Final Plans and into Construction

Happy to finally say we have received Final Plans and will be moving to Construction next week! Given it's christmas, not sure I'll get to see any hot tradies on site, but maybe I'm in for a surprise. Here is a preview of the final working plans:

We have Power!

Amazingly, WP contractor's have done the job in less than a fortnight! So that's quite exciting as it means we can get to site. We have informed the builder, so they are looking now at starting the site levels prior to christmas, which would be fantastic! But I'm not getting over excited just yet - I'll wait until I see people on site. I never thought I would be so excited to see a little green dome, so here it is:

This is an updated pic of the block (with a bit of greenery) prior to start:

Final Contracts and Drawings received

Finally, we have received our final contracts and working drawings. We spent Sat night and Sunday afternoon going through each section, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised there are a few errors. However, they are not major ones, so we have an appointment at the end of the week with the builder to get them corrected.

Either way at this point, it actually doesn't matter on timing, as we have yet to have Western Power install the green power dome onsite (waiting and waiting) so until that occurs, the builder can't get to site.

Western power have passed the job on to the contractors so fingers crossed we get in for installation before the christmas break!

Paperwork...and more paperwork

Well it has almost been 8 weeks since we did pre-start, and in this time we have gone back and forth with the builder confirming, correcting and changing the contract variations received from pre-start. Although there haven’t been a mass of changes, time just seems to get chewed up between us sending the builder queries and points of clarification, and then waiting on the builder to get back to us. Received an e-mail this morning from the builder regarding a couple of last points we've raised, and they have confirmed the final working drawings will be completed today, and we will receive them along with the final contract mid next-week. Looking forward to it, as once this last set of paperwork is signed off - we can finally get to site! And the fun begins!

Pre-Start

Back home from holidays, and the block cleared means we are in full build mode now, getting organised for pre-start. We've spent the first 2 weeks back from holidays visiting all the showrooms, making tile selections, etc to bring to the builder. It was a heap of work, but we are glad we did it all, as Pre-start took place on 5/9/11 and we spent 8 hours with the builder going through every single item within the contract. It was tiring, and a credit to the builder's patience. Now we have to wait for the builder to get back to us with all contract changes based on our selections.

Here is a preview of some selections:

Tapwear

Bathroom Sinks

KitchenTap:

Internal & External Balustrades:

Laundry Tap: I like this as it pulls out so we can wash Chelsea easily

Front Door:

Light switches & powerpoints:

Internal Doors:

Cornices:

Toilets:



Thats a few anyway. Wish I could find my tile selections to show you, but you will have to wait for the finished product for those.

Hopefully the builder doesn't take too long to get back to us with all the contract variations.

Demolition

Now that the plans are in at Council, we have the exciting process of organising the old home on the site to be demolished, so hopefully once we have a building licence, we are ready to build! After numerous forms, and a few issues with the disconnection of services, we received our Demo permit from the Council in July. Albeit that we are overseas, my dad happily managed the demolition for us, here are the pics:

Day 1: Fence erected

Day 2: Salvaging what they can:

Day 3: Roof has almost gone

Day 4: Heavy machinery has arrived

Day 5: Half way gone

Day 6: Demolition completed!

Council Dilemmas

The builder has prepared the Working Drawings and these have been submitted for Council Approval and Building Licence Approval. Things never seem to go smoothly with the Council, and they are not happy with the site levels of the home, and we are being forced to make a few changes to the design so can't look out at our neighbours house. Crazy isnt it?!

The changes the council is imposing are:
- Reduced window sizes in the Living Room
- Privacy screen out the rear alfresco
- Self closing locking gate out the rear alfresco

In hindsight, this has worked in our favour as we were undecided on whether to have a gas fireplace as a feature, and now with the forced window changes, we've decided the fireplace is a fantastic idea to make use of the wall space. So we are amending the plans now to include a fireplace recess in the living room, and to have a feature cladding style wall to match the front feature wall surrounding the fireplace. This is a preview of the fireplace:

We've also decided to add a fish tank feature wall on entry (something hubby has always wanted in the new home). So in the end, it probably has changed the plans for the better.

Planning Begins

After a busy first year with the little one, we finally decided it was time to start planning the New Home. August 2011 we have started the design process for the new home. After a few months and a few plan versions later, we can say we have finally signed a PPA agreement with the builder to start the building process (November 2011). Here is a preview:

Front Elevation

Rear Elevation

Downstairs Floor Plan

Upstairs Floor Plan:

An Idea was Born

Way back in 2009, we decided it was time to start making arrangements for Building our first Family Home. In Sept 2010, after months of looking, we found a building site and took the plunge with an offer. The offer was accepted and shortly after we became the excited owners of a 1x1 little character home on 645sqm:

Pics: Left - Front of home, Top Right: Street view of property, Bottom Right: View of back of House