Justin and Ashly's House

Days 45-55 - I've been a bit lazy

2009-11-23T21:43:00.008+08:00

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit slack with the updates. Surprisingly there were quite a few people that continued to check for a week or so even without me spamming facebook and homeone(I use Google Analytics to check traffic), so to those people, thank you.
Anyway, onto the update. There has been a bit happen, basically the roof frame is pretty much complete as of today, all that remains is the horizontal pieces of timber that the colourbond is attached to which are all positioned around the house ready to be put up, the colourbond was delivered today, the garage ceiling was done today and the eaves and flashing around the house were done last week, also the walls were chased for the powerpoints and light switches today and both gables are done. I think that's about where we're up to at the moment.
Now that the gables are up I'm starting to doubt our colour choice for them. They are yet to be painted so I don't think it would be a problem to change them, but I'm just uncertain, it's really hard to visualise. As it stands, the hardiplank(the biggest section of the gable) is squirrel brown, which is a brown with a hint of red, we chose it to match the bricks as closely as possible. The border of the gable, finial(spikey thing) and the gutters are all classic cream. We did go and do a visualisation thing with midland brick when we chose the colours, but I'm just having doubts as to whether they are going to work. I might put a post on the designer part of the homeone forum and ask for some feedback.
On to the photos for now:

Day 45

These are the two main beams in the house, the long run ones through the kitchen/lounge area and the shorter one runs diagonally through the gararge.

This is the crane lifting the beams onto the roof.

Day 48

Panorama from the lounge room.

Front of the house, they just did some more of the roof this day.

Day 49

Front of the house, they started on the top part of the roof.

Our roof form inside.

Day 52

The gabel above the master bedroom. The planks will be a brown colour and the rest will be cream.

Our roof mostly done.

Eaves!

Day 55 - Today

Some of the colourbond for our roof.

We have a ceiling in our garage!

These are the pieces of timber that go horizontally across the existing beams and the colourbond screws into them.

Walls have been chased for all light switches and GPOs.

That's it for today, I'll try to keep the updates a bit more regular.

Day 43 and 44 - The roof is on.

2009-11-12T20:22:00.004+08:00

I didn't get a chance to do a post yesterday so I'll do it along with today's.

Day 43
I drove past the house in the morning to find a huge pile of wood in my parking spot, no brickies though. When we went back in the afternoon, we were surprised to see that the roof had begun, I really expected a week or so before the roof started, especially considering RedInk is due payment after plate height. I also managed to book in an inspection for the following day, which is convenient seeing as, at this rate, the roof will probably be finished if it's left much longer than that.

The house behind us very thoughtfully erected some scaffolding for me to climb to take photos from so I was able to get some good shot of the roof from above.

Here is the wood that is to become the roof.

Here is the eaves.

This is the theatre, they've just sat the wood in it's place here and throughout the house.

This is the living area, the roof is sagging quite a bit due to it's length and weight, it makes the room feel quite small. Obviously this is only because the wood is not attached to the house yet.

That's about all for Day 43.

Day 44
Quite a bit more progress today and also our first 3rd party building inspection. The wood that was positioned yesterday has been today attached to the house, and it gives a good idea of the size of the rooms with the ceilings now. It makes a big difference when the wood is straight and not sagging down like yesterday.
We had the house inspection done by Houspec after work today and it was a pretty good result really. There were a couple of things, the main ones being the floor waste drains in the bathrooms. The powder room and toilet both share one drain, even though there is a door between them, the drain is in the toilet room just inside the door. It seems a bit silly placement really, but I don't suppose there is much that can be done about it now. Also the drain in the ensuite toilet doesn't exist, there is a drain in the ensuite and the toilet is joining the ensuite, I suppose it's not absolutely necessary, but as the inspector said, for the sake of $6 worth of pipe, you'd think they could add it in. Those were the main things, there were a couple of minor things which won't really make any difference in the end.
Apparently I was supposed to notify RedInk that there would be an inspector on site, but I didn't realise. The inspector suggested I let them know that there was an inspection and that he'll be returning periodically at times that will be advised. He also said to tell RedInk in writing that the mortar is not correct, we're willing to live with it but we would like a contract variation done to reflect the change and acknowledge the mistake. I have to say I'm very happy with the inspection, I learnt quite a lot despite there being nothing much wrong, so a win win really.
On to the photos:

Panorama from the living area with the ceiling beams in.

Panorama from the scaffolding. It screwed up a bit at the corner of the wall when the photos were merged, our wall doesn't go like that :P

This is the drain for the toilet and powder room.

This is our fire blanket, it's required because this wall is a "zero lot wall" which basically means it's right on the fence line. The blanket will be folded back up over and will be invisible from everywhere except the roof space.

