11. Retaining Walls Done

Well our block is starting to take on the appearance of an actual house site now rather than the battlefield that it looked like after the HUGE soaks wells had been dug in. 

Damian has finished the retaining walls at the back on all three sides and has done a great job.

Craig backfilling the gardenbox.. a toasty 38 degree today!

One thing about having the fences down, apart from the lack of privacy...is that you get to know your neighbours. 

We are very lucky with our right boundary...the lovely Ivy had some beautiful fruit trees and has given us some delicious mangoes, she has even offerred us some plants from her garden too!

Brett and his crew should be on site tomorrow to finish off the fences (not holding our breath..he has meant to have been on site for weeks now) and then we can relax for a little while.
Well seems I spoke too soon..no show today 28/2/11..ugh!
Still no show 2/3/11 and now he is telling me it will be another 10 days...ugh! 
What do we do?  Any ideas?
Now 15/3/11 and our back and side fences are down.  This is beyond a joke.  Anyone want to know which fencing contractor NOT to use?  Message me.

10. We Have A Pad!

In February we celebrated our first real "house" developments as the site was pegged and prepared for the pad to be poured.

At this stage we had one side fence up and one side fence down AND the fence that had been put in was the wrong colour!
(Terrace instead of Riversand, luckily we liked this colour too!)

Relationships with neighbours were being tested!

The pad was poured on the Feb. 7th, unfortunately we couldn't be there to see it happen as the school holidays were now over and it was back to work for us. 
Luckily Paul was on hand and dropped in to capture the event with his camera for us. (Thanks Paul )

Coins into the "mud" to ensure prosperity (call me superstitious but it has to be worth a shot)



9. Site Preparation

Although our block appeared pretty flat and sandy, we soon discovered that this wasn't going to be an easy stage of development. 

With a block length of almost 70m and a fall in height of nearly a metre and a half from the back to the road, we needed to install retaining walls and remove an extensive amount of sand (over 130m3 to be exact).

The pool was installed at what would eventually be our pad height (well we hope it was...this remains to be seen), which meant it was surrounded by piles of sand.

Coordinating the removal of fences, building of retaining walls and reinstating fences has been very difficult as we needed to rely on various contractors fulfilling their part of the process on time and in sequence.  

A frustrating stage for us but also for our long-suffering neighbours who have had to endure their backyards being exposed for longer than a reasonable amount of time.

Unfortunately we were at the whim of these contractors and there was not alot that we could actually do, although we did eventually end up stacking some of the fence sheeting and cleaning up some of the material ourselves to hopefully speed things up.

8. The Pool: Part 2 The Saga Continues

Tuesday 11th Jan 2011

The hole had been dug and we were waiting to see our new pool installed. 

At this point I should share some reservations we had about the actual pool.  We had discussed the whole fibreglass vs concrete dilemma but cost and  a high water table lead us down the fibreglass route. 

Then size became as issue (it DOES matter according to Craig!), colour was the next consideration- I wanted green, he wanted blue so we decided to "Twinkle", which is a teal kind of colour.

Anyway, as soon as we saw the pool loaded up on the back of the truck we were excited!

As you can see we have a rear block, a narrow 4m driveway and powerlines on our side of the street, all contingencies the pool guys had to overcome with the use of two cranes.

Amost there...

It is in but not in the right place! 

The pool had to be lifted out and guess what, our luck was still running hot as we then had a cave in. 

The ever patient crew had to down "tools" and wait in the 38 degree heat for a bobcat to come and redig the hole.

Redigging...

Waiting...

...and in again at last.



7. The Pool

It seems like a lifetime ago now as so much has happened in between, but way back in March 2010 we attended the Pool Expo.  These Expos are held pretty regularly in Perth and are a great way to check out a variety of swimming pool manufacturers and the associated industries.  Everything is on display from solar blankets, paving, outdoor furniture etc.

Prior to the Pool Expo we had done quite a lot of homework and visited LOTS of pool companies, so we had a pretty clear idea of what sort of pool we wanted and how much we should expect to pay.  Anyway... we trundled off to the Expo and were able to take advantage of a great deal that Riverina Pools had for the show.  We signed up for the Calypso...which will hopefully look something like this when it is finished.

Jan 10th 2011 THE BIG DAY

Digging began at the block a little after 7am but not before we had a few minor hiccups to deal with (the plans submitted by the pool company had the pool reversed to the plans submitted by the building company)- we should have sorted this out before the day of the dig! 

 After quite a bit of stress and a few phone calls to both parties it was all sorted (they were both fantastic about it), by 8.30am we were discussing our dilemma with our local council, who was also great. 

As both plans had been approved, all we needed to do was make a decision and get the hole dug the correct way around.

All was going to plan until we struck coffee rock!  Time to call in the excavator.

Next.....we found water!  Things were not going according to the plan.

6. FINDING A BUILDING PARTNER

What a daunting task this is!  Now that we had a clear picture and a plan of what we wanted our house to look like, thanks to MBB, we set about trying to find a builder that could turn our drawings into reality...and within our budget!
Many weekends were spent visiting display homes to get ideas, check out the quality of various builds and also take note of what sorts of items were and were not included in building specifications for the various companies.
Finally we met Dino from Zazen Buidling and Design.  We were immediately impressed with Dino's thorough approach and extensive knowledge accumulated after working in the industry for many years.  As a new and emerging building company we really appreciated the personalised service that Dino could offer as well as his attention to detail.
With our plans developing and a contract in place we could relax for a little while and leave all the tiresome details of approvals and applications to Dino.   This meant it was time to bring in the pool!

