and we were thrilled to see the progress.  Before going into detail on that, it's worth updating on the build administration going on while the real work happens in Cranbourne North.

We hadn't been in touch with Metricon since our return, thinking that we would leave it to them to get in touch if they wanted to issue the invoice for the slab.  Lo and behold, on Wednesday afternoon I had a phone call inquiring whether we'd received the invoice.  Bingo.  Since nothing had arrived in the mail, I requested that they forward it to me again so that I could pass it on to the bank.  Easy.  Upon passing it to the bank I was advised that they were still awaiting a copy of the building permit to proceed.  Not too difficult to arrange, but it would have been nice to have been asked for it, as we received it over a month ago.  With a bit of luck, everything should be sorted early this week.

The second phone call received from our builder this week was in relation to, wait for it, another one of their oversights.  This time they had forgotten to include in the contract the plumbing for our recycled water that is one of the estate covenants.  Quite how this had been missed not only by Metricon but also the developers when they gave their sign-off is quite beyond me.  Needless to say, the only way to deal with this was through a variation (number 9, and counting) and of course an extra cost to be added to the build.  My enquiry as to whether this should have been included in the fixed site costs was rebutted with a simple 'No'.  I guess that's not negotiable then!

The third and final call this week was from our site-supervisor.  He gave me a quick run down of the expected progress over the next few weeks and promised to call each week to update me.  It will be interesting to see if he follows through or not!

Anyway, on to the more exciting developments now.  The slab was finished on October 5 and looked absolutely huge when I went out and visited it.  Everyone has been telling me how the slab is supposed to look small compared to the finished house, so it may be that our home is going to even bigger than imagined!

 The slab, in all it's glory.  From the rear of the block, the bathroom plumbing centre left and wood for the frame at the far end.

Over the space of the last week and a half, the entire frame has been put up and the chippies were putting the finishing touches on the roof trusses.  With the guys still there doing their works, we decided not to venture on to the site to explore any further.  There will be plenty more opportunities in the weeks ahead.  The expected progress is that the fascia will be done on Monday and the roof shortly after that.  Then it will be on to the bricks, which we're both really looking forward to seeing the end result of our choice of colour!  The windows had all been delivered as well, so it won't be too long until the house is looking like a proper house, at least from the outside.  

 The view from the street

 Down the left side, with the windows in the foreground and the side al fresco jutting out

 The front entrance.  Garage on the left.

 The view from the rear of the block.

With this rate of progress, we may even be in by xmas.  Okay, that's way too optimistic, but at least it's full steam ahead at this point in time!!!

It's only the beginning

The beginning of the build that is!!!

The final building permit has been granted, so we're all set to get going now.  The only casualty as a result of the permit being issued was that we've been forced to reduce our al fresco area by 20cm on the west side of the house to bring it in to line with the council requirements, but at least this resulted in a nice credit in the variation.

Finance was approved, documents have been signed and returned and were today handed over to the settlements department.  Hopefully they don't have any issues with them, because I don't like the chances of them being amended before we head off on holiday!

We spent Sunday afternoon (following a lovely breakfast with the old man for father's day) on the lot clearing it of the debris that our neighbour's builders had kindly left for us.  Mowing the grass was a whole lot of fun too.  I did make a promise to Sare that it would be the first and last time I mowed the lawn there, so we're probably going to have to go shopping for either some fake grass or some concrete and green paint at some stage...

Today I spoke to Metricon and was advised that the site start would likely be sometime between September 12 and 14.  It will probably mean that by the time we get back we'll have a nice shiny new slab to look at, and potentially even the very early genesis of a frame.  Unless of course the weather degenerates over the next week in which case we'll come back to a patch of grass that will probably need to be mown again.

It's going to be fantastic to see our new home taking shape in the very near future!!

Time keeps on slipping, into our future home...

Small but significant steps have been made since our selections a couple of weeks ago. Over the last couple of days the Developer's Approval has been given to build our house, without any changes required and the bank have finally managed to find the contract I sent them (only two weeks later!) and given us the approval for our finance. It would seem that we've nearly cleared the last of the hurdles on the way to getting the build actually happening. Next up is the Casey City Council granting the building permit and it'll be time for us to get out to the block to clear the debris left by other builders on our land.

Without getting too ahead of ourselves, what with the building yet to start and all, we've been putting in some thought about the important additions to our new house (no, not the driveway, landscaping or even letterbox) but the pendant lights to go above the kitchen bench and the roof mounted speakers for the living area! For some reason they seem like the most irrelevant things in the grand scheme of things, but also two of the easier ones!!! Of course, we're hoping to pick up a couple of nice designer items on our trip to NY for the new house somewhere along the way as well.

It now looks as if it's going to be a race between Metricon to start finally building our new home and us heading off on our holiday. There are only 19 days (14 work days!) left for them to take the chequered flag first. Not that I'm counting though!

A date that will live in infamy...

April 30, 2011, a date that will live in infamy, an action took place that would set in motion a series of events that will no doubt turn out to be one of our greatest adventures yet...

We bought our block of land in The Avenue estate in Cranbourne North.

This story begins a little earlier, with my lovely wife (the far better half!) and I renting in Glen Waverley. Our home of nearly three years was put on the market by the landlord and we were left to wonder whether it would be sold to an owner occupier or an investor. Either way, it turned out to be the spur we needed to start making a move on buying somewhere we could treat as our own and call home.

Over a period of weeks that felt like years, we spent weekends shuffling from one hovel to another, questioning how some people manage to live in such filth. Some of the highlights included a Mount Waverley address where my first reaction upon exiting was to feel the desperate need to shower, another where the agent's most positive thing to say was that a living area could probably be divided into three bedrooms, and one where the entire backyard was covered with every household item usually located inside and the tenant lying half-naked on the couch playing video games.

It had reached the point where we were seriously considering putting in an offer on a compact (tiny!) two bedroom unit on a main road just to get it over with.

On the weekend we had decided to take a break from looking in an attempt to restore our sanity, I suggested on a whim that we take a look at a couple of display homes in Keysborough. One wander through the houses and it was almost a fait accompli that we would decide to buy our own block of land and build. Several more weeks of looking at display homes, working out what size, design and location led us to a patch of land in Cranbourne North.

Following a brief negotiation period (Offer at 11:00, counter offer at 3:00, sold at 3:30) we had what we wanted at a price we were willing to pay. Finance approval was obtained followed by me handing over the third biggest cheque I've ever had and left us waiting for settlement 6 weeks later.

Of course, this has been only the beginning...

The Block