That's it for today, everything just keeps powering along so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Day 42 - Brickwork Finished

2009-11-10T20:47:00.000+08:00

We went down to the block this afternoon and the brick work was finished. All the bricks from inside and around the house have been removed, aside from a quarter of a pallette of bricks out the back which hopefully we can keep.
The bricks still need to be cleaned and there's a huge pile of rubbish our the front, but other than that, it's all done. We assume the cleaning will be completed today.
I called RedInk yesterday to clear up the payment process, apparently they'll send a letter to us telling us we've reached a payment stage and then we just need to send a letter to our bank giving authorisation for the payment to be taken out. Whilst I was on the phone to Hayley I asked what the scheduled completion time for the bricks was and she said today or tomorrow and also that a roof carpenter is booked for this week also. That was quite a surprise because every other house we've watched go up has had the wood for the roof delivered a little bit after the bricks are finished and then a few weeks after that the roof is started.
Given this small time frame, we're going to have to get the 3rd party inspection done quick, so I gave them a call and got the pricing for different stages emailed to me and they also told me they just require about 2 days notice once the house is at plate height. So basically I need to call them first thing tomorrow morning and book the inspection in.
That's about it for today, here are some pictures:

Here's a panorama from the living room, every room looks so much bigger without piles of bricks in them.

A finished wardrobe.

A whole in the wall appeared today as well, I assume it's for the circuit breakers and RCDs, but I'm only guessing. It would be a pretty silly spot for it really, bery child accessible.

Our finished walk in robes, looking at the pictures now, I was thinking they were supposed to have doors...I'll have to check the plans. The full height openings make them look quite tall though.

Our front entrance way.

That's all for today, by the sounds of things, there won't be much of a break after the bricks, so there'll probably be an update soon.

Day 41 - Not quite there yet

2009-11-09T18:37:00.003+08:00

Well, it's not quite finished yet. I really thought it would be, but it has to be done tomorrow because there's hardly anything left now. They finished the last of the external bricks including the garage today. As far as we can tell, all that's left now is one walk in wardrobe and the bricks for the wardrobes in the other bedrooms.
I've got to try and remember to call the company we're getting to inspect the house because the first inspection will need to be done soon.
Anyway, onto the pictures:

The last of the external brick work done.

The garage finished.

They cleaned up some of the corners that were strange angles with mortar.

This is the other side of the wall in the previous photo. Because of the walls don't meet at 90 degrees the bricks don't match up exactly and the steps need to be filled in with mortar.

One of the walk in robes is completed to full height and the other one is one of the few things remaining to be done.

That's all for today, everything should be complete tomorrow!

Day 38 - Almost done!

2009-11-06T22:16:00.004+08:00

Like the title says, it's almost done. I believe the brickies work half a day on Saturday normally, they did last week. Assuming they do so this week I think the brick work will be finished either tomorrow or Monday.
As you will see in the photos, just about everything is done. There are a couple of small sections of internal walls which are only at door height, the second walk in robe is to be done, a small section of external bricks and half of the garage, that's all that is left though.
Check out the photos:

I mastered the art of panoramas for this one, or I found the panorama option in photoshop, depends which way you look at it. This is standing against the middle of the wall in the lounge room.

The front entrance.

Ash in our passage!

Looking from the living room towards the master bedroom and front door.

Looking at the walk in robes and ensuite in the master bedroom.

I finally remembered to take a photo of the new section of slab. You can notice the join of course, but it's a nice finish and it will be covered with tiles, as long as it doesn't move I'm happy.

That's all for today, I'm not sure what happens once the brick work is finished so I'll update as I find out.

Day 35, 36, 37 - Walls almost done

2009-11-06T07:04:00.006+08:00

I've been unable to find the time to update the blog the last few days so I thought I'd do a quick update before work this morning to cover the last 3 days.

Day 35 - Tuesday
The new section of slab was layed today, it looks quite neat and I'd say once the concrete dries it will blend in quite nicely. The brickies started the walls around that corner as well, all the external walls have been started now. There's not too much more to say, I made a dodgy panorama in photoshop, it's not very good, but you get the idea.

This was taken standing in the lounge room, the games room is to the right, dining room straight ahead and unfinished rooms to the left, that door way is to the garage.

This is our front door and theatre window. There will be a porch over half of this alcove.

The new section of slab.

Day 36 - Wednesday
The living area walls are all full height today and some of the other walls here and there were added to. I don't think there were any new walls today, the existing ones were mostly bought to full height.

As you can see, the living area internal walls are now full height, everything looks a lot bigger when the walls go all the way up.

Even our back yard looks bigger now.

Day 37 - Thursday
Quite a bit went up today, our bedroom, half of the passage, laundry, bathroom, bedroom 2 and 3. The external bricks are just about finished and most of the rooms that are started are full height. I'd say there are only a couple of days left until the bricks are done. I forgot yesterday and today to check the new section of slab now that it's dried, all the new walls distracted me, I'll try and remember to take a photo on Friday.

The passage down to bedrooms 2, 3 and 4.

Master bedroom with toilet started.

Standing in the games room.

That's all for today, won't be long until it's all done!

Day 34 - Wow

2009-11-02T20:57:00.001+08:00

I continue to be amazed at the speed the bricks are laid. I think probably about a third of the house is done now. Some of the walls are up to full height, we now have bedroom 4 complete, bedroom 3 half done, games room done, ensuite half done and walk in robes started. They aren't all up to full height, but high enough to feel like a room.
The slab has been cleanly separated now and has lots of re-inforcement bars in place, I imagine it will be poured tomorrow.
Ash suggested that one of the reasons it's going up so quickly is because RedInk don't get any money from us until the walls are done(Plate height). That sounds like a reasonable assumption to me and not one that I hold against RedInk, I'd do the same thing.
Anyway, onto the pictures...

