Site Start

15 Dec 2008

We had a meeting with our site supervisor on this day. We were told that something had happened on our site which brings us running there on a weekend with a camera in tow. Something indeed happened. First of all, this was put up: -

'keep off'

The site was levelled: -

looks like we might need a retaining wall

And alas, Tree One is gone. Without a trace.

We noticed as well the plumbing fixtures has been put into place, set out points established, & an electrical meter box installed. Here's more images: -

Tiles

6 Dec 2008

Tiles selection was carried out on this day. Why Simonds has to divert us to so many different consultants is beyond us. To add the icing on the cake, each time a different 'specialist' was consulted, a fee seems to be inevitable. It's not like we went with any upgrades at all. Buyers & builders out there, beware of hidden costs that may arise along this ardous process.

There was not much tiles to choose from for us who find it reluctant to part with more of our dough & I'm hardly the choosy type, if I may say so myself. We were advised to pick from the range in the middle 2 rows (refer image below) to avoid any extra payments.

Tile Mart Bendigo

Again, we chose the most neutral of all colours, because, em, we are not the most adventurous builders around. We console ourselves by saying the house will be a blank canvas ready for any type of garishness in time to come.

'Spectacularly' Nude

Grout.

Two days after the selection a bill was emailed to us. And here we are thinking that all cosmetic finishes are covered by dear old Simonds. Even when we kept our hot little fingers away from the polished upgrades & classy border tiles. Alas, we were wrong.

Darn it.

Did u just say?

Wonders of wonders.

An Annabel called us up to say, "We are pleased to inform you that your site start is tomorrow - 28 November 2008"

Unsettlement

Do not ever engage a solicitor Just be one.

Solicitor - people who don the cape of professionalism to create havoc in the quietest way possible. Solicitors - people who award licenses to themselves that allows them to complicate the simplest things, then charge you an arm & a leg for the paperwork. Solicitors - somethings that the world of tomorrow could do without. Save the trees.

Despite being in the consultancy business as well, I AM having a go at them.

Settlement

24 November 2008

Nothing seemed to be happening, everything has arrived at a temporary standstill. D is now lost in the wastelands of FallOut 3 & I was in Chicago with Niffenegger's Henry & Clare. & my life here could almost be defined by Before & After I read the book. Yes, it is that good. Please do not read it. Ahem, excuse the domestics.

Well, we received our electrical plan yesterday from Switched On Consultants. We have marked up some changes & will dump it back upon the consultants tomorrow. Fingers crossed, it will not incur too much charges on us.

I have to admit it's minuscule but even you can tell that they have given us a plan without any legends whatsoever. For all we know the downlights they promised might turn out to be (gasps) pendant / globe fittings!

Anyway, tomorrow will be the day of our land settlement, something that we look forward to, as that might dictate our site start date.

As for now, let us submerge back into the unknown status of - awaiting....

D.I.Y.

8 November 2008

It's a little bit too early, but some of our weekends are spent lurking around the corridors of Bunnings.

Bunnings - a joy to all D.I.Y. enthusiasts (not me, unfortunately). D, on the other hand is a D.I.Y. buff. His handiwork is currently being proudly displayed in our living quarters. Naturally, the idea of owning our own house makes him wants to produce more stuff & that is why we ended up in Bunnings more often than we know it.

Although someone else is building our home, we still need to take care of the other little details like, extra spotlights, clothes-hanger, TV antenna, mail boxes, toilet-paper holder, towel rails ... the list goes on. (Sheesh, you would have thought they will take care of everything & we won't have to fork out another cent) Still, we have to do what we have to do. After doing some window shopping, we may have to add another 2k to our budget ... bummer...

Wanna get some of those wall-mounted, motion-sensored, solar-powered flood lights

Would like to have some dainty landscape lights

Tastic -so awesome for after-showers on cold winter nights

I would so LOVE a contemporary chandelier - the more audacious the better. I have the capacity to stare at it all day long

We are going with double blinds albeit me being a curtain person.

Need one of those but D has a better idea.....

He's going to make one. Our very 'catalogue' house would so need some ingenuity after all ~~

Material Selection

3 November 2008

We had to go down to Shepparton (1.5 hours away) on a Friday for our Materials selection. It was an ardous drive & if you ever need to drive along any regional Victoria's highways, be sure to bring along with you some interesting company.

The material selection is carried out in a shop lot amongst some warehouses. We were greeted by a colour consultant, a female, predictably, since we are much better at colours compared to our other species. We began from the outside, going in.

After doing this kind of things half the time for my day job, it's interesting to be selecting fittings for ourselves. The difference is of course, unlike my very well-to-do clients, we only get to choose from a limited & average range of fixtures.

Concrete Roof Tiles - Monier : Tudor : Wild Rice

Austral Bricks - Parchment

Inside & Outside (I'm getting excited & apprehensive with the kitchen benchtop)

Square Bath (tiles excluded)

Round wash basin + basin mixer

Shower compartment (shower head excluded)

Kitchen sink (with square tap & mixer)

60cm cooktop & under bench oven - both from Technika (not really top-of-the-range)

Dishwasher - Simonds threw that in for F.O.C. after much unabashed haggling from us.

Entry door handle - Gloss finish. D wanted the satin finish which was just too 'quiet' for me.

Carpet - I hope I won't blame myself for that in the future.

So, all in a day's work. We like what we chose, but I think the colour scheme we went with was pretty cliche to say the least. We stuck with safe colours, earthy tones, boring shades, just shying away from any opportunities to splash something garish on somewhere. Sigh....next investment perhaps.

Commitment

3 November 2008

Is the day we pen our signatures on a flimsy piece of paper, acknowledging the fact that we will, by all means pump money forthnightly into a very adult thing called Mortgage.

Sign here - passport to slavery for 30 years.

Terra Firma

27 September 2008

Being rather involved in the building industry ourselves, it is with a slight sense of shame for me to say that we chose to use Simonds Builders to 'do' our first home. They are pretty competitive with their prices but then again, so is everyone else. There is absolutely no reason for you to visit the following website to check them out: -http://www.simonds.com.au/. They probably have enough publicity already (i.e. I dislike doing advertising for free seeing that it is one of the most lucrative industries around).

As for where we are going to place our new house, Mike Fields, (Simond's quirky sales representive, a really nice guy) the person who half convinced us to buy a house, found nice little lot in Kangaroo Flat.

And we purchased it.

Approximate boundary line in crimson

The price is good. Remembering that exorbitant site costs usually follows 'good-priced' land. Which is the case for yours truly. Now, the image above is the land that we purchased, humbly known as Lot 13, Muriel Street. We have 3 lovely trees in the vicinity but unfortunately Tree 1 has to go as it is standing on where the house should be. A pity really, as Tree 1 is quite a character.

Tree 2 & Tree 3 (above) up close. They are pretty, but not as charismatic as Tree 1 (below).

Quizas Quizas Quizas

20 September 2008

Perhaps it was the weather. Perhaps its the trend. Perhaps the time is right. But it's definately not our nesting instinct kicking in.

One day D & I just decided that we have had enough of real estate agents & house inspections. After 2 weeks of deduction, we have arrived to the conclusion that we should visit a builder & see what we could get.

What we got approximately 2 weeks later is an 800 sqm land & a 6-star energy rated house on paper, just 15 minutes away from where we work. Not bad a deal & we'll see how it goes..........

This blog will be our building archive. Let's just hope it will be an uneventful one.