5. It Is OURS, at Last!

June 2010: Settlement has finally gone through.

11 months after signing up for our block over a coffee and a handshake, settlement went through and the block became ours. 

Although we couldn't start building until we took ownership of the block we had started looking around at builders and house plans, a daunting task fraught with all sorts of difficulties!

Initially (way back in  October 2009) we found a house plan that we liked, with a project builder.  We made some minor modifications to the plan and were more or less happy to proceed...then came the hard sell!!!   Pressure to sign on the dotted line before December and we had  had a chance to really look around sent us scurrying away.

A chance encounter with some old friends lead us to investigate another builder, (I am not going to name them here as it could get sticky!)  This company, a very large building company, looked at our ideas and basically rehashed them into their own plan.  This was about December 2009.  The plans were good and we were happy, but things started to fall apart when we had to wait a month  for variations or trying to book in for appointments became difficult!   It was April when the costings were finally emailed to us.  Over $90 000 in site costs just about floored us!  As you can see from the pictures, it is a pretty flat (1.5m fall from front to back), sandy block!

We waited...nothing...didn't hear back from this company!!!!   Now this is a very large building company with a very good reputation, I don't know but we just seem to have been forgotten and slipped through the cracks.   Dilemma time now, we loved the plan, the price was astonomical...we decided to wait and see how the company would follow up.  They didn't, we waited.   I guess we could have rung and asked about the next step but were were still floored about the site costs, let alone the building costs and were not particularly happy with the service we were receiving. 

We now had to decide what to do. 
Should we get our plans redrawn (remember we have to change them by at least 10%) with an architect and then ask builders to quote on them? Scary  and expensive if you have no experience in the industry.
Should we go back to building company 1?  They were very pushy and would not allow us to use our own products etc.
Should we try another building company?  Having already investigated building with two big companies we were not sure this was the way we wanted to go.  We wanted some control over products used and wanted to have more input than most project builders would allow.  A boutique builder to do a one-of design...looked incredibly expensive and beyond our budget.
We were wasting time, while our block is sitting there empty we are paying rent!

Another chance encounter- see sometimes things happen for a reason.  We decided to attend the Home Show at the Convention Centre.  Here we met Craig from Master Building Brokers.  Craig is a designer with MBB and organised to meet and basically designed a home for us.  Now this sounds simple but we did meet lots, Craig came to us at our house and took on board all our concerns and ideas.  He was very patient and was prepared to wade through my enormous scrapfile of bits and pieces to make sure the home he designed suited what we were looking for.   I cannot speak highly enough of Craig, he was always accessible to us through phone and email, thanks Craig- can't wait for you to see the finished product!

With Craig's expertise we had a plan drawn up with all the specifications we wanted.  MBB then took this plan and asked a variety of builders to quote on it.  We also took the plan and asked a few builders that we knew to have a look and quote on it also.

We were making progress.

4. Progress

As the front house progressed and became ready to be sold, work began on making the "backyard" into a block for our new home.  The local government rules and regulations are quite strict in this area and so all outbuildings (asbestos shed, left over bits of a patio, clotheslines) and vegetation had to be removed from the site before subdivision could take place.

This also meant the removal of some beautiful old trees, including a maginificent magnolia.

3. Work Begins!

Before we could take possession of our block there was a lot that needed to be done.  The owner of the block (Colin) decided to keep the front house and completely remodel it, tranforming it from a pretty basic, single house into a beautiful, modern two-storey home.

Work on this house was pretty quick and in the process we gained a lovely cement wall down our driveway.

2. The Block

Ok, I have a few updates to fill in the time from August 2009 when we first signed up to purchase a "potential as yet not subdivided" block, until present day.

The owner of the triplex block decided to retain the front portion of 354m2 and sell off the back portion- to us - as luck would have it!  This would mean we would eventually take ownership of a massive 910m2 rear block (this includes 104m2 access leg or driveway) in a lovely riverside suburb where blocks of land do not become available very often.

We couldn't believe our luck as we thought the subdivision would split the block more evenly.  This also meant that our block had subdivision potential as two smaller strata blocks. 

Hmm  more dilemmas.

1. Let The Fun Begin!

Well it did sound like a good idea at the time. 
Way back in August 2009 I was on my way to visit a friend when I noticed a property for sale just down the street from our own home.  This was a large 1264m2 triplex block, hmm this got me thinking!   Anyway I continued on to my destination and mentioned it to our friends (Amanda and Hartley).  Now this is where some people might say it was meant to be....because as it turns out, Amanda and Hartley knew the owner of the block and within minutes Hartley was on the phone and we had organised to meet with the owner and talk about a proposal!
A quick chat over coffee, a hand shake, a signature, a deposit and we had signed up to buy a block that as yet really didn't exist. (Subdivision was still a long way off...but we didn't know it then of course!)
Whew..impulsive? Probably. 
A leap of faith? Absolutely
An adventure? Definitely!