The sun is in a rather unfortunate position at 5.15pm in regards to taking photos of the front of our house, I've adjusted it so you can actually see something, but the colours are a bit funny. As you can see, we have bricks all the way up and over the window, not to mention a front door frame!

You can see the edge of the concrete is nice and clean now with some nice thick reinforcement bars stuck in it to hold onto the new part of the slab.

This is taken from the master bedroom at the front of the house looking at our ensuite and walk in robes.

This is standing in the lounge room looking into the games room, sized to fit our pool table with optimum space for pool cue movement(I hope).

This is from the back yard looking at bedrooms 3 and 4, you can see the internal wall between bed4 and the games room goes all the way up, I'm not sure what the 4 courses of single course bricks are for, but our friends Mark and Rachael's house has the same thing, I'll have to look into it.

Our meter box! I don't know why that's exciting, but for some reason it is.

That's it for today, at this rate the bricks will be finished before the end of next week so I'll probably have an update just about every day due to things changing so rapidly. Stay tuned!

Day 33 - Fast

2009-11-01T21:37:00.006+08:00

They really don't muck around once they get going. We drove past the block yesterday and saw they were working, went down this afternoon to see the progress and were quite impressed. They've done about half of the external walls, about half of the internal bricks for those walls and even started on one of the internal walls itself. Not to mention that the damaged corner has been removed now save for a few remnants. Here are some pics with a bit further detail:

They've placed some scaffolding around the front corner of the house, I assume in preparation for laying the bricks above head height. Also, you can't really tell in this photo too easily, but the big pile of dirt out the front is gone.

You can see here that they've now done the whole back wall and half of the right hand side one up to head height.

The internal bricks are done on this side, and you can just see the strapping coming up over the top in between the two layers of bricks. This strapping will be tied to the roof to help keep it on :)

Our first internal wall! This is our ensuite and toilet.

It's true what they say about everything looking bigger once the walls go up. We're really getting an idea of the size of our back yard, it seemed a bit small before, but it seems quite reasonable now there are walls. The boundary of our block is where the limestone wall on the far side steps up.

This is the right hand side of the house from the rear. Once the slab went down we thought there would be room for a thin path and a narrow strip of garden, but it's quite a spacious passage now.

We saw a bobcat at the block on Saturday and judging by the track marks I'd say it was used to lift and remove the section of the slab that is now missing.

And here is the missing section, up side down. I suppose this is going to be the rubbish pile now.

We also went for a walk down to the lake. The grass is starting to fill in and it's starting to look quite nice.

That's it for today, I've updated the picture in the side bar, don't forget you can click it for a larger version. I won't be surprised if the new part of the slab is poured tomorrow so we should have another update then.

Day 20-31

2009-10-30T23:10:00.013+08:00

Well, this is way over due, partially because I just haven't been able to make time and partially because I accidentally deleted a lot of important files from my computer and the, thus far unsuccessful, attempts to recover them have taken up my usual blogging time.
I've still been taking photos and have just spent the last hour or so sorting through them and adjusting them ready for your perusing. A lot has happened in the two weeks since my last post so I'll split them up into days and try and keep it reasonably brief.

So, let's get into it shall we?

Day 20
Nothing terribly exciting today, but progress none the less. Some PVC piping has grown around the outside of the slab near the toilets and the verge. I'm assuming they're sewerage pipes, please feel free to leave a comment correcting me if I'm wrong, but I can't see any other purpose for them.

Day 22
Quite a few things today. First and foremost, the bricks were delivered. I went down to the block during lunch time to find some of our external bricks sitting around the slab and our door frames leaning against the storage container. Just as I was about to leave, a truck full of bricks turned up, so I stayed whilst they unloaded them. I was speaking to one of the guys delivering the bricks and he informed me of a crack in our slab, once all the bricks were off loaded I went and had a look to find a large corner of our slab cracked all the way through, more on this later.
I went back the block after work and was greeted by a large pile of yellow sand amongst the bricks.

Day 23
Nothing new today, but I did go and take a few better photos of the crack in the slab. The previous day, I decided to call RedInk to inform them of the crack in the slab, I figured the sooner they know about it, the sooner it can be fixed. This was also my first proper conversation with our Client Liason, Hayley, she's very friendly and quick to follow everything up, always has an answer the same day. I was told the site supervisor would go and check it out and let me know what the rectification would be.
After some discussion, my friend Joel's theory is that when the pipes were put in before the slab was laid, the dirt would have been dug up and then probably not compacted quite as much as the dirt in the open areas. Once the slab was laid, the uncompacted dirt would have settled and then something drove next to the pipes causing the concrete to crack under the large weight. This explains why the outside corner has lifted.

Day 24
There were a few bits and pieces delivered today into our storage container; cement, our meter box and a few other things I'm unsure of.
I heard from RedInk today also, they informed me that they have booked their engineers to go to the site to determine the method of repair early the following week.

