Week One: Site Scraped and Leveled

WEEK ONE

Okay, we're officially into week one of construction. I'll attempt to do a weekly progress update from here. Email received this week from Wisdom confirming that we've officially moved into construction.

Hubby headed off to work on Tuesday morning and noticed a Wisdom ute turning into our estate. Thought it was interesting.

I did a drive-by the same afternoon to find that the site had been scraped and leveled, ready for plumbing and slab. Nice!

We haven't heard from our site supervisor yet, I'm guessing we'll hear in the next week or two. I'm told to expect an expected move-in date around now, so looking forward to hearing that (as well as the inevitable future forehead slaps due to more 'delays').

Oh well... gotta have hope!

Some photos:

All Wrapped Up

Variations are paid, sign is up and we have excavation starting next week. Happy days! Heres some pics of our sign, our final plans and final documents.

 

Pretty sign...

  

Final Floorplan

 

Facade

Facade 

 

Roof Pitch

 Colour Selections Exterior

 External Paint Colours

 Door Colours

 Internal Colours

Insert Excited Expletive Here!

An absolute explosion of activity this week. Very happy to see that Wisdom responded to my concerns and went above and beyond to get the ball rolling. Again, special thanks to our Wisdom CSR super-star LS, who will be getting a mighty-big bunch of flowers at the end of this. Incredibly organised and brilliant at what she does. Great communication.

 So, the week that was...

• Sunday: sent an email requesting some clarification of what we can expect time-wise. As promised, I put on my cranky-pants.

• Monday: email returned, passed onto relevant department. Solution is reached, whereby we'll pay for the sewer encasement part of our final variation BEFORE the End Panel has been received, to ensure that work is finished and ready for builders.

• Tuesday: Fences arrive.

• Wednesday: Cheque drawn, dropped off to Wisdom on Wednesday Afternoon.

• Thursday: Plumbers arrive, sewer encasement begins.

• Friday: Sewer encasement continues, portaloo arrives. End panel and final documentation arrives via email.

I've never been so relieved to see a big pile of dirt!

Here are some pictures of the progress this week.

So Close, Yet So Frustratingly Far

So we received the bill for the sewer encasement. While it wasn't a worst case scenario, it was certainly more than we'd budgeted for. The 7.5 metres will cost us $11K, as well as required strengthening of the slab which will set us back $3K. Chuck in $6K for additional piering, and we're smack on $20K.

We've made the decision to sell our caravan to help cover the costs. My dream was always to have a lower mortgage than our previous property, and we should still come in well under if we use the van proceeds towards the sewer and landscaping.

Meanwhile, our file has been passed on to drafting and estimating where it has stopped... again, due to "high sales volumes and associated delays". Story of our life! Meanwhile the land release backing onto our block sold 6 MONTHS AFTER OURS, and most already have builders onsite, slabs, frames and one is already finished (Clarendon)!

Frustrating to see, especially when all paperwork is returned within 24-48 hours and no changes have been made. Getting a little despondent now. We hoped to be in by Christmas at the most, but even that seems to be slipping away. Think it's time to make some waves again, Wisdom... get your bloody act together!

I'll stop now, I'm venting. Instead,  I'll leave you with a few pics taken at the beginning of our building journey. The first is a feature that I fell in love with (the awesome entry and shelving in the study) when initially stalking the Prosperity display home.

I'll also include a pic of my eldest complaining about the fact that we're stalking the Prosperity display home.

Catch ya on the flip side,

S

Complications... Wine Needed.

Our rapid progress has unfortunately been halted... again. We knew we had a problematic block. Cul-de-sac front, sewer at the back but we chose a house design that apparently 'fit like a glove'. By choosing a floor plan with a smaller-than average depth (19 metres), we were under the impression that we would avoid complications with the sewer line which runs across the back of the block. We were told that we were classed as "Building Adjacent to Sewer".

Engineering report came back 2 weeks ago.

