Sub-floor, frame and garage slab

Well, it's been almost a month since Easter - time certainly does fly when you are building!
Lots of progress has been made on the house in the last 4 weeks, the garage slab has been poured, the sub-floor has been installed and today, the frame for the ground floor went in.  I walked around site today and, for the first time, I felt the lines on pages I have been agonising over for almost five years, jump off the page in to what is fast becoming our dream family home.   These last four weeks haven't been without its lessons and the inevitable ups and downs.  After a ridiculous amount of negotiation, all of our neighbours finally realised that they weren't going to get their boundary fences for free and agreed to contribute equally to the fence - unbelievable right?!  The fencer starts this Thursday after Anzac Day - I cannot tell you how much I am longing for the privacy and sense of personal space a fence brings.   They say "good fences make good neighbours" - build me a compound then I say!!

Just before our first progress payment, we were doing our due diligence and checking our builders' warranty insurance - thank goodness we did as the company who issued our policy has had its underwriter go in to liquidation and its parent company go in to voluntary administration.  Being an accountant myself, this translates to not good news for those who hold a policy with the company.  Fortunately, our builder, Grant from Jigsaw Projects understood our concerns and helped us to secure a more suitable policy.  It is so important to have a good relationship with your builder.  Without doubt, there will be differences of opinion, discussions regarding costs and variations, challenges with selections, however if you have a relationship that is honest, open and transparent and you approach problems in a manner which recognises each others' interests, this is sure to build respect regardless of the issue at hand.

So here are some picture of the progress to date:

Sub floor joists and bearers going in

Garage slab - colour: Eclipse the chip board is covering the pool

Front elevation:  Verandah, formal lounge and master bedroom

Formal lounge room

The Edwardian Bay in our master bedroom

The view from our master bay window, looking forward to sitting on the box seat which will be going in here. 

Standing in our master ensuite, looking back toward the walk in robes and master bedroom

Standing just in the front door, looking down the entry hall to the family room, love the split level in the entry hall.

Formal lounge and study

Lounge window looking out to the verandah on the driveway side

Standing in the kitchen looking in to the laundry

Laundry

From the laundry looking over the Alfresco and in to the family room and mud room

Looking out over the alfresco to the pool and "south lawn"

Thanks for stopping by
Jo

Retaining walls and stumps

This week, the retaining walls and stumps will go in.  A lot has been happening on site thanks to our builder Grant Jennings and site manager Stephen Henshaw from Jigsaw Projects.

Last week all the holes were dug in preparation for the stumps.  While our builder was digging the holes he came across an old septic tank and house footings that had been left behind by the demolition company that Jon and I hired to clear the block.  I would not recommend Hughes Demolition, not only did they submit an additional variation which amounted to about a third of the original quote, they were not prepared to back up the claim with receipts for the extra work.  We took photos of what was happening on site each day and they claimed that work was being done, trades and equipment were on site when in fact they weren't.  In our experience, we found Hughes Demolition to be dishonest in their dealings with us, and now, to add insult to very expensive injury, they didn't do the job properly in the first place.  Back in the day, an unhappy customer would tell 16 people - now we set up a blog and broadcast it around the world, I guess that's Karma at work!!

Fortunately, the uncovered septic tank and a little bit of rock found while digging the stump holes have not held us up more than a day.  I definitely would have preferred to be back in Melbourne at this crucial stage, but that's council planning permission for you. We were supposed to be out of the ground by February if it wasn't for the delay caused by the council due to the change in overlay requirements (see past blog posts for that painful exercise).  Our builder is working very hard to make up the time and it looks like we will have handover by December 1st, exactly one year after the demolition started and on our 11th wedding anniversary, that would be incredible!!

Here are some action photos, hot off Grant's camera.  What a difference a day makes, out of the ground by 5pm, great job by Grant, Steve and their crew.

These stumps needed to be put in form work as this is where the septic tank was found 

The cut out for the step outside the laundry, those bins are the neighbours' - bring on those fences!!!

Form work for the footings for the retaining wall which is around the pool

More retaining wall footings going in

There are all our stumps laid out ready to set in the ground - say 'Hi' to the neighbours everyone....grrrr!!

The stumps ready to go in this morning

All the stumps in by the end of the day - great job Grant and Steve!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jo