Day 28
Four whole days with no changes! Two of them were the weekend though. Anyway, a few more additions today; window frames and a wooden front door frame. I assume the wooden frame is the internal one because there is a metal frame with holes in it for a deadlock as well as the normal door handle and we did opt for a frame that could support a security door.
Also I heard from RedInk again today, the engineers had submitted their report and basically their recommendations were that the damaged section be cut off, re-inforcement bars be inserted into the existing slab and ground and then that section of the slab be re-poured, there was also some recomendations for additional strengthening when laying the bricks. Hayley even sent me the report so I could read it myself. This method was pretty much exactly what I expected thanks to my friends in the know. Also I was told that someone had been scheduled to cut the corner off on Friday(Day 31) and that the brickies would be starting and just staying away from that corner until it's repaired.

Day 30
Ash and I met at the block after work to discover evidence of the brickies having started their preparations. They had added cement around the edges of the slab to (I imagine) smooth it off, they had also marked out the internal walls, moved our door and window frames around closer to their positions and moved some of the bricks around.

Day 31
Today was easily the most significant day since the slab was laid. We have walls! Not too much to say about it other than that, pretty much the whole left hand side external walls are done up to about head height. Also the slab has been cut, I'm not sure exactly what the process is from here, but I suppose we will find out early next week because RedInk don't seem to muck around when it comes to getting things done.
Also Joel came down and gave our choice of bricks the thumbs up, as did another friend of ours, Rachael, who happens to be building a couple of houses down from us.
I was a little dissapointed that the mortar was rolled when I had specified that it be raked, but it's a small detail and rolled is a more practical option. I don't think it will really make too much difference in the end.

That's all for now, I've updated the picture and video in the sidebar, it's almost doubled in length now. I'll try and keep the updates daily or at least every two to three days from now on, time permitting. If you want to leave a comment, you just have to click the word "comments" below here.

Day 17 - Bricks have been chosen

2009-10-16T19:59:00.005+08:00

Just a small update today. Yesterday Ash found out that our bricks had been ordered to be on site next Wednesday(Day 22) so she organised for us to go down to the brick yard and pick our bricks out. As I mentioned in a previous post, we have obviously chosen our bricks at pre-start, however the bricks we chose (Midland Brick - Sandalford Handmade) vary from batch to batch. Because of this we went to the yard and were shown the three different batches available at the moment, they were all quite similar and also all quite close to the ones you see in the brochure. Ash and I have very similar taste and we both knew which ones we wanted without needing to ask each other. I forgot to take my camera but Midland Brick takes a photo of each batch so Ash got that:
So that's our bricks, we actually got to see our house today, just in pieces :P

I know I said just a small update, but I just remembered that the other day Joel bought over the photos that he took a week or so ago with his fancy camera. So I thought I'd put a couple of them on, they're so much better than anything my camera can take.

Day 1 - We all went down for a couple of drinks the day after our block settled.

Day 13 - Panorama of our block after the footings were done.

Day 13 - As above

Day 13 - We're an environmentally friendly bunch. Joel, Nys, Ash and I all came in separate cars :P

Day 13 - Ash braving the cold.

I've also got a slightly updated time lapse picture for the sidebar, I'm going to try and get an animated time lapse thing happening soon. That's about it for pictures today.
In other house related news, the block next to ours(Right hand side looking at the block) has been cleared and I imagine the slab will be down soon. Also, as you can see in the new picture in the sidebar the house behind ours is growing a roof.

That's it for today, I'm off to play with photoshop for a while.

Day 14 - Slab Down

2009-10-13T22:22:00.006+08:00

Well, today involved an early start for me, I got down to the block just after 7am to find the grano workers having finished placing all the form work and in the process of placing the chairs under the mesh(The chairs hold the mesh up off the plastic so the concrete can get under it. The mesh strengthens the concrete.) The site supervisor wasn't there but I told one of the guys who I was and that I just wanted to watch and he didn't have a problem with that. I stayed until all the concrete was poured and took lots of photos throughout the process. The guys were obviously experienced and showed a lot of care for their work, I don't think you could hope for anyone better to do such an important part of the house. They even took the time to explain to me why they did certain things and I learnt quite a bit. Probably the easiest way to explain it all is by writing a description after each photo of the process, so here goes:

As mentioned above, the form work(Wood around the edges to hold the concrete in) is all complete and the chairs are being placed under the mesh.

Not long after everything was ready the first truck showed up. I was happy to see it was Boral. Ash works for Midland Brick which is part of Boral, so we have somewhat of a loyalty and also despite possibly being biased, I have a slightly educated opinion that Boral generally has superior products to most other suppliers.

Another sight I was happy to see was the truck driving onto the middle of the slab-to-be to pour the concrete. No concrete pumps here, so that's about $1800 provisional site work costs saved, plus we have evidence so we can argue if need be, although I'm sure there won't be any problems.

Here comes the first of the concrete!

They started at the back and worked forward. Two of the guys left after the first truck.

Truck number one almost empty.

Truck number two ready to pour.