Guess what? Hmmmm. Yep.

The slab falls within the zone of influence, which we knew (within 900mm of the sewer pipe). Half of the house encroaches upon this area of influence (but not over the sewer itself) so we were initially told by builder and plumbing contacts through hubby's work that extra piering would be required in this instance. We had a $5000 contingency within our tender to provide this.

Unfortunately, our builders engineer has instead requested complete encasement of the sewer, which through my research can be upwards of $30 000. Pretty devastated, as our incredibly flat block of land has the potential now to have amassed a ridiculous $50 000 total in site fees.

Waiting on the plumbers variation to come back now, and not looking forward to it :-(

So, I will leave you with this inspirational quote. #foreheadslap

Bubbling Along Quite Nicely!

Pleased to report that our DA application was submitted on the 8th March,  and we received word that council approved our plans today. 4 week turnaround was definitely unexpected, but a very pleasant surprise!

Plans will be stamped and Wisdom will be in touch next week regarding the next steps involved.

It's getting closer! Cheers to Wollondilly Council for their fast service and kudos to Lee S from Wisdom, who has been absolutely amazing in chasing up the council and keeping us updated.

In the meantime I'll leave you with this... dedicated to our future neighbours.

Colours, Landscaping, Flooring and Kitchens

Hey guys,

Since our last update, a lot has happened...

We had our file handed to management due to the extensive administrative delays, so we were fast-tracked into our colour selections as a result. Our compliance officer in charge of the file has been amazing, and our plans were sent to council this week. Hoping for good news...

These are the selections we've made...

Exterior/Interior

Brick: Austral 'Wilderness' range in Blackbutt

Colorbond "Monument" roof, fascia, gutter and down pipes

Dune Cement Render Portico

Dune Windows

Internal Colours: Taubmans "Pebble Bay"

Kitchen:

Benchtop:
Caesarstone 40mm in "Organic White" (upgrade: Deluxe Range) with 2x waterfall edges 

Base doors: Poly "Reserve White Pointer" in satin finish

Upper doors: Laminex 'Impressions' range (upgrade) in "Lustrous Elm".

Splashback: Glass, "Natural White"

This is close to how our kitchen should look when complete...

Flooring:

Carpet: Minster "California Gully 2" with (upgrade: underlay)

Flooring to living areas: Preference Oakleaf in "Seashell"

Bathrooms

Wall to shower only: "Almond Gloss"

Floor: 450mmX450mm Mocha Satin (upgrade: installation of larger tiles)

Vanities: Laminex "Lustrous Elm"

Bench: Caesarstone "Organic White" 40mm


Other stuff...  

Landscaping Plan

Upgrades

Okay, now for the nitty gritty. Wow, they certainly get you with the extras! We knew that upgrades were how most builders make their money, but its amazing how the money goes...

We already had a lot included in the package, such as flooring, air con etc, but you still end up paying extra. This is how they catch you...

Carpet: Flooring is included, but the included underlay is about as thick as a slice of ham. 
$500 for underlay upgrade.

Timber-look flooring: again, included, but $500 compulsory "floor protection" against numerous trades. Also skirting removal and refit $440 extra.

Tiles: 100X100 tiles included, you can go for larger tiles at no sost but extra $$ needed in labour to lay them. $300

Kitchen:

Happy to pay these upgrade costs. Knebal Kitchens were fantastic, and prices were reasonable for upgrades.

Soft Close Hinges: $240

Additional Pot Drawers: $435

Microwave Provision: $281

Stone Upgrade: Bench and bathroom $406

Waterfall edges X2: $1734 Soooo bloody excited that this was well within budget!

Other Costs:

Timber-look Garage door in "Caboa" stain $550

 Phew, that's it for now. Really happy with the warm, neutral colour tones and ready to  match with some gorgeous splashes of colour. 

Hurry up and build my house, Wisdom Homes!!!!!