Site works have begun

Alex received an exciting phone call from our Builder last week, introducing himself and mentioning that they had already cut our block! No biggie! It was so unexpected (exciting but unexpected) we thought the Builder would call and then start site works 1-2 weeks following on from that conversation. I may have freaked slightly, all I could think about was wanting to get photos and having missed half of the site works! But of course I was way ahead of myself and freaking for no reason the block had only been cut and filled and no plumbing or slab work had been done yet which meant that I hadn't missed any important photo opportunities hehe.

So, our Builder has cut and filled the block and advised that a slab should be down by this weekend followed by the frames next weekend. Peaking! Hope this rain doesn't ruin the plans.  

Front - elevation a

Front - elevation D (we have to retain this side along the garage)

Back of the block - elevation c

Summer loves the block

Back of the block - elevation B (that's our master bedroom :-) this side needs to be retained as well)

Elevation d - living room

Elevation d facing elevation B (living room)

Garage step-down

Front - elevation a

Elevation d - living room wall kick out

Back of the block (need to do something about this massive wall of dirt)

Rain rain go away

I am very excited to share that our file is now ready for the Construction team. Our Site Supervisor has picked up all the details he needs to arrange for construction to commence. Once he has arranged for the site works, he will contact us to advise us of the commencement date. Yeeha!

The actual commencement date will depend on the weather and our individual site conditions.  Heavy rain or an extended period of rain and any subsequent retention of water in the soil may postpone the site works. And at this stage the weekly forecast is not looking good :-(

As we require retaining walls (and plan to do this work ourselves), provided there's no delays (mainly rain!) there we should have a slab within approximately 14 days of the site works being completed.

Plantation pre-booked the Frame for our home prior to releasing our file to the Supervisor to maximise productivity and the anticipated delivery date for the frame is 26th February. The frame guy should be onsite within one week of the frame delivery to start putting it together, however looking at this weekly forecast we'll probably have a frame and no slab ha! Plantation have said that they hope to have our home completed in approximately 4 months, based on their current build times so that's reassuring and exciting news.

Please please go away rain!

With a bit of luck my next post will be reporting on the next exciting phase of our home building journey!

Delayed

Thanks to our very slow-working mortgage broker our start date has been delayed (again!). Unfortunately the Bank has still not paid Plantation Homes for their first progress payment and we have now missed the Supervisor coming in to allocate trades for the second time. Not happy!

The Bank advised me today that they have made the payment however, the funds won't be clear in Plantation's account until tomorrow or the next day. Too little too late - we've missed the 'Wednesday Supervisor' day and it will be another weeks wait.

*Note to self: never use a mortgage broker again they are just a middle man and cause delays :-(

Building Covenant Approval

I'm SO happy today!

The Architectural Review Committee (ARC) received our two signed consent forms (for the relaxation to elevation D) and we have finally received the long awaited super stressful building covenant approval from the ARC.

I guess it pays off not to take 'no' for an answer... three times ha!

Plantation Homes are now ready to commence on site. Our Supervisor will be collecting the file and will start calling trades tomorrow and we should hopefully hear from him very soon.  

It's getting very real and closer to our start day. Yay!