Truck number two all just about done.

Truck number two driver was a bit of a pain in the ass and resulted in a delay, here you can see truck number three waiting.

Luckily truck number three's drivers were helpful and things got back on track.

Here you can see our bathroom, powder room, toilet and laundry. Those of you who have seen slabs will notice that usually the bathroom floor is recessed and not finished very well. This is because normally the tiler uses a different type of concrete on top to shape the floor to make the water flow to the drain. I was told that RedInk is the only builder who does it this way, the grano guys actually shaped the floor and the tiles go straight on. I don't know if there are any advantages or disadvantages to doing it this way other than you don't have to wait for the other concrete to dry. I can't see it making a big difference either way. The recesses that are there are for the shower and the bath.

The slab is almost done being poured, here one of the guys is going over the first part of the slab. I think this process is called breaking, I'm not sure though. As my helpful teachers told me though, the idea behind this is primarily to bring the water to the surface(I imagine the dry surface is being broken to allow the water out, hence "breaking") it also smooths out any imperfections in the levelling and just generally smooths the surface. This process is done a number of times(About 4 or 5 I think), the machine is run length ways and across ways alternately so that you end up with a really flat surface.

Here it is, all poured. Still a bit of work to go, but mostly done.

The last few passes are more for smoothing than bringing water to the surface. At this stage I was told the slab would be ready to walk on in 10 mins. It was about this time I headed off to work after thanking the guys for letting me watch them work and for explaining the process to me as they went. I got their card and if I need any concreting done I know who I'm calling.

Ash and I went back to the block after work and I took a couple of photos of the finished product. Here it is! Even though it should have been fine to walk on, we decided not to just yet, we'll give it a couple of days.

From the back yard.

Here you can kind of see the shaping of the floor around the drains.

One thing that is missing is the garage. I haven't been told, but we've observed that the garage slabs get done separately after the bricks are all done. My mates and I have decided that it must be due to the extra loading of cars compared to people which means it requires a thicker slab and necessitates separation from the main slab so any movement due to cars going in and out doesn't effect the main slab.

That's it for today, I've added a new picture to the side bar, you can click on it for a bigger view. Ash also found out that the site supervisor has advised Midland Brick that the bricks can be delivered next Wednesday. The order hasn't been placed yet, but it's expected in the next day or so, at which point we can go and choose which batch of bricks we want.

The next step will be selecting our bricks, clearing excess dirt from around the slab and delivering the bricks. I'll update as things progress, so stay tuned!

Day 13 - More Surprises

2009-10-12T22:37:00.004+08:00

Well, today was full of surprises. On my way to work I went past the block to find a whole bunch of guys digging the footings and preparing our block for the slab. Considering construction wasn't supposed to begin until tomorrow at the earliest, this is all looking very good.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we were supposed to have a meeting with the site supervisor, which we are yet to have. So I called RedInk and just asked if the meeting would be bought forward seeing as construction has started, I was then corrected and told that there is no meeting, it's just a letter with contact details. I don't mind, I don't think we would have had much to say anyway. Whilst I was on the phone I asked if they could tell me when the slab would be going down as I would like to watch, I was told that it was scheduled for this Friday but they'll just double check. When they came back they told me the concreter had an opening and it's now being done tomorrow. Apparently they aren't allowed to start work until after 7am, so that's when I'll get there tomorrow morning, hopefully it's the first job of the day :)

So, this is all fantastic news, everything is going much faster than anticipated. Luckily my (Civil Engineer)friends Joel and Nyssa were free this afternoon to come and check it out and give it the thumbs up, not that there was too much to check. I was also able to get some time off tomorrow to go and watch the slab get poured, I mainly want to see if they use a concrete pump because that's an $1800 provisional cost and I have no way of knowing whether it was used unless I see it, plus I'd also like to see it all happen.

One other thing, seeing as things seem to be moving at a high pace I thought I might now label each blog post with a Day number. This number being the amount of days since the settlement paper was given to RedInk. Today is Day 13, as noted above, check back regularly, there will definitely be an update tomorrow. Here's the picture from today, Joel took some more photos which I'll try and get a hold of soon.

Maybe every title should be "Finally!"

2009-10-08T14:24:00.010+08:00

Well, in keeping consistent with my posts, this one is a bit over due. Since the last one we have finally settled on the block. As I mentioned, it was due to settle on the 28th of August and as far as I knew that was what was going to happen. Being unfamiliar with the process I assumed that it was all pretty straight forward, there was almost a month for everything to be organised so what could go wrong, right? You'd think I would have learned by now, wouldn't you?

I hadn't heard anything from our settlement agent since we got formal approval and being in the mind set I just described, I wasn't too concerned. A couple of days before settlement was due, I called the settlement agent just to check that everything was on track. They informed me "Oh, umm, no, we haven't even got the FHOG yet, no it won't be happening this week". Over the following few weeks we had many extensions on the settlement date and I also wrote a letter to Keystart.

In the letter to Keystart, I outlined the dates of major occurrences, such as application date, pre-approval, formal approval, settlement and the time frames between each. I also told them if settlement didn't take place in the next week we'd be going to the Minister for Commerce. I forwarded a copy to our local member for parliament, Judy Moylan. The following week we settled.

In total we settled a bit over 7 weeks after formal approval. One of the people I spoke to at Keystart mentioned that 6 weeks was the longest some of the files had been waiting for settlement, so I'm not sure if my letter actually achieved anything or if it was just a coincidence.

So anyway, on Tuesday the 29th of September, our block settled, so we now own land. Ash and I went down to the block, just to see if it looked different now that we owned it or something I guess :P. It just so happened that Andrew, the sales guy for Waterhall, was there, which was strange because he isn't usually on Tuesdays. Anyway, we went and said hi, and he asked if we wanted a SOLD sticker, which of course we did. We went to the block and put the sticker on, finally some change in the block.

The following day we sent the notification of settlement to our builder who told us that construction should begin in about 2-3 weeks, which today is less than 1-2 weeks. Apparently we will receive a letter letting us know when construction will commence and we also will meet the site manager who will then be our new contact person.

Also, due to Ash working at Midland Brick, we get a bit more of an insight into things. Our bricks are Handmade Sandalford and because they have about 5 or 6 different shades of bricks, each batch is slightly different(Apparently it's down to the clay that's used and I suppose some other factors which are uncontrollable). The normal procedure is that when you're building a house with these bricks, you go down to the yard and there are a couple of batches of bricks that you can choose from, so if there is a batch you don't like, you're not stuck with them. When the bricks are ready, photos are taken of them, and Ash gets the photos for work, so we've seen the current batches and they're pretty much spot on to the catalogue versions. We're really hoping we can go and choose the bricks from these batch's because they're exactly the way we like them. Ash is going to find out today if we can choose them yet. We'll actually get to see part of our house!

...

Well, that was a bit of a surprise. I wrote that blog entry before going to the block with Ash to get a picture of the block with the sold sticker. When we got to the block we discovered our block has been excavated and has the metal framework for the slab ready to go. Quite a shock considering we weren't expecting to even hear from RedInk for another week or two, never mind actually have construction begin.

So I never got a picture of the block in it's untouched state with the sold sticker, but I'm willing to live with that seeing as construction has started early. Here are some photos:

I've also updated the photo of our house in the side bar at the right. That's it for now, but hopefully we'll have a lot more to update from now on!

Finally!

2009-08-13T18:51:00.003+08:00

I finally have some good news, we got our finance approved! We got the news last Friday, but it's taken until today for me to actually start getting excited about it and want to tell people. Our finance broker said that ours was the longest application he has ever dealt with, it was around about 6 months in the end.
Anyway, we got the letter on Friday(Which also happened to be the last day of our final extension on finance due on our block) saying we have approval, which I then forwarded to Time Conti who advised us that Settlement would be the 28th of August. We received the contract from Keystart on about Tuesday or Wednesday(The first part of the whole ordeal with Keystart that has been completed quickly) and we received our final final final drawings from RedInk today, once we sign these, they are what is used for construction. So after I finish this, Ash and I will be double checking and signing our plans and our contract, ready to send off tomorrow. Ash is going to pick up some forms from our settlement agent tomorrow which we need to sign and return and then all we do is wait until the 28th.
The whole ordeal with getting finance was taking a heavy toll on me and as I said I've only just managed to start getting excited about the house again. Now that we have all the forms and final plans I think it's starting to sink in. Provided everything goes to plan, construction should start next month, maybe even early in the month!

Getting soooo close

2009-07-27T18:10:00.002+08:00

Just a really quick update. We were told by Keystart today that they would probably have everything done today. Of course, they didn't, but it's the shortest time frame we've been given yet and also probably means they haven't got anything else to hold it up with. So hopefully tomorrow or the next day we will have finance!
Also, I've updated the picture of our block, nothing has really changed on our block except for some tire marks, but the block behind us is being built on now so I thought it was worth updating.

I can not avoid it any longer...

2009-07-20T23:36:00.005+08:00

Well, I haven't posted a new blog entry for some time, basically because it's the only way I could stay sane. After what has happened the last few weeks I've been trying to avoid anything to do with the house so as to reduce my stress levels, I've even stopped going down to the block, which I was doing every second day at least(It's on my way home from work). What could cause such stress you ask? Well, I'll tell you, just let me try and remember the beginning...

Wow, I just checked the last blog post, that was a long time ago. I'll start where we left off.
We'd just finished pre-start and were waiting for our final costings, after a couple of days, we got them. Mostly they were to our liking, there were a few things that were a bit more expensive than we would have liked and a few things that were less expensive than we expected. Apart from a couple of alterations and some confusion with the cost of our different to standard pavers and bricks, everything was as it should be and after a week or so it was all done and signed and returned to RedInk. At the time there were a few things that seemed dramatic, but in light of recent events, I say "meh" to them. That's about it as far as constructive progress, now on to the Keystart saga.

Firstly, a bit of background; when we got our pre-approval from Keystart, they said that once we gave them the required documentation it would take 5-10 working days for them to process everything and give us the money. About 4 or 5 weeks after we gave Keystart the documents they requested (and also the day before the extension on our block finance ran out), we tried contacting Keystart and asking them what's going on, in a day or so they got back to us and said,
"Oh actually, you know how we originally told you that the maximum property value and loan amount couldn't exceed $500,000, and then after 2 months of waiting we told you that the maximum loan amount had been reduced to $412,000? Well we've now decided that the maximum property value can't exceed $412,000 either. We know that you've already planned your whole house out, signed the contracts and based your whole budget on the original $500,000, but oh well."
That's paraphrased, they probably cared a lot less than what I made them out to seem there, but you get the point. Our finance broker was frustrated to no end, and I tell you, that man has earned 10 times his commission on this job. He'd had his state manager onto Keystart and done everything he could do, but to no avail. He advised us that our options were basically;
a)Apply with a bank. (Which would obviously take months and we would undoubtedly lose the block)
b)Take it to some commissioner person and complain.(Which again would take months and we'd lose the block) or
c) Try and reduce the house value to get below the $412,000 mark and supply Keystart with the new contract.
Seeing as we really didn't have a choice, we went with c) and with collaboration with RedInk were able to achieve this. I won't go into the details, but it worked out OK in the end. Keystart also assured us that should we supply them with a revised contract then everything was ready to go and it would be a matter of days until we got the money. So with this relatively good news in mind and a light at the seemingly never ending tunnel, we got to work.

We managed to get an extension on the block finance for another 2 weeks(Time Conti have been extremely understanding with us). The only thing RedInk required from us for the revised contract was a FHOG(First Home Owners Grant) approval form, which of course Keystart has to give us. After a week of waiting, Keystart informed us that they couldn't give us the approval form until they got the new contract. Of course, we couldn't get the new contract until we had the approval form, but Keystart cares not. After our finance broker ensured RedInk we will be approved for the FHOG they took his word and re-did the contract that day and then we gave it straight to Keystart.
Because of Keystart's delay in not giving us the FHOG approval form, there were only a few days remaining until the block finance was due again, but Keystart had assured us everything was ready to go so we weren't too concerned.

Jump forward to the day after finance was due for the block, our finance broker asked Keystart if there was any news and if they could put the job forward as urgent. Keystart informed us that because they'd only just received the forms it couldn't be set as urgent and it'd probably be another 5 days or so(Apparently, for something to be set to urgent status, it has to sit there for a week or so first. Never mind that the only reason new forms were required was because of Keystart in the first place). So anyway, once again I informed TimeConti that Keystart hate us and I'm sorry and could we please have a further extension, and once again they very kindly agreed and gave us another 2 week extension.

That was the end of last week, now we're catching up to the current time, I got home tonight to find an email from our finance broker saying that Keystart is now asking for proof that Ash's credit card is cancelled. Now, I agree that this is an entirely logical and fair thing for a lender to ask for, however, when we were given our pre-approval it came with a list of questions and documentation requirements querying such things as certain transactions that were made, pay slips etc. This is something that should have been asked then, asking it now just seems like they are trying to screw us over, trying to hold things up as long as possible.
I wish, if they really aren't going to give us the money, they would just tell us instead of getting us to jump through hoops making me go half way insane and then have it all be for nothing. It really feels like they're just doing this for fun now, and the worst of it is, we can't do anything about it.

However, if there is one thing that this whole extended process has taught me, it's that you have to just accept it, look at all the options open to you and do what you can. In this particular instance, it's get everything they require as quickly as possible, unfortunately there is no arguing with Keystart, they don't care, they're not trying to make money, if you take your business elsewhere it just means less work for them. Ironically, because they're set up to help people, that's what they do least.

Looking to the future, should all the stars align and buddah smile upon us, Ash will be able to get some kind of proof that she doesn't have a credit card any more first thing tomorrow morning and we can forward that to Keystart. Keystart will then be satisfied, finish processing our application and then we can finally arrange settlement for our block by this Friday, which is when our extension runs out.

I'll leave it on that slightly positive note and with the promise that I will update more regularly in the future. If you made it this far, thank you for reading and feel free to leave comments about anything, all you have to do is click the "0 comments" text just under this.

Pre-start!

2009-06-09T18:46:00.016+08:00

Today we started probably the biggest step forward with the house since we got our finance pre-approval, maybe just the biggest step all together. We had our pre-start meeting.

I think it went fairly smoothly, we spent all weekend making a list and checking it a million times and reading forum.homeone.com.au and staring at plans and trying to imagine everything that we're going to need. I'm sure we missed heaps of things, the lady at pre-start bought up a few good points, but I think we had pretty much everything covered.

The only thing that we really got pricing on straight away was the electrical additions; power points, conduit, lights etc. We managed to keep it under about $1500 which I'm pretty happy with. An itemised price list of all the other additions we requested will be made up and emailed to us in the next couple of days, there are a few things on there which we mostly added just to see the price but probably won't go ahead with, but most of it we really don't want to be without.

We went to the Caroma Dorf showroom on the weekend and had a look at all our bathroom, toilet, kitchen and laundry inclusions and noted a few bits and pieces that we would like to upgrade if the price is right. Ashly found some photos of them on the various manufacturer websites, here they are along with some photos of other bits and pieces:

Caroma Cosmo Towel Rail

Caroma Cosmo Shower Shelf

Caroma Cosmo Hand Towel Rail

Caroma Cosmo Toilet Roll Holder

Caroma Liano Kitchen Sink Mixer(This is over $500 retail, so god knows how much it's going to be from the builder, we may end up buying it separately and putting it in after handover) Stupidly expensive, but the Kitchen is somewhat of a feature.

Dorf El Toro Bath Set. These are actually quite similar to the standard inclusions, so we'll only be getting them if they aren't too much extra.

Dorf El Toro Sink Set. Same goes with these as with the bath set.

Venecia Wall Faced Close Coupled Toilet. These are all ceramic and are just plain nicer than the plastic standard ones. We did get an upgrade price on these and it's only about $110 extra per toilet, so these are just about a definite.

Clark EVBU Undermount Sink, 2 of these in the Kitchen island bench.

20mm Green Tea Essa Stone bench, with undermount sinks and Caroma Liano Flick Mixer, our bench top will also have "waterfall" sides flowing to the floor as in this photo.

Midland Brick Handmade Sandalford Bricks

Midland Brick Handmade Caversham Pavers

That's just about it for now, in the next couple of days we should get our costings and can work out what we can afford. I'll post another update when we get that, so until then, good bye!

Just a couple of photos

2009-06-03T22:20:00.000+08:00

Ok, just a quick one for now, haven't got around to scanning any floor plans yet. We went and took some photos around the estate. I also found a post on the opposite side of the road to our block which I can sit the camera on top of and basically take a photo from exactly the same spot whenever we go to the block, so it will be easy to see progress. Anyway, here are some of the photos:

The entrance to Waterhall

Our Block

Our Street

The Park one street over from ours

Closer view of the park

Development of the park land between the estate and Helena River

First Post - Let's see how this goes.

2009-05-29T21:35:00.001+08:00

Ok, well, Hi.
I've decided that progress with our house has reached a point where it's just about worthwhile having some photos and ramblings which we can direct friends and family members and whoever might be interested to come and have a look.

So, let me explain where we've come from and where we're at right now:
It all started at the end of January, we decided that with the First Home Owners Grant Boost coming to an end in 6 months time, it was a good time to look into building a house. We both liked the Guildford area and had seen a new estate that looked promising, we went and had a look and both felt it was perfect, we didn't really bother looking elsewhere too much, Waterhall in South Guildford suited all our requirements perfectly. We registered our interest in one particular block and started looking through display homes, something that became somewhat of a routine over the following month.

After a few disappointments and frustrations, we found the Evolution 3000 by RedInk. After a few modifications, we were happy and around the end of February we signed a preliminary contract to build our house, we also made an offer on the block which was accepted the following day. Both of these were pending finance which we applied for around the same time.

Had we known that when you put an application in you just apply for the maximum amount you can borrow, we would have put our application in when we started looking. We didn't though and it turned out that lots of other people thought buying/building a house now was a good idea. As a result, loan pre-approval times became 3 to 4 times longer than usual. It took about 2 months for our pre-approval to come through, when it finally we did, we sent a copy to RedInk and the next step began.

After a week or so we were told our house was being rushed through, I guess because it had been in the system for so long, so we went and signed a few documents to give to our lender so we could get our finance finalised. We also went down to the block and discovered holes had been drilled for the soil tests, the first actual change in the block since we first saw it. Since then we've booked pre-start for the 9th of June, given all the relevant documents to our lender and made gas and electricity accounts.

Around the time we decided on the house, we went to Midland Brick at Home Base Expo and picked our bricks, pavers, roof, gutters etc. We have also picked all of our tiles and plan to go and check out the place that all the basins, taps, sinks etc. come from in the next week or so.

So things seem to be actually happening now, according to the contract, construction on the house must start by the 29th of June and be completed 250 days from construction commencement, which is the 6th of March. I'll try and update this regularly and hopefully provide pictures as well.

For now, here are some pictures of the block and our tile and laminate choices.

Ash and I on our block

How exciting, a hole on our block. This is from the soil tests.

These are the tiles and laminates for the bathroom, toilet and laundry. The small tiles on the left are the feature tiles, ivory for the walls, chocolate for the floor, mocha for the cupboards and a whitish colour for the bench top.

Kitchen: Mocha for the lower cupboards, white with a hint of brown for the upper cupboards and the lower drawers, green tea Essa stone for the bench tops.

Ensuite: Same Ivory tiles as the bathroom, something with some texture for the floors, a dark woodgrain for the cupboards, a whitish for the bench top. The feature tile is just below.

Feature tile for the ensuite, these are 50mm square, there will be a strip of these running down the shower and also a strip under the mirror. We're doing the same sort of thing in the bathroom with it's feature tile.

That's it for now, I'll try and get a floor plan and a few other things up later on. The next few days are a long weekend in Margaret River for Ash and I to celebrate our 2 year anniversary which is on the 3rd, it's amazing how things can change so much in 2 years time(and to prevent me getting in trouble I'll just clarify that I mean change for the better :) )